While the hysteria surrounding the 3G iPhone has some in New Zealand lining up to be the world’s first owner (see above) some lucky Potuguese have already opened the boz and booted up and here we have the first unboxing photos of the future of communication, ladies avert your eyes.
Despite whispers surrounding the release of the 3G iPhone users will not have to activate instore as rumored - that is if you are in the UK.
The range of offerings above, courtesy of Ars Technica, surrounding the much anticipated release vary wildly but instore activation, instore pick-up and contract only speculation appears to have been misplaced.
UK customers of the O2 network will be able to pre-order devices from today and will be able to receive their new jesus-phone right to their doorstep with activation completed via iTunes.
Not such great news for Canadian customers have already received their pricing structures minus unlimited data plans, and in Europe you can expect to pay anything from $94 to $377 for the Apple iPhone 3G 8GB with plans that vary from $24 and $128.
Don’t want a contract? Want unlimited data? Some countries are yet to release pricing or plans so cross your fingers Australia and Switzerland that you have more in common with the US than Denmark.
Everyone in the industry is waiting tentatively for the aftermath of July 11th and the Apple 3G iPhone but fans need wait no longer for a preview of what is to be expected.
Those hype masters at Apple HQ have posted a guided tour of the new device which can be viewed right here.
With dropped jaws having been carefully replaced since WWDC now attention turns to the 3G iPhones data plans, and who would want to be Canadian at times like these?
If you can brave it through the 7 month winters, maple syrup lollipops and Toques then you still face the prospect of being slogged by the only game in town when it comes to 3G, Rogers shame on you.
All their plans are three-year contracts with visual voicemail, free evenings and weekends, and unlimited WiFi at all Rogers and Fido hotspots included. Starting at $60/month for 150 minutes of voice and 400MB of data before hitting the wall at $115/month for 800 minutes voice and up to 2GB of data.
Want unlimited voice and Data? How you like us now Canada?
Jaws dropped at WWDC when Apple announced its 3G iPhone would be $199 but according to analysts the phone costs Apple just $173 a piece.
While $199 made for a punchy headline ATT is thought to be paying Apple $500-525 per phone with customers lured into contracts that more that compensate ATT for such an investment.
The cost represents a 23% reduction in costs for Apple from their first generation handsets, mainly due to component cost reductions, and represents a staggering 65% profit margin.
While this all bodes well for Apple investors and lovers of tech, the obsene margin will only grow as component costs tumble with expectation costs could drop to $148 in 2009 and to $126 in 2012. A greaat investment in anyone’s language.
Come July 11 as you sign on to a 3 year ga-zillion contract for your new GPS friendly iPhone try not to think about the fact that that GPS processor costs Apple $3.60
So you live in a 3G region and you’re hearing a lot about the upcoming 3G iPhone but the question is why? You hear a lot about why you must have the latest in greatest from the Jobs that dare not speak its name but why shouldn’t you buy the 3G iPhone?
1. The new SDK will operate perfectly fine on your old iPhone so if you are outside the 3G regions and satisfied with using cell towers and wi-fi hotspots to pinpoint your location… then you don’t really want a new iPhone.
2. So this is the greatest advance in technology since knife was taken to bread right? Maybe not. The 3G iPhone is really just a slight upgrade from the first coming of the Christ-Almighty phone and the price will likely drop substantially in the coming months. Why not hang off until Apple really pulls out a game changer and whet your whiskers then?
3. No doubt in your excitement to impress the ladies the first time around you thought nothing of signing your communication needs over to the wire-tappers for hire at ATT. But now your sitting there looking at the rather dusty Gen1 device and dialing girls indiscriminately with pleas of ‘have you ever tried to call me?’ Afraid not. Come Gen2 and there’s a good part of seed-sewing days being frittered away in a few strokes of a pen and will you be able to trade in your useless appendage for some dead presidents from Apple - it seems unlikely.
4. You still have your old contract stoopid. You really going to pay for the old phone contract as well as the new, more expensive, contract? Take a good look around the BBQ at your friends it may be some time before you see them again - McDonald’s pays penalties on Public Holidays and you are going to be working ALL of them.
5. The suburbs have a certain charm that escapes us city folk and the so called fly-over-states are really the only destinations that matter when it comes to good ol’ hospitality - sure. But if your one of these charming strangers the likelihood is 3G is that stuff that you put on a squeaky bike wheel rather than the be-all-and-all of mobile communications. If you’re still debating the Kennedy Assassination, save your pennies, the 3G iPhone may just be a waste of your hard-earned.
What do you think? Is the iPhone 3G the future of just another gadget with a hype-machine behind it?
Here is some of the inspired concepts we found for the iphone. Dont be surprised to find one of these concepts on apple’s shelves in the near future. We all know how much steve job loves to be “tomorrow”
And here is the iphone 3G video conferencing kit…. soon to be available on all 3G iPhone across the United States and Canada :
Now that the three ring circus has rolled out of town we’re all patiently awaiting July 11 and the promise of $199 USD 3G iPhones, that is unless you’re in Europe.
With all the talk of “Twice as fast, half the price” you would be forgiven for expecting the bargain basement smartphone to leave some loose change for other activities but Vodafone Italy has already dropped a 499/€569 ($773 8Gb/$881 16Gb) price tag for the non-contracted devices.
Th UK fares slightly better with the O2 network even giving the device away, under contract of course, but with the additional charges through the life of the contract they are still locked in to a minimum of $1580 USD.
So while Apple happily drops sound bites it looks like that 3G, GPS beauty is going to drop some green so you may want to hold off doing anything drastic to your old iPhone
