Apple Peel Turns Your iPod Touch Into an iPhone

[javajolt]

Apple Peel 520 is the device that slips over your jailbroken iPod Touch to create a working phone. Turns out that they will be shipping the case to the States. It basically has everything you need such as the ear piece and the microphone, but it also includes a SIM slot, so it's literally turning your device into a mobile phone.

We've talked about it in the past, and we've read that it's a neat little accessory, but not without it's quirks. Still, if the asking price of $120 sounds enticing, you can order one from Peel520.net, and it begins shipping October 4. The interesting thing is they they even mention in the order form "be sure to know the current disadvantages before ordering" in bold. Good thing they are being upfront about that.

Here is the PR spiel:

Peel520.net announced today that it will be the first to sell the Apple Peel 520 worldwide!

Why wait? Pre-order Now!

You probably heard some rumors about this gadget. Maybe also that ‘Go Solar USA’ will bring the Yosion Apple Peel 520 someday to the USA. Why wait? Peel520.net brings you the Apple Peel 520 directly from China!

Transform your iPod Touch into an iPhone!

The Apple Peel 520 is a new wireless device that adds mobile voice and text messaging capabilities to the iPod Touch. The gadget slips over the iPod Touch and includes a battery, dock connector and SIM card holder. Once the proper software is installed, the Apple Peel 520 adds the ability to make voice calls and send and receive text messages on your iPod Touch.

New Apple Peel 520 Phone Call Testing

New Apple Peel 520 SMS Testing

[javajolt]

The Apple Peel add-on installed on an iPod Touch.

Pan Lei and Pan Yong, the Chinese brothers who invented a device to convert Apple's iPod Touch into an iPhone, say they are innovators, not copycats.

Their Apple Peel 520 is a case including a circuit board and battery that wraps around the iPod Touch media player, allowing calls to be made after software is installed. The device, which requires breaking into Apple's operating system, isn't a counterfeit iPhone, Pan Lei, 25, told Bloomberg Television.

“We're capable of coming up with something original,” Pan Lei, who quit his job as an interior designer to found Shenzhen, China-based Yosion Technology with his 23-year-old software- engineer brother, said in an interview broadcast today.

The iPod music player has sold more than 220 million units since it was first released in 2001, according to the company. Apple first released its iPhone in 2007, climbing to 2.7 per cent of the global market by June this year and sparking copycat models from Chinese grey market, or Shanzhai, vendors.

“The brothers who invented this Apple Peel probably ran down a list of how many ways could they annoy Steve Jobs,” said Jonathan Hudis, chairman of the American Bar Association's Trademarks and Unfair Competition Division. “I could not see Apple standing by to let this continue, especially if it results in product shipping into the United States.”

U.S. users can save at least $US770 by using the device to be priced at $US60. Jill Tan, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Apple, said any product that's been tampered with won't receive warranty support. Apple is aware of Apple Peel, she said, declining to comment further.

'We're very creative'

Apple Peel sells for $US78 on Taobao.com, China's largest online shopping site. Yosion agreed to offer the device in the U.S. with New Orleans-based Go Solar USA, whose website teaches users to “jailbreak” the iPod Touch in preparation for installing Apple Peel software.

U.S. users must sign a two-year contract with AT&T for the iPhone, paying at least $US39.99 a month and $US99 for the iPhone 3GS, or a total of $US1059. The iPod Touch sells from $US229.

We're also very creative,” Pan Lei said. “Not just getting a Nokia phone and copy, getting Apple and copy, or a Samsung phone to copy as well. It shouldn't be like that.”