The 3G Apple iPhone was announced with a price drop of $200. It features new apps developed with the official Apple SDK, as well as the Apple SDK or runtime. The new firmware for the iPhone is version 2.0. Existing iPhone owners will be able to upgrade to this new firmware around July 11. Since the price drop of the 3G iPhone is subsided by the cellphone carriers, the monthly plan for the 3G iPhone will be more expensive – between $10 to $15 per month.

It remains to be seen whether the iPod Touch will have a price drop – somehow I doubt it, as there are no cellphone carrier to subsidize the Touch. The apps which are free on the 3G iPhone cost $10 for the iPod Touch. I have seen a lot of rants about this by irate iPod Touch owners in various forums, most of it not repeatable.

As an interesting point, anyone who bought an iPhone after May 27 is eligible for a free upgrade to the 3G iPhone. Since the iPhone has been out of stock almost everywhere for a few weeks, that may be a handful of happy people. As for the iPod Touch users, Apple should not forget them.

Posted on June 18th, 2008 by mervyn