Steve Jobs did something never before seen in the history of Apple: He unveiled a cutting-edge product that's relatively cheap.
The iPhone 3G handles data at nearly three times the speed of its predecessor, and has built-in, always-on global positioning via satellite, but costs $199 $400 less than the original iPhone, unveiled almost a year ago. The phone will be available in the U.S. and 21 other countries on July 11; within a few months of that, the phone will be available in a total of 70, including the burgeoning markets of Brazil and India.
The 3G phone is “one of the most amazing products I've ever had the privilege to be associated with," Jobs told a capacity crowd of 5,000 software developers and reporters. Wearing his trademark black mock-turtleneck shirt and jeans, Jobs demonstrated the new phone's speed, which he says rivals the performance of home WiFi networks. With the old iPhone (which ran on AT&T's Edge network) on one side, and the new one (which runs on AT&T's 3G network) on the other, Jobs loaded up a photo-heavy web page at nationalgeographic.com. It took 21 seconds on the 3G phone, versus 59 seconds on its predecessor. (While 21 seconds may be slow compared to the near instantaneous access on a high-speed wired desktop computer, the AT&T Edge network is the state-of-the-art wireless system in the U.S.)
While techies have fretted that the 3G phone would consume too much juice, Jobs claimed that the new phone can get 300 hours of standby time, 10 hours of normal talk time, five to six hours of high-speed web browsing, seven hours of video and 24 hours of audio.
Jobs said the iPhone has already sold 6 million units and, after the announcement, analysts expect Apple to blow through the company's estimate of 10 million units sold worldwide by the end of 2008. Already bullish about Apple before the announcements were made, the analysts were thrilled by what they heard from Jobs about the availability of the new iPhone. They were particularly excited by the prices for the new models. In the U.S., the eight gigabyte version, which sold for $399 previously, is only $199 in its new incarnation; the 16GB model will sell for $299. (The first generation iPhone models have been discontinued.)
Purchasers will still need to sign a two-year contract with AT&T to use the phone. And the price for a basic plan increases by $10 for 3G usage (that is, $30 a month for unlimited data, with voice plans starting at $39.99 a month). Unlimited 3G data plans for business users will be available for $45 a month.
Apple also unveiled MobileMe, which allows home users to do the kinds of things that were formerly the domain of business users. E-mail, calendars, contacts and photos can now be automatically synched, wirelessly, among a user's iphone and computers. The service, which comes with 20 gigabytes of storage, costs $99 a year.
Users of iPhone 1.0 will be able to download new software via the iPhone Apps store, which will launch with the new phone. But those pioneers won't get the faster speeds or true global positioning for hardware reasons. The older phone triangulates a user's position via cellphone towers. The new one has a real GPS receiver that can track a user in real time. Jobs showed off the GPS capabilities with a recording that showed a 3G user driving down San Francisco's winding Lombard Street. As a tiny dot appeared on a Google map and slowly wended its way down the street, the crowd roared its approval.
A number of developers showed off apps that will be ready for the iPhone in the coming weeks and months. Sega, for instance, demoed an arcade game, Super Monkeyball, whose three-dimensional, fluid quality was on a par with what one would find on, say, a Sony PSP. On the iPhone, users navigate by tilting the motion-sensitive device. Another application, which takes advantage of the phone's GPS system, is a location-aware social network; fire up the app and you can see whether any friends or people in your contact list are nearby. “We make serendipity happen," said Loopt founder Sam Altman. For the first time, one could be walking down a street in New York and realize, for instance, that a college roommate is nearby. The Loopt application would be free at the iPhone Apps Store; Monkeyball will cost $9.99.
The iPhone 3G handles data at nearly three times the speed of its predecessor, and has built-in, always-on global positioning via satellite, but costs $199 $400 less than the original iPhone, unveiled almost a year ago. The phone will be available in the U.S. and 21 other countries on July 11; within a few months of that, the phone will be available in a total of 70, including the burgeoning markets of Brazil and India.
The 3G phone is “one of the most amazing products I've ever had the privilege to be associated with," Jobs told a capacity crowd of 5,000 software developers and reporters. Wearing his trademark black mock-turtleneck shirt and jeans, Jobs demonstrated the new phone's speed, which he says rivals the performance of home WiFi networks. With the old iPhone (which ran on AT&T's Edge network) on one side, and the new one (which runs on AT&T's 3G network) on the other, Jobs loaded up a photo-heavy web page at nationalgeographic.com. It took 21 seconds on the 3G phone, versus 59 seconds on its predecessor. (While 21 seconds may be slow compared to the near instantaneous access on a high-speed wired desktop computer, the AT&T Edge network is the state-of-the-art wireless system in the U.S.)
While techies have fretted that the 3G phone would consume too much juice, Jobs claimed that the new phone can get 300 hours of standby time, 10 hours of normal talk time, five to six hours of high-speed web browsing, seven hours of video and 24 hours of audio.
Jobs said the iPhone has already sold 6 million units and, after the announcement, analysts expect Apple to blow through the company's estimate of 10 million units sold worldwide by the end of 2008. Already bullish about Apple before the announcements were made, the analysts were thrilled by what they heard from Jobs about the availability of the new iPhone. They were particularly excited by the prices for the new models. In the U.S., the eight gigabyte version, which sold for $399 previously, is only $199 in its new incarnation; the 16GB model will sell for $299. (The first generation iPhone models have been discontinued.)
Purchasers will still need to sign a two-year contract with AT&T to use the phone. And the price for a basic plan increases by $10 for 3G usage (that is, $30 a month for unlimited data, with voice plans starting at $39.99 a month). Unlimited 3G data plans for business users will be available for $45 a month.
Apple also unveiled MobileMe, which allows home users to do the kinds of things that were formerly the domain of business users. E-mail, calendars, contacts and photos can now be automatically synched, wirelessly, among a user's iphone and computers. The service, which comes with 20 gigabytes of storage, costs $99 a year.
Users of iPhone 1.0 will be able to download new software via the iPhone Apps store, which will launch with the new phone. But those pioneers won't get the faster speeds or true global positioning for hardware reasons. The older phone triangulates a user's position via cellphone towers. The new one has a real GPS receiver that can track a user in real time. Jobs showed off the GPS capabilities with a recording that showed a 3G user driving down San Francisco's winding Lombard Street. As a tiny dot appeared on a Google map and slowly wended its way down the street, the crowd roared its approval.
A number of developers showed off apps that will be ready for the iPhone in the coming weeks and months. Sega, for instance, demoed an arcade game, Super Monkeyball, whose three-dimensional, fluid quality was on a par with what one would find on, say, a Sony PSP. On the iPhone, users navigate by tilting the motion-sensitive device. Another application, which takes advantage of the phone's GPS system, is a location-aware social network; fire up the app and you can see whether any friends or people in your contact list are nearby. “We make serendipity happen," said Loopt founder Sam Altman. For the first time, one could be walking down a street in New York and realize, for instance, that a college roommate is nearby. The Loopt application would be free at the iPhone Apps Store; Monkeyball will cost $9.99.
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