The event
• Our complete event liveblog
• Steve on video, doing his thing
• iPhone 3G advertising

The iPhone 3G
• Our iPhone 3G Hands On
• iPhone availability

Pricing and availability
• Pricing and activation in the US
• International availability
• AT&T memo regarding iPhone sales policies
• Upgrading policy

Software and applications
• iPhone 2.0 Operating System for iPhone and iPod touch
• The iPhone Applications Store and featured apps
• GPS, traffic and photo geotagging
• iPhone 3G and Mobile Me services

Giz Explains
•What You Didn't Know About the iPhone's 3G Powers
•Everything You Wanted to Know About the iPhone 3G's GPS

Opinion
• Apple Says White Is Cool Again... But Is It?
• What the iPhone is missing

Other
• iPhone Sim Ejector Tool makes it instant must-buy
• "iPhone 3G" FCC Application Hints at Potential Apple "Smartphone"
• Rumor check

• iPhone 3G Videoconferencing Kit

Participation
• Are you going to get the iPhone 3G?

Asked about what that meant, Mr. Munster further clarified his statement as "a whole lot. You know, like, zing!" It is still unclear when this new Mac device will appear in the marketplace, but Mr. Munster is confident that it will be soon: "Timing of this is difficult to determine, but we would expect it sometime in 2008. Day up, day down, you know, but around there."

The documents discovered today indicate that Apple may use a radio transmitter that complies with a standard called HSDPA or "High-Speed Downlink Packet Access." According to Gizmodo's Editor-in-Chief Brian Lam "HSDPA could really give us high data transfers, potentially around 7.2mbps. Yeah, 7.2. That's a lot of zing!" Mr. Lam also indicated that he suspected the new Apple device may have other advanced features like email, a travel system designed to guide you to different destinations, and "possibly an alarm clock."

Apple didn't return calls for comment.

[FCC via Into Mobile]

As you already know, Apple has laid out plans to take over the planet, and put all those barbarians out there under the New World Order. The list of countries and carriers is:

• México: América Móvil
• United States: AT&T
• India: Bharti Airtel
• Philippines: Globe Telecom
• Hong Kong: Hutchison Telecom
• UK & Ireland: O2
• Portugal: Orange and Vodafone
• Austria: Orange and T-Mobile
• France: Orange
• Switzerland: Orange and Swisscom
• Canada: Rogers (wheeeeeee) and Fido (le wheeeeee)
• Singapore: SingTel
• Japan: Softbank
• Italy: Telecom Italia and Vodafone
• Spain: Telefónica
• Denmark: TeliaSonera
• Finland: TeliaSonera
• Norway: TeliaSonera
• Sweden: TeliaSonera
• Germany: T-Mobile
• Netherlands: T-Mobile
• Australia: Vodafone and Optus
• New Zealand: Vodafone

Of course, it may just be that those countries have special market conditions that require two carriers. In any case, it's good to see that Apple has no problems implementing both models, specially since the iPhone requires special services in the provider's side, like Visual Voicemail.

In an otherwise surprise-free keynote today, one without booms or "one more thing"s, one bit of news stood out: White made a quiet return to the iPod family in the premium 16GB iPhone 3G. Sure, it never fully left Apple—remaining the default color for earbuds, plugs, power bricks, AirPort products and the cheapest MacBooks—but we were finally getting used to a world without white iPods. Does this mean after nine short months put out to the pastures, white is already retro-cool again?

This time around, white won't be for everybody. Once the staple color of the iPod revolution, white will be a statement for those bold enough to sport a phone that bright. It's incredible; when Jobs dropped a little black on the masses, we thought that was radical, but eventually accepted it as the norm. When most Apple products went brushed-aluminum, we were again stunned, but now we think nothing of it. Today white, the color that we accepted from the beginning, is back, this time on an iPhone, and it looks like the most far-out Apple product yet.

Will the return of white in the iPhone set a pattern for the iPod touch, classic, and others? Will white be the new, well, white, taking back the reins as the most popular color? Will the color make its way back to Apple's high-style MacBook Air? Can Jobs, Jonathan Ive and the Cupertino crew keep us on our toes forever by recycling the same three finishes? Most importantly, are you a person that's bold enough to rock this flamboyant new phone? I, for one, am not. [Apple]

The reception increase is partly to do with the new plastic back. There are 10 radio bands in here, counting 3 GSM bands, 4 3G bands, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. (And one more I don't know?) I don't know how scratch resistant I believe it will be, but Apple says it will be more durable. It looks EXACTLY like the leaked images from awhile ago that were chalked up as iPhone 1 cases.

Apple wouldn't say why 3G life was so good, but I picked up a hint that it was both software and newer 3G chips up to the task.

3G data on the maps and browser were only slightly slower than Wi-Fi.

The locator tech wasn't working for me, on Maps. It spun and spun, probably because I'd turned the Wi-Fi off.
I noticed that the iPhone asked me for permission to give both the maps program and the camera app permission to use my location. It reminded me a bit of a Vista security prompt. It's my phone, of course it can use my location. The camera app was actually using it to do geotagging!

(The camera itself was not noticeably improved.)

The black is very very nice. The white? It's ok, but very feminine, so maybe it's good for Jason or Jesús.

I felt the screen wasn't as smooth as the previous, but that could be the fact that there was zero grease on it, unlike my personal phone. The screen's glass and LCD are identical to the previous iPhone's.

There still isn't any cut and paste, and Bluetooth software hasn't been updated to do A2DP, but the very smooth (and impossible to derail from Apple Messaging) Greg Joswiak didn't say the hardware wasn't improved. I asked if audio streaming was coming, and he looked hesitant to answer. (I'll take that as a yes.) Before he could answer, I spoke for him. "We don't comment on future product announcements." They also denied me a chance to take a photo.

There was a dock, very thin and rounded, with the phone sticking out of the face (there was no border from the dock obscuring the view. I also saw a 2 prong USB power plug much smaller than the old adapter.

Lastly, the metal buttons were chromed, and I frankly liked the black ones better. But these feel more precise, and indeed, the lock button is slightly more recessed than on the first generation phone. The buttons were not made metal for durability reasons, either; this was a pure design decision.

I also played Super Monkey Ball during my 15 minutes with the iPhone. I didn't like how to control the game, I had to set the screen to viewing angles that would compromise my view of the screen. But I did catch on how to play within a few seconds.

Audio? It was definitely clearer than the single mono speaker in the first iPhone. (Even if this one is not stereo either.)

Nothing much has been left unimproved. If you're going to stick with ATT for awhile, $200 seems like a good deal for such improved hardware. What's cool is that since the App store and a lot of the functionality in software will be coming to the first gen iPhone, current users don't really have to feel the pressure to upgrade. Me? I'm certainly going to.

YES! [Apple]

Here are the additional key details, plus the official press release from Apple:

Key Features:
Charcoal Back
Solid Metal Buttons
Same 3.5" Display
Camera
Flush Headphone Jack
Dramatically Improved Audio

3G Advantage
Showing a EDGE vs 3G comparison loading a webpage, 3G took 21 seconds. EDGE...waiting...waiting...uhh...59 seconds! Same phone, same location. 2.8X faster - and they claim loads webpages faster than Nokia N95 (33 seconds) or Treo 750 (34 seconds).

Battery Life
10 hours 2G talk time
5 hours 3G talk time
5-6 hours of high-speed browsing
24 hours of audio playback

And GPS!

And it's coming to 70 countries over the "next several months."

More Affordable
$199 for 8GB

$299 for 16GB (which also comes in white)

Coming July 11th

Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G

Twice as Fast at Half the Price

SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today introduced the new iPhone(TM) 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.** iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries — Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US — on July 11.

"Just one year after launching the iPhone, we're launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iPhone 3G supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync right out of the box, runs the incredible third party apps created with the iPhone SDK, and will be available in more than 70 countries around the world this year."

iPhone 3G gives users ever faster access to the Internet and email over their cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA for voice and data connectivity around the world. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE
networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. The new iPhone 3G also makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications, so with iPhone 3G you can browse the web, get map directions, or check your email while you are on a call.

iPhone 3G includes the new iPhone 2.0 software with both the iPhone SDK and key enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide over-the-air push email, contact and calendar syncing as well as remote wipe and Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to corporate networks. The iPhone SDK allows developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone's groundbreaking Multi-Touch(TM) user interface, animation technology, accelerometer and GPS technology on the world's most advanced mobile platform.

iPhone 3G includes the new App Store, providing iPhone users with native applications in a variety of categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The App Store on iPhone works over cellular networks and Wi-Fi, which means it is accessible from just about anywhere, so you can purchase and download applications wirelessly and start using them instantly. Some applications are even free and the App Store notifies you when application updates are available. The App Store will be available in 62 countries at launch.

Additional features available with the iPhone 2.0 software include the ability to do real-time mapping and track your progress with GPS technology, mass move and delete multiple email messages, search for contacts, access a new scientific calculator, turn on parental control restrictions for specified content, save images directly from a web page or email them to your iPhone and easily transfer them back to your photo library on your Mac(R) or PC. iPhone 3G delivers an amazing 10 hours of talk time on 2G networks and 5 hours using 3G, with up to 5 to 6 hours of web browsing, up to 7 hours for video playback and up to 24 hours for audio playback.

iPhone 3G takes advantage of MobileMe(TM), a new Internet service that pushes email, contacts, and calendars from an online "cloud" to native applications on iPhone, iPod(R) touch, Macs and PCs. With MobileMe email, messages are pushed instantly to iPhone, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads, and push keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically updated on other devices. With iPhone, you can even snap a photo and post it directly to a MobileMe Gallery to share with friends and family.

iPhone 3G will be available in the US on July 11 for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 8GB model and $299 (US) for the 16GB model in both Apple and AT&T's retail stores and requires a new two year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers. iPhone 2.0 software will be available on July 11 as a free software update via iTunes(R) 7.7 or later for all iPhone customers. For further information about iPhone 3G pricing and availability in the US and internationally, visit http://www.apple.com/iphone.

* Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.

** Based on iPhone 3G (8GB) and first generation iPhone (8GB) purchases. Requires new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh.
Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its
award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (http://www.apple.com/pr/), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

(C) 2008 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iPhone, Multi-Touch, MobileMe, iPod and iTunes are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

They have solved notification without resorting to background processing by adding Push Notification services, which save battery life and solves performance issues. The notification service works over the wireless and the cell networks.

For users, they have added contacts search, iWork document support including keynote, MS Office documents (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, likely in the same way Mac OS X does it,) email bulk delete and move, image saving from email, the much-anticipated scientific calculator (for those people with pocket protectors) which automatically turns on landscape mode, parental controls.

They have also expanded the international languange support, as expected, adding many latin language plus two forms of Japanese and two forms of Chinese, with finger-based drawing of characters.

Enterprise users will also be able create and distribute apps on their own intranet with authorized iPhones. The apps will only work on those iPhones, and they're synced via iTunes.

It's pretty similar to Microsoft's Mesh software. Essentially, it allows you to do things like make appointments on your phone and have them sync your computer and vice versa, and the updates happen in about 10 seconds. The service will cost you $99 a year for 20GB of space, and there'll be a 60 day free trial available at launch in early July.

Apple Introduces MobileMe Internet Service

Push Email, Push Contacts and Push Calendar for iPhone, iPod touch, Macs and PCs

SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today introduced MobileMe(TM), a new Internet service that delivers push email, push contacts and push calendars from the MobileMe service in the "cloud" to native applications on iPhone(TM), iPod(R) touch, Macs and PCs. MobileMe also provides a suite of elegant, ad-free web applications that deliver a
desktop-like experience through any modern browser. MobileMe applications (http://www.me.com) include Mail, Contacts and Calendar, as well as Gallery for viewing and sharing photos and iDisk for storing and exchanging documents online.
"Think of MobileMe as 'Exchange for the rest of us,'" said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Now users who are not part of an enterprise that runs Exchange can get the same push email, push calendars and push contacts that the big guys get."
With a MobileMe email account, all folders, messages and status indicators look identical whether checking email on iPhone, iPod touch, a Mac(R) or a PC. New email messages are pushed instantly to iPhone over the cellular network or Wi-Fi, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads. Push also keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically pushed up to the cloud and down to other devices. Push works with the native applications on iPhone and iPod touch, Microsoft Outlook for the PC, and Mac OS(R) X applications, Mail, Address Book and iCal(R), as well as the MobileMe web application suite.

MobileMe web applications are 100 percent ad-free and provide an incredible, desktop-like experience that allows users to drag and drop, click and drag and even use keyboard shortcuts. MobileMe provides anywhere access to Mail, Contacts and Calendar, with a unified interface that allows users to switch between applications with a single click, and Gallery makes it easy to share photos on the web in stunning quality. Gallery users can upload, rearrange, rotate and title photos from any browser; post photos directly from an iPhone; allow visitors to download print quality images; and contribute photos to an album. MobileMe iDisk lets users store and manage files online with drag and drop filing and makes it easy to share documents too large to email by automatically sending an email with a link for downloading the file. MobileMe includes 20GB of online storage that can be used for email, contacts, calendar, photos, movies and documents.

Pricing & Availability
MobileMe, available on July 11, is a subscription-based service with 20GB of storage for $99 (US) per year for individuals and $149 (US) for a Family Pack, which includes one master account with 20GB of storage and four Family Member accounts with 5GB of storage each. Users can sign up for a free, 60-day MobileMe trial at http://www.apple.com/mobileme and current .Mac members will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe accounts. MobileMe subscribers can purchase an additional 20GB of storage for $49 (US) or 40GB of storage for $99 (US) annually.
Using an iPhone or iPod touch with MobileMe requires iPhone 2.0 software and iTunes(R) 7.7 or later. For use with a Mac, MobileMe requires Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11 or the latest version of Mac OS X Leopard. For a PC, MobileMe requires Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (SP2), and Microsoft Outlook 2003 or later is recommended. MobileMe is accessible on the web via Safari(R) 3, Internet Explorer 7, and Firefox 2 or later. Internet access requires a compatible ISP; fees may apply. Broadband Internet connection recommended. Some features require Mac OS X Leopard and iLife(R) '08, available separately.

• Super Monkey Ball. Ethan Einhorn from Sega presented the game. The gameplay is very smooth, and they developed 110 stages in just 8 weeks after their original announcement. Now it is available for $9.99.
• eBay has also developed a dedicated auction application for the iPhone—available from the store for free—not a Web app, but the real thing.
• Loopt, a dedicated application that uses CoreLocation services to find people near you.
• A dedicated TypePad client will also available for free, with some really cool stuff.
• The Associated Press is also delivering a news channel, a dedicated app for the iPhone that can handle photos, news, and video from their network, as well as giving you a way to send them tips.
• Enigmo, one of the two games from Pangea, they have ported from Mac OS X. Also $9.99, like Super Monkey Ball.
• Cro-Mag Rally is the other game, which took them three days to move to the iPhone in rough form. It uses the accelerometer to drive, turning the iPhone around. Like Enigmo, is $9.99.
• Mark Terry, an independent developer from England, showed Mow Cow, a cool music application which allows you to basically have a band in your pocket. A beautiful application.
• Major League Baseball also showed a dedicated baseball application, capable of showing stats, results, and video. Looks amazing too.
• Modality is a medical-oriented application, which allows you to see anatomical images and really zoom in.
• MIMvista, another medical-oriented application which allows access to scans and reports in real time over the air.
• Xavier Carrillo Costa, from Digital Legends Entertainment, presented a God of War-like game, with dramatic images and graphics. Really stunning.

iPhone SDK Downloads Top 250,000

New App Store Available in 62 Countries

SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today announced that downloads of its iPhone(TM) SDK (Software Development Kit) have topped more than 250,000 since its launch on March 6. The iPhone SDK provides developers with the same rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and tools that Apple uses to create its native applications for iPhone. Apple today also announced that its amazing new App Store will be available in
62 countries bringing a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly deliver their applications directly to iPhone and iPod(R) touch users around the world. Users can download applications wirelessly and start using them immediately.
"Developer reaction to the features, power and simplicity of the iPhone SDK has been incredible," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "We are seeing some truly amazing native apps from our developers and think users are going to love the breadth and depth of the applications available from the App Store."
Leading developers such as AOL, Cisco, eBay, Electronic Arts, Epocrates, TypePad, Salesforce.com and Sega have demonstrated impressive native applications developed using the iPhone SDK.
"The SDK allowed us to build a groundbreaking new AIM client in record time," said Kevin Conroy, executive vice president, AOL. "The platform's elegance and ease of use has inspired our developers to create innovative new web and SDK based experiences for iPhone and iPod touch."
"The iPhone SDK has given us an excellent set of tools and APIs to create mobile extensions for FIM's entire portfolio of web brands including MySpace, IGN and Photobucket in the near term, and other properties such as FOXSports.com down the road," said John Smelzer, senior vice president of Mobile for Fox Interactive Media. "The popularity of the iPhone, along with the high demand for applications, gives us an amazing opportunity to create ground-breaking mobile experiences."
"Cocoa-touch is a compact and robust application framework that handles all the heavy lifting for developers so they can concentrate on building their applications in record time with the legendary Apple finesse we've come to expect," said David Krantz, president of YELLOWPAGES.COM. "iPhone has been a game changer since it launched, and the availability of our YELLOWPAGES.COM application on the App Store is going to make a great device even better."

"As mobile developers with primarily J2ME and BREW experience, we were up and running with the iPhone within two weeks," said Jonathan Backer, manager of Mobile Engineering, The Walt Disney Company. "The hardware is stable and full-featured, while the software development tools are intuitive and represent a level of polish rarely seen in the mobile arena."
"Since the launch of the iPhone we have seen a steady rise in traffic to the MLB.com mobile site so it made perfect sense to develop a rich client application for the App Store," said Adam Ritter, vice president, Wireless Major League Baseball, Advanced Media. "Our development staff was excited to work on an iPhone application and reported that the SDK was robust and straight forward and contained helpful development tools. All combined we were able to expedite our development and deliver an application we know baseball fans will enjoy."

Pricing & Availability
The free beta iPhone SDK can be downloaded at developer.apple.com/iphone/program. Membership to the iPhone Developer Program is available worldwide. Developers set the price for their applications — including free — and retain 70 percent of all sales revenues.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its
award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (http://www.apple.com/pr/), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

(C) 2008 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iPhone and iPod are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Apple
-0- 06/09/2008
/CONTACT: Simon Pope, +1-408-974-0457, simonp@apple.com, or Jennifer Bowcock, +1-408-974-9758,jennifer.b@apple.com, both of Apple/
/Web site: http://www.apple.com /
(AAPL)

We're ready for the 3G iPhone, but are AT&T's 3G networks ready for it? Om Malik raises the scary possibility that AT&T's complete HSDPA network might be newly strengthened, but still might not be robust enough to handle the onslaught of 3G traffic, rendering 3G barely more nimble than EDGE. After a year of waiting for 3G, that's kind of a nut shot right? Consider this: Even last year, iPhone users chugged nearly five times the data of an average AT&T subscriber, and twice as much as other smartphone owners.

It wasn't so harsh on the network, because 55 percent of the data was over Wi-Fi. But with 3G, why wait for a Wi-Fi hotspot, especially since AT&T's 3G is, at least in the NYC area, as blazing as AT&T claims. New iPhone users are going to get on 3G en masse, and pull a lot of data over the air, especially with unlimited data plans. And it's fair to assume iPhone users are going to slurp even more than before since they won't have to hit up Wi-Fi to do data-intensive stuff.

The standard increase in usage from unlimited plans with more run-of-the-mill phones has already been posing problems for operators, forcing a serious need to upgrade the backend.

While that report doesn't focus on AT&T, it's worth noting that two major Korean operators—vaunted for their magical networks—were experiencing degraded voice quality from the data hammer. And AT&T's network didn't have a stellar track record to begin with. So a $199 3G iPhone that moves millions of data-whoring units could be the worst thing ever, at least if you're buying that 3G iPhone for, well, 3G data access. The ball's in your court, AT&T. [GigaOM]

Apple Store Is Down

Best not make any plans today.
The Apple store is down,
new shit is on its way.
A tablet Mac or new SDK.
Doesn't matter,'cause it's Apple, As long as Steve goes slow in the keynote:
"Had a great business year, our future success is clear.

CHORUS

But I have just one more thing to show before I disappear.
And I think it's the most exciting thing that we are gonna launch this year.
Boom it's here."

Listen, Steve, my friends and I
have decided that it's okay that you know (whoa)
that we don't want for you to die.
If it happened the stock would flatten.
So if you go, go slow!
I need a new boat.
"My hair is gone. I'm grizzled gray. Retire you ask? Not today.

CHORUS

'cause I have just one more thing to show before I disappear.
It might be the most important product that we're gonna launch this year.
Boom it's here."

BRIDGE: My head is swimming; my mouth is dry. I hardly can believe that I am worthy to be in this distortion field.

CHORUS

'cause I want just one more thing to own before I disappear.
And my life needs one more thing to glow to add a little cheer.
Oh thank god it's here.

Definitely watch the original iPod announcement, which is kind of surreal—no applause or cheering in a crappy beige auditorium, waiting 10 minutes before you see it—and then check out the iPhone one. Gods aren't born overnight, but they can be fashioned over the course of 6 years, apparently. [Cult of Mac]

Hayashi says that, lacking a more serious camera and stuff like a mobile wallet (actually useful) and LED flashlight, "It may sell modestly as a smart phone or as an upgraded iPod, but it's not quite cutting it as a competitor in our mobile-based culture."

In other words, it needs more features, even though that would result in the kind of feature overload Jobs loathes. And a survey by Japan Railways says that while half of those polled were interested in buying an iPhone, less than a fifth really knew what it is. The Apple brand at work—which might the best thing going for it over there. [Wired]

We also recognize that not every reader gets as worked up about Apple news as we do, so here's a link to a version of Giz avoiding all Apple news. What's new this time? All our international sites will be joining in with live translations, along with some other new tricks (and sacrifices to the Gods of server stability) to make the liveblog faster and better than at Macworld. [live.gizmodo.com]

The new version of the Apple iPhone is set to be sold at significantly lower prices than the existing one, in a tacit acknowledgement by the US technology company that its previous sales strategy was not sustainable. Apple has bowed to pressure from mobile phone operators and agreed they can subsidise the latest iPhone, expected to be unveiled by Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, on Monday.

While the confirmation of the cheaper, subsidized iPhone comes from their own undoubtedly rock solid sources, they don't have specific numbers from them and point to squishy analysts on how much cheaper it'll be, such as speculation it'll be $199 in the US, with a $200 subsidy from AT&T. Either way, AT&T will definitely be bearing some of the costs for us: "Apple has accepted that the new iPhone should be subsidised in the US and western Europe by the mobile operators who sell it to consumers, according to people familiar with the matter."

But $200 does sound right.

Dude, I didn't expect people to camp out for the next iPhone, but I think if anything will drive people to not shower for a day in the middle of summer, it'll be a $200 iPhone. [FT via Ars]

The 3G video chat allows iPhone to iPhone video communications on the fly via the front camera. According to the text, you can also chat with your iChat buddies if you're using Wi-Fi as well. Hot. Hit up Crunchgear for the rest of the pics. The only weirdness that we can see is that the (RED) version has no power toggle. Here's hoping these leaked pics are real, because we're really stoked about that video conferencing feature (3G iPhone toilet chats here we come!). Who knows if they ARE real, however, since they can be faked in Illustrator and then taken pics of with an iPhone camera.

Update: That footnote on the iChat image says to us that iChat is coming for the iPhone (text chat and video chat) AND Windows, with XP2 and Vista as a base requirement. iChat on Windows. That's not unbelievable, following in the steps of Safari this past year. Only makes sense that Apple would want Windows users being able to Wi-Fi video chat with their iPhone buddies.

[Ed Note:Although Chen was diplomatic about it, and they're very pretty, I don't believe these are real for a second. ] [Matt Hickey's Crunchgear]

As the year has progressed, I've kept having situations where I just wished I had a little device that would allow me to surf the web with ease: trying to settle a debate at a bar with friends, checking reader comments of a post while in a cab, that sort of thing. I used the Helio Ocean for a time, then, when its fatness in my pocket just got on my nerves, I switched to the Helio Fin. It's thin, but its browser leaves a lot to be desired. Most websites came up garbled and difficult to navigate, and the arrow keys are a lousy way to move around. Yes, I know it's not fair to compare a flip phone to a pseudo-smartphone, but having a flip phone and seeing everyone else daintily rubbing their iPhones just made it that much more painful.

Adding to my lack of patience is the fact that I traveled more this year than maybe in any other year in my life combined. I flew to Tokyo, to LA, to Portland, to South Carolina, to Vegas, to Florida, to New Hampshire. And guess what? Living in NYC means that you've got maybe an 85% chance of having your flight delayed when leaving or coming back. All those hours I spent in airports waiting for delayed planes — if I had an iPhone I would've been able to check Giz easily! I could read Tumblr! I could just surf around on the web and kill time!

Although the impulse to cave grew and grew, it made increasingly less sense to buy one. After all, I was being mature and waiting. I'm not some impulsive person who can't control their own spending! Hell, I'm one of only two Giz editors who uses a PC — I'm no Apple fanboy! Also, I talked a lot of shit to my co-workers who did buy one, so if I gave in before the next version came out, I'd end up looking like a real asshole.

With every new rumor about the iPhone 3G that came out, it made me want one more, but it also strengthened my resolve to wait. To the folks who already had theirs it was just a countdown to an upgrade, but for me it was when I could get my first taste of iPhone ownership.

Now, finally, God willing, my nightmare is ending and I'll finally get a 3G iPhone. And it will all have been worth it. Because I won't have an old iPhone to try to get rid of and I'll probably spend less than those early adopters had to. Plus, my first experience with the iPhone will be better. While everyone else had to suffer through pokey EDGE connections and annoying missing features, I'll be hopping on board right when the iPhone hits its stride. I'll have not only the internet at the airport, but games and all kinds of other stuff!

See? It was worth waiting. I'm smart! It was worth going through an entire year without the phone I really wanted. I'm the most sensible editor at Gizmodo! Right guys? Right? Please, tell me I'm right.