WWDC: iPhone 3G with GPS Launches on July 11th

Like anticipated, Apple has announced iPhone 3G at the WWDC 2008 event held at Moscone West, San Francisco. It will be available in 22 countries on July 1th, and over the next few months, it will be launched in another 48 countries including India, South Africa and Singapore. The new iPhone 3G will be offered in white/black flavors (both 8GB and 16GB) and features GPS-based navigation. Let’s have a look at specifications of the new iPhone 3G:

  • Flush Headphone Jack (finally!)
  • GPS Navigations
  • 3G for faster wireless data transfer.
  • All metal buttons
  • 5 hours 3G talktime / 10 hours 2G talktime. 7 hours video, 5-6 hours browsing and 24 hours audio.
  • $199 for 8GB iPhone / $299 for 16GB iPhone

Interestingly, to make the iPhone more affordable, Apple has turned towards a new business model according to which cellular carriers will not share revenue with Apple. Carriers will subsidize the cost, and cover it up in monthly charges. Previously, consumers had to pay the full retail price of the iPhone. In simpler terms, Apple is now following a practice, which all other manufactures are following.

 iphone_gps

WWDC is not only about iPhone 3G, but also about third party applications for iPhone. Several app developers were invited and they demonstrated their creations on stage. eBay, TypePad and Loopt (a location aware social network for finding friends close-by) are some of the free application which will be available for iPhone once the App Store is launched in July.

Apple still left me disappointed over few minor things like lack of Video and MMS support or a better resolution camera with flash.

In other WWDC news, .Mac is now MobileMe (me.com). You can sync your data between Macs, PCs and iPhones. It has a subscription fee of $99 and will provide 20 gigs of online storage along with goodies like push email, contacts and calendar.

This post was published by on June 10, 2008

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • http://www.notjohnchow.com/not-john-chow-announ Not John Chow

    I feel like Apple is nickle and diming me at every corner. Always leaving off features and charging more to get them later.

  • http://www.forumistan.net Forumistan

    3G with GPS ? Wow, that will be very nice for me.

  • http://technodorm.com Fahad

    The price looks quite interesting…… but unluckily for me, its not available in my country! :(