Mossberg: 3G iPhone coming in 60 days
Uncle Walt says the iPhone will be able to download Web pages even faster in 60 days.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Uncle Walt thinks a 3G iPhone will arrive within the next 60 days.
Walt Mossberg, the legendary technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, made the prediction during an executive summit held by Beet.tv last week. For some reason, Mossberg's comments were not noticed until over the weekend, perhaps because the title of the post referencing his talk was "FTC Should Stop Verizon from Calling DSL 'Broadband,' Walt Mossberg."
Most of his talk is about how broadband networks in the U.S. are somewhat lacking compared to the rest of the world, and how that's a big problem for video-over-the-Internet businesses. But at about 6:30 into the clip, he starts talking about wireless broadband, and the iPhone. Mossberg notes that the iPhone already offers a pretty good video experience with its iPod capabilities, and then dismisses concern over the lack of a 3G iPhone with this gem: "It will be 3G in 60 days."
Mossberg is in the select group that gets early access to important Apple products, he was one of the first to review the initial iPhone last June. So, he's probably in a good position to know when his next iPhone review might be coming around.
Apple's Worldwide Developers' Conference is a little over 60 days from now, but that's close enough put that rumor back on the front burner (as if it ever really left). Apple will have to be careful about how it introduces the 3G iPhone as not to hurt demand for the model currently on sale, if there's a gap between the announcement of a new model and its availability.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
Apple products,"
Make that _used to_ get early access....
Can you explain? I was always under impression that Mossberg's
reputation is so strong that it gives him a special access to all of
the top IT companies... Or are you to suggest that Apple will
remove him from a journalist list?
often gets it wrong, especially when it comes to market
predictions about Apple. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the
case here as well.
If Apple can't sell the vast majority of it's existing iPhones in "60
days," they can wait until they do. There's no scheduled event for
an unveiling, so it's up to them if and when it will happen.
Just to make this well-rounded, were Apple to significantly drop
the prices on the current haredware version of iPhone when
coming out with a 3G iPhone, there are those who would
definitely consider it. Some people don't really care about the
mobile internet, or are usually in range of an accessible WiFi
connection. Instead, they just want the media playback ability,
the occasional ability to check their email or surf the wbe when
within range of WiFi, and the excellent software of the iPhone.
For them, being connected 24/7 isn't necessary, but it'd be nice
to be able to converge devices or not carry a laptop around.
There's a market out there for media phones that can tether to
the computer just the same as there is a market for iPods that
don't have cell or WiFi access. All it would take to entice people
onto this kind of device is a lower pricepoint that makes the
storage capacity worth it.
Apple was against 3G and had no plans for it.
Now it appears that the industry fully expects Apple to release a 3G version and all signs point to this obvious necessary development of the unit to compete.
I'm just not sure what this means for the credibility of the industry pundits who all know Apple is going to release this phone or Apple itself who said they had no intentions of ever going 3G.
I think you realistically have to follow the money and that means 3G these days.
consumption of then-current 3g hardware as the reason Apple
chose not to ship the 1st Gen iPhone with 3g.
As Moore's law has marched on in the year since the phone was
shipped, there are now lower-powered parts enabling 3G service
on the iPhone. I would fully expect the iPhone to incorporate 3g
technology in its next revision.
I'm not sure why you'd think Apple would never include 3g. The
price, power consumption, and physical size of 3g parts have all
decreased since the intro, and there's never been any sign that
Apple would refuse to ship 3g in a subsequent revision once the
power budget issue was addressed.
iTunes. It is in fact one of my favorite and most often used features
on iTunes.
If they could only make music and TV shows available through subscription.
Now what would be MORE useful is stereo bluetooth. Then you can listen to your music and answer your calls with out wires or two separate headsets.
the driver to minimize the impact on the battery (it takes notably
more CPU for A2DP). I suspect that A2DP will be included in version
2.0 of the firmware, though.
What I'd personally be interested in is voice dialing through a
headset. I don't always want to touch my phone to make a call.
a 4G network for deployment this year. Don't be surprised if Steve
pulls off some trickery here. Randys2Cents
one yet.
I myself, understood the address at the iPhone unveiling as
more of "I really want to get 3G into this eventually, but it won't
work how I want it to right now."
Now I've waited so long, I may not get one of the next versions
either unless it comes with a whole lot more improvements than
just 3G. Bluetooth stereo would just be the tip of the iceberg.
The Apple connection sorta throws all of it up into the air without any sort of guidelines.
version later on.
I think the battery life comment was explaining why they didn't
release it in the beginning.
They were always going to do it.
If they build in a light for the camera that you can turn on to
find keys and stuff plus some stereo bluetooth it'd be almost
perfect.
I have this info from a reliable source.
Using the Apple developer kit, we?ve been hard at work developing impressive technology that make the iPhones capabilities even more powerful. Voice search. Song search and selection. At the touch of a button and simply by saying the word. Over the next few days ? as the excitement mounts for the WWDC ? we?ll be sharing more and more details here on our blog. For now though, I think all of us should sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Of course, we believe the most powerful use of speech would be running on the iPhone itself (vs a remote server) and made available to the developer community via iPhone?s SDK APIs.
- by abcyesn July 11, 2008 8:29 PM PDT
- iPhone 3G is one of the best phones on the planet, LG Dare from verizon is pretty close, but it still lacks of great features such as customer apps. Please if you own an iPhone 3G, give me some advice at http://www.3G-iPhones.org
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