New 16GB, 32GB iPhones appear in Carphone Warehouse systems

[AppleInsider]

Carphone Warehouse, the largest independent European mobile phone retailer and an official iPhone reseller, added four placeholders to their inventory list for new iPhone models earlier today, sources tell AppleInsider.

With new iPhone models expected this summer, in addition to the previously-announced 3.0 firmware, Carphone Warehouse appears to be gearing up for the change. A screenshot of its inventory system provided by a person known to have access to such information shows placeholders for both 16GB and 32GB iPhones in both white and black. They're mixed in among the existing and previous iPhone models, having reportedly cropped up just hours ago.

Numerous reports and inadvertent leaks (1, 2, 3) from Apple's partners over the past several weeks have signaled the arrival of third-generation iPhones in capacities of 16GB and 32GB. While the changes to Carphone Warehouse's systems should not be treated as confirmation of new iPhone specifications, the retailers status as an official iPhone reseller could potentially make it privy to such information.

Coupled with Best Buy’s recently-released internal memorandum notifying employees of expected low inventory of the current iPhone 3G, as well as a similar advisory issued by Brightpoint, an iPhone distributor in Australia, retail signs are aligned in pointing to new iPhone disclosures early next week at Apple's annual developers conference.

Last year, Apple introduced the iPhone 3G at the start of its 2008 developers conference on June 9th and announced availability would follow on July 11th. During the four weeks in between, supply of original iPhones were close to non-existent. Thursday's report out of Carphone Warehouse was accompanied by word that the retailer has simultaneously pushed out some of its poster and offer changes until July 7, but AppleInsider has no reason to believe that date is of any broader significance.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[benice]

Great news!

I'll take a 32gb one in white thanks.

[harmsway]

I'll take a 16GB Black please.

I hope AT&T does come out with a tiered data plan.
My wife would like my 1st generation iPhone when I get the new one, but she does not need web-surfing. More for phone, and occasional text message. And photos of the kids.

[Mazda 3s]

I'll take a 32GB black please

[GTL215]

i have a 16gb white, but will probably go with black next time around. Gotta go with 32GB for sure tho

[lilgto64]

I have 8GB original iPhone - not sure if I would keep it as just a phone for the wife - or give it to the kid as an iPod Touch with no phone service. The wife can barely operate the basic cell phone i got for her as it is - not sure if the iPhone would make it easier or overwhelm her - plus the kid already wants to play games on it constantly.

Need to see pricing and such and may have to wait till Sept when I can kill my 3G card (assuming I can tether the phone) when that contract is up.

[dreyfus2]

There are quite some indications that the new models will roll out pretty soon. At least five people were independently advised by the hotline of T-Mobile Germany (exclusive iPhone partner here) that they will offer the new model as per the 16th of June. While a Tuesday sounds unlikely, it might be a better idea than dealing with failing activations and an overloaded network over the weekend?!

[amac4me]

Return of the White iPhone

[chronster]

a 32gb iphone!? WHO WOULDA THUNK IT?

[Hoss]

These guys really need to throw in the kitchen sink on this version, as the Pre has really closed the gap with their v.1. Consumers win!!!

[Napoleon_PhoneApart]

Originally Posted by dreyfus2

There are quite some indications that the new models will roll out pretty soon. At least five people were independently advised by the hotline of T-Mobile Germany (exclusive iPhone partner here) that they will offer the new model as per the 16th of June. While a Tuesday sounds unlikely, it might be a better idea than dealing with failing activations and an overloaded network over the weekend?!

Where did you hear this? Just curious.

[melgross]

We have 16s' now. My wife has little on her phone, and wouldn't need a 32—she doesn't really need the 16, but I didn't want her to feel left out when I bought the 16's for my daughter and myself.

We need to get our daughter a new phone for college in London this coming year. She doesn't put too much music on hers, but if the prices are the same, then I suppose a 32 would make her happy.

[teckstud]

When will the embargo be lifted?

[snax83]

Not wanting to dampen anyone's moods, but I work at Carphone Warehouse and our inventory team do have a habit of adding new items to the PLU list without anything ever coming from them, ie. we have multiple phones on the system that we don't even sell and numerous computers that have been listed for about 6-12 months and we are showing no signs of selling them.

Now I'm not saying that these aren't going to appear soon but bear in mind, it isn't necessarily a sign that they are imminent.

[dreyfus2]

Originally Posted by Napoleon_PhoneApart

Where did you hear this? Just curious.

I got the information myself (inquiring conditions for swapping out my current model early), two colleagues independently got the same info talking to different hotline agents, and I ran into two forum posts on German sites reporting exactly the same date being advised by T-Mobile staff. Also, it is official that T-Mobile is imposing a vacation ban effective 15th of June.

All this is no proof, of course. It could be one hotline shift manager giving out made up information to the staff or whatever (it is quite common that T-Mobile hotlines are giving out wrong information, or that you receive ten different answers when calling in five times asking the same question)... Just, adding up the vacation ban and the fact that such an unlikely date (Tuesday and a lot earlier than all previous rumors) was mentioned consistently, makes it a least interesting.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by teckstud

When will the embargo be lifted?

What is it with you?

You know Apple's methods by now, no need to complain.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by melgross

What is it with you?

You know Apple's methods by now, no need to complain.

NO complaint- but why is is considered "embargo lifted" for the Pre and not for the iPhone? Is that not a reasonable question?

[Tauron]

Originally Posted by harmsway

I hope AT&T explodes in a huge ball of fire.
My wife would like my 1st generation iPhone when I get the new one, but she does not need web-surfing. More for phone, and occasional text message. And photos of the kids.

Fixed.

[dreyfus2]

Originally Posted by teckstud

NO copmplaint-s but why is is considered "embargo lifted" for the Pre and not for the iPhone? Is that not a reasonable question?

Maybe because Palm gave out review models to reviewers asking them not to publish any findings before a certain date (= embargo), which is a common practice. If Apple has not handed out review models yet (likely, as they have not even introduced the device yet), then there can not be an embargo... "we give you nothing and you are not supposed to write about it" does not really work?

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by chronster

a 32gb iphone!? WHO WOULDA THUNK IT?

What's good for the Touch is good for the iPhone. Does this mean a 64gb Touch is due Sept? Now that would be amazing!

[melgross]

Originally Posted by teckstud

NO copmplaint-s but why is is considered "embargo lifted" for the Pre and not for the iPhone? Is that not a reasonable question?

Reasonable when asked once in a close time in a thread, but that's enough. It's not much of a point to make.

There is also a difference between Palm's marketing and Apple's, as you should know by now.

Apple embargoes all of their products until introduction. If you really want to call it an embargo if they feel they don't want to show a product that isn't finished.

But Palm freely showed the Pre earlier, which is something that Apple didn't do. So the question of when Palm would let people see the Pre again is a legitimate one, as it functioned well enough to be shown, whereas Apple didn't show the phone.

Besides, the word is just semantics. Apple doesn't give public showings, and Palm does. Remember they showed that almost-a-netbook product, but didn't even produce it?

Apple might feel that they don't want to show something just in case they make major changes later.

[NasserAE]

When I bought my 16GB iPhone I though I am not going to be able to fill it up and now I have less than 1GB of space left. I guess I will go with the 32GB next time. Let's hope AT&T offer some type of an upgrade option for us who have the iPhone 3G.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by dreyfus2

Maybe because Palm gave out review models to reviewers asking them not to publish any findings before a certain date (= embargo), which is a common practice. If Apple has not handed out review models yet (likely, as they have not even introduced the device yet), then there can not be an embargo... "we give you nothing and you are not supposed to write about it" does not really work?

Apple has definitely given out phones to some people. In an interview Mossberg said that he was reviewing the iPhone, but wouldn't comment on it until his review came out.

No doubt there are others.

The difference is that Palm showed their phone publicly, while Apple didn't.

But again, as I said to Teckstud, its just a matter of semantics.

Why do we even care?

[chronster]

Originally Posted by teckstud

What's good for the Touch is good for the iPhone. Does this mean a 64gb Touch is due Sept? Now that would be amazing!

f that. Go for the 120gb Apple!

Actually, what would be REALLY cool is if the next touch had expandable memory.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by melgross

Besides, the word is just semantics. Apple doesn't give public showings, and Palm does. Remember they showed that almost-a-netbook product, but didn't even produce it?

Apple might feel that they don't want to show something just in case they make major changes later.

Understood, but if memory serves, iPhone was orignally shown publicly by Jobs himself in February before a June release.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by chronster

f that. Go for the 120gb Apple!

Actually, what would be REALLY cool is if the next touch had expandable memory.

All for that- and a replaceable battery. But Apple don't go for either of dat- not part of their planned obsolescence doctrine.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Understood, but if memory serves, iPhone was orignally shown publicly by Jobs himself in February before a June release.

That was the very first time. They haven't done it since.

But, as I said, it's just semantics.

While jobs waved it around, and gave a very few a short chance to try it, Palm put it into many hands.

Palm also raised expectations that it would be shown more often, while Apple gave no such hints.

But I really don't know why people care.

[ulfoaf]

A friend was told at an AT&T store that if he bought an iPhone 3G (this was in March) he would not be able to buy any new models coming out later in the year even if he paid full price! I do believe him when he says he was told this - he's been waiting so he can get the new one. He did buy one to convert to a non-functioning "developer's platform," if that is the correct term.

This sounded crazy. Has anyone else been told this?? Is some guy behind the counter at AT&T making up policy from the hip? I fail to see why this would be the case, unless they are trying to target only NEW AT&T customers and luring them with a limited supply of new iPhones. This just doesn't make sense for Apple at all. That cuts out a lot of dedicated customers!

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by dreyfus2

There are quite some indications that the new models will roll out pretty soon. At least five people were independently advised by the hotline of T-Mobile Germany (exclusive iPhone partner here) that they will offer the new model as per the 16th of June. While a Tuesday sounds unlikely, it might be a better idea than dealing with failing activations and an overloaded network over the weekend?!

Europe will get it after the USA. If the 16th of June is set for Germany, then same day event for WWDC Keynote will have the iPhone rolled out for AT&T and it's resellers in the USA.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by chronster

f that. Go for the 120gb Apple!

Actually, what would be REALLY cool is if the next touch had expandable memory.

That would never happen on the expandable memory in current designs.

A 64GB model is already pushing it. Apple won't go 128GB until the iPhone is ready to go 64GB.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by teckstud

All for that- and a replaceable battery. But Apple don't go for either of dat- not part of their doctrine.

But, the Pre just comes with 8 GB. Two years ago that was a decent amount, though people here were complaining it wasn't enough, and why didn't it have a memory slot. So it's not as though people here weren't complaining about the amount of memory.

But, 8 Gb is trivial today for their prime product.

We don't know what Apple's new phones will cost, but it's likely the 16 GB model will be $199, and the 32 GB model will go for $299.

If so, the Pre will seem way under supplied, which is why the call for memory cards, though that's never a good idea. It will also seem overpriced.

As far as the battery goes, every review I've seen so far, except one, has said that the battery life is more than a bit shorter that the iPhones'.

Slightly less talk time, 20 minutes. But video play time is 5 hours as opposed to 7 for the iPhone, and even according to Palm, the music play time is only 12 hours as opposed to 24 for the iPhone.

So a replaceable battery is certainly called for, with most reviewers saying that they barely made it to the evening, and often lost power in the afternoon. That's much worse than the iPhones' performance.

[dreyfus2]

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

Europe will get it after the USA. If the 16th of June is set for Germany, then same day event for WWDC Keynote will have the iPhone rolled out for AT&T and it's resellers in the USA.

What makes you think so? The 3G was rolled out in most of Europe (except France and Belgium, if I remember correctly) the very same day as in the US. Actually, due to the time difference Australia, New Zealand and Europe were getting it earlier than the US.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

That would never happen on the expandable memory in current designs.

A 64GB model is already pushing it. Apple won't go 128GB until the iPhone is ready to go 64GB.

Expandable memory doesn't always work well.

First of all it's a pain. I used it with my Treo 700p. The phones get confused when you remove a card and insert another one. From other experiences, I'd say that most other phones have the same problem.

Some info from programs and such are in the phone memory, and some is in the card. If the program is in the phone, but the data is in the card, odd things happen.

Then there is the matter of needing to carry the cards around.

It's just not good. This was a stop-gap measure, but the concept is outdated.

[freelander51]

What I never understood is this focus on 32 vs 16 GB.

What is really interesting is the RAM the machine as available for apps, not for storage.

I always get frustrated when my iPhone is crashing app after app for running out of memory when there is a GB idling away of the storage RAM.

I know that multitasking will not be an option, but at least the Apple tasks that are allows to run on the background should at least have he possibility on seeking 'asylum' in storage RAM when the going gets tough. Its kinnda like frustrating having to restart your phone when you want to play a 'hungry' app

So doubling the application RAM would bring more to me then going from 16 to 32 GB as that just means a choice of movies not being brought along.

Oh yeah and while we are on the subject : possibility on syncing with TWO iTunes would be great too - much more then 16 extra gigs

[al_bundy]

in my case all my crashes happened in safari on one or two websites. BGR was one of them and it was downloading a page with a lot of data on it

[melgross]

Originally Posted by freelander51

What I never understood is this focus on 32 vs 16 GB.

What is really interesting is the RAM the machine as available for apps, not for storage.

I always get frustrated when my iPhone is crashing app after app for running out of memory when there is a GB idling away of the storage RAM.

I know that multitasking will not be an option, but at least the Apple tasks that are allows to run on the background should at least have he possibility on seeking 'asylum' in storage RAM when the going gets tough. Its kinnda like frustrating having to restart your phone when you want to play a 'hungry' app

So doubling the application RAM would bring more to me then going from 16 to 32 GB as that just means a choice of movies not being brought along.

Oh yeah and while we are on the subject : possibility on syncing with TWO iTunes would be great too - much more then 16 extra gigs

App RAM is supposed to be doubling to 256 MB. That should stop the problems for you.

But what apps are crashing so often? I've got almost 6 pages of apps, and almost never have an app crash. The NY Times app would crash, but that was the problem with the app, since fixed. Sometimes Safari would crash, but rarely. A couple of other programs did as well, but they've since been fixed.

[freelander51]

Originally Posted by melgross

But what apps are crashing so often?

Safari, Trails, Remote Desktop

Plus I would not mind a feature where the 256MB could be made available as well to older iPhones - by taking it off the regular storage stack - dont care really

[mstone]

Originally Posted by freelander51

Oh yeah and while we are on the subject : possibility on syncing with TWO iTunes would be great too - much more then 16 extra gigs

Yeah me too. When I got my iPhone it was the weekend and I was anxious to start playing with it so I synced it to my home computer. In hindsight I should have waited and synced it at work since that is where I do most of my computing. Maybe what would be cool if we could sync over desktop sharing, Back to my Mac or whatever they call it.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by melgross

But, the Pre just comes with 8 GB. Two years ago that was a decent amount, though people here were complaining it wasn't enough, and why didn't it have a memory slot. So it's not as though people here weren't complaining about the amount of memory.

But, 8 Gb is trivial today for their prime product.

We don't know what Apple's new phones will cost, but it's likely the 16 GB model will be $199, and the 32 GB model will go for $299.

If so, the Pre will seem way under supplied, which is why the call for memory cards, though that's never a good idea. It will also seem overpriced.

As far as the battery goes, every review I've seen so far, except one, has said that the battery life is more than a bit shorter that the iPhones'.

Slightly less talk time, 20 minutes. But video play time is 5 hours as opposed to 7 for the iPhone, and even according to Palm, the music play time is only 12 hours as opposed to 24 for the iPhone.

So a replaceable battery is certainly called for, with most reviewers saying that they barely made it to the evening, and often lost power in the afternoon. That's much worse than the iPhones' performance.

But the screen is better and the OS seems amazing. Six of one, half-dozen of the other.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by melgross

Expandable memory doesn't always work well.

First of all it's a pain. I used it with my Treo 700p. The phones get confused when you remove a card and insert another one. From other experiences, I'd say that most other phones have the same problem.

Some info from programs and such are in the phone memory, and some is in the card. If the program is in the phone, but the data is in the card, odd things happen.

Then there is the matter of needing to carry the cards around.

It's just not good. This was a stop-gap measure, but the concept is outdated.

I use expandable memory and have no problem whatsoever but then you have to use your mind whereas with Apple products you don't. No insult intended.