Comments on: iPhone 3G S begins shipping to customers

Customers report shipping notices from Apple confirming the iPhone 3G S is on the way.

[Vegaman_Dan]

While I don't plan on standing in line, I will probably be picking one of these up in the next few weeks. My Touch is back from repair and my old cell phone is dying. Time to consolidate into one device.

[Nfuego]

I'm WAITING! I ordered mine the day after they were announced. Hope I get a shipping notification soon!

[jaybarrow]

The above prices are for new AT&T subscribers. I've been with AT&T since January 2008 and according to AT&T's and Apple's websites, my "ugprade price" for an iPhone 3G-S 32GB is $499. Presumably because I already have an iPhone 3G.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Correct. New phone subscribers have always gotten the best discounts on any carrier promotion. The original iPhone buyers of two years ago should have their contracts expiring about now. They should be able to then cancel AT&T and then qualify as a 'new' customer. They would lose their number likely, but that's one way to save money. Not sure it's worth the hassle.

[subie09lega]

I have a 2G model and paid full price for it just like everyone else. Anyone who has a 2G should be able to upgrade with the fully subsidized pricing without changing numbers. I was always eligible for a subsidized 3G but didn't want to pay for another phone so soon, just waited for the next model.

[deja-huh]

It is somewhat tiresome to keep hearing people WHINE about "oh it's only new customers... blah blah". It is MOST CERTAINLY NOT only "new customers" that get the advertised price. It is people who are out of contract and can commit to a NEW 2 year contract.

Buy out your contract, or pay the full price of the phone, or just wait until your contract is up.

Or, you can just wait for the 4th generation iPhone that will probably be out this time next year.

[zmonster]

In my opinion this is a ROTTEN bait and switch by Apple. NOWHERE in the iPhone 3GS announcement can you find (in large text, at least) that the "price" of the phone is anything but $199. People hearing about the new phone associate it with the price of $199. Only when you arrive at the AT&T store do they lay the ROTTEN news on you that IF you are already a 3G owner, instead of rewarding you for that and giving you the $199 price they ADVERTISED, you are faced with a $499 price to get the phone. I always have, and probably always will, be a big Apple fan, but in my opinion they really screwed this up. I find it offensive they will hype this $199 price, and then bait/switch CURRENT customers (of all people) into the $499 price.

[Staszek]

@zmonster

Have you or the rest of the US been living in a bubble during the whole cell phone revolution?? How did you think that a $6-700 phone all of the sudden is $199? Its called subsidies and every single cell phone company in the US does this. It doesnt matter if its an expensive iPhone or a free motorola throw away phone. You get the subsidies when you sign a long term contract. Then you want to blame others when you dont actually read that contract. I am not a huge fan of AT&T but they havent done anything that is not industry standard here.

AT&T paid $880,000,000 in subsidies to Apple in Q1 of 2009. So they should just pay another almost billion dollars to Apple again and say hey its ok we can just throw your contracts out and start fresh? What if you leave after the second two years so maybe you have a total of 2 1/2 years under AT&T and they have paid $400 worth of subsidies which was supposed to guarantee them 4 years of pay back.

This is why this countries economy is in the toilet, no one thinks past the weekend in front of them. Everything is short term give it to me now. Oh those companies can afford it they make tons off us. No one forced anyone to buy the 3G, read your contracts and grow up.

[Januss331]

Why on earth are people so shocked by the price for the new phone? If you just bought a new phone last year, OF COURSE you're going to have to pay the full price? AT&T does this, Cingular did it, Verizon does it and as far as I know, every other service does it.

Note, Jaybarrow, you're not shocked or complaining, your comment just reminded me of it and that stupid Twitter group.

But yes, I have a 2G iPhone and while my contract isn't up until November, I am still eligible for the upgrade price (and have so pre-ordered mine). I haven't had to change my number or anything. Well, just the data plan which has now leveled the playing field for all smartphones.

zmonster on the other hand down there is living in that weird bubble where you can buy a new phone for a discounted price and then all of a sudden by another one at the same nice low subsidized value.

[pennmike]

@Vegaman_Dan:

No one "loses" their number anymore. Cell phone numbers have been portable for over two years now.

Also, the reason the first generation iPhone users get the discount has nothing to do with how close to ending their contract is. We didn't get a subsidy for the first generation iPhone. Therefore, AT&T isn't losing additional money by giving us the subsidy for the 3G S.

[jabberwolf]

Wow..

Apple says that everyone wants their iphone... that's a surprise!

Who woulda guessed that Apple depends on propaganda and trendiness and "shortages" to show "demand" for their product.

Apple has never done that before..... /S

[myles taylor]

Jabberwolf, what are you talking about?

You're acting like there is no demand for the iPhone and that Apple is artificially inflating sales? That 17 million iPhones haven't been sold?

[subie09lega]

Palm Pre sales were high and some stores sold out and their lines weren't even very long. Looks like they either shot low on their sales goals and production estimates or they were trying to create this type of hype.

[subie09lega]

I ordered mine last Monday, soon after they announced the new model. Got my shipment confirmation this morning from Apple. It's currently in China:
Location SHENZHEN, CN
Date 06/15/2009
Time 9:08 P.M.
Description ORIGIN SCAN

[layclerk]

Same here, got an email today confirming shipping from same location as yours (where, I suspect, the iPhones are actually manufactured). Crossing my fingers that it arrives by Friday!

[myles taylor]

One of my co-workers got a tracking number from Apple with a stated delivery time of the 19th.

[aarchitect]

I got my email confirmation this morning as well. It said it was scanned at 3:37 PM in Shenzhen, China. This means that they are on time for a June 19th delivery as promised.

[Kno-itAl]

Wait a couple months and a new version will come out.....thanks apple...

[subie09lega]

I suppose they should just stop revising their products so people don't feel burned when an updated model is released....typically on a known cycle. Virtually anyone can figure out when the next cycle runs so can wait if they don't want to feel like they've been scammed when the latest update is released. Last year was released in July, 2007 was in June. Not hard to see a pattern.

[damesJ]

First iphone - June 2007
iphone 3G - July 2008
iphone 3Gs - June 2009

Couple months? Try once a year. I guess you dont really know it all.

[The_happy_switcher]

Maybe the pace of innovation should just stop for you benefit, huh?

[myles taylor]

I'm assuming the OP was implying that he bought his phone only a few months ago. Well, there was a pattern there and a new version was expected. Do your research if you care that much. Also, it's not that big a deal. Most of the features come with the software update.

[anuragw]

3G P could be introduced next year with in built projector!!!!!!

[surfviper]

DEAR APPLE,

I am very disappointed to have waited on hold at 800-My-APPLE for about 40 minutes to learn that once again I will not be buying an iPhone.

Until I can use a full-sized keyboard with the iPhone, the iPhone and the iPod Touch are just toys, to me.

As someone who has been a consultant for purchasing and trouble-shooting Macs for 25 years, now, it is really embarrassing that I have not been able to recommend the iPhones: as phones, they are mediocre, as PDAs their utility is crippled by inability to use an external keyboard -- they are 98% toy. At present, I am still recommending that serious-minded people get a good cellular phone and a good PDA (like the Palm Pre and a micro-keyboard), rather than an iPhone. Until iPhone can be used with an external keyboard, that will remain my recommendation.

I honestly do not understand the hang-up. How many more iPhones would you sell if an external keyboard could be used with an iPhone/iPod to take meeting notes, to get work done during commutes without lugging a laptop, to chat, etc.

It is a different world today than when people *weren't* buying portable keyboards in great numbers for their PDAs. If there was BlueTooth keyboard access, or a keyboard-dock built specifically for iPhones/iPods, Apple would sell a great many more iPhones/iPods, and whoever was making the keyboards would do well, too.

Think about all the folks who keep knocking Apple for failing to make a sub-notebook... with all the other features in the iPhone/iPod, allowing data entry and interactivity with external keyboards would go a LONG way toward filling that gap.

So, once again, even with the price breaks on the new iPhones, I am not going to buy one, and I am not going to be recommending them to business clients.

Call me when I can use external keyboards.

Thanks.

[Staszek]

External keyboards are coming. There are already a few on the block from ihome and others. Also the sub laptop spot will be filled as well. But I dont think you are going to like it because I am sure it wont have a keyboard either.

As for one as part of the iPhone, it would completely go against the design principle of the unit. Secondly a non physical keyboard is WAY more productive when it comes to the apps and the way the iphone works. Its infinitely changeable depending on which way you have the phone and also what application it happens to be using. This is especially true for foreign language typing.

Take the pre, nice phone and I did really like it. But the huge limiting factor of its keyboard is when I browse the internet I use my phone in landscape. To do that in the Pre you have to keep turning the phone around to type anything in. This is the same with email and everything else. Now I know the iphone didnt have landscape for email or text before 3.0 (I did through jailbreak) but it can do it.

I will admit that typing on an iphone vs a blackberry does take time to get used to, but in landscape mode the keys are very nice and spacious and I can type very fast. In fact half the time I write on these forums its on the iPhone.

[seven7dust]

Yup! Apple one size fits all policy is a problem sometimes
the on screed keyboard takes anywhere between 2-3 weeks to get used to

I do hope Apple allows custom software keyboards like android though !

[Januss331]

The Pre is a pretty sweet phone and I really hope that it gives Sprint/Palm the boost that they both need. But the keyboard it had killed it for me. It did take me awhile to get used to the no keyboard thing of an iPhone, but now that I have, I can't imagine going back to one. I tried out the keyboard on the Pre and it was so TINY! That actually killed it for me. I don't have big ol' sausages or anything like that (love those surgeon hands) but even then, I was way too cramped. Sadly, my fiancé also agreed with me, and she has carny type hands, they're tiny!

That being said, I'm not sure why you would want to carry the keyboard for the iPhone? Might as well get one of the Netbooks. Although, I could see the appeal of not having to carry another device with you. Still would need a proper app for taking notes...which could of course change now that you can sync notes natively (without the use of 3rd party program like Missing Sync).

[technewsjunkie]

I am glad your comments cost me nothing (but my wasted time).
They are worthless.

[narenkrithivas]

Well, with 3.0 and extended accessory connectivity, external keyboards should not be ruled out...

[subie09lega]

Thank you for the diatribe. I guess I'm glad my iPhone (2G) is the first phone I purchased with any type of full keyboard. It took some time to get used to it but now I have no problems with it. Thinking of pushing buttons seems a bit archaic now.

[Sryche22]

I'm wondering how bad the lines will be at retail locations on friday...did anyone stand in line for the Iphone 3G...How was that?

[NeverFade]

you could reserve one today. No credit card needed - you pay at checkout. This is the route I took, because I didn't want to get there, and wait for it and have them sell out.

www.Apple.com/ipone/buy

[NeverFade]

I meant:

www.apple.com/iphone/buy

[Sryche22]

I usually only shop at best buy since I have their rewards card and will be getting quite a chunk of money taken off of the two phones I plan to get because I have quite a few reward certificates to use....

[Vegaman_Dan]

There were no lines in the Seattle area for the 3G release. They did a better job that time of telling people immediately when they were sold out instead of having them wait hours in line, be told they were sold out hours before, and escorted by police away from the people already in line so they didn't ruin the experience. That was the first iPhone release.

The second one was just walk up, buy it, go home. Much easier.

I expect there will be some lines though as the first gen models and diehard fans will be out of their first contract and will be able to stand in line this time.

[SiliconValleyJoe]

To everyone here who wants to "UPGRADE", is there any specific reason you want to upgrade?

The only difference in the 3GS is the camera, video capabilities, compass, higher performing CPU and GPU.

Everything else everyone has complained about such as MMS, Tethering, Locate-My-Phone, Remote-Wipe, Cut-Copy-Paste, Landscape KB etc are all software upgrade via iPhone OS 3.0. You can keep you 3G and get all these.

Most importantly, the 3G and 3GS seems to be HSDPA 7.2 compliant so when ATT turns on the higher speed later on this year, both 3G and 3GS users will benefit just the same.

I got all this by carefully reading Apple's specification. Does anyone have any more on this? Especially first-hand specifics?

[Staszek]

I am upgrading because I have the V1 and skipped the 3g version because I was waiting for a bit more. This is an interesting comment you made about the HSDPA 7.2, where did you see that the 3G is capable of 7.2? If it is it gives the 3G owners one less reason to upgrade.

[SiliconValleyJoe]

@Staszek : I must be wrong regarding the 7.2. While the Apple specification page is unclear, on-line publications seem to imply a new chipset is needed to handle HSDPA 7.2. So that will be a strong reason to upgrade if download speed is a problem.

I also saw the presentation video and Apple did say 3GS runs at 7.2.

We have a gen 1 iPhone, so it is definitely upgrading to the 3GS. We will keep our 3G for now.

[doctorvik]

voice commands on the 3gs - for music and dialing

[napahighflyer]

The only other major addition to the 3GS is voice command. Used for phone dialing and various other Iphone functionality.

[deepen05]

how about someone like me? i just got and iPhone 3G contract in march of this year. and now all of a sudden, a new iPhone is coming out?? this is just straight up BS. i knew this would happen to me! Im not gonna pay 400 bucks to upgrade my phone!

Why can't they give discounted upgrade pricing depending on how long you have been under contract? Wouldn't ATT and apple both be happy if they could have all of their customers using a better phone.

[NeverFade]

@ deepen,

If you're looking for the latest and greatest on gadgets, and it seems that you would be - you should of done your homework. You could have easily found out that there would be a new iPhone being released in the summer, either by googling the info, or just looking at Apple's history of the iPhone.

Secondly, don't be so bad about your purchase. You'll still be upgrading to OS 3.0 come Wednesday.

[Staszek]

How is it BS? To date Apple released a new iPhone right around the same time every year since it launched. As the other poster said do your research. Dont expect AT&T to give you another subsidy because you cant read a contract or even this site that has been stating a new one is coming out since way before you bought yours in March.

[richiechea]

I JUST GOT THE SHIPPING INFORMATION ABOUT MY IPHONE 3gs. the weird thing is taht it says that it is coming 3 days early on the 16th, the ups tracking number says my scheduled delivery is the 16th!!! which is tomorrow!!! If so im going to be really happy!

Rescheduled Delivery: 06/16/2009
Shipped To: REDWOOD CITY, CA, US
Shipped/Billed On: 06/16/2009
Product: WORLD EASE

[krbarbershopman]

I am apparently getting my new iphone on June 17th.


In Transit - On Time
Scheduled Delivery: 06/17/2009
Shipped To: CALABASAS, CA, US
Shipped/Billed On: 06/16/2009
Product: WORLD EASE
Service: EXPRESS
Weight: .50 Kg


Cool! It will be in time to get the phone and the 3.0 software upgrade.

[bananaslug]

Currently awaiting 80, i ordered on the eleventh awaiting confirmation, worried cause i called the 611# and it said back order, I certainly hope not, keed posting
to correct,
2G OVER TWO YEARS CONTRACT UP, DID NOT CANCEL JUST UPGRADED-199$ easy
worth it for me, YES ITS : MMS AND VIDEO ,FASTER NETWORK ,GPS, 2.1 BDR,
AND MORE FOR FIRST GEN LOVERS CANT WAIT TO JAILBREAK 3.0 ON MY 3GS
DEVTEAM RULES!!!

[alexacker]

I pre-ordered two 30 mins after the announcement on the 8th: one from Apple online and one from AT&T online for my wife. We're both 1st gen iPhone users so we got it for $199 (16gb) and $299 (32gb) respectively. I received notice this morning from Apple (June 16th) that it will be here tomorrow - Wednesday the 17th!!! Awesome! But, my wife's 16gb from AT&T is still processing.... and still promised for Friday. I'm not really concerned that AT&T will blow the delivery date but I like Apple's style better.... this boy will playing with his 32gb while people are lining up on Friday - I love it!

[subie09lega]

That's cool it's scheduled to arrive that early. Mine is scheduled to arrive on the 18th which I still find a bit odd. I wouldn't think that they'd schedule them to arrive before the official launch date. According to UPS tracking, mine is still sitting in China, however we know that UPS is not completely perfect in updating their tracking information so it may have already left China and is somewhere else in transit.

[brookefowler]

UPS says that mine also is supposed to arrive tomorrow but I somehow doubt that Apple would allow that. It doesn't show any type of actual movement of the unit except for an "origin scan". My bet is that they will hold it and that the website will show a different day of delivery everyday until the 19th. It would be awesome however if I had mine tomorrow!

[bythebayMD]

i got a shipment notification email early this morning. They said to expect delivery on June 19.

[bythebayMD]

i got a shipment notification email early this morning. They said to expect delivery on June 19.

[subie09lega]

According to UPS, mine is scheduled to deliver on 6/18. I don't really expect it a day early but it will be cool if it does happen!