8GB iPhone 3GS rumored to be replacing lower model

[AppleInsider]

Alleged internal information from Rogers Wireless in Canada suggest that an 8GB model of the iPhone 3GS will launch soon, perhaps replacing the current $99 iPhone 3G offering.

In pictures sent to The Boy Genius Report,, it appears that the new 8GB iPhone 3GS will be sold in place of the existing iPhone 3G model. The alleged document says that Rogers has "launched" the new model, and is "aiming to reduce" inventory of the existing stock.

"It seems that Rogers in Canada is in the process of shipping iPhone 3GS 8GB flavor handsets to stores," the report states. "Again, unconfirmed, no idea on pricing (we have no clue where to start on that) but we felt it was newsworthy to at least let you guys know what we’re hearing."

It is possible that Apple priced the 8GB iPhone 3G at $99 only to sell the remaining inventory, with the intention of replacing it with a speedier iPhone 3GS model.

At WWDC in June, when Apple unveiled the new iPhone 3GS, the handset maker dropped the price of the iPhone 3G to $99. The 16GB iPhone 3GS sells for $199 while the 32GB model retails for $299.

The announcement of a $99 iPhone was met positively on Wall Street, though Apple has not revealed its sales numbers. However, the successful launch of the iPhone 3GS suggests the less expensive model has not detracted from overall sales.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[ascii]

8GB? Sorry, I don't get out of bed for less than a terabyte.

[Logisticaldron]

Originally Posted by ascii

8GB? Sorry, I don't get out of bed for less than a terabyte.

All joking aside, it is amazing that in such a short time the norm for smartphone included storage has gone from being measured in the low hundreds or even dozens of MB, to being measured in GB due to the iPhone. Most people felt the initial 4GB offering was too low so that model was quickly dropped (with some suing Apple for feeling forced to buy the 4GB when the 8GB was out of stock. Asshats!). Now we have 16 and 32GB yet 8GB still seems to be plenty for many folks. I think they will nix the 3G in favour of an 8GB 3GS as the cost of producing the 3G will rise while the 3GS will fall, though the price may still not be $99 as I don’t think the RAM cost is nearly worth $99 for 8 additional GB.

[Trajectory]

WHAT?? So Rogers denies 3G owners the ability to upgrade to the 3GS after having the 3G for a year, and now they are offering the 3GS for $99??

This has got to be a mistake. Either that or Rogers is incredibly stupid for denying all those people who wanted to upgrade unless they paid a huge upgrade fee.

[Intense]

I was sold a 3yrs fido contract approx two months before the first iphone came out with fido ... imagine my frustration ... and I am allowed to upgrade in 2011 or so ... I blame myself for not spending a few hours online researching before signing with fido

[jpellino]

Current tech at $99? With AT&T monthly down to $69 incl data? Sure. Finally. Where do I sign? Toronto you say? Ooooh...

[JavaCowboy]

Originally Posted by Intense

I was sold a 3yrs fido contract approx two months before the first iphone came out with fido ... imagine my frustration ... and I am allowed to upgrade in 2011 or so ... I blame myself for not spending a few hours online researching before signing with fido

It's absolute highway robbery to demand someone sign that kind of contract for any service. I paid the full $200 for my basic Motorola phone instead of signing up for a contract so I could have it for $0, so that I can cancel anytime Telus does anything to irritate me. Rogers/Fido attempting to *force* me to sign up for a 3 year contract without even *giving me the option* of a shorter contract or buying the phone outright is just absolutely contemptible. This is despite the fact that as a Mac user and having bought 3 different kinds of iPods, I should be a natural customer for the iPhone with its seemless integration with Addressbook and other OS X services.

Goes to show how greedy some cell phone service providers are that they'll alienate what would otherwise be natural customers.

[OriginalG]

Originally Posted by Trajectory

WHAT?? So Rogers denies 3G owners the ability to upgrade to the 3GS after having the 3G for a year, and now they are offering the 3GS for $99??

This has got to be a mistake. Either that or Rogers is incredibly stupid for denying all those people who wanted to upgrade unless they paid a huge upgrade fee.

Rogers let those that bought the 3G upgrade if you met certain conditions, like having a data plan, etc. They probably will let you upgrade to an 8GB 3GS as well as a new option but it probably won't be near the $99 for new subscribers.

I hate Rogers as much as the next guy, but they do have those options. New subscribers don't get the same packages as people that have been with them for a while, so they end up paying more over the term of their contract vs. someone with a retention plan

[OriginalG]

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

Rogers/Fido attempting to *force* me to sign up for a 3 year contract without even *giving me the option* of a shorter contract or buying the phone outright is just absolutely contemptible.

I'm not sure about allowing you to get it for a shorter contract, but you CAN buy the iPhone from Rogers off-contract. However, it is still very pricey at $600 or $700 for a 16GB I think. It would be better to get one new but from a private sale off Craigslist/Kijiji/RFD instead

[cameronj]

Originally Posted by Trajectory

WHAT?? So Rogers denies 3G owners the ability to upgrade to the 3GS after having the 3G for a year, and now they are offering the 3GS for $99??

This has got to be a mistake. Either that or Rogers is incredibly stupid for denying all those people who wanted to upgrade unless they paid a huge upgrade fee.

The $99 price would be the subsidized price.

[digitalclips]

I just ordered a 3Gs 16 for my wife today, $199 as an upgrade from or iPhone mark 1 ... all she needs is 8 Gigs so I wish this had leaked a few hours earlier darn it.

[Tofino]

Originally Posted by digitalclips

I just ordered a 3Gs 16 for my wife today, $199 as an upgrade from or iPhone mark 1 ... all she needs is 8 Gigs so I wish this had leaked a few hours earlier darn it.

i think you will find that twice the storage for an additional 100 bucks will be money well spent. maybe check in half a year or so and let us know if she's still under 8gb. it's cheaper to get the higher end model earlier, than to upgrade later.... that obviously doesn't work for everyone, but i was always glad to have coughed up the extra money up front. considering the total amount you are committing to with canada's contract, an extra $100 is only.. what? 20 lattes?

[JavaCowboy]

Originally Posted by OriginalG

I'm not sure about allowing you to get it for a shorter contract, but you CAN buy the iPhone from Rogers off-contract. However, it is still very pricey at $600 or $700 for a 16GB I think. It would be better to get one new but from a private sale off Craigslist/Kijiji/RFD instead

Just tried the Rogers site, and it seems to be possible to do this. However, I know for a fact that this wasn't an option before the 3G S came out.

Not sure what terms are available besides 3 years because the site shows that the iPhone 3G S's are out of stock.

[ascii]

Originally Posted by Logisticaldron

All joking aside, it is amazing that in such a short time the norm for smartphone included storage has gone from being measured in the low hundreds or even dozens of MB, to being measured in GB due to the iPhone.

And SSD drives came out of nowhere about the same time...
There must have been some kind of minor breakthrough in ram manufacture.

[Logisticaldron]

Originally Posted by ascii

And SSD drives came out of nowhere about the same time...
There must have been some kind of minor breakthrough in ram manufacture.

One of the unique aspects of Apple, and why I love to hold their stock, is that they aren’t usually the first to market. The ones that make first almost always have a product that is too expensive to appeal to the average consumer. Apple seems to have a knack of predicting (or perhaps also having the funds and clout to bring prices down) when a technology will become viable for mass market.

[ascii]

Originally Posted by Logisticaldron

One of the unique aspects of Apple, and why I love to hold their stock, is that they aren’t usually the first to market. The ones that make first almost always have a product that is too expensive to appeal to the average consumer. Apple seems to have a knack of predicting (or perhaps also having the funds and clout to bring prices down) when a technology will become viable for mass market.

Yes, their timing was also good on touch screens and the little hard drives in the original iPod.

Perhaps the same thing that allows them to know the difference between a good GUI and a bad one allows them to know when a new technology is ready for people.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by Trajectory

WHAT?? So Rogers denies 3G owners the ability to upgrade to the 3GS after having the 3G for a year, and now they are offering the 3GS for $99??

This has got to be a mistake. Either that or Rogers is incredibly stupid for denying all those people who wanted to upgrade unless they paid a huge upgrade fee.

On day one, you could upgrade your 3G to the new 3GS for $199.
Today, I can cancel my 3G without a penalty and get a new phone for $199. But to do so, I lose my 6GB deal I had with my 3G. Right now I can get a 'family' voice/1 GB data plan for $120. Considering that I only went over 200 MB/month testing out tethering, it is not a bad deal.

And those prices are in Canadian dollars.

[colefik]

Ithink that's a fake because of the poor quality of the french title at the end.

In english it would read something tlike "Transition from Rogers 8GB to the 3GS"

But maybe people who works at Rogers use google to translate their official email...

[OriginalG]

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

Just tried the Rogers site, and it seems to be possible to do this. However, I know for a fact that this wasn't an option before the 3G S came out.

Not sure what terms are available besides 3 years because the site shows that the iPhone 3G S's are out of stock.

I believe it was possible before, but not from the website or any other straightforward way. You had to call them, tell them you needed a replacement phone since the one you had was broken, and you wanted the iPhone without upgrading or signing onto a new plan, then if you got a good representative, they would offer you an iPhone at the replacement phone cost which was way more than the resale market's price.

It's like as if you bought the 3G, then 3 months in you ran it over with your car and needed a replacement. They aren't so evil to make you sign a new 3 year contract, but will make you pay full price (and some?) for a replacement.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by ascii

There must have been some kind of minor breakthrough in ram manufacture.

There have been huge breakthroughs in flash memory (specifically, NAND) manufacturing. If you want to stay on top of what is happening with flash memory, a good site is http://www.digitimes.com/

FYI - NAND prices fell by 80-90% in 2008.

Another site is http://www.FlashMemorySummit.com

[melgross]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

There have been huge breakthroughs in flash memory (specifically, NAND) manufacturing. If you want to stay on top of what is happening with flash memory, a good site is http://www.digitimes.com/

FYI - NAND prices fell by 80-90% in 2008.

Another site is http://www.FlashMemorySummit.com

And they are way up again in the past 6 months.

In fact, all memory prices are up, as manufacturers have closed plants to bring supply in line with demand.

If you go to OWC, you'll notice, for example, that the 16GB 2GB module kits that were selling for $275 a bit over a month ago, are now selling for $369.99. That's a big increase. Meanwhile, the 4GB modules, due to higher production has fallen from $979.99 to $609.99.

Transinternational is just a bit cheaper.

[Steve's son]

Just received my $49 iPhone 3G refurb! The device looks brand new, I am very happy with my decision to order a refurb. I've had the original iPhone for 2 years now... It's showing some age. :X

[JimDreamworx]

For what it's worth, there are still long line-ups at all Rogers stores in the Toronto area. And those people ain't there for a Blackberry Whatever.

Apple is beginning to realize what other American corporations do: use Canada as a testing ground.

The original 8GB 3G is on the way out.

[SGSStateStudent]

Originally Posted by colefik

Ithink that's a fake because of the poor quality of the french title at the end.

In english it would read something tlike "Transition from Rogers 8GB to the 3GS"

But maybe people who works at Rogers use google to translate their official email...

+1. These stuff are always fake, just like the 4GB videochat iPhone.

[SGSStateStudent]

Originally Posted by Steve's son

Just received my $49 iPhone 3G refurb! The device looks brand new, I am very happy with my decision to order a refurb. I've had the original iPhone for 2 years now... It's showing some age. :X

Congratulations!

[SGSStateStudent]

Originally Posted by ascii

8GB? Sorry, I don't get out of bed for less than a terabyte.

Lol. So I suppose you are holding off for a 1TB iPhone?

[JavaCowboy]

Originally Posted by OriginalG

I believe it was possible before, but not from the website or any other straightforward way. You had to call them, tell them you needed a replacement phone since the one you had was broken, and you wanted the iPhone without upgrading or signing onto a new plan, then if you got a good representative, they would offer you an iPhone at the replacement phone cost which was way more than the resale market's price.

It's like as if you bought the 3G, then 3 months in you ran it over with your car and needed a replacement. They aren't so evil to make you sign a new 3 year contract, but will make you pay full price (and some?) for a replacement.

Just curious. What if I'm not a Rogers customer and I want to buy the iPhone outright for $700 (kind of a huge sum considering I can get a MacMini for less)? Will they let me do it? Then I could theoretically buy a sim card with a month-to-month voice only plan, disable EDGE and 3G, and then use the iPhone as a iPod touch + basic cell phone. I doubt Rogers would be too happy if I did this. Granted, I'd get dinged for extras like call display and voice mail, which are included in my current Telus plan (which I got back in 2000 during the Clearnet days).

BTW, Bell and Telus will be on GSM in Feb 2010 (according to the Telus customer service rep). Do you think there's a chance Apple will look for partners other than Rogers/Fido at that time?

[cameronj]

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

Just curious. What if I'm not a Rogers customer and I want to buy the iPhone outright for $700 (kind of a huge sum considering I can get a MacMini for less)? Will they let me do it? Then I could theoretically buy a sim card with a month-to-month voice only plan, disable EDGE and 3G, and then use the iPhone as a iPod touch + basic cell phone. I doubt Rogers would be too happy if I did this. Granted, I'd get dinged for extras like call display and voice mail, which are included in my current Telus plan (which I got back in 2000 during the Clearnet days).

Hilarious... so you'd spend $700 to buy a $200 iPod touch and a cheap phone with no internet access.

Yeah I'm sure Rogers would care not at all if you're willing to go through all that trouble to save yourself some money and castrate your phone. They would not be concerned that you'd be starting a trend.

[OriginalG]

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

Just tried the Rogers site, and it seems to be possible to do this. However, I know for a fact that this wasn't an option before the 3G S came out.

Not sure what terms are available besides 3 years because the site shows that the iPhone 3G S's are out of stock.

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

Just curious. What if I'm not a Rogers customer and I want to buy the iPhone outright for $700 (kind of a huge sum considering I can get a MacMini for less)? Will they let me do it? Then I could theoretically buy a sim card with a month-to-month voice only plan, disable EDGE and 3G, and then use the iPhone as a iPod touch + basic cell phone. I doubt Rogers would be too happy if I did this. Granted, I'd get dinged for extras like call display and voice mail, which are included in my current Telus plan (which I got back in 2000 during the Clearnet days).

BTW, Bell and Telus will be on GSM in Feb 2010 (according to the Telus customer service rep). Do you think there's a chance Apple will look for partners other than Rogers/Fido at that time?

I doubt they would let you do so in that case. Rogers doesn't look after their own very well so I doubt they'll be nice to non-customers.

Once LTE comes out, it'll be fair game. Apple has turned all of the carriers upside down and has shown it can bring in new customers with any carrier in most markets. Whoever caves most to Apple's crazy demands will get the latest iPhone, not necessarily who will give us the best experience and price.

[SGSStateStudent]

Originally Posted by OriginalG

I doubt they would let you do so in that case. Rogers doesn't look after their own very well so I doubt they'll be nice to non-customers.

Once LTE comes out, it'll be fair game. Apple has turned all of the carriers upside down and has shown it can bring in new customers with any carrier in most markets. Whoever caves most to Apple's crazy demands will get the latest iPhone, not necessarily who will give us the best experience and price.

+1. The best experience always matters first.

[mrtotes]

It's such a logical progression there seems little in this as news.

I'm sure this will encourage a few more into the iPhone arena.

[digitalclips]

The 3Gs I ordered, a few hours prior to this article being posted, has not yet shipped from the Apple Store. I am wondering if Apple let that model run dry and we may be contacted soon with a choice of a new selection for the same money or less?

[melgross]

Originally Posted by digitalclips

The 3Gs I ordered, a few hours prior to this article being posted, has not yet shipped from the Apple Store. I am wondering if Apple let that model run dry and we may be contacted soon with a choice of a new selection for the same money or less?

I doubt it. Why would they do that without saying something? The phone is still brand new.

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by melgross

I doubt it. Why would they do that without saying something? The phone is still brand new.

Being out of stock or simply not shipping made me wonderer if they were shuffling the products down one notch to replace the 3G, then maybe the one I ordered ($199) might become $99 and a newer 32 GIG may be $199 ... If you see what I mean.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by digitalclips

Being out of stock or simply not shipping made me wonderer if they were shuffling the products down one notch to replace the 3G, then maybe the one I ordered ($199) might become $99 and a newer 32 GIG may be $199 ... If you see what I mean.

That would be nice, but too soon I would think. Likely they will have an 8GB 3GS to replace the older 3G.

That's assuming they're doing this at all.

If they did do that, then I would give serious thought to upgrading our 3G's now.

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by melgross

That would be nice, but too soon I would think. Likely they will have an 8GB 3GS to replace the older 3G.

That's assuming they're doing this at all.

If they did do that, then I would give serious thought to upgrading our 3G's now.

I agree on 8 GIG 3Gs being most likely but it seems odd Apple are out of the model I ordered. I will post as soon as I know anything.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by digitalclips

I agree on 8 GIG 3Gs being most likely but it seems odd Apple are out of the model I ordered. I will post as soon as I know anything.

Ah! Do we ever actually KNOW anything?

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by melgross

Ah! Do we ever actually KNOW anything?

You know ... come to think of it we should start a rumor site and just guess!

[melgross]

Originally Posted by digitalclips

You know ... come to think of it we should start a rumor site and just guess!

Isn't that what we do? It's our duty!

[SGSStateStudent]

Originally Posted by digitalclips

I agree on 8 GIG 3Gs being most likely but it seems odd Apple are out of the model I ordered. I will post as soon as I know anything.

Ugh. I don't think so though.