Waiting for the 2009 iPhone 3.0

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 18 May 2009 13:04

Opinion and Analysis

Other rumours revolve around “Project Charlie” and three new different iPhone models, which makes one wonder whether an iPhone “tablet” or larger “iPhone netbook” might make an appearance.

The problem with expecting any new iPhone hardware at the WWDC is that Steve Jobs isn’t coming, with Apple’s “worldwide VP of marketing”, Phil Schiller, standing in for Steve.

Yet more rumours have predicted Jobs will appear later in June or in early July to triumphantly introduce the new iPhones, which would fit in nicely with the fact last year’s iPhone 3G debuted on July 11, despite being announced at the 2008 WWDC.

Apple’s history of holding back features until it truly believes they are ready, even if competitors have offered those features for years, is legendary.

After all, if Apple puts in too much now, it’ll be hard to keep the price down, and they’ll have to do even better next time to entice consumers to buy a new model.

Apple looks to have erased many of the iPhone’s deficiencies with the impending release of the iPhone 3.0 OS, delivering iPhone 2G and 3G users a fantastic free update that tremendously increases the value and utility of their existing devices, something that will certainly keep the iPhone faithful very happy indeed.

But unless the 2009 iPhone 3.0 hardware really kicks butt, the global recession may slow down some of the iPhone frenzy and cause consumers to live with an iPhone OS 3.0 update, instead of a new iPhone 3.0 model, for a lot longer than they might like.

With a yearly release cycle for new iPhones, and a two-year contract for current iPhone 3G owners to contend with, the 2009 iPhone will probably appeal a lot more to all those who have been waiting for the iPhone 3G’s successor before jumping into iPhone ownership.

How much shock and awe will we see with the iPhone 3.0 hardware, or is the really good hardware stuff being held back for the 2010 iPhone 4.0?

It’s a question we’ll all soon have the answer to. I’m personally hoping for insanely great new hardware additions, along with an iPhone nano netbook of some kind…

Thus, while we all might want an iPhone 3.0 with 64GB of RAM, a 5 or 8 megapixel camera with a Xenon or even just an LED flash, a slide-out keyboard in a device that still retains the iPhone thinness we’re all used to, proper video recording (in at least 720P HD), removable memory slots and batteries, differing models with larger and smaller screens, and more…

We might just have to wait until the iPhone 4.0 arrives in 2010 to get them!