As a new (less than a month) owner of a 32gb Touch, I'm more than a leetle peeved at having to fork over $10 for the software upgrade. Yes, it's not a lot, but the 32 cost more than my eee; in the immortal words of Mike Meyes, "throw me a friggin' bone, here..."

I don't need a phone but 199 sounds nearly disposable. Until you read the "2 year contract" part. Nope, no thanks. Or I'll at least wait 'til the hackers have had at Phone2.0 for awhile.

As for MobileMe: yeah, probably. I _have_ ignored .Mac, but the unholy kludge I've used to sync my myriad devices would be solved by MobileMe (or Sunbird/Thunderbird/ Google getting their collective acts in gear).

Bleh. As jenn at Pocketables asked, "so, when does iPhone with WIMAX come out?"

If I can preorder, I will. Otherwise I'll wait for 11 July and find a store (probably Tysons or Pentagon City so I can stand in a cool area whilst waiting). I'm planning to buy the 16GB $299 model. So long Treo 650!

I've had dot mac since it was iTools in 2000, and I was very impressed with the update to mobile me.

Cheers!

Why is Steve Jobs so SKINNY!

What about running windows apps on the iPhone ? Is this another reason / rationalization to get the iPhone 3G ?
http://TechInstigator.com

I just bought an iPhone in January - Im not too happy about seeing the price get cut in half 5 months later - did they have to charge me so much to begin with?

Apple has a long history of leaving their customers hanging.

Apple sometimes just does not appear to know what it is doing. It's most loyal customers bought the iPhone already - this price decrese is saying "Loyal Customer go jump in the lake"

please, stop with the whining about the price drop.
Q: what is anything worth?
A: whatever you are willing to pay for it!
If you payed $400 5 months ago, apple owes you nothing and you shouldn't feel screwed. all electronics (computers, tvs, ipods, phones etc) all get cheaper over time. it's not like only apple products drop their price.

I don't think it's saying "loyal customers go jump in a lake" - I'm a loyal mac customer but know exactly what they're doing. There is a premium associated with being the first on your block to have something, that's the way it always is with electronics.

Has Jobs been sick?

Why is Steve Jobs so thin? Is he sick?

First of all, did anyone notice how thin Steve Jobs looked? It was really noticeable in Jim Goldman's subsequent interviews, especially in his face. I think his speech was a tad slower than in previous interviews. I sure hope that his past cancer problems are not revisiting him again, and if they are, well, all our best to him and his family.

Now onto business.

Apple has just posted a tutorial for MobileMe, which does a great job of clarifying how this new service will work.

Also, I saw an interview on CNBC where a woman from PC World Magazine, I believe, talked about "8GB, 16GB and 32GB versions" of the new iPhone 3G. It appears that she misspoke about the 32GB version, as Apple's website doesn't mention such a thing.

Steve Jobs has lost a lot of weight, and it makes me worried and a little scared. Is he ill? Does anyone have inside news on this?

A point or two:

Maybe one should buy only what one thinks is worth the price asked. It baffles me how people can complain when a price drop occurs. I bought an iPhone 2G the day it came out, knowing I'd pay a premium. For me, the price (at the time) was worth it. That I got a $100 credit a few months later was a pleasant surprise.

How is Apple any different in this regard than any other consumer hardware company? Oh, I know! They actually LOWER the asking price! Apple knows very well what it is doing. They may not hit a home run (who can?) every time, but they hit a lot of doubles and triples and never strikes out...

my comment was deleted - Ive only bought about 20 Macs in my life - I am not happy with Apple AGAIN

I know my comment was here because someone commented on my comment

Anyone have any educated guesses about when IPhone will be usable on Verizon's network (which really is better, for me at least, and anyway I've reupped with them so may times I'd owe them my house if i quit)?

I am pleased as punch that the new iPhone has hit.. although I was eager to get one last year, I knew if I waited, I'd be able to get a better device.. and Yay.. for less money. Early adapters pay for the privilege of testing new product. I thought everyone knew that.

Between Disney, Pixar, and Apple, Steve has been doing a lot of work. Who is sharing the burden? Likewise for other cultural and business and academic icons of America. Are we doing enough [Rhwrhn (ext. tone) 21:39]...

wow. the phone of the future is now only two years behind the Nokia N95 released over two years ago. you cant even run apps in the background and cant even make a video call. and 8 or 16 GB storage, you dont even have a slot to add more. the phone is a joke or toy at best.

oh, one more thing, where is the navigation feature on the phone? as for geo-tag of pics etc, i'll bet you have to pay for that too. of course its free with a nokia that can also tag video and upload the route you took (and count the steps you took).

This is just more hocus-pocus by Jobs. He couldn't sell them at $599 and he'll probably sell a few more at the lower price. However, most people will be getting their "iphone" free from one of any number of Chinese manufacturers who can clone the thing and make it more reliable.

The important thing for Apple is to give the illusion of sales, because it's basically a stock kiting scheme. Like all bubbles...theirs will burst as well.

Yet another reason to stay away from Apple and stick with my Blackberry.

I just called an ATT store. They are going to sell the phones on a first come, first serve basis. That means long lines starting the day before.

So they are intentionally causing a commotion at every one of their stores.

If the police have to come to keep order, ATT should have to pay.

They could very easily take preorders at all the stores and over the internet.

Plus they could very easily allow their long term customers have the first shot at buying one.

Instead they would rather create a circus that costs everyone but themselves a lot of money, time and aggravation.

ATT, you are a greedy monopoly and need to be broken up, again.

"inability to keep a consistent set of contacts between all my different computers"

Have you tried Plaxo? It syncs between my mac, pc, and I can access it from the browser in my treo.

Bought 30 shares of AAPL for first time. As someone pointed out, we're moving to an "iphone world." And it seems more and more likely that iphones will be as common in pockets as car keys. Let the speculation in iphone 3.0 begin!!!!

Pretty much everybody knew apple would release a better iphone for less within a year and they did. No surprise there.

Charging people for software updates to the touch is really bad form. First, it disrespects their most loyal customer base. Second, it sends the message that they don't consider ipods to be long term purchases, but rather that they think you should buy another one every 2 years.

You guys are pathetic - the anti-Apple people. The jealousy is palpable.

Behind Nokia? Give me a break! And the 10$ iPod upgrade? The LAW says they have to charge for that. And if you DON'T want to pay for the upgrade, then DON'T. You won't have a gun to head to make you IMPROVE a device that you bought for the features it had WHEN you bought it. You don't want additional functionality--don't buy it!

I've had the ability to video conference on my COMPUTER for years, as have my friends. We did it exactly ONCE. I'm going to want a more expensive, thicker and heavier phone just for the off chance that i'm going to video chat with someone? Jeez - how old are you whiners?

Apple sold 4 mil phones, plus black market phones in short order. This with just one carrier in the US and the phone being available in only a handful of other countries. What kind of fool are you to say the announcement of a lower price "more" Jobs hocus pocus? Seriously - what are you talking about? The prices of components go down! Apple is using a 3g radio that has been on the market for over a year now! There is a glut of these. The price for these is low.

I expected intelligent postings here, but I've read nothing but small-minded, half-baked, uninformed, regurgitated garbage. Fueled by your irration fear, jealousy and hatred of a company that is the absolute antithesis of Microsoft - creative, innovative and thoughtful to consumer concerns and expectations.

Enjoy your Motorola Qs and cower in a corner somewhere listening to your Zunes.

Boy, nothing succeeds like success! Between people like Mark and the so-called "Apple Hater", it's evident some people still think the earth is flat.

The new 3G iPhone runs rings around the Nokia models and speeds past the Blackberry as well. It's fast. It's cheap (for all it offers). And it has the App Store with free and not-free software from some great developers. It's going into 70 countries this year, many of them just next month.

With Mobile Me you get to sync all your toys and you get push mail, push contacts, even push calendars to boot.

The world is round, folks. And right now at least, it belongs to Apple.

Yes the haters will spout misinformation. There are already developers working on voice recording, voice activated apps. Perhaps the haters missed the fact that TOMTOM has it already running on iPhone. Why would Apple write software for GPS when other companies have done a great job with theirs. SDK allows them to provide it for the iPhone and provide unique capabilities that only OSX and a device with no fixed keys allows.

The haters should watch the keynote first before speaking. Perhaps it will prevent them from looking like an idiot when posting.

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/0806wdt546x/event/index.html

I haven't heard any mention of whether iPhone 2.0 supports "push" email. Those of us who are used to this near-instant email response with Blackberry aren't going to step backwards and wait up to 15 minutes just to read email on a prettier screen. So much for 3G if iPhone can't display email instantly...

The price drop isn't as big a deal as people are making: the $10 a month AT&T data service price increase eats that whole savings up. So recent buyers of the iPhone are actually better off by about $40 over the course of a two year contract.

noremac: The new iPhone software, iPhone 2.0, does indeed support "push" email.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/enterprise/

"Charging people for software updates to the touch is really bad form."

It's required by law. iPhone users subscribe to service, which is why their update is free. iPod touch users have to pay for upgrades or it would look like Apple was giving away software (in the eyes of the law, that is).

As for Steve Jobs, he had cancer a few years back and is probably working ridiculously long hours, a combination that will likely soon catch up with him. Methinks he needs to take a break.

a) Dear A. Giarcanella, please post a link to the LAW that REQUIRES Apple to stick it to Touch owners. Your use of allcaps does not provide a suitable replacement for intelligent discourse or rational arguments;

b) I bought the Touch KNOWING (heh) it was insufficient for my needs but that the upcoming 2.0 software OR jailbreaking offered the possibility to expand its abilities; and

c) Apple is GIVING (heh, again) the software update to previous owners of the iPhone but charging Touch owners, no matter how recently they purchased their item(s). This is from whence stems the incongruity and sense of unfairness and resulting irritation.

Please do not mistake your own inability to recognize Right and Wrong with its absence.

Also, Steve Jobs shaved his beard. So there's that.

MobileME? You have to pay to get that. With my BlackBerry I can get all this for free:
http://eu.blackberry.com/eng/services/blackberryunite/

I will be buying the new iPhone but I'm a tad disappointed that some of the rumored features of the 3G didn't materialize: 3-megapixel camera, support for Flash, copy & paste, video recording, and voice dialing. Maybe 3rd party apps will fill some of these gaps. Still, I think I'll pick the 8-gig model at $199 in case a year from now I'll be tempted by another upgrade.

Mia,

Until the innards of the Iphone are changed, the Iphone will NEVER be useable on the Verizon network.

AT&T uses GSM technology, VERIZON uses CDMA. It is like putting gas in a diesel truck. The innards would have to be changed. ATT has the 3G network while delivers all the cool web based features of the IPhode. Verizone has a totally different data stream.

Apple will have to do a CDMA ohone before you can use it with all functions on Verizon (or any CDMA network).

The Federal law that requires Apple to charge for the s/w update for the iPod Touch but not the iPhone is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which went into effect in July of 2002. The law was created after a rash of corporate accounting scandals (Enron, Tyco, etc.).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes-Oxley_Act

In a nutshell, since the iPhone is essentially sold as a service, they are able to give the s/w upgrades away as part of that service. The Touch is sold as a commodity, therefore they have to charge for any upgrades that include feature upgrades. I believe it they just wanted to push out a bug fix for the Touch to everyone gratis, they would be able to.

To the person who bought an iPhone in January.

Don't complain about the price you got. What's happening is that Apple/AT&T are switching to a more traditional (American market) model in which the carrier subsidizes the phone's price and makes it up with the contract. And, yes, the cost of the contract is changing.

In exchange, iPhone buyers will now have to activate in the store. That sucks, but AT&T surely requires that due to the subsidy they are providing on each handset.

I read something last night on the web that indicated that ATT is actually subsidizing the iPhone by $200 which is why the price drop has occurred. They do this for other phones, so why not the iPhone? This would make the two year contract more acceptable. Does anyone know if this is actually true?

@ Apple Hater

You are blinded by your hate into spouting silliness.

Apple hasn't been selling iPhones? Yeah, only 6 million so far, and sales are going to take off in huge way now with the price changes and since it is coming to so many more countries. Expect 50 million sales next year.

If you don't think Apple is going to be making lots and lots of money, you are just deluding yourself.

How can Micro$oft push out service packs at no cost and iPod users can't get software updates at no cost. M$ servicepacks add features, they just don't change the version number of the software.

Also, to me, the 2-year service commitment is moot because its not like I can take my iPhone to another carrier without changing the software or hardware. The only carrier I would switch to would be Verizon and I won't be able to do that until 2011 anyways.

To add to Peter B's comment, Verizon was initially approached by Apple for the iPhone and it passed. I wonder if Verizon execs rue that now?

Over on the InformationWeek web site, Eric Zeman has a thoughtful blog entitled "Five Reasons NOT To Buy The 3G iPhone".

That's just the tip of the iceberg. (grin)

In my area, an additional deal breaker is that AT&T has a horrid, inferior, network.

obviously you have a lot of microsoft people posting here...most apple fans are delighted with the news of the new iphone. most people understand that new technology is always more expensive at the onset...and don't forget the economy...apple has managed a lot, even in this climate, and will continue to do so. i will buy an iphone in october, when my verizon contract is up. my husband will also...and our son wil be in line in Washington, D.C. someplace, on july 11th, to get his iphone.

Don't listen to JohnJ. He must spend all his time going from blog to blog to bash Apple. There's not a single thing positive about Apple that he's every seen, nor will he ever see anything positive.

There are lots of people obsessed with Apple. JohnJ is one of them, though his obsession is entirely negative. I feel sorry for him. Years of posting anti-Apple vitriol and Apple just keeps doing better and better. I hope that he can find some sense of peace with himself. Constant hatred is unhealthy.

I think the truth is in the sales numbers, and the growing corporate buy in. Millions of people are buying iPhones, and there's good reason. People can peck and howl at the various places the iPhone doesn't live up to competition or expectations, but the truth is, its a market leader, competition benchmarks it, and everyone talks about it. The iPhone succeeds on the Apple synergy that makes its products successful, a synergy that continues to elude competitors. The N95 never got this much attention or coverage.

@Bush:

Did I touch a nerve with you?

re: posting of a law - ever hear of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? Try Googling it.

re: the use of ALL CAPS - it's for EMPHASIS (heh) to to illustrate my FRUSTRATION (heh, again) at the informed garbage that has been posted regarding the iPhone here.

re: my "own inability" to recognize Right and Wrong - what evidence can you present that I don't recognize "Right" and "Wrong"?

Don't hate because you wait with bated breath for your ZunePhone to no avail.

But, then again, I guess I should've expected double talk and jabberwocky based upon your na-- oh, never mind.

This is an aside to all the Pro-Apple and Anti-Apple Rhetoric. With SDK avaiailable for for non-apple developers to use, what is this going to mean in terms of security for a phone and OS that will really be available world wide now?

@ Fr1chise

Well, since its the same OS that runs on Macs and is already available to the world, I don't think it means much. The core OS is still isolated from user accounts, and real Unix security is still in place.

The nice thing about the SDK is its so easy and intuitive, and the APIs are readily avail and easy to tap into, the custom apps will probably be better written and integrated that what you see today on other platforms.

The real cost is the monthly charge for the service. You are paying AT&T Wireless $720.00 on a two year contract. $30.00 a month is a rip-off!

@Ravin,
Thanks for the answer, that is my major concern looking to becoming an Apple convert.

KJ writes: The new iPhone software, iPhone 2.0, does indeed support "push" email.

Yes, but this only seems to apply if you are an "Enterprise" user. What about personal account users, who probably constitute 98% of iPhone customers?

I also see that Rob has started a dedicated column on this topic!

@the comment on iPhone software security:

The iPhones software operates in Root user mode only. It is it's biggest flaw. I am not sure if this is addressed in the latest 2.0 update because I haven't looked at it yet.

If it hasn't been addressed shame shame.

@ Steve Enriquez

$30/mo for data is a ripoff compared to what? Verizon's similar 450 min/unlim data plan for $80/mo that's $10 more a month?

$30 is market price.

Regarding iPhone security, Roughly Drafted has an excellent summary article clarifying real issues from FUD.

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/10/23/kim-zetter-and-the-iphone-root-security-myth/

This article sums the root user issue for what it is. Remember, despite all the security hype and flaws - real and imagined - in OS X, there is yet a real virus to infect Apple's OS.

You may not like the OS, but you can't argue that other than academic theories and lab-grown viruses as proof of concept, there's just no real threats to OS X, and that extends to the iPhone.

OMG!! Apple has like reinvented the internet! Screw SERVERS that can do all of this... I want one of those CLOUDS!!!! Sounds so much cooler! And, the best part is I don't even have to know if it works or not, or even what it does! PERFECTION.