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June 9, 2008

iphone

WWDC: iPhone 3G, now with GPS and a slimmer price tag

Posted Jun. 9, ’08, 12:45 PM PT by Aayush Arya
Category | iPhone

iPhone 3GThere used to be a time, my dear friends, when events like Macworld and WWDC used to take us by surprise. We used to be blown away by the unexpected and unforeseen announcements and no one knew what was next. That seems to be in the past now, however, as each Jobsian keynote turns out to be easily and increasingly predictable.

In any case, the iPhone 3G is amidst us now and it takes care of most of the complaints people had with the device’s previous iteration. Not only does it boast of 3G connectivity now, which is supposed to be about 2.5 times faster than EDGE, it also has GPS (in addition to the cell tower and Wi-Fi hotspot triangulation features it already had), is thinner, has a flush headphone jack (yes, you read that right) and better battery life. Oh, and the 16GB model comes in white as well.

Since the new phone will be running iPhone software v2.0 by default, it will have access to the App Store, enterprise features and MobileMe too. And at $199 for the 8GB model, and $299 for its elder sibling, it’s far more affordable as well. It practically seems that Steve Jobs made a list of everything that was being demanded by users and checked them off one-by-one. We’re definitely not complaining.

Jobs also announced that the iPhone will go on sale in 22 countries around the globe on July 11th and the rest of the countries, up to a total of seventy, in coming months. The App Store will also feature in all the countries the iPhone is in, regardless of whether they have the iTunes Store or not.

It isn’t available on the Apple Online Store right now, so if the iPhone 3G is what you want, you’ll need to visit your nearest Apple or AT&T Store. For more iPhone coverage, visit our sister site iPhone Central. We’d love to hear your thoughts, remarks and questions in the comments thread below.


10 Comments

Dave said:

An 8GB iPhone is the same cost as a nano? What the....

June 9, 2008 1:35 PM
Daniel said:

You're quite right about the lack of a surprise element these days.

The heavy trailing of the 3G and GPS probably explains my distinct feeling of 'underwhelmment' right now.

No 5mp camera? No 32MB version? Only the most meagre of design refreshes?

It leaves me thinking that the Apple designers are saving a lot of goodies in their arsenal waiting for the iPhone v3.

What do others have on their wish list for the next iteration?

June 9, 2008 3:23 PM
Okay Okay said:

Blah blah blah... i don't need a phone, i need a macbook pro with hdmi and blue-ray.
Come on Apple, are you really making computers ?

June 10, 2008 12:25 AM
Dave-O said:

It's thinner at the edges, looking at the specs, I think it's actually thicker.

June 10, 2008 1:40 AM
vaporware said:

It's not available online. It's not available at stores. I hope Apple won't have its infamous chronic supply problem with this one.

June 10, 2008 8:10 AM
skadiwolf said:

It isn't going to be available at all online because like other mobile devices, you must activate it at the store in person. However, apparently the Apple stores will be able to do this so you won't have to go to an AT&T store exclusively.

Is it true about the audio improvements? I've only seen that mentioned once and no one seems to have commented upon it since.

June 10, 2008 12:02 PM
Lindkold said:

Come on...
The www does actually still mean WORLD wide. Don't keep your attitude that the US is the only country online and talking about iPhones.
So please DON'T write that people should visit their local "AT&T store"
We do actually have the worlds highest standard for internet, móbile devices, broadband etc. in Scandinavia - so please give us some well deserved respect and leave out your US-Only comments - Or make this a US-Only website ;-)

Regards from Copenhagen.

June 10, 2008 12:25 PM
Dave-O said:

@Lindkold, you haven't been following Aayush's posts, have you?

@skadiwolf, actually audio improvements were mentioned. Nothing specifc, but one might infer better speakerphone.

June 12, 2008 10:33 AM
Aayush Arya Author Profile Page said:

LOL! That had been my first thought too when I’d read that comment. :p

@Lindkold,
You do realise that posts written during/immediately after Steve Jobs’s keynotes are hurriedly pieced together so that we can hit the publish button and bring the news to our readers ASAP. Of course, we try to ensure, to the best of our efforts, that we do not publish any misleading or inaccurate information and generally avoid posting things we are unsure about, but sometimes things slip through the cracks. Trust me when I say this, it’s a pressure situation out here when we’re trying to keep up with the live-blog and typing away the posts at the same time.

In this particular case, the U.S. Store was the only one up and running when this post was sent to the press. Even the rest of Apple.com was unaware about the presence of iPhone 3G. I just wrote what I could be reasonably sure about, stuff that was explicitly mentioned on the U.S. Store.

Being an Indian myself, I would be the last person disregarding our non-American reader base, which is not to say that anyone else on the MacUser team would either. :)

June 12, 2008 11:10 AM
Lindkold said:

@Dave-O, Maybe - I never notice who writes what - I only pay attention to content.

@Aayush, Please note that I'm not remarking anything about nationality, only pointing out the fact that if this site is targeted towards a global audience, it is important to remember that so many Apple(and other) products works differently in the US than in many other countries (i.e. AT&T 2-yr "give us your money" period - which would be illegal in most european countries). Visual voicemail and other features are maybe not supported or not possible, while in other areas european (and Scandinavian countries in particular) are way ahead (i.e. for 2.5 yrs. I have had a 20MB wireless internet-connection at home - this is not extraordinary here, but I'm sure it would be in the US 2 yrs. ago).

It's just often seen, that especially US based sites post articles- allthough having very interesting content - are written in a way that shows they are totally ignorant about the world around them - Not saying that your articles are written like that.

Anybody can post in a form they feel right, but if your target group is global, you should write in global terms (or specifically underline your point).

I understand posting live from an event like WWDC speed is critical and form is less relevant so this is a special situation. But hopefully my post has started some thoughts ;-)

Regards -.-

June 12, 2008 11:49 AM

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