3G iPhone Due in 2008

[chrisconfessed]

I'm certainly going to wait until a new generation of iPhones appear before I buy one...

 

[John Musbach]

AT&T Inc. Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson confirmed that the 3G version of the iPhone would be made available "next year".

Plans for using the faster 3G data connection in the iPhone have not been secret. Steve Jobs has stated that a 3G iPhone is coming, but that the delay is due to excessive battery life consumption with existing 3G chipsets. The iPhone presently uses the EDGE network for its data connectivity.


Article Link

This is interesting, I wonder if this means Apple will be making their own custom 3g chipsets to deal with the power consumption issue...

 

[savanahrose]

This should come as no surprise, as apple has indicated that a 3G is in the works.

For me, it matters not. I live in a rural area which won't see 3G for many years. EDGE reception, however, is quite good and very useful. True, I prefer to use Safari with Wifi over EDGE, but Google Maps, Weather, Mail, etc all work pretty darn well with EDGE.

I realize that the majority of the US population lives near or in our 50-100 or so major metropolitan areas, but for those of us in more rural areas, this is a non-issue. Look at the coverage maps for your area... can you use 3G?

http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/

I'm guessing most of you can, but certainly not everyone.

I'm far more interested in apple bringing out another iPhone product (nano-type) than an upgrade to the existing iPhone.

Thanks for the link. It enabled me to know if I should get excited by the 3g. found out I don't get it here in the Charleston area. Only edge.

 

[crackermac]

EDGE signal

Anyone know if cell service corresponds directly with Edge? Can you have better Edge than cell service or vice-versa. Is there a way find out? Is there an Edge signal meter?

 

[ClassicMac247]

its deff. coming but probably 16 gbs

 

[andy721]

stupid

they should have done this on the good release of the brighter iphone that doesn't dim.

 

[seedster2]

I have no clue why ATT doesn't have to follow some of those, I only know that those conditions were presented to Verizon 3 years ago. I just feel a little for Verizon when they take most of the heat for not carrying the iPhone. People that were hoping for an iPhone on Verizon shouldn't solely be upset at Verizon; Verizon wanted VERY much to get the deal through. Apple's demands were simply unheard of. In fact, I can't think of any other phone-maker that has placed such looney demands on its carrier. Whenever Apple had a meeting with Verizon that he was a part of, he said that in EACH meeting Apple would start out by saying, "So, we're Apple, and". You get the drift. Again, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Apple's products, but a far as my respect for their business practices, there's absolutely none there. I'm not trying to be an a--, but I sort of think that anyone who can't possibly picture Steve Jobs as a controlling dick is drinking a little too much of that delicious iKool-Aid.

This is interesting and quite likely. While I am no Verizon Wireless fan, I don't like this silly iPhone business model.

Despite not carrying the iphone, Verizon did VERY well last quarter and didn't have to surrender any revenue with manufacturers.

 

[powerbook911]

Anyone know if cell service corresponds directly with Edge? Can you have better Edge than cell service or vice-versa. Is there a way find out? Is there an Edge signal meter?

Well, more bars seem to equal faster edge, so it's all the same about it seems to me.

 

[mlarkin]

iPhone @ MacWorld

1) There will be no announcement of a 3G iPhone. Period. Apple is too preoccupied with rolling out the current model, and the next iteration roadmap puts its introduction probably after the summer.

2) There will be announcements concerning the next upcoming national rollouts ... probably several. Jobs will want to maintain momentum, demonstrate negotiation wins to those markets that will be the most difficult to win concessions in down the road (already Canada, China, others). He wants to get the press in local markets to do his bidding for him, to build anticipation, to get near-term buyers to wait till iPhone arrives.

3) Lots of hoopla on the SDK. He will not only show how it works, but will have a few new applications good to go ("... and you can download them today").

4) Probably an announcement of a major iPhone firmware upgrade to support several new functionalities Jobs will introduce (" ... and the new firmware is available today"). Jobs wants to stand good on his promise that regular updates are forthcoming, but importantly, meaningful updates that make the iPhone better (WiFi/.Mac syncing, Bluetooth connection to laptops for use as modem, other stuff)

5) THE big question in my mind is will he announce a new iPhone model targeted at the lower end (again, not a 3G model). iPhone is in a race to get itself established and claim a critical market share BEFORE competitors such as Nokia, others, can roll out a reasonable response to it. There are lots of people who want an iPhone but just can't afford it the current model and attendant subscription rates. It probably overserves their needs anyway. Jobs will rollout iPhones in a segment-by-segment manner as he did with iPod, careful to minimize disruption to the existing iPhone and not to cannibalize the ongoing iPod lines.

I hope he has a lower end version of iPhone good to go but it may still be too early. Apple may have to have 20-30 operator agreements already established and functioning correctly, other distribution arrangements in place that are necessary to touch more people in more locations, and have the manufacturing and logistics challenges worked out to producing a higher mass-market version of the iPhone.

Of course, Jobs will tout the success of the iPhone to reassure shareholders and to build pressure on operator organizations that they may miss out if they don't cut a deal soon with Apple.

 

[BlackSmp]

Anyone know if cell service corresponds directly with Edge? Can you have better Edge than cell service or vice-versa. Is there a way find out? Is there an Edge signal meter?

I am not certain what you mean but since you're using the same frequencies for both speech and data (boh EDGE and "plain" GPRS) the signal strength is identical.

In a cell a number of time slots is allocated/dedicated for packet data and others for circuit switched speech. They use the same frequencies.

Depending on radio environment you use one out of nine different coding schemes for the data (MCS-1 to MCS-9) with different amount of error corrections bits. MCS-1 to MCS-4 "only" offers the same data rates as normal GPRS (which have four coding schemes named CS-1 to CS-4)

-j

 

[BlackSmp]

The thing keeping me from an iPhone is the interference that GSM phones produce.
-neil

3G doesn't produce these disturances. So a 3G phone is silent.

But.. 3G phones have a GSM mode so that they fall back to GSM if no 3G coverage is found, so...

--J

 

[BlackSmp]

3G is not widespread in the US. The US is MUCH larger than UK or Europe as a whole. Apple was correct in choosing EDGE for THIS market. Your mileage may vary.

What are statistics are you basing your statement on? The last statistics that I've found was 441.000.000 mobile subscribers in Europe and 158.000.000 in USA... (2003)