Apple has posted today’s Phil Schiller keynote from WWDC. See the video here.
A couple more interesting tidbits from today:
Upgrading to the iPhone 3GS may cost you more than you think. The $199 and $299 prices for the 16GB and 32GB models are the prices NEW customers or customers eligible for upgrades will pay. As you know, you signed a 2 year contract when you got your existing iPhone 3G (if you did it on AT&T). The policy for upgrading at a reduced rate is typically 18 months. So even if you bought your iPhone 3G on the day it was announced, that’s only 11 months ago. Most likely you won’t be able to upgrade for those prices. You can check your eligibility right on the Apple Store online or log onto your wireless.att.com account to see your upgrade eligibility. Those on the original iPhone should be all set as your two year contract is almost at an end (provided you bought on day one in 2007). Prices could be as high as $599 and $699 for early upgraders. Which, by the way at that point you’d be better off signing a NEW contract, canceling it, and paying the early cancellation fee of $175.
MobileMe get’s some much needed love. Every year many customers ask themselves, “why am I paying for this?” Each customer has his or her own reasons as to why they deem the service worth the price. For me, I like the syncing of info between all my computers. I like the syncing of data (except Contacts, maybe I’ll try it again after 3.0) with my iPhone. I also like the hosted web stuff and email. However, with iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3.0 you get new benefits. First of all Apple showed off “Find my iPhone”. This feature allows MobileMe customers to locate a missing iPhone on a map. If that iPhone happens to be in your house, you can even send a command to it to ring even if the ringer is on silent! You can also remote wipe a lost or stolen phone so that your info is no longer on the device. Although I wish this feature would actually password lock the phone so that it couldn’t be used or randomly wipe it so that the thief couldn’t really use it. Yes, I know about serial number blocks that the carriers can do, but this is much more fun. It also seems like iPhone users will FINALLY be able to access their iDisks and the data stored on them, with an upcoming iDisk iPhone App. Also in case you missed it, MobileMe now syncs your notes from Mail and soon from your iPhone running the 3.0 update.
AT&T is the weakest Link
I’m typically not one of those users who likes to bash the carrier. All of the carriers have issues! However, I’m becoming increasingly frustrated by AT&T’s apparent inability to keep up with their growth. The iPhone has been missing some key features like MMS messaging and data tethering since day one. These features are probably not hard to implement. As a matter of fact we’re getting them in iPhone OS 3.0 next week. The problem is that AT&T says that MMS messaging won’t be available until “summer” and tethering, well, um it will come to0 at some point, with additional fees. No wonder other countries laugh at us when it comes to our data networks. Oh and don’t get me started about the crippling of the SlingPlayer app to only work over Wi-Fi! If the iPhone was available on multiple US carriers, AT&T would be forced to compete for our business. However, with this exclusive multi-year deal, AT&T gets another free pass. AT&T do me a favor: stop advertising your network if you can’t actually do anything on it!
I’m a little perplexed as to all the uproar over the higher pricing for those not yet 18 months into their contract. This is the typical model in the US, and should have been anticipated when the subsidized iPhone 3G was launched last year. In fact, that was one of the reasons i was hesitant to upgrade, as the ‘new features’ in the 3G phone weren’t all that significat for me (i lived in an EDGE area). Now, i’m fully onboard with the 3GS upgrade, but again, fully aware that when i wanna upgrade next year, as i’m sure i will, i’ll have to shell out a lot of cash to do it. I know my hubby won’t like it, but i KNOW it’ll be worth it. And i also know the deal would be the same on any carrier we move to, re: the upgrade price. As for tethering and MMS, well AT&T just needs a swift kick to the rear to get in gear on that one, no excuse for it, since we all knew those features were coming.
I agree , AT&T is poor. I could say more but I’ll let the crowds reaction at the keynote say it for me when MMS was announced on other carriers and countries except the USA. And then Scott didn’t even annotate when tethering would be available but we all knew. We saw the slide and knew this too was a feature we weren’t getting.
We just got 3G in Alaska after a long wait and many missed promised dates.
Boo on them.
“I’m a little perplexed as to all the uproar over the higher pricing for those not yet 18 months into their contract. ”
I’ve been an AT&T customer for many years, and was always allowed to upgrade without penalty after 1 year before this year. Suddenly, it’s 18 months on one iPhone and 21 on the other! Both bought at the same time (each time), as we have always had 2 phones. I’ll just wait for v4 of the phone if I have to wait that long. Nice work, AT&T.
I hate to be the devil’s advocate on this, especially since I’m just as frustrated with phone companies and their draconian pricing as everyone else is, but it still boils down to the age old adage of supply and demand.
If you don’t like the way they do things then don’t buy. In a capitalist society the only real way to vote with big companies is with your checkbook. Nobody’s sitting up in their corporate office brainstorming up ideas to save YOU money.
Agree with Tanya’s comments. I did not upgrade to the 3G for the same reasons…stayed with the first gen phone, didn’t think the bennies with the 3g at the time was worth the extra money.
Now is different and it appears ATT is allowing FAN discounts on my account now which is 15% off the rate plan.
So life will be good come June 19th…….
I curse the exclusivity of AT&T as well. Yes, because of the issues you stated, but also because AT&T isn’t available where I live; AT&T works where I live, it just isn’t officially a service area, thus I cannot get an iPhone no matter how much I want one. And, a number people who have used Friends’ and Relatives’ addresses in a town 120 miles away to get an iPhone have had their service canceled when it is mostly used here. Yet, someone who came here with an iPhone from a large city has not! But, I also curse it because frankly, I like Verizon’s service for the most part and would rather just have an iPhone through them.