Apple has begun their direct email campaign for the iPhone 3G S saying:
Phone 3G S features a remarkable new video camera and hands-free Voice Control. It’s a revolutionary phone, a great widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device in one. And it opens up a whole new world of applications. All that and more makes it the best iPhone yet.
It’s that second to last sentence that drew our attention. New world of applications? What does that mean for the old world? More after the break…
With AT&T US and Rogers Canada having already weighed in, TUAW now brings word on what the chaps across the pond can expect for the iPhone 3G S, and it’s, well… a lot of numbers, innit?
Check out their full post for all the details on Monthly and Pay & Go Plans, but highlights include:
32GB iPhone 3G S will range between £274.23 (~$444US) and £96.89 (~$158US) for an 18-month contract and £175.19 (~$283) and £0 for a 24-month contract. Contract prices range between £29.38 (~$48US) and £73.41 (~$120US) for 18-month terms and £34.26 (~$55US) and £73.41 (~$120US) for 24-month terms. All plans include unlimited UK data and WiFi.
So, who’s for a bit of a line up on Regent Street June 19 then?
(And yeah, old school LoTR graphic still alive!)
Apple Insider reveals that:
Sources have now reported that Apple has detailed that Imagination’s PowerVR SGX is indeed the graphics processor used in the iPhone 3G S, and that it is “designed for OpenGL ES 2.0.” The new 2.0 specification of OpenGL for Embedded Systems eliminates most of the fixed-function rendering pipeline for a programmable approach to 3D rendering using shader programs.
So while we’re not yet getting that PA Semi + multicore ARM/PowerVT + OpenCL + Papermaker + ATI gurus system on a chip we’ve been fantasizing about this year… we’re still getting a clear focus on speed from Apple. And that’s a Good Thing.
Oh, and yeah, that’s totally the Kingdom Come Flash trouncing his golden age and silver age counterparts in the graphic above. /geek.
AT&T and other carriers subsidize the upfront cost of the iPhone and other smartphones and make up the difference via guaranteed long term contracts/commitments. That’s their business model, but it means they can’t and won’t give repeated subsidies until you’ve finished the associated contract terms. With many iPhone 3G owners — still under contract — eyeing the iPhone 3G S, and the non-subsidized price it brings with it, a fair amount of anger has been plasma-cannoned in AT&T’s monstrous direction.
Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz, however, gives a nasty spoonful of reality medicine to those of us who bought heavily subsidized iPhones last year, and are upset we can’t get the same subsidy again this year:
The fact is that the $199/$299 price tag for the iPhone is the result of AT&T’s—or any other carrier, since the situation is the same all around the world—subsidy. Without subsidy—and tying you to a new two year contract—the iPhone is not different from something like the Nokia N97, which is $700 unlocked. Or the contract-free, unsubsidized iPhone 3G itself: The iPhone 3G costs $770 and $877 unlocked for the 8 and 16GB versions.
He goes on to kick the telcos heartily in their nether-regions as well, pointing out their exorbitant monthly charges, but takes issue with the sense of “entitlement” in modern consumer culture.
If you don’t like it? His advice is to not buy the new iPhone 3G S and wait until next year when you can get a subsidy.
(I’m locked into a 3 year contract which currently has an early termination fee of ~$500, so I feel that pain…)
And in the mean time?
do the rest of the world a favor and stop whining about what you are entitled to. We don’t live in your pretty me me me ME world.
NB: Delayed MMS deployment and lack of anything approaching information on tethering, however — totally AT&T hate worthy…
[Via Daring Fireball]
Looks like Rogers will be bringing back the $30/6GB data plans just in time for the iPhone 3G S launch!
Last year, to help defuse some of the negative publicity surrounding Canadian data rates in face of the iPhone 3G launch, Rogers extended a hand to data hungry users in the form of this plan — for a limited time only.
Recently Rogers brought the plan back for their Android handset as well, but it’s great to see it specified for our new iPhone.
Pricing is also given above for current, 2008 iPhone 3G hardware. We thought $99 would be the cheap rate, but it looks like either it’s not going down that far, or the system just hasn’t been updated yet.
Hopefully we’ll get more as the June 19 launch day approaches.
AT&T (via Macrumors) has posted the above video in hopes of clarifying how customers, new and existing, can get a brand new iPhone 3G S come next Friday:
On launch day (June 19th), two lines will form at 7 a.m. local time at the AT&T retail stores. Customers who had pre-ordered from retail stores will be able to pick up their iPhone 3GSs at that time, while customers who wish to purchase that day will have to wait until the store opens at normal business hours.
Pricing is still $199/$299 for 16GB/32GB on new activations with full subsidies. Customers already under contract, having already received subsidies last time around, can expect to pay up to $599/$699 (though some discounts might bring that down a tad).
So, does the video help answer your questions, if not allay your frustrations?
It’s been a busy day here on TiPb, so just in case you missed anything, here’s a roundup of all our WWDC 2009 news and coverage.
Yeah, we’re the entitled generation. We want everything, we want it now, and free isn’t good enough — you better pay us to like it!
Well, most of us aren’t that bad, but our expectations have no doubt been set high, almost impossibly high.
So, while Apple is touting their faster, video shooting, voice controlling, compass spinning new iPhone 3G S, we just want to remind them of just what we didn’t get… after the break!
Okay, I take back 13% of all the bad things I’ve ever said about Rogers. The Social Media Rep for Rogers/Fido, Keith McArthur, has unleashed the following today via Twitter:
UPDATE: Steve in the comments points out this gem from the same Twitter feed:
You stand on guard for me. Well done, sirs!
Lots of smartphones have lots of features, and as Steve Jobs has said in the past — many people don’t even know about them, much less use them.
With the original iPhone, Apple popularized mobile web browsing, and the iPhone 3G too that to previously unseen levels (and AT&T has the data network woes to prove it). The App Store made getting and using mobile applications so ridiculously easy that 50,000 now fill the store and over 1 billion have been downloaded.
So now Apple is set to take on mobile video.
Like previous efforts, mobile video isn’t new. Many smartphones have been able to shoot video for many years. Likewise, the Flip Mino and similar pocket video camera have become media darlings. But as with most things Apple, the iPhone 3G S is set to make shooting, editing, and sharing videos not only more convenient, but easier and likely more popular than ever.
Think about it: the video camera will be with you everywhere you have a phone. It will be constantly connected. And it will be integrated with not only MMS and MobileMe, but with the 800lbs gorilla of video — YouTube.
Hey, dad, here’s your son making that soccer goal 5 min ago. Hey, sis, here’s Steve Jobs totally ordering a smoothy at Whole Foods! Hey, air force, here’s that flying saucer that keeps buzzing my cattle ranch!
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The iPhone blog (TiPb) is for those who dare to phone different.
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