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NYTimes Speculates On the Next iPhone
Achromatic1978 writes "The NYT has a story on the next revision of the iPhone, and discusses what will become of the iPhone, now that the hype is starting to slow (Jobs goal for 2008 was ten million iPhones sold — as of the first quarter, only 1.7 million have left the shelves). The WWDC is the rumored release date for a next version, and Jobs has promised that this year will see a 3G iPhone released."
What do you mean they didn't even try to get Verizon? Verizon rejected Apple iPhone deal - USATODAY.COM...
Japan is CDMA, so they'd have to make a new phone (which, thanks to the exclusivity contract, they couldn't sell in the US). China is CDMA, Korea is CDMA, I believe Thailand is still PHS, I also believe that D-AMPS is in use in Malaysia, and Thailand is actually GSM.
There *are* GSM networks in some of those countries, but they don't have as nearly as much coverage as the other systems...
Well, no. Apple's confirmed that they intended "10 million in 2008". See: http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/3/mystery_solved__what_apple_s_10_million_iphones_goal_means__aapl_
Having lived in Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia, you absolutely don't have your facts straight. Those countries all have modern 3G/UMTS networks. I bought phones in both Japan and Malaysia 3 years ago that did both GSM and 3G everywhere in the region and world (except 3G in US because USA used different frequencies.) Korea is CDMA only but I never went there...
You don't have your facts. I have lived and traveled in all of those countries. Malaysia and Singapore have full country 3G/UMTS networks starting 3 years ago. Thailand is almost there. Even not counting 3G they all have more GSM carriers to choose from than USA does. Japan has had 3G UMTS for 4 years now. I have used phones bought in each of those countries in each of all the other countries, including in Japan.
These two links are technically also from a weblog, albeit a different one, and you might deride that with the same argument as last time ("it's on a weblog" - which seems to be about as logical as placing every newspaper in the world, reputable or not, on equal footing simply because they're published in ways that are technically similar), but they also refer to two distinct Apple earnings conference calls, in which "Calendar 2008" and "10 million" are mentioned.
If you're still skeptical, you should easily be able to find what you regard as more reputable sources transcribing the same calls to confirm or deny.
http://www.macrumors.com/2007/01/17/apple-posts-1-billion-in-profit-1q-2007-and-financial-call-notes/
http://www.macrumors.com/2007/10/22/apple-4q-2007-results-conference-call-6-22-billion-revenue-904-million-prof/
The 2.0 iPhone firmware will support Exchange connectivity, it's been licensed from Microsoft so no legal issues for Apple on this front.
Why companies deliberately lock themselves into agreements with other companies like this is beyond me. Maybe it's working for them. But given how far it looks like they're going to miss their target, it kind of looks like it's not.
I'll explain what is going on since nobody else seems to have an idea for me to use my mod points on. As I understand it, several of the key features of the iPhone such as the visual voice mail that set it apart from other phones and make it function the way Apple wanted it to for the user, require back end support by the telco company to do so. Why does a telco company go the extra effort to support just one brand of phone? Because they get an exclusive deal. So, AT&T agreed to handle back end support for iPhone features, and in return got their exclusive contract from Apple. After that deal is over, or if you can get an unlocked iPhone, you'll be able to set it up on another service, but some features they have been advertising simply won't work because there is no backend support. Some people might not notice so it's a non-issue from the start for them, others might be willing to deal with AT&T for those features. Like any feature, it's only good if you use it. Apple however is touting those features because it is what sets them apart from the other phones and provides the usability that they are known for rather than just another geek toy.
They can sell 10 million, easy:
http://www.macworld.com/article/133636/2008/05/10_million_iphones.html