UK 3G iPhone - rumors of How much
This next WWDC is going to be strictly about the iPhone and SDK. With hopes there will be a 3G iPhone and the Apps store will launch. With prayer there will be a sneak peak at Apple's next OS.
With a miracle from almighty God Himself there will be redesigned Mac Books, MacBook Pros, updated Mac MInis, and a Mac Tablet that will cater to our wildest geek dreams.
Strictly of course. Excepting Apple TV. General sales. New stores internationally. One more thing, a look at the new OS (Show Redmond how a preview is done!) etc. Geolocation and other features will affect more than just the iPHone. You've got a possible iLife update, a change to iPhoto perhaps. List goes on.
O2 - Finally getting to the "How much"
In other news, Firefox says FF3 RC2 is bug free. Which is nice.
From
MacWorld
From their "UK sources" they hear O2 is planning
a range of options
- Off the street, £100 on a 18 month contract
- Free upgrade to existing people on an iPhone contract, with a signing up to a new 18 month contract
- Free phone for the highest (£75, 3,000 min 500 text) /higher tariffs
- £269 iPhone and then get it on PAYG (no info on data rates, hopefully the Data Bolt on will get improved!).
Looks to broaden those using the device, and hopefully O2 Ireland will follow suit.
The
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/17455/ article on GPS seems to be kicking up a storm.. In full:
"The next major revision of the iPhone, expected during this year's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 9, could be a major disappointment for those who were expecting more than 3G connectivity on this new model," Alexandros Roussos reports for MacScoop.
"Sources who can be trusted told MacScoop that the next iPhone will of course have 3G connectivity, but not much more, as it will lack built-in GPS chip and include the same old 2Mpixel digital camera," Roussos reports.
"Unless there is a second super-secret higher-end model, the two probably most requested features made by current and potential iPhone customers won't come as soon as expected," Roussos reports.
This is quoting from the
actual article that is this:
The next major revision of the iPhone, expected during this year's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 9, could be a major disappointment for those who were expecting more than 3G connectivity on this new model. Sources who can be trusted told MacScoop that the next iPhone will of course have 3G connectivity, but not much more, as it will lack built-in global positioning system (GPS) chip and include the same old 2Mpixel digital camera. Unless there is a second super-secret higher-end model, the two probably most requested features made by current and potential iPhone customers won't come as soon as expected.
During the past few weeks, at least half a dozen of reports on the Internet indicated that Apple was adding built-in GPS and more hardware improvements to the iPhone, in addition to the obvious 3G connectivity support.
Other sources told MacScoop that we shouldn't expect miracles in terms of battery-life as 3G chips are still way more power-consuming than those supporting only EDGE. That would either mean that the forthcoming iPhone has become a bit thicker than the current version so as to include a physically bigger battery or that we shouldn't expect significant improvements in that area.
However, it is also known that Apple has made major efforts so as to keep the power-consumption reasonable and that next version of the iPhone's software will include the possibility to disable 3G connectivity so as to save battery-life when this feature isn't used as it's already the case with Wifi on the current model.
This new iPhone could include other improvements but our apparently well informed sources decided to not take risks and just tell us what it won't have. For example, the also rumoured video-conferencing feature was neither confirmed or denied by our sources.
Those who would have found the GPS feature useful shouldn't lose hope either, as Apple could provide support for external GPS modules as some hints at this possibility have been noticed in recent iPhone 2.0 software seeds sent to developers.
Since Apple announced the iPhone Software 2.0 along with the iPhone SDK in early March, we've learned about the software–related improvements to the current and the forthcoming iPhone. The biggest of them are the ability to download and install third-party applications and a set of enterprise features, including MS Exchange support.
Most recent iPhone SDK builds provided to developers also revealed a few other features like Chinese handwriting recognition, Safari picture saving, or photo geo-tagging.
So to break down the article: he has "sources who can be trusted", and he's saying WWDC "could" be a disappointment. Doesn't put too much faith in them then (as they are "apparently well informed" he backtracks) - He's adds the get out clause of the possiblity of an iPhone with GPS, that would of course, have to be an uber super duper "super-secret higher end model". Further to the get out clause, he then does the decent thing of actually recognising that there have been several other stories from "reliable sources" that there will be GPS. Or not. Or possibly. GPS is not a miracle. Or if it is, Nokia et al already seem to know how to manufacturer miracles en masse.
We know GPS doesn't have to be a battery hog, and that it could be less intensive than 3G as it could do position on demand for example, and poll only when needed.
So sources are saying both ways. But to not have GPS, but talk about location in the poster for WWDC? It seems nigh on silly for them to openly make themselves open for mocking. Why can Nokia do it in the N95, but Apple not do it?
So basically they think "No but yeah but" - no unless they have a model that does have it... This is the same guy that also said:
"We're now certain that Apple's next generation iPhone will add 3G capabilities but could also include a GPS in a slightly thicker design, according to Engadget"
here At least Roussos
thinks we'll have cut and paste
Seems to be hiding behind the rumors, and not giving commentary.
Newsweek article
Seems Newsweek has officially joined Forbes in presuming / assuming that the boxes shown (in broad daylight (obviously didn't all fit in the elevator)) = iPhones. Anyone able to tell us all when the "electronic devices" which started shipping in ~March / April, became = the 3G iPhones?? With evidence pointing to the AT&T not doing sales till the week *after* the keynote, why ship so early? And why no sign of shipping to the UK, or Europe? I thought it was still rumor... Even the blog from the site regarding the shipments made sure they could only confirm it was "electronic devices" for Apple. It might be so that they are iPhones, but was Infineon actually mass producing the chips for the 3G iPhone that early? Their Earnings call pointed towards May...
Google Trends
Interesting to see it's only news, not inclusive of forums like here
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/06/05/how-to-measure-the-3g-iphone-buzz/. Eye opener
here
In the spirit of not bumping, It's a Friday, and like last year - the Friday before the keynote, you get to see Moscone West posters. Very conservative, currently, though if we get some higher resolution ones, we might see some teaser hints...
Firefox 3
Mozilla says Firefox 3 RC2 is bug free, news
here.
Images from 9to5mac Bear in mind that Apple is in all likelihood about to bring out a nice spanking new Webkit +/- SquirrelFish Safari version, for the iPhone and for Macs and for Windows. (And sort out the awful default font used on Windows? We can hope...).
Mac branding
Apple might be moving away from branding product with Mac too much. But it's not like Mac is going away, just being used more for specific products, than as an extra superfluous word to describe Apple product. With their move from .mac to ?? anticipated, it's definite that Apple wants to make clear that even if you have a Windows PC, you can get the benefits from the iPhone, and get syncing, iTunes, App Store, Movie downloads etc.
WWDC Moscone West Teaset Posters
Gernot Poetsch's flickr page
here. The direct link to the original large size picture is
here. Mini version attached for illustration. Apple is pushing that
- OS X Leopard is "The World's most advanced operating system" (showing a MacBook Air)
- OS X iPhone is "The World's most advanced mobile platform"(The future - it is calling)
UK release date, Australia, and more boxes
It's bee reported on MR, via mactalk.com.au, that reportedly they got a picture of a box that an Australian Reseller received, (and hence extrapolating to all resellers hmm...) the box saying do not open, sealed with a warning:
SUBJECT TO TERMS OF NDA
DO NOT OPEN UNTIL TUESDAY JUNE 10TH, 2008
Sounds a little bit fishy to me - you'd have to know who it was from, and be expecting it, wouldn't you, to be bound by an NDA? (Remember they're a couple of hours ahead of most of us, and well, if you're excited, Tuesday starts 1 minute after midnight
) The sources believe it's material for promotional prurposes- demo iPhones. Which would make some sense, otherwise there would be some pissed off peeps in the UK. Oz getting product greatly before UK? Methinks not too likely. Bit small for posters and the like?
It is taped to the bottom of the box too. And Apple would have better packaging than that. Hoax methinks.
Ahead of zdnet
From
Zdnet - "iPhone 3G to hit Europe July 1st?"
Spotting something we saw a while back, through a tip by Neal Hoskins they've woken up to the fact that on T-Mobile Germany's iPhone page, it has had a picture "a yellow offer sticky" stating "they will only be offering the current iPhone until 30 June 2008" (Their translation). They go on to infer that means Europe will get the iPhone 3G on 01 July possibly. I'd imagine it's more to do with the tariff pricing. As shown by the O2 and AT&T links, the carriers have to deal with PAYG, upgrading, recontracting, new purchases, high tariff purchases, enterprise purchases, which may all have different pricing. Hence the stopping of their previous bands. July 1st? Hell of a wait.
Mobile TV
Something that has been on the backburner recently, but has been picked up
here
Basically saying that the iPhone could "become the mobile video delivery device of choice for many consumers" by "providing a compelling mobile TV and video proposition before mobile broadcasting networks, such as DVB-H become widely available". No mention of the BBC's iPlayer & iPhone but it might be in the actual report by Mark Heath& Dr. Alastair Brydon, "iPhone Shows the Way for Mobile TV".
Remembering that the N96 will offer DVB-H, that Austria is going to be offering mobile TV, and that the iPhone could even have the capability (though might wait till later). Even without DVB-H, it could go it's own route via another means. Really, a simpler iTunes solution to convert any movie media to a decent iPhone format is needed. I'd imagine more people would want to sync video to their iPhone than watch live, but that's all dependent on 3G data rates, and the cost for it. Aparrently, it's called "sideloading" if you use iTunes to get video to the iPHone. Then you have wifi/3G access also. I'm still gunning for a wireless method of syncing any DRM-free files between iPhones, Bonjour style without a computer needed. Not to bore, but that'd kick ass. Flicking a movie or tune/album across to another iPhone via the touch screen, and wirelessly passing it over.
Developers Developers Developers
Whilst Google's Android is said to have a lot more developers looking into it, if Apple has enough time with the App Store and the new iPhones out, the interest built up by this might equate to bigger numbers of developers working on the iPhone.
From a macworld
on this subject, it's interesting to note that out of the door, Inventive will have an app called "Where To?" that will help you find restaurants, gas stations, or other Points of Interest around your location.
The interesting effect of the competition from other apps in this field, is that is should bring the price down rapidly of that sort of app, and also increase what is offered. What might cost >$1000 to install into a car (the Microsoft hardware/software package [url=]here) will be in the 10s of dollars.
As Casasanta of Inventive says: "“I want to get a feel for the market...One of the issues I have is pricing because there is no precedent set.” Pricing is up for grabs. There will be some definitive loss leaders, to hook people onto apps. Bean counting!
Disruptive technology indeed - ruffling GPS makers feathers, and also presumably car manufacturers, as this GPS is portable, ease to use. There may be a push for cars to have capability to connect a dock into the car for power, integration into the stereo etc. It's been pretty quiet on that front. It'll be interesting to see if car manufacturers/car stereo makers understand the potential here, and help get a dock either integrated or as an option to add on.
Roughly Drafted.com
Consistently good articles, definitely recommended reading
This peach: "Time Machine also showed off Apple’s readiness to experiment with bold new ideas for visualizing complex data in intuitive ways. Windows Enthusiasts who pounded their fists to demand equal coverage for Microsoft’s invisible and far less capable Volume Shadow Copy feature completely failed to recognize that much of the value of Apple’s new backup system came, not from implementing a conventional way to create restorable copies of information, but from making it easy for non technical users to browse those backups and easily recover lost items. They like to dismiss it as being “pretty,” as if looks aren’t a major reason for being wowed by a hot vehicle, sharp clothes, or any other well designed product. Remember, they’re suffering Stockholm Syndrome as captives of Microsoft’s horrific designs."
Resolution Independence comes. With such a large developer conference the iPhone may be the carrot, and Resolution Independence the stick. After all, they might soon come out with different sized screens, RI is useful. As noted in
this Roughly Drafted article, some problems Apple has on the desktop, it has also on the iPhone.
e.g. Menus, Copy/Paste, Services. If we're moving towards multi-touch, and gestures, this would link in well with "popup contextual pies menus and piping" - i.e. you make a swirly gesture, the menu pops up as a piechart of applications/choices, you pick the pie chart can dynamically update as you drill down/ do whatever you told it to. As iPhone OS is in part a modified OS X, you'd think that they'd be looking at the problems and sorting them out for both, with the relevant bespoke answer for both.
RD talks about Copy / Paste Plus solutions in terms of
- Looking at the current 3rd party solutions for ideas
- A clipboard, but better e.g. "Copy an item and drop it into a bucket organized just like Safari Bookmarks: visual, immediately searchable (!), and wildly flexible."
- Use Bonjour sharing
I think that Copy & Paste might have been held back for this reason - to do it right first time requires a lot of back end work. I'd imagine they'd want Bonjour - files, data - passing urls between iPhones, syncing notes, clipboard material onto .mac, your iPhone etc. Copy & Paste over networks, over wires, wirelessly, copy& Paste wherever you are (seeing as it was lacking, i'd imagine Apple will kind of push that they've solved it at the keynote).
Who hasn't emailed themselves some data as a data dump to then resuse elsewhere? RD has iWork, 10.6 slated for WWDC 09.
