jkOnTheRun- iPhone 3G geek session
The world was all abuzz with the Apple announcement of the iPhone 3G and other cool stuff. Kevin and James couldn't wait to talk about the new iPhone and what we think it means to the consumer market. We have a good look at the newly announced MobileMe service that is replacing .MAC and generally have a good time. Enjoy the show!
$199 a compelling price?? I think the Centro had 99 pricing. The iPhone 3g has two things at the 199 price point that makes it worth it:
1. More memory in 8 GB included.
2. Superior mobile browsing.
Everything else the Centro and other Windows Mobile Phones can do.
Posted by: gork | June 09, 2008 at 09:54 PM
I was considering on using Mobile Me to replace my hosted Exchange Server account, but decided against it for the following reasons:
1) Mobile Me does not appear to sync tasks and notes between my laptop & desktop. I can live without tasks & notes on the iPhone, but cannot live without task synchronization amongst my PCs. Exchange Server supports this.
2) Price. My hosted Exchange Server account is cheaper. I pay $6.99 per month ($84 per year) and this includes mobile device synchronization (Windows Mobile and/or iPhone 2.0), Outlook Web Access, IMAP/POP/SMTP access and free Outlook 2007 licenses for installation on my PCs for accessing this Exchange account. Mobile Me is $99 per year and would require me to purchase an Outlook license on top of that.
Posted by: Rick Huizinga | June 09, 2008 at 09:56 PM
$199 is the subsidized price, you can't walk into an Apple Store and buy a 3G iPhone for $199 without getting a 2 year contract.
Posted by: dan | June 10, 2008 at 12:19 AM
To me this looks REALLY interesting. It's me.com that may make me get a 3G iphone rather than the 3G in the iphone itself. I can already do all these things but I need to carry several devices to do it. Having "push" email, data, photo etc all in one service give the iphone the "storage" I would want on the road. I have no desire to manage several apps when this can do it all in one. Plus I get to get rid of that awfull Mobile Device Centre once and for all.
I'm not rushing in (wait to see if I can sync my existing email addresses, A2DP support etc) but I may finally replace three devices (Windows Mobile GPS Phone, Sony UX and Ipod Touch) with this one device and sync solution. This and Evernote. WOW.
Posted by: Gordon Cahill | June 10, 2008 at 01:08 AM
like on any 3g phone, if you swich to 2G mode you get more talk time.
Talk time:
Up to 5 hours on 3G
Up to 10 hours on 2G
means: on 3g iphone you get 5 hours talk time if you use 3g network and 10 hours if you disable 3g and use 2g.
Posted by: jkkmobile | June 10, 2008 at 02:26 AM
I've heard peeps that you will not be able to pay the 199 to switch to the 3G if you aren't yet eligible for an equipment upgrade. While I'm sure that's AT&T's usual policy, it's gonna generate a lot of money as people get suckered into paying more for something they thought was less.
I don't quite understand why notes and tasks are somehow magically different from other kinds of data. syncing anything is pretty difficult, but adding more 'things' probably isn't that hard.
I already pay something like 70 a year for web hosting for two domains, which includes full php/mysql access and all my personal email. MobileMe seems kind of... excessive, given that I won't need the webhosting or email bit except to get personal email pushed to the iphone (not through yahoo's fake push).
I am excited for 3G, as I use the internet quite a lot on my iphone and am almost never within a wifi network when I need to access some non-iphoneized website.
Posted by: kevin white | June 10, 2008 at 05:50 AM
Gork, the $99 Centro point is a good one but AT&T's Centro doesn't offer 3G. There's also a branding difference here. Ask 10 random consumers if they've heard of the Centro and if they've heard of the iPhone. ;)
Rick, that's a good Exchange price you have. I was paying the same, but then rates with 4Smartphone went up. As you mention there's an advantage with Exchange accounts: you generally get a free Outlook (or Entourage) client license.
Dan, you're correct and I goofed yesterday on the subsidization issue.
JKK is right on talk time, but it may be irrelevant in this case. Some folks are reporting that there's no switch to turn off 3G on the new iPhone.
Kevin, from what I heard on the AT&T conference call yesterday, first gen iPhone buyers won't have a problem getting a new device for $199 or $299. However, they will have new 2-year contract going forward.
Posted by: Kevin C. Tofel | June 10, 2008 at 07:38 AM
I use 1and1.com for my hosted Exchange Server account. It's $6.99 per month and as mentioned earlier includes Outlook Web Access, IMAP/POP/SMTP access, mobile-device synchronization (Exchange ActiveSync) and an Outlook client license.
I've noticed that other hosting companies tend to charge extra for the Exchange ActiveSync, but 1and1 includes it with the base price.
Posted by: Rick Huizinga | June 10, 2008 at 09:17 AM
it has 3g on/off switch..
Posted by: jkkmobile | June 10, 2008 at 12:36 PM
Folks have reported seeing such a switch in the beta firmware, but I'll wait until it's official. ;) You'd think, hope and expect it would have it, but given the mass consumer audience, how many percentage of folks do you think will actually turn 3G off? I suspect a large amount won't. That would really interesting data to see captured and reported on!
Posted by: Kevin C. Tofel | June 10, 2008 at 12:57 PM
"The enable/disable 3G setting is real, and buried a few menus deep."
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/iphone-3g-hands-on/
Posted by: jkkmobile | June 10, 2008 at 05:31 PM