Sources close to Apple (AAPL) have just released information about plans for the company to heavily increase the production of the iPhone coming into this holiday season. Speculation about this noticeable increase has been directly related to the $200 price cut that the iPhone received on September 5th.

A source familiar with the latest info says Apple is raising its manufacturing target for the quarter ending Dec. 31. The company had planned to make 1.7 million iPhones in the fiscal fourth quarter ending later this month, and to make 1.54 million iPhones in the fiscal first quarter ending Dec. 31.

Source: TheStreet.com: Apple Boosting iPhone Output

Now that the price cut has been made, sources are saying that the previous estimates of 1.54 million are seriously undercutting the iPhones output potential. In other words, those estimates are more than just conservative, they’ll be downright wrong.

The $399 price tag seems to have helped revive demand, say observers and analysts.

Hopefully this high demand level currently observed wont become subdued as the potential success of the iPod Touch is realized.

Analysts at market research shop iSuppli are calling for shipments of 4.5 million iPhones this year.

iSuppli’s estimates should be taken with a grain of salt as their numbers seem to leave out the clear speculative nature of foreign sales numbers. Unfortunately, it’s unclear if the increase in numbers will have a direct relation in sales, but the assumption is there.

TechCrunch has just released news about Orange Wireless being selected as Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone carrier in France. It looks like initial plans are suggesting a 300 Euro price point and a release date of November 29th. Apple is anticipated to release the news on September 24th, which is also the date for Apple’s Expo in Paris.

There won’t be any unlimited data plan and against all rumours it won’t have 3G capabilities. Here is a first picture of the iPhone provided by Orange with a French menu (operated in roaming mode though).

The interesting thing is the fact that T-Mobile is displayed in the blurry TechCrunch picture below. TechCrunch clearly stated it would be Orange, but why does it say T-Mobile?

Consumers hoping for the Wi-Fi Music Store to be everything and more are out of luck. Turns out that the wireless method of purchasing iTunes music on-the-go is leaving out about 75 percent of the popular iTunes program. While this may be quite obvious to many, the mere fact that users can’t purchase or download literally “whatever they want” might be disconcerting.

At almost every Apple (AAPL) event, Jobs and various guests talk up the numerous features that encompass the Apple brand. Let it be clear that I would be considered myself an Apple fanboy, but please Jobs, you may have made a large misstep right here.

It’s unclear whether or not it was a creation problem or simply a program created with the sole-purpose of making more money. In many ways, the iTunes store is one of the first things that users click open on their computers. Some are navigating to the iTunes music store to simply purchase music, but a heck of a lot of other users are going somewhere else.

There are 6 main categories under the Library of the iTunes program. Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Radio, and the all-new Ringtones sections. Here’s where Apple either slacked or didn’t do their job. Movies, TV Shows, and Podcasts have become exponentially popular over the past few years, but did Apple simply ignore there potential as a part of a wireless (Wi-Fi) iTunes Store?

In the last Apple event Jobs touted the incredible wealth of information and content that is available throughout the iTunes Podcast section. Best of all, the content is free to download and/or subscribe to, but unfortunately, it won’t be available to the iPod Touch or iPhone users. Simply put, you can put more money into Apple’s pockets by buying songs on the go, and when you wont to get the free stuff, like Podcasts or occasional free TV Shows, Apple neglected to develop a viable method for downloading those items.

What makes the entire situation so much worse is the fact that a smart user can’t simply hack the iPhone or iPod Touch to enable the ability to download their favorite Podcasts through iTunes. Users are at the absolute mercy of Apple, which most of the time serves them just fine, but unfortunately, they’re being left out on over 75 percent of the iTunes store and the general program’s capabilities. While this may seem like a simple rant and rave, it appears as though Apple ingeniously created a method of making more money, without thinking about the need for users to feel at home with the user interface and have fully-functional programs.

Disclosure: Long Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Right off the heels of Apple’s (AAPL) momentous media event on September 5th, rumors are flourishing over a new media event. Only it isn’t in the states, instead, it’s in England. Media has already been invited to the September 18th event. Apple UK’s version of the iPhone is expected to debut at the event, with the possibility of a further announcement of the iPhone expanding into European markets. Press and media conference will be held at 10:00 a.m. at the Regent Street Apple Store.

AppleInsider.com has suggested a number of companies that are possibly involved in iPhone service talks with Apple:

Reports have suggested that the US-based consumer electronics giant has struck a UK deal with Spanish Telefonica’s O2 UK unit, a German deal with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile and a French deal with France Telecom’s Orange.

Apple just released a Gigabit Ethernet feature in the Airport Extreme Wireless base station. The base station is known for transmitting speeds up to 90 Mbps wirelessly. Now, the station features Gigabit Ethernet speeds of 10/100/1000 Mbps from original 10/100 Mbps. In a recent MacWorld.com report they mentioned that:

Apple AirPort Extreme network adapters can now top 140 Mbps of throughput in an ideal case.

Gigabit Ethernet performance was as expected, achieving over 900 Mbps of throughput in one direction between two computers connected via the Base Station’s LAN and over 800 Mbps each way when simultaneously transmitting at full speed.

Source: MacWorld.com: Airport Extreme Base Station with Gigabit Ethernet

MacWorld rated the Updated Airport Extreme 4.5 out 5 Mice.

As Apple (AAPL) has been doing for a number of years now, they offer a back to school deal that includes a free iPod Nano with the purchase of a new computer. It would be interesting to see whether or not the Nano is now the updated version for those who purchase a new mac over these five days. On September 16th, the deal goes dormant until next year, so take advantage while you can. Just bring proof of higher learning enrollment, in the form of a student id or some other clear evidence of enrollment in a college institution, and advantage of this incredible offer.

A recent report out of MacRumors.com just told of Apple’s (AAPL) flip to turn ringtone functionality on to the iTunes Music Store. It seems as though Apple turned on the feature overnight, and the row has been added to the “Library.”

If you try to create a ringtone with an arbitrary song, a dialog box pops up and simply says “You can create iPhone ringtones from many songs purchased from the iTunes Store” and does not allow you to covert the song.

If you choose a Purchased Song to create a Ringtone, you are first taken to the iTunes Store to accept the Terms & Conditions for Ringtone sales. If the song is amongst the 500,000 allowed to be converted into a Ringtone, you are taken to the ringtone editor.

Source: MacRumors.com: Apple Adds Ringtone Support to iTunes

Followers of recent press releases and updates out of Apple (AAPL) would suggest that “The Beatles” were on the iTunes Music Store, but that’s hardly the case. The entire collection has yet to appear through the store, despite multiple pictures and examples of iPods containing music from The Beatles.

Stock blogging site, BloggingStocks.com, recently published an article that hints towards about a half-year until such a deal happens. The Beatles will also come with the understanding that Apple wont be the only online retailer of the music and will compete with likes of Amazon and Napster.

Disclosure: Long Apple Inc. (AAPL)