

IPhone 3G is finally official - dbreunig
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/iphone-3g-is-finally-official/

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watmough
I'm really impressed that proper GPS has been added. I think this will open
all kinds of applications.

Battery life on iPhone 1.0 is already fine for me. In practice, I dock it with
my iMac about every 3 or so days and the battery never drops below half.
Mainly I SMS my wife, and surf the web though. The 3G iPhone sounds even
better.

For me though, the biggest surprise of the keynote is that only 4000
developers are out there.

I would expect this to rise as iPhone sales take off. $200 is a much better
price point than $400.

~~~
rcoder
> For me though, the biggest surprise of the keynote is that only 4000
> developers are out there.

You mean, only 4000 developers were _approved_ by Apple. Over 250K downloads
of the SDK and 25K developer key registrations says to me that the bar is
being set pretty high to qualify as an authorized iPhone dev shop.

~~~
menloparkbum
The bar isn't that high. I got approved, and I'm just some dude. I think much
of it had to do with how soon you got into the approval queue.

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tortilla
$30 a month for the 3G data plan ($20 for the iPhone 2G)

[http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/09/199-iphone-sure-
with-a-...](http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/09/199-iphone-sure-
with-a-2-year-contract/)

~~~
tortilla
Here's another cost to consider:

The SMS messages are not bundled anymore, and you pay for what you want.
Again, the prices are based on what you buy.

[http://gigaom.com/2008/06/09/att-mobility-ceo-
new-3g-iphone-...](http://gigaom.com/2008/06/09/att-mobility-ceo-
new-3g-iphone-game-changer/) (towards the bottom of the interview)

I think the lowest SMS plan is an additional $5/month for 200 messages.

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martythemaniak
I wonder what the terms will be like here in Canada. Since Rogers is providing
it, I am sure the terms will be absolutely abysmal compared to ATT.

My predictions: \- phone will be more expensive \- you will not get unlimited
data \- you'll need a 3 year contract \- you will once again feel ripped off
by the horrible wireless industry here in Canada.

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nradov
It's a shame about the lack of Java support. I know Java gets a lot of
criticism here, but it's still the only way to build cross-platform
applications for mobile devices. (I know you can build web apps and access
them through the browser, but for certain use cases those just aren't
adequate.)

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redorb
still waiting for android phones to surface... anyone else? Then again perhaps
I can get one for $200 and still wait ;)

~~~
danielrhodes
I think Google's strategy is much better. Apple has tied itself to a device,
whereas the software is really the important part. Obviously in the best of
worlds, you would want to sell people the device+software like Apple is doing
now. But in the long run, Google will probably benefit more because it doesn't
matter what phone the Android is on. It will probably benefit users as well
since you could switch between Android phones without a problem.

~~~
swombat
Benefit how? How is Google making money from Android?

Apple's making money hand over fist from the iPhone. How's Google going to
beat that?

~~~
danielrhodes
It's the same strategy that any software maker has: get your software on as
many computers as possible. Obviously, after that, Google can figure out how
to make money off Android...probably through ads.

Given that the software is the most important piece (in my opinion), Apple has
limited themselves by tethering it to one single device. In the future, that
could be a serious constraint. They've done it in the past (OS X, etc.), and
it hasn't worked out so well.

~~~
jimbokun
It's worked exceedingly well.

Have you been tracking Apple's stock price over the past 8 years or so?

~~~
danielrhodes
I can only assume it has gone up, but that has been due to the overwhelming
success of the iPod as well as other peripherals. They've gained a little
ground on the consumer PC market, but not much. I think Apple is going to do
very well in the short-run with the iPhone, but in the long run I think Google
has more potential because it is platform independent.

~~~
breck
They've actually gained a ton of ground in _their_ PC market. Apple doesn't
target every Joe on the street like most Windows PC makers. Just as Mercedes
does great in the small luxury car market and poor in the large consumer
market, Apple does great in the small high end market and poor in the larger
inexpensive PC market.

FYI. Their stock price has gone through the roof over the years. Currently
their Market Cap is $160B to GOOG's $175B, and in the past 5 years has far
outperformed GOOG.

~~~
danielrhodes
Since we're all just making assertions about what caused Apple's stock price
to go up, I'm not going to argue further on this point.

However, I do disagree with Apple being called the 'Mercedes' of the consumer
PC market. If anything, it's the Scion. ;-)

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noodle
$199 price tag, too on the 8s.

not too bad, though i would've liked a dip in the monthly cost to boot.

~~~
pchristensen
$199 without a carrier subsidy? That's the straight retail price? Wow!

~~~
noodle
for a unlimited-data-only package:

old iphone: $399 + $20/mo * 24 mo = 880 TCO

new iphone: $199 + $30/mo * 24 mo = 920 TCO

new iphone "business" user: $199 + $45/mo * 24 mo = 1280 TCO

RUH ROH

~~~
hugh
Is a data-only package really only $20 a month? If so I'd be tempted to get an
iPhone with a data-only plan and stick with my cheap prepaid for voice.

~~~
alaskamiller
You can't order data plan by itself.

~~~
LPTS
Wrong.

Tell them you are deaf and can't use voice minutes (because you are friggin
deaf) and they'll sell you a stand alone data plan.

~~~
wallflower
[http://www.wireless.att.com/about/disability-
resources/text-...](http://www.wireless.att.com/about/disability-
resources/text-accessibility-plan-for-iphone.jsp)

"Customers will need to qualify for this plan by completing the disability
certification forms."

Visual Voice mail: "The visual voice mail interface allows a user to see who
called without having to navigate a phone tree. This means a deaf or hard of
hearing user wouldn't have to use a relay or other type of service to see who
called and subsequently call them back."
[http://www.i711.com/my711.php?tab=2&article=245](http://www.i711.com/my711.php?tab=2&article=245)

------
JimEngland
$199 for the 8GB phone itself, and then plans start at $70 per month including
unlimited data and basic voice (450 minutes).

Its very tempting, but I've read that many people are disappointed with the
features. Everything seems great to me, any complaints here?

~~~
inovica
I love mine. I had a Blackberry before and this (for me) is far superior. If
there's an easy upgrade path to this new one then I'll upgrade. Disappointed
the camera has stayed at 2mp though - I could have done with that being a
higher res

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yan
Anyone in the know about SMS plans with the new contract? Is it still 200 msgs
included or did that change? I am very tempted to `upgrade' my Blackberry
Curve, but I text a lot.

The $10 increase in price doesn't bother me so much after the DoD discount.

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jotto
stock price is down 4% at the moment. been quite volatile today though

<http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=aapl>

~~~
jws
Apple's funny that way. Keynotes revealing new products and quarterly meetings
announcing record breaking quarters usually drive their stock down. There was
a time around 2000 that is was like clockwork. Now it isn't quite so reliable,
but still a good bet.

~~~
mrtron
Apples stock price is ridiculous, and great news does seem to almost always
drive the price down, especially if it is expected.

It is one of the strongest companies with the riskiest stocks (and counter-
intuitive swings) that I have followed.

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listic
But no plans for launch in Russia yet. I just keep wondering why. It's been
almost a year since launch, and there's version 2 coming but there are
ABSOLUTELY ZERO plans to launch iPhone in Russia. You know, we have cell
phones here too, and many of them, actually! (here: 140 million
<http://www.mnweekly.ru/business/20070809/55266704.html>)

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jshen
No 32GB version?

I'm also curious what this means for the touch, both in terms of price and
features.

~~~
Readmore
I would suppose that the Touch will stay at it's current price but get a size
increase right after that "Buy a Mac get an iPod" deal runs out.

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alaskamiller
Better links:

<http://www.iphone.com>

[http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iph...](http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=MTE2NTQ)

~~~
alaskamiller
Found out that AT&T has killed their revenue sharing plan and will be
increasing the data plan from $20 to $30. The base iPhone plan will now be 70
bucks instead of 60.

$10 increase * 24 months = $240

$399 old price - $199 new price = $200

Nice, save money upfront to pay 40 bucks more overall. I would have preferred
expensive equipment cost and cheaper monthly costs.

~~~
mattmaroon
Most customers would definitely prefer cheaper upfront cost and more in the
long run. It's a consumer credit economy.

~~~
ivankirigin
Amortizing the benefit fits better with periodic payments. It's easy to
imagine getting $10 of increased benefit monthly if a site loads 3X as fast,
with more accurate GPS. I don't like the lock-in though.

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johns
That new price means you won't be able to sell your existing one for very
much.

~~~
icey
I got very lucky. A bunch of us in our office (seven of us in total) all sold
our iPhones for $350 each over the past 2 weeks... I'm definitely glad we did,
because it just became impossible to sell the old ones for even a third of
that.

~~~
jonknee
An office full of shysters. You should start selling the ice from the freezer
to eskimos. Congrats on the sales though, that's pretty bad ass.

~~~
icey
Well, every phone we sold went to someone on T-Mobile who wanted an iPhone.
Since we had no problem jailbreaking & unlocking the phones, I suppose that
added to the value.

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brandonkm
I would really have liked to have seen a micro-sd slot somewhere. I may be
picking one of these up, need to hear more reviews first.

