Apple ’s Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off June 7 , and all sign point to the climax of a fresh iPhone .
The late and perhaps freehanded indicant broke before this week : Wal - Mart said it willcut the price of the iPhone 3GSwith 16 gigabytes of storehouse from $ 197 to $ 97 , harmonise to the Associated Press . This price step-down follows the trend set last year when Apple unveil the iPhone 3GS andcut the price of the iPhone 3Gto $ 99 .
Apple also announced on Monday that CEO Steve Jobs willkeynotethe big event , which usually signify big Apple news is on the way . “ Job has sky-high take back to his spot as the best packman in the rural area , ” Ezra Gottheil , an analyst with Technology Business Research , told Computerworld , a CIO.com sister site . “ He seems to be enjoy that role again . ”
originally this give , two leaked iPhone prototypes pierce Apple ’s legendary cerement of secrecy . One prototype was found at a Silicon Valley ginmill . The other , which appear in a Vietnamese Internet forum , carried the part number of anApple A4 chip , most potential a 1 GHz C.P.U. . This means the next - coevals iPhone will be a little quicker and peradventure draw more of the barrage ( although the first leaked paradigm had a 16 percent larger battery).With a new iPhone almost assuredly headlining the WWDC , here are four thing on our wish list :
We want our Verizon iPhone
Earlier Apple hearsay intimate a CDMA iPhone in the works . The hype metre leaped into the bolshie because this would have in mind an iPhone could run on Verizon ’s CDMA net . AT&T ’s iPhone exclusivity deal runs out this summertime , and so the Bob Hope is that the iPhone would be secrete from the bond of AT&T ’s much maligned divine service .
add fuel to the fire , AT&T plans to raise former - termination fee from $ 175 to $ 325 for smartphones , reported the Wall Street Journal . The variety does n’t use to existing contracts , rather only for unexampled and renewing customer on June 1 . ( To be fair , Verizon also has horrific early - termination fees . )
While the leak prototypes do n’t support the CDMA wireless standard , we ’re hoping the rumors prove to be lawful . By opening up the iPhone to other carriers , Apple can well compete against the tight - emerging Droid . It will also eliminate one of the enceinte barrier to go-ahead borrowing .
Video chat: Return of conversations
Both leak out prototypes contain a second user - facing camera for video Old World chat ( as well as an improved rear - face television camera with flash ) . Also , rumors swirled on Twitter thatAmerican Beautydirector Sam Mendes is directing a series of iPhone 4 G commercials feature people using video chat .
It ’s a unspoiled bet that video recording New World chat is in the iPhone ’s near time to come . This is the sort of origination that keep on Apple a step ahead of competitors . Video chat can bring genuine conversation — reckon that!—back into the realm of the smartphone , potentially displacing chat , texting and tocopherol - mail service as the pet manner of communication .
We ’re desire video recording chat can improve thelonely living of an iPhone freak .
A real keyboard please
New iPhone ironware would also coincide with the exit of iPhone OS 4.0 , which Apple announced last month . iPhone oxygen 4.0 will convey multitasking capabilities , SMS inside apps , folders , better electronic mail management and information encryption , and a mobile advertising platform , call in iAd . Other feature will help theiPhone exit the gapwith rival BlackBerry in the enterprise .
Oh , one more feature : Bluetooth keyboard support .
This last feature appal anyone who produces content or write voluminous measure of atomic number 99 - chain armour . At the iPad ’s debut , Jobs said there will be a docking station with a ironware keyboard . Such a keyboard for the iPhone could switch the style iPhone owners pack for business organisation trips . Can the laptop be left at abode on agile trips , in favor of a portable keyboard ?
Tethering: A true mobile laptop
AT&T has say for twelvemonth it will fetch tether to the iPhone — that is , permit laptops to use the iPhone Internet data point connection . But AT&T has been loath to do so , venerate a ear in data utilisation will sift its already over - taxed meshwork . After pouring one thousand million of dollars into web infrastructure upgrade , AT&T might be ready to make good on its promise .
iPhone OS 4.0 beta 4 contains a screen for setting up Internet tethering . A connection can be made via USB or Bluetooth or an iPad . But tethering is still on our compliments list because tethering is n’t a done sight . A year ago , iPhone OS 3 beta also had a tethering characteristic only to vanish on the final interpretation released to the populace .
[ Tom Kaneshigeis a senior writer for CIO.com in Silicon Valley . ]
