I was hoping Apple’s third generation iPhone — widely expected to be announced at WWDC 2009 — would have a huge screen and lend itself perfectly to the name iPhone HD. After all, Apple has been promoting HD a lot lately with their iTunes offerings.
Absent that huge screen, however, the last Phone different podcast had Dieter and I wondering what else Apple could have up their black, turtle-necked sleeves when it comes to branding?
- iPhone 4G would require 4G LTE wireless networks, which haven’t even begun to be rolled out yet, so last year’s scheme is out.
- iPhone 3.5/3.9G is likewise a non-starter. HSPA+ radio or not, that’s just too inelegant for Apple,
- iPhone 32GB is what the telco leaks have been splashing all over the internet. This too seems unlikely, as it paints Apple into every bit as much of a techno-corner as the radio-based names.
- iPhone Pro fits with Mac Pro and MacBook Pro (and even Final Cut Pro), but Dieter points out that beyond my little Apple-verse, that terms is already used and abused by Palm Treo Pro, HTC Touch Pro, and a variety of other stylus-wielding Windows Phones. That alone might sour Apple.
- iPhone, sans descriptor is always a possibility. After all, it’s not iMac X, Y, or Z, it’s just iMac. Whether internal documents say iPhone 2,1 or iPhone 3rd Generation, Apple could be ballsy enough at this point to just stick with the unadorned moniker.
What do you think, one of the above or something else entirely? Come WWDC, when Schiller or Joz or whomever whips out that new iPhone, what are they going to call it?
With WWDC 2009 only two weeks away, the many rumors and leaks and informed guesses seem to have coalesced into a somewhat unified view of what we probably will — and probably won’t — see if/when the next generation iPhone 2,1 is announced. Given the full version upgrade number (the original iPhone 2G is 1,1, the iPhone 3G is 1,2) we’d expect there to be more in the way of hardware changes than we saw last year with the addition of “just” 3G and GPS. Will those expectations be met? We have a pretty good handle on the iPhone 3.0 software, but what about the hardware?
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A user on MacTalk Forums (via MacRumors) may have just stumbled upon Apple’s icon for the next generation iPhone, buried inside the iPhone 3.0 SDK. And the big surprise?
It looks pretty much the same as the icon for the iPhone 3G.
iPhone 2,1 is Apple’s internal number for the next gen iPhone, expected to be announced at WWDC. The original iPhone 2G is iPhone 1,1, while the iPhone 3G is iPhone 1,2. The numbers show that even Apple doesn’t consider there to be much more than a point difference between the first two iPhone generations (as opposed to the iPod touch, which went to 2,1 last fall).
The use of iPhone 2,1 led many to believe the next gen iPhone would have more differences than the addition of 3G and GPS last time around. And while it still might, including processor bumps, digital compass, a better camera, etc. if this icon is accurate it looks like few if anything will change on the outside.
Boy Genius and their stealthy squad of tele-shinobi have emerged with juicy details on the Canadian carrier Rogers and their next gen iPhone plans:
iPhone — ETA: unknown (July/August), outright: not allowed, 3-year: TBD. Of note, Rogers will launch the new iPhone on the same day that it lifts off here in the US. Purchases will be limited to one iPhone per customer on opening day and there will be active demos on display in stores. Also of note, Rogers expects to have substantially more iPhones on hand this time around so as not to run into the same stock issues as with the iPhone 3G launch.
Last year’s launch raised cross-country protests over the then-exorbitantly high data rates in Canada, which caused Rogers to temporarily offer a $30/6GB plan which has since disappeared. With AT&T considering lower rates for the iPhone, is there a chance in Hull Rogers would do likewise?
What else? Heading into WWDC it’s pretty much all iPhone 3.0 and new iPhone hardware, all the time. Join Dieter and Rene for talk on the latest rumors, multitasking, Apple’s rejection of Eucalyptus, and more. Listen in!
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Colossal blunder to be sure, but is it a blunder in content, or was it just made live before it was finished and authorized? Are we seeing the first signs of a real, honest-to-Jobs iPhone 32G? Decide for yourselves, though Engadget reminds us that the original iPhone was prematurely posted by T-Mo Germany two years ago. Could this be the double d’oh!?
(But really, T-Mo, you couldn’t have used a faded out, stock photo of an iPhone 3G there? My eyes. Ouch. My eyes…)
[via AreaMobile]
John Gruber of DaringFireball.net, who knows people who know people — no names! — has weighed in with his opinion on what we just might see from Apple in terms of a next generation iPhone at WWDC 2009.
Very likely: July release with roughly double the CPU power, digital compass, better camera with video shooting + editing, and 16GB/32GB SKUs.
Somewhat likely: Same $199/$299 price point, 256MB of RAM
Just maybe: Better battery life
Very unlikely: iTablet at WWDC
Sorta unlikely but…: iPhone mini at WWDC.
We’re guessing that’s soft affirmation from him on both the iTablet and iPhone mini/nano, just not yet.
Pretty much in line with all the other rumors, so consider this just more weight on the scales.
Apple Insider lets us know who’s been tapped to provide the magnetometer (digital compass) for the new iPhone hardware expected to hit at WWDC 2009:
People familiar with betas of the iPhone 3.0 software developers kit recently dug up several header files attributed to the Japanese manufacturer in a directory appropriately labeled “compass.” More specifically, the files identify Asahi Kasei’s azimuth sensor No. AK8973, a 16-pin leadless IC package measuring 4mm square and 0.7mm thick, as the chip that will help future iPhone users determine their direction. It bundles a master clock oscillator.
As already evident in the Android G1, a digital compass allows for a better Google Street View experience, but can also make things like turn-by-turn navigation and other orientation-based functions smoother and more precise.
Apple Insider also states that this is but one of three new, confirmed hardware features, the others being a better, video-capable camera and a faster, 802.11n Wi-Fi chip.
UPDATE: Full super-rumored specs list, via Engadget after the break!
ORIGINAL: Palm Pre announces a release date and all of a sudden iPhone and Apple blogs have to rumor up a next generation iPhone release date? Yep, that’s how we roll… right over the news cycles.
So when’s the rumor? July 17, 2009. And no, no idea if that’s an international roll-out like last year. Speaking of which, Apple introduced the iPhone 3G at WWDC 2008 and had it on sale July 11, so a similar pattern this year makes the kind of sense that does, even if July 17 just also happens to be the default date on every iCal instance in the world…
As to specs, pretty much what we’ve seen rumored already, 32GB, 3.5mp camera, video recording, digital compass, OLED screen, and here’s a kicker — illuminated Apple logo like the MacBooks.
How does that sound to you? Perfect timing? To soon? Too late? Too many crazy rumors, bring on WWDC already?!
[TUAW via AppleiPhoneApps]
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Business Insider rumormongers that Apple might be considering some limited form of multi-tasking, perhaps as early as iPhone 3.0, which would allow 3rd party apps to run as background tasks. They point to two possible models:
- Apple might allow users to select two apps that can run in the background.
- Apple might selectively allow some apps to run in the background. We assume that developers could apply for permission to run in the background, and that Apple might approve or deny them based on the resources they need and how well they behave with the operating system’s stability.
Daring Fireball steps up to throw a combo of water and fuel on that particular fire:
I heard something very similar from a decent (but second-hand) source back in January during Macworld Expo. What I heard then was that Apple was working on a vastly improved dock for your most-frequently used apps, and that there’d be one special icon position where you could put a third-party app to enable it to run in the background.
Gruber also rightly points out that the iPhone 3G’s 128MB of RAM is likely the constraining factor to current generation multitasking and that won’t change with the iPhone 3.0 firmware. If reports of at least 512MB of RAM in a 3rd generation iPhone are to be believed, however, this could be a much more compelling and powerful feature.
A dock that slides up like a slot-limited version of Google’s Android app shelf maybe? And one that grants background permission to anything placed inside it? Yes please.
