Apple Computers today launched a 3G version of its iPhone device. Steve Jobs, the Apple Chief Executive Officer, announced the development at a developers’ conference, where he promoted the iPhone by saying that, “just one year after launching the iPhone, we’re launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price.â€ÂÂ
Apple has claimed that the 3G iPhone will provide internet access at double the speed of the internet access provided by the previous versions.
The price for the iPhone has also been reduced to $199 in the US.
Background
The genesis of the iPhone began with Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ direction that Apple engineers investigate touchscreens. Apple created the device during a secretive and unprecedented collaboration with AT&T Mobilityâ€â€ÂCingular Wireless at the time of the phone’s inceptionâ€â€Âat a development cost of $150 million by one estimate. During development, the iPhone was codenamed “Purple 2″. The company rejected an early “design by committee” built with Motorola in favor of engineering a custom operating system and interface and building custom hardware.
The iPhone went on sale in the U.S. on June 29, 2007. Apple closed its stores at 2:00 PM local time to prepare for the 6:00 PM iPhone launch, while hundreds of customers lined up at stores nationwide. Apple sold 270,000 iPhones in the first 30 hours on launch weekend. The original iPhone is now available in five other countries: Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, and Austria.
iPhone 3G Profile:
* Color: Black or white (16GB model only)
* Size: 115.5Ãâ€â€62.1Ãâ€â€12.3 mm (4.5Ãâ€â€2.4Ãâ€â€0.48 in)
* Weight: 133 g (4.7 oz)
* UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
* Assisted GPS, with fallback to location based on Wi-Fi or cell towers
* Camera features geotagging (producing geocoded photograph)
* Battery has up to 10 hours of 2G talk, 5 hours of 3G talk, 5 (3G) or 6 (Wi-Fi) hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback, and up to 24 hours of audio playback, lasting over 300 hours on standby.
