3G iPhone Pricing to Remain at $399, $499? Launch At WWDC?

[The Phazer]

Personally, I dont need more than 4gb.

Better camera? Man! Its a phone to begin with. The current camera is perfect for what it does and IMHO is better than any other phone I've ever used.

Well... I'm afraid to say you can't have used many other phone cameras then. While the iPhone's camera is good for a 2mp model, it's very, very noticibly inferior to most phone cameras which are 5mp with a flash.

And the lack of a flash or light is absolutely crippling.

I honestly don't know what Apple is thinking if they go through a hardware revision without changing the camera.

Phazer

 

[natejohnstone@g]

The iPhone mini, however, will be more of a 'toy'. By harnessing the newest battery and charging technology, Apple will be able to make a phone with all of the current iPhone tech, but at 2/3 the size of the iPhone. This will appeal to many users that are still shying away from the iPhone. My wife for example- I had gotten her an iPhone when it was first released, and she hated it. It only did 1/2 of the things her Razr did, and didn't come close to my Blackberry. She ended up giving it away to my brother. Since then, she has switched to a Blackberry Pearl, and loves the functionality and the comfort of the smaller phone. With the release of an iPhone with a smaller footprint, I can almost guarantee that she (and many other women) will switch to Apple.

I'm not going to question the veracity of your "source," though I also think there will be an iPhone Mini within a year's time. But for me personally, I DO NOT want a smaller iPhone. I like the current screen size, and when you're talking about watching videos, playing games, surfing the web, or editing documents, a smaller screen doesn't make sense for my personally.

I want an iPhone of the current screen size (thinner and lighter is fine) but with all the "toys" included and better battery life, as well as at least 32GB of storage spce.

And the lack of a flash or light is absolutely crippling.

The lack of flash was and is a CHOICE on the part of , not an omission. They could add it, but they won't because it's a security risk. Hacking wireless devices using flash is one of the "in" things these days, and keeps security as their highest priority--for better or worse. For me, I'd rather have a device that's harder to hack. But to each his own.

 

[EagerDragon]

A consumer product announcement at WWDC?? Doubtful.

Any change that have an effect on the developers and or SDK makes it pertinent to the developers.

Besides it looks like 50% or more of WWDC will be about how to program the iPhone or how to leverage it at your corporation.

If there are any changes that affect the developers, and they release it at WWDC they better have at least 5,000 units at the local Apple store to handle the majority of the conference attendees.

The most sold phones in one day ever (developers + general public waiting for 3G). I can see an easy 50,000 in one day.

I have a feeling it will be released at WWDC, likely something in the new model affects the SDK.

 

[sleepingworker]

The lack of flash was and is a CHOICE on the part of , not an omission. They could add it, but they won't because it's a security risk. Hacking wireless devices using flash is one of the "in" things these days, and keeps security as their highest priority--for better or worse. For me, I'd rather have a device that's harder to hack. But to each his own.

I could be wrong but didn't Apple and Adobe confirm that a version of Flash is being developed for the iPhone?

 

[EagerDragon]

Less than 2 weeks in current Sprint contract. Waiting afternoon on 23rd to get an el-cheap-o phone with AT&T to hold me over until iPhone Take-2 comes out.

I could be wrong but didn't Apple and Adobe confirm that a version of Flash is being developed for the iPhone?

Nope. Apple has no intension of running an Adobe version of Flash. Flash on iPhone violates the EULA and introduces risk. Apple may consider themselves porting a mini flash that does not allow code execution, but I dough it.

 

[Carniphage]

Less Plasticky than...

...the $199 iPhone.

Which will be shiny plastic.


C.

 

[DavidLeblond]

The lack of flash was and is a CHOICE on the part of , not an omission. They could add it, but they won't because it's a security risk. Hacking wireless devices using flash is one of the "in" things these days, and keeps security as their highest priority--for better or worse. For me, I'd rather have a device that's harder to hack. But to each his own.

He said lack of A flash. As in the bright light that blinks when you take a picture with a camera? Did any of you actually read his comment, or did you scan for the word "flash" and jumped him?

 

[EagerDragon]

They have to up the iPhone storage to 16GB/32GB at the current price points.

always does this with their iPod devices when there is an update. After this much time, if they do NOT double the storage space, they'll virtually guarantee that those who have been sitting on the fence (like myself) will NOT jump into the game now either. Also, there is no real incentive for current iPhone owners to "upgrade" to the new device if there is no memory difference. (Must current users likely won't feel the need to switch just for the other features--but their maxed-out storrage space is a good incentive).

With all the iClone devices out right now and coming out soot, has to be very aggressive if it wants to stay competitive in the niche that it invented. People need a good reason to switch to AT&T, and most of them don't even know what 3G means. You need to give people what they already know they want--more space!

There is already a 32GB iPod Touch. They have to release a 32GB iPhone at the $499 price point at WWDC. If they don't, they won't hit their 10M goal--mark my words!

That is strange. Until the iPhone came out, most phones had 128 Megs and were expandable to about 2 Gig with a flash card and billions of phones like that were sold.

There is an iPhone with 16 Gigs and an iPod Touch with 32 Gigs, not to mention the classic with something like 120 Gigs.

People will go with the best for their needs and give preferential to trendy when all other measures are the same.

Apple has little to worry about.

 

[GQB]

The more I think about it the less likely it seems that WWDC will be where they announce/release the 3G iPhone. The only product that Apple has ever announced there (to my knowledge) is the Mac Pro, not exactly a mass market product. WWDC is for developers, and future OSX/Mac products, not consumer releases.

Apple will probably have a specific event for the 3G iPhone and App Store launch...

The difference is that the focus of WWDC is going to be the SDK which is about to become another big differentiator between iPhone and the rest.
Its precisely because WWDC is normally such a 'low-key' event (compared to MacWorld) that I'd expect the iPhone to be announced there. This makes it a 2nd big media event that pushes both the new iPhone and the new applications.
Also, a lot of the MacWorld 'bump' was eaten up by the recession, so this becomes a do-over.

 

[Oilbrnr]

My first Mac, a PowerPC 6200CD, only had 12GB... sigh...

Mine only had 512k, and it was called "Fat".

 

[macbook123]

Will the new iPhone still be made in China?

...just wondering...

Not sure I'll buy it if that's going to be the case.

 

[guruji]

nice to know that, even Europeans want this gadget. Normally Europe is daddy to America, when it comes to science, cutting-edge technology, food, luxury, royalty, class & of course hot-couture.

SJ is doing good to America.

 

[jeffereyj]

If you don't get a good signal then you obviously don't live in a major metropolitan area as you claim. I get five bars all the time here.

sorry but i live smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles, on the TOP of a hill in the Hollywood Hills (west of Laurel Canyon) and some days at my house i only have 1 bar.

for some reason, the past couple of months, the most i get is 2 bars now.

ridiculous.

 

[atszyman]

He did say that, but aren't the drives the same physical size?

It's not drives, it's chips, and the chips while, small do consume space. The iPod Touch uses 2 16GB chips to get to 32 GB, there is no extra room on the circuit board. The iPhone takes away one of the memory chips and uses that space for all of the Phone radio hardware. The only way you'll see 32 GB is if the 32 GB chips drop in price enough to warrant the upgrade, in which case I'd expect a 64 GB touch at the same time.

iPhone will never be slimmer than the iPod Touch, since phone capabilities are almost impossible to get that thin, and be expected to function as flawlessly as Apple demands, no chance on either of these matters, SORRY!

The iPhone might not be thinner than the iPod Touch but they could match thicknesses. The Touch does use some smaller components than the phone that could be ported to the next phone rev which might bring the Touch and Phone to the same thickness.

I call BS you cant fit 32GB of chips in the iPhone vs 16GB Just go look at flash drives. Look at two of the same brand, they physically are not any different on the outside. If it's a matter of one memory slot vs two well someone needs to get off there a$$ and fix that issue ASAP.
For example I was shopping Newegg.com yesterday and the 16GB and 32GB drives look the same to me. SO you can fit the same memory in the same physical space. You can have a 16 for around $60 and the 32 is a shade more than double. They just don't want to give us a 32GB device at the moment.

Rj

Flash drives don't use all of the available space in their enclosures or on the circuit boards as the iPhone does. Since the drive form factor was decided on when chips and capacities were much smaller, as capacities increase and chips get smaller, the number of chips and their capacities have no trouble fitting into the previously established form factor. Since the Phone is it's own form factor and is made to be as small as possible there is no extra room on the circuit board to fit extra memory chips without making the circuit board bigger which would require the phone to be bigger. As soon as the 32 GB chips reach a price where it's profitable to use them, we'll see the 32 GB iPhone. That might be by June, it might not be until September but we won't see a 32 GB iPhone until then, at which point we'll also see the 64 GB Touch.

 

[diamond.g]

...just wondering...

Not sure I'll buy it if that's going to be the case.

Do you own a Mac now? Cause they are all Made in China.

 

[macbook123]

Do you own a Mac now? Cause they are all Made in China.

yes I do, which is why I feel even more obliged to try to not purchase goods from China in the future. I only recently became aware of the ethical implications of supporting the economy of a country which doesn't allow freedom of speech, and is among the biggest violators of other essential human rights in the world. It's a complicated topic, as many of the other companies produce in China as well (while making inferior hard&software in my opinion). I surely need a computer, and it'll be hard to find a way. But I'll keep looking. My current Mac will probably be useable for another year or two.

I'm hoping there will be discussion on this issue on this forum.

 

[r3dko]

Do you own a Mac now? Cause they are all Made in China.

Not only are they made in China, but they are made in the same factories that produce Dell computers.

I found a supplier in China that was offering me authentic Apple Macbook Pros (with top spec) for ~$1500, along with upper-tier Dell XPS laptops for around the same price. He even offered (under the table, more or less), to sell me non-branded laptops identical to the MacBook pros. Choose your logo, choose the name, order at least 3,000 units, and you now have a non-Apple laptop running OSX, Linux, or Windoze.. with your brand stamped all over it. It seemed shady to me then, but it has since been verified that yes, these are the real deal. Should have taken the offer when it was available -- now someone out there is selling Pros for 1/2 price, and calling them Pears or Oranges...

 

[diamond.g]

yes I do, which is why I feel even more obliged to try to not purchase goods from China in the future. I only recently became aware of the ethical implications of supporting the economy of a country which doesn't allow freedom of speech, and is among the biggest violators of other essential human rights in the world. It's a complicated topic, as many of the other companies produce in China as well (while making inferior hard&software in my opinion). I surely need a computer, and it'll be hard to find a way. But I'll keep looking. My current Mac will probably be useable for another year or two.

I'm hoping there will be discussion on this issue on this forum.

Ah. I see. Well good luck in that endeavor. It is difficult to find electronic items that didn't have some component made in China. I suppose if enough people complain, Apple may change where they get the stuff made at. Somehow I don't think the shareholders will like the loss in profit though.

Not only are they made in China, but they are made in the same factories that produce Dell computers.

I found a supplier in China that was offering me authentic Apple Macbook Pros (with top spec) for ~$1500, along with upper-tier Dell XPS laptops for around the same price. He even offered (under the table, more or less), to sell me non-branded laptops identical to the MacBook pros. Choose your logo, choose the name, order at least 3,000 units, and you now have a non-Apple laptop running OSX, Linux, or Windoze.. with your brand stamped all over it. It seemed shady to me then, but it has since been verified that yes, these are the real deal. Should have taken the offer when it was available -- now someone out there is selling Pros for 1/2 price, and calling them Pears or Oranges...

Crazy, hindsight is 20/20 eh?

 

[eastcoastsurfer]

yes I do, which is why I feel even more obliged to try to not purchase goods from China in the future. I only recently became aware of the ethical implications of supporting the economy of a country which doesn't allow freedom of speech, and is among the biggest violators of other essential human rights in the world. It's a complicated topic, as many of the other companies produce in China as well (while making inferior hard&software in my opinion). I surely need a computer, and it'll be hard to find a way. But I'll keep looking. My current Mac will probably be useable for another year or two.

I'm hoping there will be discussion on this issue on this forum.

You recently became aware? You must be young. China has been trampling over human rights for years. On top of human rights, they are just as poor in the environmental aspect too. I'm surprised that an athletic event like the Olympics can even happen in China given the amount of air pollution that is around every city with any size.

 

[i.maverick]

The N95 has memory expansion slots. At the moment you can get 12Gb cards but 16Gb will be with us shortly. It also has an accelerometer. As for ear sensor, only the iPhone actually needs this.

In addition the iPhone doesn't have a video camera, an acceptable resolution still camera and a number of expected software features plus the features you've already mentioned.

Like it or not it's behind.

okay.. banger.. usually i don't bother.. but
first of all.. the n95 does not have an accelerometer.a proper accelerometer which can detect movement.
video camera is not a hardware but a software miss. the resolution does not determine the quality of pictures.
yes it misses a lot of things which should be there which the n95 or n series in general have been doing for years, but what you mentioned is just bull.
and yes, you can put 8 or 16 gigs now at an additional cost, but have you tried it.? it would take months for that poor n95 to open the gallery. mmph...

Well... I'm afraid to say you can't have used many other phone cameras then. While the iPhone's camera is good for a 2mp model, it's very, very noticibly inferior to most phone cameras which are 5mp with a flash.

And the lack of a flash or light is absolutely crippling.

I honestly don't know what Apple is thinking if they go through a hardware revision without changing the camera.

Phazer

okay. once again, the resolution does not determine the quality of pictures. if you bring the 5MP camera down to 2MP(in the settings), you could compare and the iphone actually takes pretty good pictures. lack of flash though, is a setback. but flash on fones is pretty much useless as the range is too small, and within that range also, they are not that effective. and yes, i have used and seen almost al the camera phones out there. n82, k850i(much better) and others..

The lack of flash was and is a CHOICE on the part of , not an omission. They could add it, but they won't because it's a security risk. Hacking wireless devices using flash is one of the "in" things these days, and keeps security as their highest priority--for better or worse. For me, I'd rather have a device that's harder to hack. But to each his own.

lol... this is funny.. how does one hack using flash.?
i thing he's talking flash for the camera not adobe's flash.

The lack of flash was and is a CHOICE on the part of , not an omission. They could add it, but they won't because it's a security risk. Hacking wireless devices using flash is one of the "in" things these days, and keeps security as their highest priority--for better or worse. For me, I'd rather have a device that's harder to hack. But to each his own.

lol... this is funny.. how does one hack using flash.?
i think he's talking about flash for the camera not adobe's flash.

sorry.. didn't know i posted the earlier one.

 

[MacFly123]

Great balls of fury! Get ready for a price upgrade - no way AT&T is going to keep their newer wide-spread 3g at $20; I'd guess there will be at least a $30 price point while regular users (non-iPhone) pay a $20 premium over that.

Can someone in here please confirm this debate??? I swear someone on here posted before that AT&T's data plans already include 3G coverage and that they do not differentiate between that and EDGE. This better be true or I am going to be VERY upset and the end of June!

 

[SlightlyEnhancd]

Can someone in here please confirm this debate??? I swear someone on here posted before that AT&T's data plans already include 3G coverage and that they do not differentiate between that and EDGE. This better be true or I am going to be VERY upset and the end of June!

Actually, you can confirm it yourself by going to the AT&T Wireless website. Many of the phones they now sell are 3G, and they are rolling out more and more 3G coverage. If you sign up for a plan, it does not say "this price for EDGE, this price for 3G." All coverage is the same price. This is not future technology, they have it now. It's the iPhone that we hope will change to 3G, AT&T is already using the technology with many other phones.

Edit: I should add that it is a misconception that the iPhone has its own pricing plan. A 900 minute "iPhone plan" is $79.99/mo. For any other phone you pay $59.99/mo. for 900 minutes, plus unlimited web/data for $15.00, plus 200 text messages at $5.00 equals $79.99/mo. Same exact price. It's just clever marketing that they've put it together and called it an "iPhone plan".

 

[BongoBanger]

okay.. banger.. usually i don't bother.. but
first of all.. the n95 does not have an accelerometer.a proper accelerometer which can detect movement.

Yes it does. The moving ball app. demonstrates this as does the activity monitor.

http://blogs.forum.nokia.com/blog/andreas-jakls-forum-nokia-blog/python/2007/11/27/shakerracer
http://research.nokia.com/projects/activity_monitor

video camera is not a hardware but a software miss. the resolution does not determine the quality of pictures.

Fair enough, got that one wrong - the N95 shoots video at 30 FPS and 640 x 480 resolution though. As for resolution not determining the quality of pictures, you're not actually being serious, are you?

Of course this raises the question "if it's just firmware then why doesn't the iPhone have a video recording of 30 FPS?"

yes it misses a lot of things which should be there which the n95 or n series in general have been doing for years, but what you mentioned is just bull.

No it isn't. I was off about the video recorder being hardware but it does have an accelerometer and it does support equivalent memory to the iPhone.

and yes, you can put 8 or 16 gigs now at an additional cost, but have you tried it.? it would take months for that poor n95 to open the gallery. mmph...

Yes I have and can quite categorically say you're wrong. Plus I enjoy the ability to stick the memory card directly into a card reader and transfer the pictures in an instant. Of course, I could do it by bluetooth or wi-fi or by syncing but that's so... slow.

 

[JWeier@Transpar]

I would expect to see 3G iPhones with 8GB or 16GB of memory for the same price point. If they make the case smaller they can't bump to 32GB. Personally I like the current size, Touch is too thin, feels fragile.

Personally I would love to see GPS in the unit. I feel like it brings more to the table then 3G, but clearly they don't. It's sad that my free Verizon phone had GPS for some reason a futuristic cell phone can't? Lame.

I just hope they don't put the worlds scratchiest metal on the back like with all iPods.

 

[Martin C]

sorry but i live smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles, on the TOP of a hill in the Hollywood Hills (west of Laurel Canyon) and some days at my house i only have 1 bar.

for some reason, the past couple of months, the most i get is 2 bars now.

ridiculous.

Well that kinda sucks. Sorry to hear that.