iPhone 4, a Category 9 hurricane,will make landfall in the U.S. on June 24 and is expected to cause widespread destruction to the wallets of millions of Americans.
Available in black or white, the new iPhones with Apple’s new iOS 4.0 will cost $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model (with a two-year contract, of course).
SI Plans
Our two-year contract with AT&T ends next month.
Most likely, we’ll get the new iPhone although we’re not too happy about the new AT&T data plan restrictions (they got rid of the unlimited option and we’re not sure if we’ll be grandfathered under the old terms in the new contract).
The user experience with the iPhone is decent. Hey, there’s even a dedicated WordPress blog app for the iPhone.
Of course, like all cheapo desis we think the phone and the monthly charges are a ripoff.
Other Countries
iPhone 4 goes on sale on June 24 in the France, Germany, Japan and the UK too.
By the end of July, iPhone 4 should be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
India, you ask? Does anybody even give a flying f*ck when it lands there? 😉
Apple expects to roll out iPhone 4 to 88 countries by the end of September.
Thin, Thinner, Thinnest
iPhone 4 comes with a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, HD video recording, Apple’s A4 processor, a 3-axis gyro and up to 40% longer talk time in a jazzy thin glass and stainless steel design.
Apple claims that at 9.3 millimeters the iPhone 4 is the thinnest smartphone ever. Dunno about this claim. In any case, we’re not that much into thin.
Like all desis, we’re tempted more by the fleshy, voluptuous things. 😉
Supported by Apple’s new iOS 4 mobile operating system, the iPhone 4 will be a major upgrade to the current generation iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS and offer Multitasking, Folders, enhanced Mail, deeper Enterprise support and Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform.
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I will be in line for the new phone as well, I got my iPhone 3G first day it was released and per AT&T I can continue with my unlimited data plan for the new iPhone as well… 🙂
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Just checked. It does look like existing iPhone 3G users can continue with the unlimited data plan.
any idea as to when will it arrive in india????
i will buy it provided it comes before my new college starts 🙁
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We guess by the end of September.
But according to this report, the new iPhone should make landfall in India in July.
wiki says steve travelled to India for spiritual enlightenment after which he co-founded the Apple;
You say : India, you ask? Does anybody even give a flying f*ck when it lands there?
Height of business tactics ?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
For Gurujis/Swamijis, fake or otherwise, India is the to-go destination.
For everything else, India doesn’t count.
The market is likely too small for iPhone in India. Plus, with WiFi not being as ubiquitous in India as it is in the U.S. and 3G just getting off the ground there we’re not sure the iPhone makes sense in India for data applications like browsing, YouTube et al.
We also remember reading about Steve’s spiritual trip to India long back.
Did you by any chance read these articles.
http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/apple/article/818614–olive-beware-the-euphoria-apple-may-have-peaked
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1635758/android-smartphone-sales-overtake-iphone
It says Google’s Android OS smartphones overtook iphone in sales in the first quarter of this year.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. Just read the pieces in your two links.
The second piece has drivel in it. For instance, only the utterly stupid would describe the iPhone as a ‘barely performing, fragile toy of a phone.’
2. Whether the Horizontal model (Windows PCs, Android-based Phones) will crush the Vertical model (iPhones) in cell-phones too a la the old Microsoft-Apple battle remains to be seen.
Tis’ true that history tends to repeat itself but history doesn’t have to/may not do so in all respects.
Also in personal computers (think late 70s and the 80s), it was all or nothing and Microsoft made mincemeat of Apple, which was consigned to the fringes with just a few markets like education, publishing and fan-boys.
In cell phones, it does not have to be that way.
You could possibly have both horizontal and vertical models co-existing like we do now: iPhones, Blackberry, Android and the Rest of them.
Now keep in mind that the fan-boys were/are too small a number with Apple Macs but with the iPhone/iPods, the fan-boy base has expanded significantly into the tens of millions. Some 50 million iPhones have been sold in the last three years and for the most part the buyers are happy with the phone (call-drops et al in NYC are more an AT&T issue). We don’t envision this base jumping ship unless rivals make vast technological leaps over the iPhone or unless the price-difference widens enormously. Both possibilities seem remote, as of now. Like most desis, we’re querulous customers and yet we’re happy with the iPhone.
Unlike in the earlier PC vs Mac battle, this time Apple has made headway with the application developers too. Today, there are over 100,000 applications for the iPhone/iPod touch in several categories for both consumers and businesses.
If anything, we’re inclined to believe Blackberry may be in trouble as the iPhone-Android battle intensifies and Google and Apple ramp up their corporate efforts.
Of course, from a purely consumer standpoint we favor co-existence of both vertical (iPhone) and horizontal (Android) models. Otherwise, consumers get screwed and development slows down (look at what happened to the browser after MSFT crushed Netscape).
BTW, we expect that eventually all phones will be smartphones.
One caveat: we are more familiar with the iPhone than the Android, which we’ve played with only for a couple of minutes at the store and maybe with friends’ phones.
Bottom line, rumors of the iPhone’s death, imminent or otherwise, are greatly exaggerated.
Agree!! Most importantly all these battles going on are benefiting consumers both from a price perspective and a technical standpoint.
All phones becoming smartphones is just a matter of time.
Well, the partisan nature of the second article notwithstanding, Android might have outsold iPhone for Q1. Even Jobs didn’t really deny that (he quoted figures of overall sales and penetration, but didn’t make a mention about the Q1 figures). The outselling might have had as much to do with Android’s undeniable merits as iPhone’s impending new version; a lot of people held off on buying a new iPhone because they expected a new release.
I do believe Android is gathering genuine momentum – I was blown away by both, the form and the function of Nexus One, and if Google continues to deliver along the same lines it will have a sure winner. I really want it to succeed, too, because I am a very big fan of Open Source.
One thing I have noticed with Apple is that they are way behind in terms of software bells and whistles and sometimes even in basic software functionality, be it the Mac OSX or iOS. It is just that when they release a feature they do it with so much fanfare that people tend to overlook the fact that such features are ancient in other platforms. Case in point: “Spaces” introduced in Leopard (an equivalent has existed in Linux since at least 1997) and multitasking in iOS.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: I do believe Android is gathering genuine momentum – I was blown away by both, the form and the function of Nexus One,
It could well be. Folks waiting for the iPhone 4G could be a major reason.
We just returned from 6th Ave Electronics (went there to buy a Gateway Win XP netbook for $290…will do a short post later) and checked out the Android phone. Unfortunately, the store did not have the Nexus One (HTC Incredible????) so we had to be content with checking out the older Motorola Droid for a few minutes. This Verizon model had both virtual and physical keyboards. The screen was a little narrower than the iPhone. Also not too enamored about the buttons at the bottom of Droid phone.
Functionality seemed alright though the touchscreen seemed a shade less responsive vis-a-vis the iPhone 3G. Had a 5MP camera too compared to the crappy 1MP in the iPhone 3G.
We checked out YouTube on the Verizon 3G network and played a DDLJ song Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main. The display and sound were both attractive.
Overall, the Motorola Droid seemed alright though aesthetically the iPhone, to our fading eyes at least, is a little more attractive.
2. While there’s no doubt that Steve Jobs and Apple are masters of the hype game, the iPhone mostly lives up to the hype. The only other smartphone we’d used previously was the Palm Treo.
Not familiar with Spaces having (almost) never used a Mac.
3. We’re also tempted by Sprint’s new HTC EVO 4G.
4. You write: One thing I have noticed with Apple is that they are way behind in terms of software bells and whistles and sometimes even in basic software functionality…Case in point: “Spaces” introduced in Leopard (an equivalent has existed in Linux since at least 1997) and multitasking in iOS.
We’re still not sure multitasking is a good feature in the iPhone. Is the processor powerful enough to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, will one app crash the others et al are issues that remains to be seen on the iPhone.
Bottom line, while we love the iPhone we’re for competition, open source or otherwise.
BTW, we’re not that hung up on open source products. For instance, Linux on the desktop for consumers is still not mainstream/ready for prime time despite years of work. 🙁
just hope it comes in july..i would be the first one to buy it 😀
and baring say smartphones for now as 3g would come to india in september…india has been a key market for almost all other products and this has been acknowledged by one and all 😮
SearchIndia.com Responds:
The Android-based HTC Evo 4G is also getting a lot of attention here.