AT&T Announced 3G iPhone

Written by IT News on 3:46 AM

The big news is that AT&T has just announced the next version of the iPhone. Unfortunately, this isn't big news at all, as anyone that actually owns a 3G phone can tell. Even before the iPhone was released a 3G version was not a matter of if, but of when… and AT&T’s timing is just plain bad.

At a meeting of the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, California,
AT&T Inc. Chief Executive Officer, Randall Stephenson said that Apple will be introducing a new version of the iPhone next year. The device will function on the third-generation wireless networks, and be able to access the Internet at a much faster rate than is available today.

Answering a question about when the 3G version of the iPhone will debut, Stephenson said: "You'll have it next year." When asked about the price, he answered that he didn’t know how much it would cost, adding that Steve Jobs "will dictate what the price of the phone is."

Of course, the 3G iphone is not exactly news, and has already been talked about by Steve Jobs at iPhone launch in the UK.

"3G chipsets... are real power hogs. Most phones now have battery lives of 2 to 3 hours and that's due to these very power-hungry 3G chip sets... [iPhone] has 8 hours of talk time life. That's really important when you start to surf the Internet and want to use the phone to listen to music. We've got to see the battery lives for 3G get back up into the 5+ hour range. Hopefully we'll see that later next year."

Of course, there is a big difference between "hopefully we'll see that later next year" and "you'll have it next year," which is why only some people should be doing the announcements. Such an announcement on the eve of the holiday shopping season is not the best of moves, as it can lead to some people holding off until next year. On the other hand, doing so would be rather futile as Apple is not going to come out with anything new until after the Asia launch, which is still a long way ahead.