Today at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) they announced a new iPhone, dubbed iPhone 4. Some of the wind has been taken out of the announcement with the Engadget pre-announcement but this update has still added some interesting features.
Just like its predecessors, the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS, pricing has remained the same. The base model of the new iPhone is $199 and the high-end model is $299. This remains unchanged and was to be expected. Also as expected is the iPhone 3GS being relegated to the ‘$99’ option. Some are saying that this model won’t perform well with iOS4, and for certain tasks it may not, but for the entry-level user the $99 price point is quite alluring.
What does surprise some, myself included, is the lack of a storage increase with iPhone 4. I was expecting to see a 32GB $199 model and a 64GB $299 model with the current base model 16GB 3GS as the $99 model, but they have all remained at the current storage sizes of 8GB for $99, 16GB for $199, and 32GB for $299. This isn’t a deal-breaker in any respect, but with the ability to record HD video, I would have liked to see a larger storage size.
The phone will come in its standard two colors: black and white. The $99 iPhone 3GS will only be available in black. This is no big surprise. Apple has been doing black and white on its portable gadgets since the original iPod Nano back in September 2005.
One welcome surprise is that AT&T is allowing any user whose eligibility date falls in 2010 to be eligible to upgrade on release day. This is a huge change. Last year, for the iPhone 3GS launch, they allowed those due in June, July or August to upgrade at launch day. This means that those who received their iPhone 3GS for the holidays last year can now upgrade at the $199 or $299 rate.
If your upgrade date is in 2011 you can still upgrade for a fee. The fees are as follows:
iPhone 4 16GB Early Upgrade: $399, No commitment $599.
iPhone 4 32GB Early Upgrade: $499, No commitment $699
iPhone 3GS 8GB Early Upgrade: $299, No commitment $499.
As for date availability; the US, Germany, the UK, France, and Japan will all receive iPhone 4 on June 24th, while many other nations will receive the update in July and a total of 88 countries are to have it by the end of 2010. Pre-orders for those receiving the iPhone 4 on June 24th will be able to pre-order their phones on June 15th. So if you’ve had an iPhone 3G, original iPhone, or want an upgrade—get set to lay down your cash.
Original Article is at prnewswire.com.
