The Evidence for a 3G iPhone... June 2008

[sleepingworker]

The American dollar is still on fire in people's wallets - the truth is, people still can't spend their money fast enough, wherever it may be going, whenever it is spent. As long as we live in a society bent on building SUV's in a time of oil crisis (and such), people will be willing to go just as far for near anything else. Which is why eBay is the giant that we know today. Those who can afford the iPhone, more often than not, don't mind an extra $20 spent so long as they obtain what they're after. If they're satisfied with it, then the $$ is even further justified and therefore will be justifiable down the road - i.e. iPhone 2.0.

As per the Blog, in a sense, it is supposed to be insulting and ignorant, but such comments can be expressed there. It is an entirely fictional method of thinking from a made up character. It's all a part of how America has it's own way of thinking and eventually I'll get that big picture out there, but that's for another time. Sorry you take it so personal but keep in mind it is fiction.

OT, but why did you reveal that your blog is fiction? Now it loses its bite. I enjoyed that Skippy had time to grace us with his presence but not the time to proofread! ... And hear YOU we did! lol

"ABOUT ME

SKIPPY
I'm faster than Jeff Gordon, more generous than Oprah, smarter than Bill Gates, and I still have time you grace you with my presence. Can you hear me now?"

 

[AlphaAnt]

Tomorrow_ Something iPhone...

You know, if they did announce an update tomorrow (April 1st), I would have a VERY VERY hard time believing it.

 

[Soul]

Am I right in thinking that O2 (the sole 'official' UK iPhone carrier) doesn't have a 3G network (just EDGE)?

In which case what happens? They going to have to upgrade? Or is there going to be more than one UK carrier? Oh will they lose the contract? Or will the UK not get a 3G iPhone?

Apologies if someone already mentioned this

 

[SkippyThorson]

OT, but why did you reveal that your blog is fiction? Now it loses its bite. I enjoyed that Skippy had time to grace us with his presence but not the time to proofread! ... And hear YOU we did! lol

"ABOUT ME

SKIPPY
I'm faster than Jeff Gordon, more generous than Oprah, smarter than Bill Gates, and I still have time you grace you with my presence. Can you hear me now?"

I assure you, I run that show, and I work at the New Hartford New York Walmart, etc. Some things, have to be embellished, though the blog itself isn't fiction, my take on that entry is. Believe me, I'm a part of that middle class.

Oh, and good call on that About Me. Even a man of mythic standards makes mistakes. Time to proofread; nonsensical.

 

[11800506]

by 2012 4g or whatever the next gen is will be standard. CDMA is going backwards

Sorry for posting this so late in the thread, but yeah... by the time the exclusive contract runs out, Verizon will be on 4G which Verizon chose to use the LTE (one of the GSM standards) which is also what AT&T plans on using, so I don't think we will ever see a CDMA iPhone.

 

[0098386]

Am I right in thinking that O2 (the sole 'official' UK iPhone carrier) doesn't have a 3G network (just EDGE)?

Of course o2 has 3G. Why would you think otherwise?

 

[benmrii]

You know, if they did announce an update tomorrow (April 1st), I would have a VERY VERY hard time believing it.

I lol'd.

 

[Nik]

Why are especially the retail stores out of stock?
They are primarily supplied by Apple, so it does not make any sense to me.

Why would they change the form factor or whatever in the middle of the production? It would make a lot of more sense if they do this with a new model.

Maybe they are updating the iPhone silently.
Build a 3G chipset into the new phones and enable it a little bit later?!

The Apple Online Store does also indicate a shortage.
But whats the reason of this shortage?

 

[fixyourthinking]

The iPhone Can Already Access 3G at 3G Speeds

I really hate it when a rumor site gives buying advice.

Anyway, I'm not shamelessly promoting my blog here but I came with a real honest to goodness way to get 3G on the iPhone - the solution also gives you access to the iTunes Music store on your iPhone as a bonus. It requires no hacks and no modifications.

How To get 3G On an iPhone With NO HACKS!

 

[William Gates]

a one-stop-shop for all things politics, religion, sports ... anything you can think of.

tigerdroppings.com check all the boards, i'm there most the time for everything but apple/technology discussion.

oh, and the buying advice is right on par with what i started telling all my friends last week. the 3G iPhone is to imminent to buy a 1st generation model now.

 

[benmrii]

I really hate it when a rumor site gives buying advice.

Anyway, I'm not shamelessly promoting my blog here but I came with a real honest to goodness way to get 3G on the iPhone - the solution also gives you access to the iTunes Music store on your iPhone as a bonus. It requires no hacks and no modifications.

How To get 3G On an iPhone With NO HACKS!

That's great. It's legal. It's one more piece of evidence at how far behind the iPhone is with respect to its wireless network connection when the solution to bring it up to speed with three year old smart phones is so bulky, expensive and "third-party-y."

 

[fixyourthinking]

That's great. It's legal. It's one more piece of evidence at how far behind the iPhone is with respect to its wireless network connection when the solution to bring it up to speed with three year old smart phones is so bulky, expensive and "third-party-y."

You do realize that as of RIGHT NOW 3G is only in 28% of the US covering 40% - 45% of the population.

The biggest reason Apple doesn't have 3G in iPhones - battery consumption and the fact that NO ONE can actually GET IT!

AT&T will make that will change in June - covering 75% of the US population.

 

[SkippyThorson]

You do realize that as of RIGHT NOW 3G is only in 28% of the US covering 40% - 45% of the population.

The biggest reason Apple doesn't have 3G in iPhones - battery consumption and the fact that NO ONE can actually GET IT!

AT&T will make that will change in June - covering 75% of the US population.

You have all the numbers on this - I like that.

That's sure an interesting idea. One I probably wouldn't try in the near future, but interesting nonetheless.

I say Steve should hold a keynote tomorrow streaming to Apple.com, give some details on the 3g iPhone, then do a one more thing with April Fools - which would leave everyone guessing and talking.

 

[benmrii]

You do realize that as of RIGHT NOW 3G is only in 28% of the US covering 40% - 45% of the population.

The biggest reason Apple doesn't have 3G in iPhones - battery consumption and the fact that NO ONE can actually GET IT!

AT&T will make that will change in June - covering 75% of the US population.

I'm fully aware of it, and I understand the logic of the decision. I still have always found it sadly amusing that such a ground-breaking, innovative device is years behind in its foundational aspect: internet connection.

"Blah blah Wi-Fi rules!"

I know I know, it does. But that isn't the way all of us use it.

As I said earlier in this thread:

I respect the rationale for holding off on 3G, primarily power consumption, for someone like me it will be worth the wait if I see 3G in June.

For the average user, power consumption is more important (read, something they are more likely to complain about) than EDGE vs. 3G. Couple that with the fact that many of the users such as myself, who would be significantly frustrated in Wi-Fi-less areas with the horrific EDGE connection, are looking to use more professional based applications, Microsoft Exchange networks (a necessary evil!), etc. So here we have, most likely, software capabilities brought up to speed at the same time the web connection is. A well executed development curve.

 

[havenhamilton]

Apple would miss out on huge advertising opportunities if they just started selling the 3G iPhone some day without announcement or anything, the sales would not be as high. If anything happens in June, I think it will be the announcement of a 3G iPhone for somewhere around Nov./Dec. That seems to make more sense to me than simply making an announcement that the iPhone 3G will start selling today.

so you think apple would be willing to sell hardly any iphones for almost 6 months so they could get some ads in? the moment they announce 3g no one will buy an iphone until the new ones come out.

 

[corrado7]

so you think apple would be willing to sell hardly any iphones for almost 6 months so they could get some ads in? the moment they announce 3g no one will buy an iphone until the new ones come out.

apparently that makes sense to him

and failed to take in consideration the goal of 10 mil iphones sold this year.

 

[caspartheghost]

I hope that Apple doesn't fudge it again, and delivers HSDPA/ HSUPA support rather than plain old 3G. That's because here in the UK we can get HSDPA across a lot of the country (3.6Mbit/s), and the high-spec version in parts of London (7.2Mbit/s). It's not quite WiMAX/ WiBRO (up to 50Mbit, even when travelling at up to 70mph), but it's still pretty nice.

 

[Zwhaler]

I'm guessing along with the software update:

8 GB 2.5 iPhone - $299 (while supplies last)
16 GB 3G iPhone - $399
32 GB 3G iPhone - $499

This would make sense for Apple, and I hope they do this. But it almost makes getting the 3G iPhone a better deal.... but then again that is what they want because then they make more money

Tomorrow_ Something iPhone...

Maybe not something iPhone, but definitely something. I mean its gonna be a Tuesday for god's sake! Plus, that "March 6th Event" homepage is starting to annoy me. It's been there for almost a month.

 

[iEdd]

I hope that Apple doesn't fudge it again, and delivers HSDPA/ HSUPA support rather than plain old 3G. That's because here in the UK we can get HSDPA across a lot of the country (3.6Mbit/s), and the high-spec version in parts of London (7.2Mbit/s). It's not quite WiMAX/ WiBRO (up to 50Mbit, even when travelling at up to 70mph), but it's still pretty nice.

Wow, those speeds are incredible. I'd be happy with 512kbit/s +

 

[TedB]

I hope that Apple doesn't fudge it again, and delivers HSDPA/ HSUPA support rather than plain old 3G. That's because here in the UK we can get HSDPA across a lot of the country (3.6Mbit/s), and the high-spec version in parts of London (7.2Mbit/s). It's not quite WiMAX/ WiBRO (up to 50Mbit, even when travelling at up to 70mph), but it's still pretty nice.

As much as I hope so too, Apple is going to go with whatever chip that gives the phone the best speed to power consumption ratio. I could see Apple giving us a slower 3G chip and throwing in a better wifi antenna, and then once again touting that wifi is faster then cell broadband.

You know, if they did announce an update tomorrow (April 1st), I would have a VERY VERY hard time believing it.

I would still place my order lol

 

[Digital Skunk]

Well, the rollout of a national WiMax network has pretty much fallen apart. Sprint was the telecom pushing this through and whether or not Sprint is even around in the next two years is questionable.

Now the major Cable companies, Comcast, Time Warner and a third one, has stepped in, but their goal is to fight the telecoms. Which appears to mean that the telecoms will left out of WiMax network, leaving just VOIP.

WiMax if it really gets off the ground is a good two to three years away from being a national network.

I doubt that Sprint will be going anywhere in the next few years. Not that I am a Sprint fanboy or anything, if they did go under then that would leave me and many others in a bind since not too many companies offer as much services for the price that they do.

Another poster mentioned that WiMax may not take off as well as 4G, and Sprint may have to hope on the 4G bandwagon, which would be okay in my book, as well as VOIP.

Then that would just leave the services that AT&T doesn't have. Insurance and unlimited broadband access which AT&T can't match with either Verizon or Sprint. If anything else, can AT&T beef their services up so that users who haven't jumped on the iPhone/AT&T bandwagon can do so and not downgrade their services/options? Will AT&T ever offer insurance for smartphone and their higher end handsets?

Honestly, if AT&T got that, and a much faster network rolled out then I could see myself jumping ship once my Sprint contract was up, or once I found it economical to pay the early termination fee ($200) and the price to sign on to AT&T.

 

[edoublep]

really?

According to Wikipedia:



AT&T is saying that all cities of over 100 thousand people will be fully covered with 3G by June, if not done already, and they're likely not going to stop there, so it's safe to say that a majority of Americans live in cities with 3G networks.

That's interesting. I live in Charleston, West Virginia, a city of about 60,000 people (400,000 in the metro area) and we've been told that by the end of May, we'll see 3G. There are reports of folks talking to techs who have let it slip that there are already 3G radios installed in various parts of the city, just waiting to be lit.

 

[GregA]

so you think apple would be willing to sell hardly any iphones for almost 6 months so they could get some ads in? the moment they announce 3g no one will buy an iphone until the new ones come out.

I wonder if Apple can position the 3G phone in a way that the 2G phone is still attractive.

Apple updates are always tricky. We avoid buying a product if it's about to be updated so that we get the best bang for our buck. It's a pity Apple products don't move themselves slowly to a lower price point so buying 20 days before an announcement doesn't hurt.

That said... I originally thought Apple was slowing down the channel so that once the 3G confirmed-rumours were out they would correctly match the reduced demand for iPhones. But running out entirely is another thing.

My new prediction - a technology bumped 2G iPhone real soon (cheaper, perhaps functionally identical but lower power, more integrated chips) alongside a 3G announcement for June? I wonder if a 2G iPhone with GPS is a possibility.
... if Apple released that road map with cheaper 2G and more expensive 3G, otherwise almost identical, it may be enough to keep 2G sales quite happy.
... and if they don't tell us what 3G plans they have... then many people who would otherwise buy 2G will hold off just incase the 3G deal is hugely better.

 

[sleepingworker]

Honestly, if AT&T got that, and a much faster network rolled out then I could see myself jumping ship once my Sprint contract was up, or once I found it economical to pay the early termination fee ($200) and the price to sign on to AT&T.

DS, would you consider buying an iP and unlocking it to stay with Sprint or go to another carrier that is not AT&T?

 

[lesterdiamond]

apparently every Apple store in Florida is sold out of iPhones. What gives...