Opinion Streams

Okay, Apple’s new iPhone 3G officially hits Apple and AT&T retail outlets in the U.S. tomorrow at 8 a.m., and the hysteria has already started.  As early as last week, iPhone 3G lines started to form outside the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York.  And the hysteria is well worth it…well sort of at least.  Among the iPhone 3G’s most exciting hardware upgrades is GPS Technology and its ability to utilize AT&T’s 3G Wireless Network, which is twice as fast as the EDGE network that first-gen iPhones are forced to work on (Note: if the 3G network isn’t available in your area - or on the side of the road you happen to be standing on - the iPhone 3G will automatically switch to the EDGE network).  One hardware upgrade that should have appeared but didn’t is a higher resolution camera.  The iPhone 3G retains the 2 megapixel camera of the previous generation iPhone.

Google has unveiled a new feature of its popular Gmail service that will allow users to see how many terminals their email account is open on.  The new Gmail feature will allow users to remotely log off of any terminal either that they forgot to close or that someone else used to gain access to their Gmail account.  Google’s new Gmail feature will be beneficial not only for public terminal users who may have forgotten to log off of a public computer, but also to monitor Gmail accounts for privacy intrusions.

June 27, 2008 was Bill Gates’ last day as a full time employee of Microsoft.  Though he will still be chairman and majority shareholder of Microsoft, Bill Gates’ daily influence will surely be missed.  Whether or not you’re a fan of the Windows OS, I’m sure we all agree that Bill Gates made a significant contribution to the personal computing world as well as to consumer electronics and lifestyle technology (and that just his short list).  I bid Bill Gates farewell and thank Gates for his contributions to Microsoft and to the technology world.  I wish Bill Gates much continued success in his philanthropic work through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

U.S. consumers may complain about being forced to sign up with AT&T to pick up a new iPhone 3G, but imagine having to pay $800 or even $900 for a new iPhone?!  Fortune magazine reports that such may be a reality for potential iPhone 3G customers around the globe.  According to Fortune, roughly 70% of mobile plans worldwide are pre-paid, which means that an overseas purchaser of an iPhone 3G won’t necessarily enjoy the subsidized $199 or $299 price-tag that comes with AT&T’s 2-year contract.  In Italy, for example, iPhones will cost between 499 euros ($778) for the 8 GB iPhone 3G and 569 euros ($888) for the 16 GB model.  In South Africa, the iPhone 3G is expected to cost the equivalent of $877.  A research firm interviewed by Furtune speculates that as global availability of the iPhone 3G normalizes, the price of a pre-paid phone should average around $600.

Yesterday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new Apple iPhone 3G (also called “iPhone 2.0″), Apple’s update to its much heralded entrant in the smart phone market.  The biggest news about the new iPhone 3G is its 3G wireless broadband connection, which, according to Apple, enables the iPhone 3G to achieve 2.4 times the connection speed of the previous iPhone generation’s EDGE network.  The new iPhone 3G will also sport A STANDARD HEADPHONE JACK!!!!  Finally, iPhone devotees can use the iPhone without being tied to Apple’s proprietary headphones or a limited subset of other headphones.  Other new (and cool) features of the new iPhone 3G will be global positioning system (GPS) support, a patch that will enable users to search through their contacts list, and apparent support for third party programs to run in the background (which may enable instant messaging type functionality).  For an additional service charge ($99/year) you also get Mobile Me for the iPhone 3G, a service that allows you to keep your contacts, email, photos, calendar, and files in sync between the iPhone 3G and any computer with internet functionality.  But perhaps the biggest news about the new iPhone 3G (yeah, I know the 3G wireless broadband connection is a huge deal) will be its retail price.  Apple will sell an 8GB iPhone 3G for $199 and a 16GB version for $299.  That’s $200 off the price of the first generation iPhone!  The downside is that AT&T is still the exclusive U.S.