Steve Jobs looks all set to have a merry Christmas this year. It would seem as if his goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 is about to be half-achieved.

According to sources, the company is expecting to make a grand announcement at its Macworld Expo in January 2008 to the effect that Jobs’ halfway mark in iPhone sales has been achieved. It’s not official yet – I’m sure the figures will be counted and recounted before the official number is announced. Sales have been apparently been going through the roof and the iPhone has, like Apple’s own iPod, become yet another technological phenomenon. Stay tuned, and have a Merry Christmas.

Apple Inc. is negotiating with Japan’s top mobile phone carrier to launch the iPhone in Japan, though the cut of subscriber revenue that Apple wants has been a sticking point, according to a report published Tuesday. NTT DoCoMo spokesman Shuichiro Ichikoshi said company President Masao Nakamura met recently with Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs. Shuichiro declined to comment further. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, reported Tuesday that Jobs and Nakamura discussed launching the iPhone in Japan. Apple has said it plans to launch the device in Asia in 2008 but has not provided details.

NTT DoCoMo had nearly 53 million subscribers and commanded more than half of Japan’s mobile phone market at the end of September, but has struggled to add new users in recent months amid fierce competition from KDDI Corp. and Softbank Corp., which have slashed rates and launched aggressive sales promotions. Apple and NTT DoCoMo are still negotiating the terms of a deal, with one stumbling block being Apple’s demands to receive the same percentage of subscriber revenue from NTT DoCoMo that it receives from other carriers, according to the Journal. If a deal with NTT DoCoMo falls through, Apple is also talking with Softbank, according to the report.

Talks between China Mobile and Apple Inc. over the launch of iPhone handsets in China have been called off, officials at the Chinese company, “We can only say that negotiations have ended for now. We have no other news to report,” said Li Honghui, a spokeswoman for China Mobile Communications Corp., the parent of cell phone carrier China Mobile. She declined to comment further. Rainie Lei, a spokeswoman for China Mobile, earlier Monday also declined to say why the talks ended.” We have held talks with Apple to launch the iPhone device in China. However, those talks have ended,” she said. Calls to Cupertino, California-based Apple were not answered Monday. Citing an unnamed official at China Mobile’s data services department, Chinese Internet portal Sina.com reported Monday that China Mobile and Apple could not agree on revenue-sharing terms in their preliminary discussions, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

The official said China Mobile was unwilling to accept Apple’s request for a 20 percent to 30 percent share of China Mobile’s user fees from future iPhone users, according to the report. Market watchers and analysts have said a breakdown in talks between Apple and China Mobile could open the way for rival China Unicom Ltd. to offer the iPhone exclusively in mainland China. China Unicom spokeswoman Sophia Tso declined to comment. Eric Wen, an analyst at BNP Paribas, said the lack of an agreement would have little impact on China Mobile. But he said the failed negotiations could be a significant positive for China Unicom, which could start talks on an exclusive deal to supply the iPhone. Wen said he believes China Unicom may be more willing than China Mobile to give Apple a larger percentage of user fees given its smaller share of China’s mobile phone market.

“It’s very clear that Apple, Google and other players are bringing in a lot of new directions,” says company CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. Among these is an increasing union of device functions; while Nokia has long made smartphones that perform most of the tasks of the iPhone, such as the Nokia describes Apple as the first credible newcomer to the cellular market in years, a , Apple’s product is a unique combination of this with the easy media playback of an iPod.

More important to Nokia may be the changes Apple and Google are bringing to the cellular market. Whereas US carriers have traditionally reaped most of the revenue from cellphones, and dictated how devices are used, Apple has managed to coerce better data plans out of AT&T, as well as implement that has inspired other companies to challenge old monopolies. In Europe for instance, Nokia has used revenue splitting to get its Ovi download service hosted through Vodafone.  Google’s contribution comes in the form of the, which aims to create a universal platform across phones and carriers that may turn the latter into entities more closely resembling Internet service providers. American carriers involved already include Sprint and T-Mobile, while phone makers include the likes of LG and Motorola — notably however, Nokia has not been invited by Google, despite the fact that the former is the largest handset maker in the world.

Apple has chosen T-Mobile to sell the iPhone in Germany and will release the handset on November 9.An 8GB version of the iPhone will cost German customers €399 (£279) and comes with a two-year minimum contract. The iPhone will be sold via the Telekom Shops of Deutsche Telekom and through the T-Mobile web shopT-Mobile International CEO Hamid Akhavan said: “We are convinced that we can get our customers excited about experiencing the mobile internet with the iPhone. I’m proud that Apple and T-Mobile have become partners.

The best mobile device currently on the market will soon be operating on the best network in the country.”Apple CEO Steve Jobs added: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with T-Mobile to bring the iPhone to Germany. Customer response to iPhone in the US has been incredible, and we can’t wait to introduce T-Mobile customers to the most revolutionary mobile device on the planet.”The announcement comes a day after Apple announced that O2 will be the exclusive network partner for the iPhone in the UK.

Apple is also expected to announce over the next few days that Orange has won the exclusive rights to sell the handset in France.

“Hackers Inc” are seeing red after Apple Computer released a software update that renders useless - unlocked iPhones aka iPhones that have been altered so as to be able to work with cellular carriers other than the official one, namely AT&T. Hackers had it coming when earlier this week, Apple Computer warned about its upcoming software — that would not only offer access to iTunes and fix a few security bugs — but significantly, possibly end-up permanently disabling the unlocked iPhones.

Put-on-the-defensive, the hacker community has responded saying that depending on the type of unlocking program used, iPhones may or may not continue to work after installing Apple’s newest software update. In case of unlocked iPhones that live to tell of the software onslaught, they will be workable only with the original SIM card that ties the phone firmly back to official carrier, AT&T. Apple’s move comes even as hackers were about to dismiss the company’s warning as a mere arm-twisting tactic. Meanwhile, it can’t be told how many people have actually managed to unlock their iPhones, but from the looks of it, the activity has been particularly popular in Europe.