As expected, Apple just got unveiling the new iPhone 3G today at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference going on in San Francisco. It took FOREVER for them to cut-to-the-chase and outline all of the details. We’ll start with the iPhone first and then go back to fill you in on some of the smaller details.
iPhone 3G with GPS on July 11th
Steve Jobs called the iPhone the phone that has changed phones forever and said that they currently have 90% customer satisfaction with the device which is astounding. He talked about how 6 million iPhones have been sold, but they still have a few challenges to address like introducing a 3G network, enterprise support, 3rd party apps, availability (more countries), and a more affordable price. With that he introduced the iPhone 3G with the following features:
- Flush headphone jack (something minor but makes a difference)
- Improved audio
- Thinner at the edges
- “Amazingly Zippy”
- Faster data
- Battery Life improved- 300 hours of standby, 10 hours of 2G talk time and 5 hours of 3G talk time, 5-6 hours of browsing time, 7 hours video time and 24 hours of audio
- GPS
And of course we know enterprise support and 3rd party apps will be available as well.
When Jobs said they needed to make the phones more affordable, he was serious. The 8GB model will be sold for $199 while the 16GB model will be available for $299. The 16 gig model will also be available in white (not just black).
Even more impressive is that over the next several months, it will be available in 70 countries. July 11th is the big day for 22 countries including the United States.
Other WWDC Info
.Mac is now MobileMe
Another rumor that has turned out to be true is that Apple is replacing .Mac with MobileMe. MobileMe looks pretty impressive with push email, contacts and calendars. Data gets synched automatically between all of your devices, both ways including PC’s, Mac’s, iPhones, etc. The new location for this is found at me.com. A subscription fee of $99 will be charged and users will get 20 GB of online storage.
Applications for the iPhone
The beginning part of WWDC was all about applications for the iPhone. They invited several app developers on stage to explain the work that they had done. First was Sega who built Super Monkey Ball with 110 stages in just three months. Once the app store launches in July, it’ll be priced at $9.99.
Other applications that we saw include:
- Auctions – from eBay for buyers and sellers (free)
- Loopt – a location-aware social network that displays a map with pins representing where your friends are (free)
- TypePad – blogging while on your iPhone – (free)
- Associated Press – The Mobile News Network will be available so that users can keep up on the latest news. Local news will also be displayed. Watch news videos and get involved with reporting by sending images and text immediately from your iPhone (free)
- Pangea – has designed two games. One game is Enigmo – a physics based puzzle game while the other is Cro-Mag Rally, a 3D caveman raving game. Both games will be $9.99 each
- Band (developed by a solo developer out of England) – lets people make music on the iPhone
- At Bat – from MLB, shows games, stats, live game info. No price was mentioned, but our guess is that there will be some type of subscription fee
- Epocrates – has designed two medical related applications
- Digital Legends – 3D fantasy adventure game
iPhone 2.0 Firmware…
They mentioned that developers have requested background support and so it will be available in September as an update to the SDK.
New features we can expect wit the firmware update:
- Contact search
- iWork support
- Support for Office documents as well including PowerPoint
- Bulk delete emails
- Ability to save images to your photo library
- Scientific calculator
- Parental controls
- Asian language support
This firmware update will come early July (likely with the launch of iPhone 3G) and will be free for iPhone users and will cost $9.95 (cheaper than the previous $19.95) for iPod Touch users.
The app store will be available on every iPhone as a way for developers to reach every single user. When there is an update available, you will be notified so that you’ll always have the latest. If the app is 10MB or less, users can download it over the cellular network. If it’s larger than that, users will have to get it via Wi-Fi or iTunes. For enterprises, they can create their apps and make them available only to their employes via company intranet. There is also Ad-hoc support to distribute apps.
I think that’s about all for now! We’ll keep you posted on more iPhone 3G news between now and July 11th!
Ok, so, yeah, if iPhones were even supported where I live (no AT&T) I would so get an iPhone…:(
I can’t say I’m not surprised, with the cheaper pricing, really surprised actually. I think I’m seeing the bigger picture, Jobs wants to make the Iphone the most popular phone in the country, maybe elsewhere also. This way more people buy the ever before, and the more $$$ apple will make. ahhh….but it will suck when everyone has an Iphone….o well
I heard some where the phone was $199 with a 2-year contract. Did you read that anywhere? Hopefully someone will try to capitalize on the many many iPhone users that want to upgrade. Anyone want a used iPhone for $199?!
@Mark: Buy the iPhone and jailbrake it. You don´t need AT&T to use it.
At $199, almost everybody can buy an Apple iPhone. When that happens, the charm will go away and people will be looking for a jazzier phone. I’m sure, even as we speak, Steve Jobs has another iPhone surprise waiting in the wings. Will it be cheaper?
You mean unlock it. Jailbreaking just opens it up for 3rd party apps like Installer. Unlocking and jailbreaking are independent of each other by the way.
It’s funny, when I was “watching” the liveblog on Engadget, and they showed off Band, I laughed because Band is currently available (has been for awhile now) for jailbroken phones and iPods. It’s a pretty fun app too, but now it will work with the official SDK.
The only problem people are going to run into is that Apple is now requiring everybody to activate the phones in-store. Obviously this is to help prevent people from purchasing them just to unlock and use with a different carrier.
I did see one site, and I don’t remember where, compare this new iPhone 3G to the Motorola Razr. Eventually it lost its appeal, particularly when it came down in price, and then it wasn’t such a hot commodity.
I think with the App Store they also see a big opportunity to make money, especially since they’re taking 30% of the sales.
That’s kinda what I’m thinking as well. When someone finds out that we have an iPhone they naturally want to see what it can do. But if it becomes more mainstream it will just become like the iPod where everyone already knows what it does since they own one. Although I believe the more popular it gets the better it will get, especially in terms of the apps. After all, if the iPods never became popular would there even be an iPhone? Good things can lead to even better things.
It would be a good thing if the iPhone became so commonplace that it lost some of that appeal, especially if it were also really inexpensive. This would mean that Apple truly raised the bar for the mobile phone industry. Electronics companies would be held to a much higher standard of features, openness and design than they are currently held at. Also, at that point, Apple could create a new, higher-end iPhone, selling it alongside the original series. This way, we could still have feature-packed low-end phones, as well as the higher-end, more innovative models.
What I am wondering is how this will effect iPod pricing. The 8GB iPhone is now $100 dollars less than the equivalent iPod touch and $50 less than the 80GB iPod classic. Could we see massive price-cuts across the whole product line? If so, I think it would be $40 for the iPod shuffle, $80 and $120 for the 4GB and 8GB iPod nano, $150 and $200 for the 80GB and 160GB iPod classic, and $180, $250 and $350 for the 8GB, 16GB and 32GB iPod touch.
AT&T is the one eating the additional cost for the iPhone though, and they’ve already announced that they will be posting a loss for the next year and a half because of it. So I don’t think Apple will be dropping the prices across the board.