I want my 3G iPhone

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Friday, 30 November 2007

Page 1 of 2 ! 2G iPhones have spread around the world, much further and wider than Apple officially intended, but if there’s one thing everyone iPhone owner (and owner-to-be) wants, and that’s the faster web browsing only 3G and 3.5G networks can provide when you’re on-the-go. So, will a 3G iPhone appear early next year? There’s been plenty of 3G iPhone speculation around the web ever since the iPhone was previewed as a 2G model and Steve Jobs said, at the original iPhone keynote, that a 3G model would come ‘in the future’. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported on AT&T’s CEO, Randall Stephenson, publicly saying that a 3G iPhone was due ‘next year’, although he didn’t know when or at what price. What has been unleashed since is an entirely new wave of 3G iPhone speculation. All we know so far is that Jobs’ only 3G iPhone availability update was when he announced the iPhone would be available in the UK through European telco O2, where he said a 3G iPhone was coming ‘later next year’. This would seem to indicate a mid-year to second-half availability timeframe for 3G iPhones to be unleashed onto the world, giving Apple enough time to get the necessary FCC authorisations and testing with 3G carriers. A 3G iPhone would provide users the speed they need to get lightning fast access to the web, email, Google Maps, the iTunes store and any other iPhone app that requires access to the data network. But as the iPhone is capable of using data at a fast rate of knots, should the user desire it, a huge question looms for consumers – will carriers still offer an ‘unlimited’ data plan for 3G iPhone users, or at the very least will gigabytes of download data be available as an option at generous prices? Carriers have struggled with the nature of the ‘unlimited’ data package they are providing to iPhone users, with reports that some carriers who are carrying the official iPhone in Europe originally set their download limits quite low, and boosted it once the low ‘unlimited’ limits got some deserved negative publicity. Data is generally quite expensive when access via a mobile device, so Apple’s ability to get good amounts of data thrown in with the iPhone monthly charges was a brilliant move. Let’s just hope they can still use their enormous leverage when it comes to 3G iPhone data bundling and pricing. So, which 3G technologies might Apple use, and which one is better? Please read onto page 2 for the conclusion... << First page <   1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

< Next story in category		Previous story in the category >

Visitors last 30 days Suscribers

904,266 13,751