iPhone goes 3G: The Rumour Round-Up

Posted by T3 Online on Wed 26 Mar 2008

It's the most hotly anticipated product launch since, well, the iPhone, so it's hardly surprising that rumors of iPhone's second coming in finished 3G form abound on the net.

T3's here with a potted history of the hearsay and the truth about iPhone 3G...

When Apple posts a 'we'll be back soon' message on their website, you know you're in for a treat. But when the iPhone is sold out across New York on the 25th of March, exactly nine months after the US launch date, does that mean we're getting closer to the jackpot of a 3G iPhone?

That's the word on the Google Street anyway, with Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney reporting Apple has placed an order for 10 million 3G handsets, according to sources he's "become aware of in Asia." This is, of course, what every iFan has been waiting for - well, those except the (legal) early adopters who are still locked into their contracts with AT&T, O2, Orange, et al.

Dulaney, in an interview with iPod Observer, also claimed that the handset would contain an OLED screen, a sensible and eco-friendly solution to not only the power-hungry 3G chip, but also Greenpeace's recent attacks on Apple's shade of green.

Many publications are speculating over the second-gen iPhone, including Digg's baby-cheeked founder, Kevin Rose, who in a recent Diggnation vidcast episode, shared some of his supposed sources' ideas regarding the launch of the iPhone 2.0.

He believes part of the reason Apple's preventing third-party developers from designing applications that run in both the foreground and background is because "they're adding 3G support in a few months...they don't want an IM competitor right now...as what they've done is created a phone that has a camera here and on the back inside the little glass here...yes, the new phone is coming out, the iPhone Pro or whatever".

This isn't the first time Rose has speculated over an iPhone launch, with an episode prior to the big US release date claiming a plethora of features which never materialised. In last week's episode however he wryly stated "they came from different sources this time".

Many are holding high hopes for a front-mounted camera to be featured in the next-gen model, allowing for easy video-chat with both iPhone users and computer-based iChat users. With the technology fitting into Apple's values of stylish communication, we can't see how it's not a possibility. We can all imagine an Apple advert with the same familiar jingle, showing how easy it is to use iChat to talk to your contact Chloe face-to-face about the new Macy Gray album you bought the other day, or your favourite Starbucks blend, can't we?

Fingers are being pointed at either a May or June release date, the latter being the one-year anniversary of the launch of the iPhone, and coincides with the launch of the iPhone 2.0 software, which will allow programmers using the iPhone SDK to start spreading their iPhone-native apps.

With the US carrier AT&T expanding their 3G network coverage, it's looking more and more likely that Steve Jobs and his black turtleneck won't be disappointing their customers, with a price-point for an entry-level 8GB 3G iPhone looking set to be $499 or £349 according to T3's in-house currency converter.