Unless Apple plans to only release a 3G model in Europe and Asia, they should go ahead and have 3G across the board now. Doesn't make much sense to add 6 months later.
The forwared facing camera would be cool. Jobs was coy about iChat on the iPhone, when asked about it he said he sees no reason why iChat cannot be included, I believe it'll be there. No camera for iChat would be an odd ommision considering every Mac ships with a camera.
I'll try my best to be clear in what I say cause I've had a few drinks. I think iChat will be released for windows, and iChat for Mac and Win will interact with iPhone to allow free phone calls over VoiP using iChat over the internet. That's how I believe iChat will be used.
No mention of Japan, the second largest economy in the world? Japan, where most people have abandoned land lines for cell phones... Japan, where ease-of-use sells like hotcakes... Japan, which has embraced 3G like a bowl of rice... Japan, whose consumer base is far more willing than pay an absolute premium for insanely great products than consumers in any other country... Japan, the country in which I reside and wish to use an iPhone in!
What gives?
Europe? Pahleez!
And you want to talk about "low cost 3G"? I pay under ¥1,000 per month for my 3G SoftBank cell phone now. Free calls to other SoftBank phones within Japan until 9pm. Hard to beat that. In fact, you can only "enhance" that -- with an Apple iPhone. So hopefully Apple will partner with SoftBank and not overpriced Docomo or AU when they do finally decide to make it over here.
Not on your life! I currently pay $44/month with T-Mobile for:
1,500 anytime minutes, including US roaming and long distance
unlimited EDGE data.
I can browse the web, read/send email, run Skype, even watch my home TV with SlingPlayer (granted, the bandwidth is barely enough for the Slingbox). I don't think there's any provider in a European country that offers so much for so little. They're all busy locking you into their own system, nickel and diming you for little bits of data and selling you ringtones for $3 each.
I know this is probably the best bargain available in the US right now, but still, Cingular is not that much more expensive.
Wasn't the iPhone announced with a 2007 projected introduction overseas?
"Quick follow-up"?? Please. This is too slow. By the time Apple gets its act together, the copy cats will have had time to get their rev 2 or rev 3 iPhone clones out the door in these markets.
And by the time they slog through Japan's mobile licensing morass, the iPhone will be a has been.
Wow, you guys are getting your panties in a twist. Anyway, 3G HSDPA implemented properly will see downloads of just over 1mbit/sec in most cases. WHICH IS, BASIC DSL-level speeds. This would ROCK for the 3G iPhone. 8)
By the way, gentlemen, if you didn't already check, JP¥1,000 at today's exchange rate translates into roughly US$8.20 -- which again, is how much I pay monthly for 3G service with SoftBank right now. And phone calls are free until 9pm when dialing other SoftBank phones. SoftBank bought Vodafone, who previously had bought out J-phone. With their super-low rates, hoards of people are moving over from other carriers now. So you can see why many people are casting that land-line in the trash and moving to cell-only lifestyles over here. (Another reason is that landlines are expensive -- you have to buy a $700 license to get a phone number here (which I did years ago -- totally absurd!)
Anyway, my current SoftBank phone isn't bad. But it's nothing compared to an iPhone. Apple, we welcome you to Japan with open arms!
Okay can anybody tell me why on earth I would get a $599 phone with 2 year contract and no HSDPA in June 2007.
As of November Cingular had (according to them: HSDPA in 134 US markets with populations of 100,000 or more. This may be less than Verizon or Sprint but how saturated do you think HSDPA will be a year from now when you still have 16 months left on your iPhone contract?
Its called buy the new iPhone with 3g network on it. Once you have the "IPhone Phone Plan", you will most likely be able to buy the new version of it for a discount. Just like people who buy every iPod that comes out, people will buy all the new iPhones. I remember all of this hate about the first gen iPod. "Nobody will never buy that thing"
By the way, gentlemen, if you didn't already check, JP¥1,000 at today's exchange rate translates into roughly US$8.20 -- which again, is how much I pay monthly for 3G service with SoftBank right now. And phone calls are free until 9pm when dialing other SoftBank phones. SoftBank bought Vodafone, who previously had bought out J-phone. With their super-low rates, hoards of people are moving over from other carriers now. So you can see why many people are casting that land-line in the trash and moving to cell-only lifestyles over here. (Another reason is that landlines are expensive -- you have to buy a $700 license to get a phone number here (which I did years ago -- totally absurd!)
Anyway, my current SoftBank phone isn't bad. But it's nothing compared to an iPhone. Apple, we welcome you to Japan with open arms!
Curious: What are your data charges for 3G upload/downloads ?
Wasn't the iPhone announced with a 2007 projected introduction overseas?
"Quick follow-up"?? Please. This is too slow. By the time Apple gets its act together, the copy cats will have had time to get their rev 2 or rev 3 iPhone clones out the door in these markets.
And by the time they slog through Japan's mobile licensing morass, the iPhone will be a has been.
The copy cats have had about 5 years to "clone" the iPod. Last I checked, iPod seemed to be doing okay. 8)
It's not about the latest and greatest crammed with tons and tons of features.
Apple's target is not mobile phone dominance, they're looking at 3-5 million units per quarter, which is good enough for 2008 for healthy profit and revenue growth. They'll clear 25 million units globally in calendar 2008 easily. Just my predictions...
And no, the iPhone announcement was US middle of 2007 (June), Europe last calendar quarter of 2007, and globally first several months of 2008.
handset itself: mobile launches of fons for nokia, sony ericsson generally can be done at the same time for asia, europe, and japan. if the handset is 3G and GSM triband (900/1800/1900). only language localizations needed.
approvals: japan generally needs 3 to 4 months after the info is publically available. other countries in asia take much less time. europe: dont know.
carrier selection: still likely softbank in japan. but fragmented distribution in all other asia countries.
launch: fragmentation in asia except japan will cause delays/ require more time in non-japan asia . thus "asia" launch of "2008".
but, i think that there is no reason for time of launch to be different for japan and europe: late 2007, with a 3G fon to start, for both japan and europe.
hopefully we will see a japan/europe launch of a:
3G/triband (triband at a minimum but quadband would be great, however), so it could be used on 850 USA)
3.2 megapixel main camera
1.3 meagapixel sub camera for iChat
i dont believe even apple would think that a person will buy a 3G fon if they just bought the GSM only version less than 6 months before. i generally get a new new fon every 12 months. and even i would probably just wait for the 3G version if it doesnt have 3G to start.
handset itself: mobile launches of fons for nokia, sony ericsson generally can be done at the same time for asia, europe, and japan. if the handset is 3G/triband (900/1800/1900). only language localizations needed.
approvals: japan generally needs 3 to 4 months after the info is publically available. other countries in asia take much less time. europe: dont know.
carrier selection: still likely softbank in japan. and fragmented distribution in all other asia countries.
launch: this fragmentation in asia except japan will cause delays/ require time. thus "asia" launch of "2008".
but, i think that there is no reason for time of launch to be different for japan and europe.
hopefully we will see a japan/europe launch of a:
3G/triband (minimum. quadband would be great, however), so it could be used on 850 USA)
3.2 megapixel main camera
1.3 meagapixel sub camera for iChat
An Apple 3G iPhone is going to be complex because it *should* be able to support 2G when not in 3G areas. This means quad-band 2G GSM and quad-band 3G HSDPA (UMTS) : "HSDPA quad band doesn't mean that phone is a GSM / GPRS / EDGE quad band" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quad_band )
2G GSM is promised in rev A. of iPhone: GSM Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
Look at the map, it clearly says partner for Sweden, I'm guessing that partner would be Telia, they would subcontract Swedish contracts to Telia in Sweden.
Hopefully!
On the other hand Vodafone used to run a network in Sweden, but that was sold to Telenor. So maybe the partner is Telenor.
But if it was, they would probably also be partner in Norway, since Telenor is a Norwegian company, but it doesn't look that way on the map. So I suppose we all have to wait and see..... and hope.....
No mention of Japan, the second largest economy in the world? Japan, where most people have abandoned land lines for cell phones... Japan, where ease-of-use sells like hotcakes... Japan, which has embraced 3G like a bowl of rice... Japan, whose consumer base is far more willing than pay an absolute premium for insanely great products than consumers in any other country... Japan, the country in which I reside and wish to use an iPhone in!
And you want to talk about "low cost 3G"? I pay under ¥1,000 per month for my 3G SoftBank cell phone now. Free calls to other SoftBank phones within Japan until 9pm. Hard to beat that. In fact, you can only "enhance" that -- with an Apple iPhone. So hopefully Apple will partner with SoftBank and not overpriced Docomo or AU when they do finally decide to make it over here.
Heh. I'm totally with you. I will point out that Softbank is not doing anywhere as well as DoCoMo or Au/KDDI which is why their plans are so cheap and why they're the only carrier with phones that include GSM for their global roaming service.
Softbank is the likely carrier, but DoCoMo is a possibility. Au/KDDI is out of course unless Apple makes a CDMA version of the iPhone, which I doubt.
Not on your life! I currently pay $44/month with T-Mobile for:
1,500 anytime minutes, including US roaming and long distance
unlimited EDGE data.
I can browse the web, read/send email, run Skype, even watch my home TV with SlingPlayer (granted, the bandwidth is barely enough for the Slingbox). I don't think there's any provider in a European country that offers so much for so little. They're all busy locking you into their own system, nickel and diming you for little bits of data and selling you ringtones for $3 each.
I know this is probably the best bargain available in the US right now, but still, Cingular is not that much more expensive.
Ummm.....
Unlimited Windows Live Messenger* already included in your price plan
Vodafone, Orange and O2 here are a bit more expensive as AFAIK, they don't have unlimited data plans like Three and T-Mobile. Orange do have the advantage of two numbers on one handset though, which is why I use them.
It's perfectly legal to unlock phones now in Europe and most phone shops will do it for you. Most of the contract phones aren't locked with the exception of Orange who've a long history of locking phones. I've never had a phone from any UK supplier that had to suffer things like not being able to add ringtones myself or no Bluetooth which seems so prevalent in the USA.
Comments
Unless Apple plans to only release a 3G model in Europe and Asia, they should go ahead and have 3G across the board now. Doesn't make much sense to add 6 months later.
The forwared facing camera would be cool. Jobs was coy about iChat on the iPhone, when asked about it he said he sees no reason why iChat cannot be included, I believe it'll be there. No camera for iChat would be an odd ommision considering every Mac ships with a camera.
I'll try my best to be clear in what I say cause I've had a few drinks. I think iChat will be released for windows, and iChat for Mac and Win will interact with iPhone to allow free phone calls over VoiP using iChat over the internet. That's how I believe iChat will be used.
Thank you, thank ya very much.
What gives?
Europe? Pahleez!
And you want to talk about "low cost 3G"? I pay under ¥1,000 per month for my 3G SoftBank cell phone now. Free calls to other SoftBank phones within Japan until 9pm. Hard to beat that. In fact, you can only "enhance" that -- with an Apple iPhone. So hopefully Apple will partner with SoftBank and not overpriced Docomo or AU when they do finally decide to make it over here.
1,500 anytime minutes, including US roaming and long distance
unlimited EDGE data.
I can browse the web, read/send email, run Skype, even watch my home TV with SlingPlayer (granted, the bandwidth is barely enough for the Slingbox). I don't think there's any provider in a European country that offers so much for so little. They're all busy locking you into their own system, nickel and diming you for little bits of data and selling you ringtones for $3 each.
I know this is probably the best bargain available in the US right now, but still, Cingular is not that much more expensive.
"Quick follow-up"?? Please. This is too slow. By the time Apple gets its act together, the copy cats will have had time to get their rev 2 or rev 3 iPhone clones out the door in these markets.
And by the time they slog through Japan's mobile licensing morass, the iPhone will be a has been.
Anyway, my current SoftBank phone isn't bad. But it's nothing compared to an iPhone. Apple, we welcome you to Japan with open arms!
who the hell cares about the Europe market? Im sure you guys allready have better phones over their anyways to use.
Thanks for the insight.
Thanks for the insight.
no prob
Guess Im going to be importing a European verison of the iPhone then.
Okay can anybody tell me why on earth I would get a $599 phone with 2 year contract and no HSDPA in June 2007.
As of November Cingular had (according to them: HSDPA in 134 US markets with populations of 100,000 or more. This may be less than Verizon or Sprint but how saturated do you think HSDPA will be a year from now when you still have 16 months left on your iPhone contract?
Its called buy the new iPhone with 3g network on it. Once you have the "IPhone Phone Plan", you will most likely be able to buy the new version of it for a discount. Just like people who buy every iPod that comes out, people will buy all the new iPhones. I remember all of this hate about the first gen iPod. "Nobody will never buy that thing"
By the way, gentlemen, if you didn't already check, JP¥1,000 at today's exchange rate translates into roughly US$8.20 -- which again, is how much I pay monthly for 3G service with SoftBank right now. And phone calls are free until 9pm when dialing other SoftBank phones. SoftBank bought Vodafone, who previously had bought out J-phone. With their super-low rates, hoards of people are moving over from other carriers now. So you can see why many people are casting that land-line in the trash and moving to cell-only lifestyles over here. (Another reason is that landlines are expensive -- you have to buy a $700 license to get a phone number here (which I did years ago -- totally absurd!)
Anyway, my current SoftBank phone isn't bad. But it's nothing compared to an iPhone. Apple, we welcome you to Japan with open arms!
Curious: What are your data charges for 3G upload/downloads ?
Wasn't the iPhone announced with a 2007 projected introduction overseas?
"Quick follow-up"?? Please. This is too slow. By the time Apple gets its act together, the copy cats will have had time to get their rev 2 or rev 3 iPhone clones out the door in these markets.
And by the time they slog through Japan's mobile licensing morass, the iPhone will be a has been.
The copy cats have had about 5 years to "clone" the iPod. Last I checked, iPod seemed to be doing okay. 8)
It's not about the latest and greatest crammed with tons and tons of features.
Apple's target is not mobile phone dominance, they're looking at 3-5 million units per quarter, which is good enough for 2008 for healthy profit and revenue growth. They'll clear 25 million units globally in calendar 2008 easily. Just my predictions...
And no, the iPhone announcement was US middle of 2007 (June), Europe last calendar quarter of 2007, and globally first several months of 2008.
approvals: japan generally needs 3 to 4 months after the info is publically available. other countries in asia take much less time. europe: dont know.
carrier selection: still likely softbank in japan. but fragmented distribution in all other asia countries.
launch: fragmentation in asia except japan will cause delays/ require more time in non-japan asia . thus "asia" launch of "2008".
but, i think that there is no reason for time of launch to be different for japan and europe: late 2007, with a 3G fon to start, for both japan and europe.
hopefully we will see a japan/europe launch of a:
3G/triband (triband at a minimum but quadband would be great, however), so it could be used on 850 USA)
3.2 megapixel main camera
1.3 meagapixel sub camera for iChat
i dont believe even apple would think that a person will buy a 3G fon if they just bought the GSM only version less than 6 months before. i generally get a new new fon every 12 months. and even i would probably just wait for the 3G version if it doesnt have 3G to start.
handset itself: mobile launches of fons for nokia, sony ericsson generally can be done at the same time for asia, europe, and japan. if the handset is 3G/triband (900/1800/1900). only language localizations needed.
approvals: japan generally needs 3 to 4 months after the info is publically available. other countries in asia take much less time. europe: dont know.
carrier selection: still likely softbank in japan. and fragmented distribution in all other asia countries.
launch: this fragmentation in asia except japan will cause delays/ require time. thus "asia" launch of "2008".
but, i think that there is no reason for time of launch to be different for japan and europe.
hopefully we will see a japan/europe launch of a:
3G/triband (minimum. quadband would be great, however), so it could be used on 850 USA)
3.2 megapixel main camera
1.3 meagapixel sub camera for iChat
An Apple 3G iPhone is going to be complex because it *should* be able to support 2G when not in 3G areas. This means quad-band 2G GSM and quad-band 3G HSDPA (UMTS) : "HSDPA quad band doesn't mean that phone is a GSM / GPRS / EDGE quad band" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quad_band )
2G GSM is promised in rev A. of iPhone: GSM Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html
3G UMTS / HSDPA quad band should be 850/1700/1900/2100 MHz:
* 2100 (downlink) / 1900 (uplink) for Europe (usually referred simply as W-CDMA 2100)
* 1900 (down) / 850 (up) for U.S.A (Cingular Wireless)
* 2100 (down) / 1700 (up) for U.S.A. (T-Mobile)
....850mhz (not sure down/up exactly what) for Telstra "NextG" in Australia
So a 3G iPhone means 2.xG GSM EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 and 3.xG UMTS 850/1700/1900/2100. In addition to Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + Bluetooth 2.x
Mmmm.... brain-frying stuff all in a convenient package. And it plays music tooo!!! Oh, and music and videos...!11! 8)
I agree main camera should be 3megapixels. Videochat front camera can be 1megapixels.
With all this stuff and running OSX, definitely the iPhone will have to be petrol-powered.
Clearly the most ambitious Apple undertaking to date. It will make the Intel transition look like a cakewalk.
Look at the map, it clearly says partner for Sweden, I'm guessing that partner would be Telia, they would subcontract Swedish contracts to Telia in Sweden.
Hopefully!
On the other hand Vodafone used to run a network in Sweden, but that was sold to Telenor. So maybe the partner is Telenor.
But if it was, they would probably also be partner in Norway, since Telenor is a Norwegian company, but it doesn't look that way on the map. So I suppose we all have to wait and see..... and hope.....
No mention of Japan, the second largest economy in the world? Japan, where most people have abandoned land lines for cell phones... Japan, where ease-of-use sells like hotcakes... Japan, which has embraced 3G like a bowl of rice... Japan, whose consumer base is far more willing than pay an absolute premium for insanely great products than consumers in any other country... Japan, the country in which I reside and wish to use an iPhone in!
And you want to talk about "low cost 3G"? I pay under ¥1,000 per month for my 3G SoftBank cell phone now. Free calls to other SoftBank phones within Japan until 9pm. Hard to beat that. In fact, you can only "enhance" that -- with an Apple iPhone. So hopefully Apple will partner with SoftBank and not overpriced Docomo or AU when they do finally decide to make it over here.
Heh. I'm totally with you. I will point out that Softbank is not doing anywhere as well as DoCoMo or Au/KDDI which is why their plans are so cheap and why they're the only carrier with phones that include GSM for their global roaming service.
Softbank is the likely carrier, but DoCoMo is a possibility. Au/KDDI is out of course unless Apple makes a CDMA version of the iPhone, which I doubt.
Not on your life! I currently pay $44/month with T-Mobile for:
1,500 anytime minutes, including US roaming and long distance
unlimited EDGE data.
I can browse the web, read/send email, run Skype, even watch my home TV with SlingPlayer (granted, the bandwidth is barely enough for the Slingbox). I don't think there's any provider in a European country that offers so much for so little. They're all busy locking you into their own system, nickel and diming you for little bits of data and selling you ringtones for $3 each.
I know this is probably the best bargain available in the US right now, but still, Cingular is not that much more expensive.
Ummm.....
Unlimited Windows Live Messenger* already included in your price plan
Unlimited Skype to Skype calls*
Unlimited data* to use on:
Web surfing (Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Go)
Mobile Mail (Yahoo! Mail, Gmail and other ISPs)
Podcasts
eBay - Free in your price plan
Unlimited access* to Slingbox &/or Orb
£10 a month
http://three.co.uk/xseries/index.omp
It's £27.50 including a contract for 8 months and a free Nokia N73. £40 for next 10 months. inc VAT.
T-Mobile here have their 'Web n Walk' plans with unlimited data from £27.50 inc VAT
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/eshop/pers...oup=0&navTab=3
Vodafone, Orange and O2 here are a bit more expensive as AFAIK, they don't have unlimited data plans like Three and T-Mobile. Orange do have the advantage of two numbers on one handset though, which is why I use them.
It's perfectly legal to unlock phones now in Europe and most phone shops will do it for you. Most of the contract phones aren't locked with the exception of Orange who've a long history of locking phones. I've never had a phone from any UK supplier that had to suffer things like not being able to add ringtones myself or no Bluetooth which seems so prevalent in the USA.