iPhone EDGE over 3G choices re-hashed... why?

By Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 26 February 2008 16:27

Mobility

Computerworld’s Seth Weintraub has wondered if using EDGE instead of 3G on the iPhone was ‘genius’ on Apple’s part – but the reasons are all old news.

I don’t know, it must be a slow news day over at Computerworld – why else would we get a blog entry, with a promise of a ‘full article’ to come, going over the same old reasons why Apple chose EDGE over 3G?

Seth Weintraub, author of ‘Apple, Ink’ has listed a few reasons why he thinks EDGE was a better, 'genius' choice than 3G.

Weintraub says that EDGE enables:

1. Cheaper hardware - allowing Apple to charge less.
2. Less power drain on the iPhone. Allowing slim design and all day usage.
3. AT&T could charge a reasonable rate for wireless - 3G would cost much more.
4. More money on sales for Apple repeat buyers when 3G is released
5. 3G Infrastructure didn’t exist in most cities in the US - it would have largely gone unused.

But I’ve read these kind of reasons, and written about them myself in longer form, in a range of iPhone articles over the last, what, 8 or so months?

The excuse that 3G was a big battery drain on mobile phones was something that Steve Jobs himself mentioned at the iPhone’s original preview during Macworld 2007.

The fact that 3G infrastructure is sorely lacking across most of the US is common knowledge, especially for tech savvy readers who wish 3G was as widespread in the USA as it is in Europe, Australia and other countries.

What about some of Weintraub’s other ‘revelations’, listed above, which are all obvious and well known to anyone who’s been following the iPhone since it launched? Please read onto page 2.