03
Jun
Rumours abound that Apple will be shortly releasing the much anticipated 3G iPhone. What will this mean for existing iPhone users?
On Monday 9th June Apple will be holding its annual Worldwide Devloper’s Conference in San Francisco. One of two annual events held by Apple which are typically used as a platform for new product releases. The standard format is for the charismatic CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, to take to the stage and present 60 minutes of dramatic reveals and demos of new gadgets and software. Most recently this took the form of the iPhone release, Apple’s first venture into the world of mobile phones.
The iPhone has been a huge success since it release taking up a sizeable chunk of the mobile phone market. Yet for a phone that boasts so much, many are still unsatisfied.
The iPhone was released as a 2G phone, meaning it could send and receive data over the GRPS and EDGE mobile data networks. Whilst just a few years ago this would have seemed very impressive, Nokia have for some time been releasing handsets that are 3G enabled, and they aren’t the only ones.
Apple claimed at the time of release that the power consumptions of the 3G chips was not acceptable and instead opted for longer battery life. Many argued this was a poor excuse citing that users should have simply been able to turn of 3G if they felt it was draining the batter, in much the same way as users turn of Bluetooth and WiFi for the same reasons.
There were also question marks over the 2 Megapixel camera, lack of MMS messaging or mass texting (later rectified) as well as other alleged missing features. Yet in spite of these oversights (or deliberate decisions) the positive features of the iPhone were enough to wow even the most cynical of technophobes. The fabulous touch screen interface, wonderful high resolution screen, built in iPod and seemless integration with iTunes seemed to be enough to raise the bar dramatically in the mobile world.
For some weeks it has been next to impossible to get hold of an iPhone. Stocks have simply run dry; and the general consensus is that Apple has something up its sleeve. It doesn’t take a seasoned tech commentator to fathom that Steve will be announcing the 3G iPhone next week, that much is a given. The interesting questions are what will it look like, what will it cost and what other features and upgrades will be included that aren’t available on the existing model.
Whatever the outcome Apple are banking big on the iPhone this year, and if their recent performance is anything to go by - their competitors have every right to feel a little nervous.
But what does this mean for Apple’s existing iPhone customers? Apple has always enjoyed exceptional customer loyalty. Yet one area that often receives criticism is the speed with which new products supersede old ones. This is made all the more frustrating because of Apple’s ability to keep these new products a secret until the 11th hour. Historically the product lifecycles could be 12 months or more and so the problem was not too pronounced. Lately however the product lifecycles are getting shorter and shorter.
Many British iPhone users have had their phones a matter of months and are locked into O2s 18 month minimum contract. Yet before these shiny phones have even developed their first scratch Apple is about to bring out version 2. What’s more their are a significant number of rumours suggesting that these new phones will much lower in price now that Apple has secured improved economics for manufacturing and recouped some development costs with strong profits over recent months.
Whether or not these shortened lifecycles and the continuing annoyance for Apple’s loyal fanboys will have a long term negative effect only time will tell, but it seems for now at least the craving of the new is outdoing the frustrations of the outdated.