AT&T boss says 3G iPhone in 2008

By Stephen Withers
Friday, 30 November 2007 01:07

Mobility

As if we needed it, AT&T's boss has provided confirmation that a 3G version of Apple's iPhone will arrive next year.

It's been no secret that there will be be a 3G version of the iPhone. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has said the issue is getting acceptable battery life given the relatively power-hungry 3G chips.

The absence of 3G and the relatively high price for a phone sold on contract are among the reasons posited for the relatively slow sales of the iPhone in Europe. AppleInsider reported that the initial stock of iPhones at the flagship London Apple Store in Regent Street lasted over two weeks, while The Register suggested that on the first weekend, retail chain Carphone Warehouse only sold 11,000 of the 50,000 iPhones it had in stock.

The handset went on sale in the UK, Germany and France this month.

Various rumours of a 2008 3G launch have circulated, ranging from January to in time for Christmas.

The tea-leaf and chicken-entrails reading brigade are having fun with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson's remark at a shareholder and analyst meeting this week that "you'll have it [the 3G iPhone] next year."

Was it a ploy to spark fresh interest in the iPhone among buyers in its home market?

Was it merely AT&T saying "hey, we're the iPhone carrier" amid widespread reporting of methods for unlocking the Apple handset?

Was it a deliberate attempt to steal some of Steve Jobs' thunder ahead of January's Macworld Expo? History suggests that's normally a bad idea (Apple stopped using Nvidia graphics chips after such an incident), so if that was the case the inference is that either AT&T is confident that its contract with Apple can be enforced, or that it doesn't really mind if Apple finds an excuse to break it.

Perhaps the most likely explanation is that Stephenson was simply answering an obvious question with no more information than has already been disclosed by Jobs.