As per usual, at the most inopportune time when I was already running late, I decided to sync my iPhone as I was getting ready to leave home today. Like clockwork, iTunes asks me if I'd like to update to Firmware 2.1. Would I? Unlike last time, I actually downloaded the update and took off to make my a Saturday class.
During a break, my fellow iPhone-laden class attendees got out their iPhones to check email, text messages and voicemail and the discussion turned to Firmware 2.1.
"Did you get it?" one fellow classmate asked eagerly.
Some of us had, and others, like me, had not. The only visual difference the few of us noted was that the iPod's song listings now listed the artists as well as the song title. But it was funny that we were talking about a firmware update like schoolgirls gossiping as the discussion quickly shifted to cool iPhone applications. Seismographs to levels to games....
On the way home, however, I ran into two of my friends who work at an Apple Store here in the Bay Area. One is a general floor rep and the other a Genius Bar rep. Both were touting the update as getting a new iPhone (essentially making the life of the Genius Bar rep a whole lot easier, me mused).
From what I've gathered from everyone I talked to today about the update (the whole point of non-geeky types talking about a firmware update is not lost on me) is the following: Somehow, Apple has increased 3G performance AND improved battery life in one fell swoop. Perhaps, some theorized, Firmware 2.1 has addressed 3G network access issues that drains battery life. Whether this involves AT&T slackening 3G access standards or if the change is on Apple's end doesn't really matter to me. The details behind the conclusion aren't critical to a lay user like me and my classmates. We saw a Firmware 2.0 iPhone placed next to a 2.1 and noting that 3G reception on the 2.0 was 2 bars while the 2.1 iPhone had 5 bars. Really? More bars everywhere for everyone AT&T?
Can't wait to see if this Firmware update finally makes good on AT&T's slogan of 'fewer calls dropped,' which has, thus far, rung hollow with the iPhone 3G.
Steve Jobs certainly knows how to surprise and saturate. Along with other Applephiles, I was following the live coverage of the latest Apple/iPod/iPhone news via Gizmodo, which couldn't refresh fast enough!
So much to digest, but the main points:
(1) iPhone price drop!? The 8GB iPhone's price fell markedly with this announcement to $399. (Say buh-bye to the 4GB model). Boy, I sure could have used that $200 for the past two months, but it's an inherent risk of being an early adopter. So there is a $100 premium for the phone part of the iPhone as the iPod Touch 8GB model is $299 and the 16GB is $399. With this new and improved price point, you will see a lot more people (and their sisters) with an iPhone! Hopefully, this means more support, connectively and market saturation. Less likelihood of it getting stolen. Ah, delicious.
(2) iPhone update--this month! Our long national nightmare without a major update ends, or does it? To be included, the iTunes Wi-Fi store--music on the go. What's more, it'll sync back to my main desktop iTunes unlike other types of phone-based purchase stores. Finally, when I hear that "it" song, oh say in Starbucks (in NY, Seattle or SF this year), I'll be able to buy it then and there (provided there is a decent Wi-Fi connection). By 2009, all Starbucks with Wi-Fi are supposed to have this service. Talk about locking in a captive market and creating market path dependence! I do have to admit the Starbucks thing is cool, but it seems a bit creepy. Think about it: now you can get a caffeine-fix and a music fix at the same time--what a brilliant business model: the quest for caffeine is likely to lead to an impulse buy.
(3) iPhone-lite--ermm, the iPod Touch. An iPhone without the phone part. 16GB for $399? Is that it? There's no reason for iPhone owners to get one in my mind (apart from being ticked about the price drop). Size and capacity have always been a sticking point for me with the iPhone as an iPod. Now, the iPod Classic at 160GB for $349 will finally alleviate these concerns handily. (My personal iTunes library itself is at 105GB.) So the "leap" to 16GB without the phone features isn't quite worth it to me--especially since I already have an iPhone. (Early morning confusion as to which one to grab would surely ensue.) But, as flash memory drops in price and increases in availability and capacity I'm sure I'll be migrating to the third or fourth generation iPod Touch, or iPhone, or whatever they'll call it at that point.
What a day! I know I'm headed down to the Apple store over lunch!
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