You probably know my history with the iPhone, I presume. Well, at least those of you who are regular readers. I got my first in January, 2008, a review sample from Apple. After spending four weeks with that unit, and on the day I returned it, I went over to the nearest AT&T factory store and bought one.

The iPhone 3G was an easy acquisition. I paid $299 for the 16GB version, and sold the original model for nearly that much. I presume someone probably unlocked it and sent it overseas, but it was a perfectly legal sale, and I got paid within three days after shipping it on to the dealer in question.

I acquired the iPhone 3GS simply because AT&T liberalized the upgrade policy to allow customers who bought their iPhones 11 months earlier to obtain the new model for the standard price, no penalty. How could I refuse?

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During that Department of Justice antitrust trial against Microsoft, poor, beleaguered Bill Gates claimed that the company he co-founded only wanted the freedom to “innovate.” Now this innovate mantra has been part and parcel of Microsoft’s pitch to customers, competitors and government agencies for years, as most of you know.

The question that comes to the fore, though, is just what does Microsoft mean by that word. Now if we simply go by the conventional definition, we get: “make changes in something established, esp. by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.”

All right, that’s simple enough, and I’m sure that most of you will agree with the standard meaning. That is except for Microsoft, which seems to be unable to deliver “new methods, ideas, or products.”

Take Windows, which was nothing but a knock-off of the Mac OS, based in part on technology they actually licensed from Apple in a foolish deal crafted between Gates and then Apple CEO John Scully. In retrospect, Scully created a monster, one that came to dominate the PC industry in ways that were not always beneficial.

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The news that Apple legal asked Microsoft to stop running its controversial laptop hunter ad campaign must have made the hearts of Windows fanboys flutter. Does this mean that Apple is afraid of the truth, that they are being hurt by Microsoft’s expanding ad campaign?

Supposedly the objection was the result of Apple’s recent price reductions on the refreshed MacBook Pro lineup. But you also have to remember that all we know about that supposed notice, which came in the form of a phone call, comes from Microsoft. Nobody from Apple is going to confirm that such a thing really happened, and even a denial would only draw more attention to the claim.

Now before we look at the motive behind this alleged phone call, consider this: Apple didn’t send a legal letter to Microsoft, an action that certainly would carry more significance. So even if someone from Apple did get in touch with Microsoft, the communication was essentially an informal one, and the source of that call isn’t being named. It might well be that someone in Apple’s legal department made the call of their own volition, without actual authorization. Or maybe it came from someone pretending to represent Apple.

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For a once-beleaguered company, the amount of attention that will be focused on Apple’s quarterly financials next week will likely come close to matching that for a statement about health care or national security from the president. That may seem surprising, but it’s true. Nearly everything that happens with Apple these days is fodder for extensive coverage.

Certainly estimates of how well Apple will do are all over the map. Some suggest that Mac sales must be lower than last year, before the worst of the economic crunch hit. If you go along with that proposition, then the only issue is how much sales have dipped.

The reality appears to be pointing in a different direction, and some analysts are even revising their forecasts as a result. For one thing, early reports from the retail front indicate that Apple’s sales actually rose beginning in May, perhaps coinciding with the beginning of their annual “back to school” bash. The reduced prices for Mac notebooks first announced at the WWDC also boosted demand.

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