Euro iPhone launch will reveal 3G handset for Vodafone, T-Mobile A new 3G (European) version of the iPhone will be launched Monday in the UK by Apple - in a joint promotion with Vodafone, T-Mobile of Germany, and Carphone Warehouse. It should answer the disappointment with the US version of the iPhone which has been widely slammed for its poor performance as a phone. Hints of the European …
This article seems to imply that the phone will operate at 3G speeds in Europe. The current phone is only designed to operate at EDGE speeds, not UMTS. So I'm thinking this is BS, wishful thinking..
AT&T has a nice HSDPA 3G network, so if the phone could operate at 3G, it would use that network rather than the slower EDGE.
I haven't seen any of this hinted ANYWHERE else in the Apple news world. How reliable and trustworthy is the London Evening Standard?
Steve Jobs himself stated in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal that current 3G technology is too power-hungry and physically large to be used in the first iPhone, which seems to be one of the main reasons that the first iPhone is stuck with 2.5G.
In addition, it seems unlikely that Apple would release a better and possibly cheaper iPhone mere days after the US iPhone release. Since all iPhones have a 2-week return period, such a move would probably result in a lot of returns as people decide to wait for a US 3G iPhone to be released.
My 2.5 cents.
While the content seems credible enough (i.e. not wildly off-base), the timing would be daft to say the least.
Somehow I don't think Apple/AT&T are expecting sales to begin and then end over this weekend. Announcing a 3G version for Europe during what is effectively the US launch doesn't seem right to me.
No doubt Apple will launch a 3G iPhone for Europe (it would be foolish for it to do otherwise), but I suspect the announcements will come in time to obtain the necessary regulatory clerances.
Other aspects of the story's likelihood aside, 3G really is no longer a size issue. I have a Sony Ericsson W880i here. It's not much big and certainly no thicker than an iPod Nano, and it's a 3G device.
I'd also point out that Guy Kewney has been writing about technology for major UK publications since the late 1970s at least. His record of breaking technology news over here is second to none. That doesn't guarantee he's correct in this instance, but I'd take seriously what his sources are telling him.
Dillion - this is probably not the case, as the ban does not go into effect until August.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8Q273A00.htm
Steve Jobs said size and battery life was the reason for 2G, but like Tony - I don't buy it.
My guess is that there will be an "announcement" on Monday regarding the development and delivery of a European 3G iPhone some unspecified time in the future.
Apple almost always announce things on Tuesdays for a start...
Equally announcing a 3G phone on Monday would have a major impact on the US launch - many customers would wait for the 3G version... Its not as if the 3G version will be available instantly (they'd hardly launch a 2.5G version on Friday then a 3G version on Monday...)
From what I've read the iPhone hasn't been "widely slammed"... Some people have pointed out issues, but nothing major...
A phone as it is (GSM/GPRS) 40kps (this is what the Iphone, as announced, should do in the UK)
A phone on EDGE (not realy big in the UK... Good in Czechoslovakia and us) about 230kps(I think) (Iphone US?)
A phone on UMTS (from what the article is suggesting, this one is the Key one, most current release 3g phones): 320Kps
A phone on T-mobiles current Implementation of HSDPA (Vario II) 1.8mps
A phone on the next implementation of HSDPA (Tmobile Ameo, and the Web-N-WAlk USB thingie) 3.6mbps (note the Device supports it now, the network doesn't).
I'd be suprised if Apple launched the non-3g version of the phone here in the UK for the reason above, I know Tmobile UK doesn't do EDGE, and I don't think any of the other majors bothered either. 40kps will see the phone flounder.
Most of the other handset makers on their next generation of phones are now usually also supporting HSDPA whenever they support 3g, so I'd doubt it would be a UMTS only device.
Most of the next batch of HSDPA devices are supporting 3.6 minimum. Theres the odd 7.2 device announced too. So if apple are going to go 3g, this is where the smart money would be, 3.6mbs (the networks don't support 3.6 yet, never mind 7.2, but then again, apple did release all that 802.11n stuff really early)
Of course, what apple should be preparing to support is HSUPA, that would steal a march on everyone else, having the Iphone as the Launch device for mobile speeds where you could throw your landline away... That would be so, well, Apple!
More wishful thinking and giving Apple way too much credit. AT&T in the US already has an HSDPA 3.6 network (Motorola v3xx). If Apple can't get their act together enough to even offer a basic UMTS phone there, why do you think they'll have a HSDPA 3.6 phone next week in Europe?
Why the long pre-announcement? To gauge interest and to gain time for tweaks.
The US strategy worked - people crave the machine as is. And they will crave the improvements in speed - AND AVAILABILITY OF SERVICES.
Will it work in Europe? We'll see. If T-Mobile is "ecstatic" that might mean something. With better services (speed and facilities and providers) available in Europe this will leapfrog the US in a positive way. God knows what they will come up with for really mobilized markets like Japan and Taiwan...
So I reckon - banking on Guy K's record, and Apple's (Steve's) record - we're in for a softly-softly treat over the next year in terms of mobilized computing. This will be a stealth revolution, rising to engulf us (the market) like a tide in Cumberland.
Apple's challenges have only been met slowly in computers and music players. They might be met more quickly in the mobile field. And that will be fun to watch, and might make it worth actually buying one of the competing gizmos.
Oh, and one last thing:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/apple_unveils_new_product
Per Steve Jobs, 3G chips were considered by Apple but had serious flaws:
1. They're too big and occupy too much space to fit in the sleek iPhone
2. 3G chips currently take too much power and would seriously reduce
battery life. Apple is consumer-oriented and user friendly and doesn't want
people disappointed by short battery life (counter to iPhone's purpose)
3. 3G is irrelevent with much faster WIFI on board. The world is going to
WIFI and most people have WIFI ar home/office where they spend
most of their time, and along the way iPhone automatically synchs to WIFI
hotspots (per Steve). Perhaps in a year when 3G chips are perfected
to consume less power and space, you'll see them in iPhone, but in the
meantime, use WIFI for the web & video (youtube) and EDGE for email
and voice (just as Blackberry does on EDGE). We all recognize that in
remote locations, 3G is somewhat faster, but still can't compete with WIFI for Web/Video, but gives moderate improvement over EDGE when WIFI is not available. In other words, Web browsing on 3G is NOT the panacea or "Holy Grail" that seems to be purported by iPhone debunkers.
Olaf says "...3G is irrelevent with much faster WIFI on board. The world is going to WIFI and most people have WIFI ar home/office where they spend most of their time..."
3G is NOT made irrelevant by wifi. The only reason for owning a mobile is so that you can do stuff whilst out and about. When you are at home you might well have a wi-fi connection - in which case you also have a PC and you'll just use that.
Mobile has always been a compromise of functionality and cost in favour of convenience and 'anywhere, anytime, anyplace' access. It will always remain the same. 3G is 100% relevant - it works pretty much everywhere, wifi works pretty much nowhere and subscribing to a wi-fi service plan or buying hotspot minutes is just as expensive as an unlimited 3G data-plan, which works anywhere.
The iPhone does not need 3G. With many major cities around the world currently rolling out widespread Wi-Fi coverage, its only going to be a short time before before pretty much everyone who has an iPhone also has access to near-universal Wi-Fi coverage.
It is important to understand how the iPhone (and other iGadgets) have become such sort-after items. This has happened not because the technology is the best in the market (its usually pretty good, but rarely the best value for money, and is not always reliable) but because Apple know that people who spend lots of money on gadgets are generally more concerned with looks and gimmicks than the actual nuts and bolts of the technology.
Sure, the large touch screen interface is truly cutting edge, but look at the other functionality misses; you have to take the phone to the shop when the battery needs replacing, you can't upgrade the memory, you can't use the thing for data storage, the camera is reportedly comparitively poor quality, you are tied to one network and if you live in the sticks you will not have fast internet access. You also don't have GPS, which is (so I'm told) the most usefull function of the Nokia N95.
The truth is that people who care about owning an iPhone are either gadget freaks or fashion victims. The success of the iPhone will depend on one thing: how reliable the touch screen is. Apple have cleverly ticked all the fashion-label wearing, R'n'B/middle-of-the-road rock listening, PS3 playing, childless urbanite tick boxes - as long as the thing doesn't break easily it will sell by the bucket-load.
One word of warning for the iPhone - the EU won't like the idea of tying a popular brand of technology to a single network. Unlike the US, where money = good, the European Comission could well intervene if it feels that a single-network iPhone will prevent fair competition between networks. There have already been threats made by EU officials against the fact that you need an iGadget to play iTunes. The iPhone will only increase these tensions.
If the iPhone releases here without it it will be digging itself an early grave, with a lot of similar phones going very cheaply that do 3G & Wifi releasing an expensive handset without it will just seriously impact it's lifespan to a few days beyond the initial hyped rush. Your average person going into a store that isn't fixated on an iPhone, when looking at it side by side with some of the offerings from Nokia, Sony Ericsson etc would struggle to justify to themselves why the iPhone is better (read the US iPhone is substantially worse on a technical level than several phones you can get right now from Voda etc).
As for fixing to one network it happens all the time with phones, normally they're special editions or they see full release towards the end of their lifespan, but realistically it has happened quite a few times.
Ultimately to see success beyond the very shortterm, in the UK atleast, the iPhone needs a significant spec upgrade, the US release model is, poor generally let alone for extreme price they've attached to it, I'd rather buy an iPod and get a pretty much free N95, or blackberry tbh at this point, I did have high hopes for the iPhone but it's just not good enough, esp. not at the price that I fear Apple will try to palm it off onto us for.
>WHY would Apple make a 3G iPhony ONLY for Europeons and NOT for the US >where the BIGGEST criticisms are against a GSM device!???
>This story is pure bullshit.
Maybe because it wouldn't be ready in time for last fridays launch?
Apple can announce it now and release it at the end of the year. That gives them time to work on a version using 3G technology which will have a good battery life.
Right now people all over the world are waiting for their iPhones to arrive so they can be the 1st to hack an iPhone to work with a non-US network. The announcement of a 3G phone will side-track a large number of these people which means fewer people poking about inside their firmware.
With regard to this debate, would the fact that, as the US residents have a tendency to take excessive legal actions against such stupid things as a domestic cat crossiing a road in a district some 40 miles down-wind which passes wind and is claimed to have altered the growth rate of a Magnolia bush in a back yard that is north-east facing; then as the 3G network in the US does not provide 100% coverage of the coverage rates stated in then AT&T and Apple are protecting themselves from a legal mine-field.
But then again, I might be wrong.
I'm just glad to see that Apple have realised that there is a world outside of America, and they are actively seeking to introduce their newest devices around the same time as in the States.
Or looking at it another way, thank you America for providing a UAT facility for the RoW. :)
I don't know how much the 3G capability matters that much. Nearly everywhere I have needed remote data capability I have found that there is no 3G coverage. Coverage in the UK is patchy to say the least. So I have normally been running on GPRS.
However, my SonyEricsson W810i has EDGE capability, and Orange have an EDGE data network. I have found that the EDGE coverage is better, and when I am in an area with no 3G, the EDGE phone beats the 3G phone when it drops back to 2G.
I don't find the speeds too bad when running EDGE.
I actually find I am more likely to get a WiFi connection than a 3G signal....
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