Mobile Phone News

Filed under: Handsets, ATT, Apple

Apple’s deal with AT&T obviously got re-done in order to get the iPhone 3G on the street for a subsidized $199, but it seems like Steve gave in on a little more than revenue-sharing when he re-upped with Ma Bell: USA Today says that AT&T’s US exclusive on the iPhone has been extended for an additional year, until 2010. The extension isn’t officially declare, but it’s being cited in the context of a long interview with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, who’s quoted as saying things like “The iPhone has repositioned AT&T as the premier wireless brand in the world.” So yeah, dude’s a fan — and with iPhone customers spending almost double on rate plans than the average AT&T customer, it’s not hard to see why. Looks like our dream of glorious Dat. plan price wars will have to wait until Android makes a splash later this year.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Multimedia, Apple

Steve Jobs told USA Today that the Apple App Store will launch with “more than 500″ applications Thursday night for the iPhone and iPod touch. Of these, 25% will be free and 90% (of those for sale) will cost $9.99 or less. “This is the biggest launch of my career,” said Jobs. Analyst Tim Bajarin at Creative Strategies said, “When IBM introduced the PC, it was good, but it didn’t take off until people started discovering the software.” It’s these apps then, he adds, that will “dramatically differentiates the iPhone” from Treos and BlackBerrys. Indeed, while consumers are focused on the launch of the iPhone 3G device, it’s the App Store which has analysts in such a tizzy.

Update: The New York Times reports that 1/3 of all first-wave applications will be games. We also corrected the Bajarin misquote above.

[Thanks, Matt and Chris Z.]

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Filed under: Handsets, Reviews, ATT, HSDPA, Apple, OS X

Well this was bound to happen. Ahead of schedule, Walt Mossberg has turned his official review of the new iPhone 3G, and we’ve got the recap. On the whole, Walt stays mostly positive about the device; he likes the form factor (which he wants to stress really hasn’t changed much), says the 3G speeds are a big improvement over EDGE (no kidding?), and informs us that the audio quality and phone reception are — thankfully — improved all around. Downsides? There are plenty. Mossberg takes issue with AT&T’s new pricing policy, which he finds steep, says he only squeezed 4 hours and 27 minutes of talk time out of the battery, and gripes that you can only sync Exchange or personal calendars and contacts — not both. If you’re like us, you’ll probably want to just read the whole thing. Too lazy? Check the video after the break.

Update: David Pogue of the New York Times has also turned in a kinda-sorta review of the iPhone 3G, though it reads more like an overview of its features than a honest-to-goodness critique. He also makes passing reference to the GPS antenna being “too small” to function as a proper GPS, which makes roughly zero sense to us. Feel free to figure it out on your own.

Update 2: Can’t forget Ed Baig of USA Today, who says the new model is “worth the wait” (not to say we have any option at this point anyway, seeing how hard it is to find an original anywhere). He seemed to have trouble picking up 3G service in some locations, though it’s not clear whether that can be chalked up to technical issues with the handset or a lack of coverage where he was testing. Like the others, Baig discovered a noticeable improvement in audio quality and a noticeable hit in battery life when hooked up to the 3G network. Gotta pay to play, we guess.

Continue reading Walt Mossberg reviews the iPhone 3G, isn’t that impressed (at this time with more David Pogue and Ed Baig!)

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