3G iPhone on the way?
- December 21, 2007 3:37 PM |
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBCNews.ca
For consumers still lamenting the lack of a carrier-serviced iPhone here in Canada, take heart. According to a couple of reports this week, we all may be better off waiting for next year's model anyway.
On Thursday PC World said analysts are predicting a new 3G iPhone as early as mid-next year, and a report in AppleInsider on Friday said Apple Inc. will be incorporating a new breed of Intel Corp. mobile processors into its handheld devices.
Rumours of the upcoming 3G iPhone seem on particularly solid ground because Apple is in talks with NTT DoCoMo to bring the mobile device to Japan. Since DoCoMo does not run on the GSM/EDGE network the iPhone uses in the U.S., but rather the third generation UMTS/HSDPA cell phone standard, meaning Apple would have to pick up its game, as it were, to offer its phone in the tech-savvy Japanese market.
The talk has tech sites like Gizmodo excited about the possibility that the iPhone might actually behave like, well, a smartphone. Though the iPhone was lauded for its touch interface, sleek design and Wi-Fi enabled internet capabilities, it was also something of a disappointment for failing to have features many expected on a smartphone, such as the ability to record video, send photos through text messages or use memory cards for extra storage.
AppleInsider reports that Apple is particularly interested in Intel's 45 nanometer "Silverthrone"chip, one designed for mobile devices "that is expected to be as fast as the second-generation of Pentium M processors, but use only between half a watt and 2 watts of electrical power -- about one tenth as much as a typical notebook chip."
All of this means that, for the second time in a year, early adopters of the iPhone could be regretting their purchase.
None of this helps bring the iPhone to Canada, but there is perhaps some solace in knowing that it might be better to be left in the cold than be twice burned.
About the Authors
- Tara Kimura
is a multimedia producer for CBCNews.ca.
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Comments (11)
I would much prefer to make my own technology choices. There is always technology innovation, particulary in the mobile industry. If consumers decided to wait for the perfect product we would still be waiting for the first calculators, PC's, and IPODs to be developed. Half the fun of new technology is the bragging rights of owning an early version of the product!
the lack of no iPhone doesnt bother me at all. I own a iPod Touch (which has an extra gig of space over the iPhone), which does everything that a iPhone does, except ofcourse the phone part and taking pictures. I already have a cell phone, in the 2nd year of a 3 year plan, so even if I wanted to get the iPhone, if it ever comes out, I wouldn't be able to afford to cancel my current cell phone plan, and buy a $400 iPhone, then get a whole new cell phone plan..
The phone is not the problem - having affordable plans here in Canada is. Unless Apple can convince Rogers to offer competitive plans such as the ones offered by ATT in the US, the iPhone will have difficulty making a dent in the Canadian cell marketplace IMO. I would love to have an iPhone, but I'm not going to pay
$100 + for a plan that costs only $60 south of the border.
This just gives Rogers a little more time to continue charging exorbitant rates for their bandwidth plans. Apple won't license Rogers (the GSM provider) to sell the IPhone because they won't reduce the rates low enough to make the costs of using the IPhone reasonable. Who wants to pay $200-300/month when plans in the USA are less than $100? Marketing wise, this just makes the IPhone look bad... not Rogers.
The duopoly of Rogers and Telus are charging exorbitant rates for both their voice and bandwidth plans so don't expect cutting-edge high bandwidth products to be showing up in Canada anytime soon. If they did few could afford the airtime usage charges.
The 3G phone is no rumor. CEO Steve Jobs announced it in September in the UK (I heard him). Also the CEO of AT&T repeated the announcement in the fall.
Don't hold your breath on memory expansion. Apple hates to add things that cause confusion, break or create security problems (same reason my Blackberries don't have memory cards).
I don't want an iPhone. I don't even have an iPod or a cellphone.
Why do people need all these electronic gadgets anyway?
Though I would entertain an idea of purchasing an iPhone , the fact that it is not available here is not my biggest problem. Starting at the basics - why do mobile phone providers charge you for incoming calls ?!? Yes I know you can get a special plan to have incoming calls free but why does it have to be a special plan ? All incoming calls should be free IMO.
Hi. Since all incoming video-calls in Australia are FREE and have been since 2003, I would expect that would also be the case in Canada. Do other countries also charge for incoming-calls ? Maybe that system could be changed by law.
EmilyG: Why do you need to question peoples needs for their addiction to electronics?
James: Do you like to propse to the Canadian government about this 'law'?
For the record, iPod touch, Ipod Video, nano, first generation, iPhone, etc etc etc... worst pieces circuit boards and display screens; definitly not worthy to be called 'the best' MP3/MP4 and Video player...
I for one love the iPhone. I just wanted to bring up an important fact. If Apple continues to follow there "subsequent" patterns, the 3G iPhone should ship by early December. They usually come out with a new product about 1 and 1/2 years after the old one, or at least 12 months. So from past records, after apple comes out with a new product, they make the earlier generation obsolete...right? So doesn't that mean that if Canada is going to get the iPhone through Rogers early next year, it will be 3G? Yes! It does, so "good things come to those who wait". And for those of you who expect iChat in the iPhone 2.0, tough luck. Apple only likes to introduce a couple of new things at a time, so we should expect that in the 3rd generation iPhone. But most of the changes for the new iPhone will mostly be cosmetic ones. Such as a slimmer body and they will probably stick with glass and alluminum as it is holding up great so far.
3g iphone will be here tommorow