By John Paczkowski
Apple previewed its iPhone 3.0 operating system and a new software development kit at an invitation-only event at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. earlier today. The latest? Apple is adding 1000 new APIs for OS 3.0, support for peer-to-peer connectivity, and push notifications. John Paczkowski and Adam Tow were at the event this morning to bring you the details and the pictures, as close to live as possible. Read More »
Published on March 17, 2009
By Walter S. Mossberg
Apple's new iPhone 3G S and OS 3.0 offer plenty of new features. But the software may be enough of a boost to keep many users from buying the new model, Walt Mossberg writes. Read More »
Published on June 17, 2009
Since 2008, AT&T’s network in and around San Francisco has experienced an increase in 3G data traffic of 2,000 percent. If you find this metric as astonishing as I do, consider this: The increase in Bay Area data traffic is actually below the national average--significantly below. According to AT&T CTO John Donovan, 3G data traffic on the company’s wireless network has risen nearly 5,000 percent nationally in the past 12 quarters.
Bay Area iPhone users, relief is on the way. AT&T has almost completed a $65 million upgrade to its network in the region. The carrier has upgraded close to 850 cell sites in an effort to better handle the massive surge in data traffic it has seen in and around San Francisco since the debut of iPhone. And make no mistake: The surge has been massive.
If AT&T took offense at Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” ad campaign, wait until it gets a load of its rival's newest ad spots. Unfazed by AT&T’s litigious reply to its first effort, Verizon rolled out a trio of new anti-AT&T ads over the weekend and they are brutal in their criticism of the carrier's network coverage.
Apple’s internationally coveted iPhone finally arrived at market in China last week and by most accounts its debut was uncharacteristically muted. There is "no sign of the sort of sellout reception that greeted the smart phone at its introduction in other countries," The Wall Street Journal reported. Clearly, the device’s Chinese launch wasn’t the rousing success to which we’ve become accustomed. That said, it probably wasn’t quite the bust it’s been made out to be, either.
Demand exceeding supply for the Apple iPhone 3GS is one of the big takeaways from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster’s earnings preview for Apple’s September quarter and it obviously bodes well for the company’s investors. Munster sees Apple beating the Street’s estimates thanks to increased Mac and iPhone sales.
It has taken far too long, but AT&T has finally warmed to the the idea of voice-over-Internet services on its wireless network. On Tuesday afternoon, the carrier opened its 3G network to telephony apps, ending a restriction that had limited them to Wi-Fi.
AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity deal with Apple is set to expire as early as next year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t be renewed--despite complaints about the carrier’s network. That’s the word from iSuppli, which predicts Apple will extend its agreement with AT&T because it has no reason not to.
Among the 1,000-plus new features included in Apple’s iPhone 3.0 is a new open standard for live video streaming over HTTP, and soon, Netflix will make use of it. Well, that’s the rumor anyway. An industry executive said to be familiar with the company’s plans tells Multichannel News that Netflix plans to extend its Watch Instantly video-streaming service to the Nintendo Wii and to the iPhone and iPod touch as well.
Looks like Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster’s second estimate of Apple’s weekend iPhone sales underestimated demand just as badly as his first. Apple didn’t sell 500,000 units of the iPhone 3GS over the weekend, as Munster first predicted. Nor did the company sell 750,000 as he said in a research note this morning. It sold over one million. Moreover, downloads of Apple's new iPhone 3.0 software, launched last Wednesday, have already reached six million.
Still waiting to get your hands on the new iPhone 3G S? Here's something that should occupy you for a few minutes while you wait: A side-by-side-by-side-by-side comparison of four iterations of iPhones going through various speed tests, performed by Pali Research analyst Walt Piecyk. And as a bonus, a clip of the new iPhone vs. the Palm Pre, featuring a surprise twist.
Did you wait in line this morning to buy a new iPhone 3G S? If you want to take advantage of its "tethering" feature and use it as a modem, you're going to have to wait a while longer. And you'll have to pay--though it's unclear how much that's going to cost.
“iPhone 3G S Available at AT&T Tomorrow.” That’s the title of the press release that just landed in my inbox--even as the lines form in New York City and Tokyo. Never hurts to state the obvious, I suppose.
How many iPhone 3G S handsets will Apple sell this weekend? The answer: 500,000, according to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, who says early sales will be slower than those of the 3G thanks to a dramatic change in value proposition and a launch limited to eight countries.
The outcry over the $200 premium some existing iPhone 3G users must pay to upgrade to the iPhone 3G S has caused AT&T to think better of the move. The carrier this morning extended the 3G S’s so called “standard upgrade” prices of $199 (16GB) and $299 (32GB) to existing subscribers who would have otherwise qualified for those lower prices on or before the end of September.
10 am PDT, 1 pm EDT.
That’s when Apple is expected to roll out iPhone 3.0, an update that will bring a number of long-anticipated features to the iconic device. Among them a phone-wide Spotlight Search, push notifications and the long-overdue cut, copy and paste.
Palm picked a hell of a day to launch the Pre. Two days before Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. Two days before the unveiling of the iPhone 3G S, a new version of Apple’s iconic handset that runs twice as fast as its predecessor, shoots video with an improved three megapixel camera and boasts longer battery life and greater storage. And worst of all, two days prior to the announcement of a new $99 price point for the iPhone 3G, a disruptive move that puts the device in reach of far more consumers.
Forstall returns to the stage for some final words about iPhone 3.0. Free for iPhone owners. $9.95 for iPod Touch owners. Available worldwide June 17. GM seed available to developers today. And with that he hands the keynote back over to Schiller. Schiller talks up the iPhone 3G, noting that two thirds of all mobile browsing is now done from iPhones and iPod Touches. He pulls up a graph of various app stores and the number of apps available at each. Apple’s App Store far exceeds them all.
So what’s next? iPhone OS 3.0, obviously. Its new features: cut, copy and paste, which works across apps and undo support via shake. Also, Landscape view and keyboard for all main applications — mail, messages, etc. MMS support has been added as well. But it's carrier-dependent. In the states, for example, AT&T won’t be supporting it until late summer (audience groans).
What does Apple have in store for its army of third-party Mac OS X and iPhone developers at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco today? Click through for a liveblog of the keynote and full coverage of the event, happening now.
If Apple is planning to release a new iPhone this summer, it will likely unveil it June 8. That’s day one of Apple’s 2009 Worldwide Developers Conference and historically the day on which its keynote address is delivered.
John and Adam are on their way to the iPhone 3.0 event at Apple's Town Hall Auditorium in Cupertino this morning. John will be liveblogging throughout the event on Digital Daily while Adam will be providing photos in real-time.
This week, Apple is releasing version 3.0 of the iPhone OS alongside the new iPhone 3G S, a faster and more capable version of the iPhone 3G. Here’s full coverage of the product launch, in addition to key articles from our previous iPhone coverage.
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