Apple to unlock iPhone in Italy

Apple has agreed to let Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) sell an unlocked iPhone without a mandatory two-year contract, reports InformationWeek.

Franco Bernabe, CEO of TIM, apparently persuaded Apple CEO Steve Jobs to deviate from Apple's usual business model of having an exclusive carrier sell the iPhone with a two-year service contract, and split the revenue with Apple, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported.

Instead, TIM will offer Apple's upcoming 3G iPhone, expected by analysts later this year, without a mandatory service contract. This move will probably be more palatable to Italians, who are among the biggest users of prepaid service plans. In addition, the phone will be unlocked, meaning it can be used with other carriers.

Intel is slashing the price of some of its processors up to 50%, a slap in the face to rival Advanced Micro Devices, long known as the low-price alternative in the chip market, according to Computerworld.

Intel announced on its Web site yesterday that it had cut the price of about a dozen processors. Patrick Ward, a spokesman for Intel, noted that most of the processors on the price-cut list were built on 65nm technology, which Intel is phasing out in favour of its new 45nm chips. It's akin to car dealers cutting the prices on last year's models to make room for the latest ones.

"We're transitioning from 65nm to 45nm," said Ward. "We're in the process of refreshing our line. If you see a 65nm [chip], it's older technology and we're moving on from it."

Skype on Monday launched a $9.95-a-month international calling plan for US customers that includes landlines and some cellphone calls to 34 countries, reports InformationWeek.

The action by the eBay unit comes just days after eBay CEO John Donahoe indicated the auction company will seek to find and improve synergy between the VOIP calling unit and eBay's core auction operation. The Financial Times also reported that Donahoe indicated eBay would "reassess" Skype if its "synergies" with the auction company aren't strong.

"This move is a natural step for Skype," said Stefan Oberg, Skype's VP and GM for telecoms, in a statement describing the new calling plans. "We're making it even easier for the Skype community to call their friends and family who are not yet on Skype."

After a weekend full of server load issues and unhappy gamers, the Metal Gear online beta has been delayed, says Wired.com.

Originally scheduled to be available this morning, the beta test of Konami's upcoming online version of its stealth action series has been bumped back to a tentative 25 April start date, with a warning that Konami may fail to fix the issues and be forced to move it back even further.

On 17 April, would-be players who had acquired access to the beta from Konami found they were unable to complete one or more steps in the process.