Links: OK, ‘Mystic Ben‘ says: The mobile tech press needs to take a deep breath and calm down with all this… Not a single 3G iPhone (with or without HSDPA, GPS or 16GB) will be available for sale in January or February 2008 anywhere in the world. I’ll even put my money where my mouth it – I’ll donate £50 (US$100) to a charity chosen by the first person to prove otherwise.
Steve Jobs announced the original iPhone in the US on January 9th in preparation for a June 29th launch – unusual for Apple which normally announces products for immediate release. Apple were forced to do this because the FCC (the mobile tech journalists’ best friend) posts detailed specs of the handsets they approve during the approval process which effectively leaks all of the juiciest details and a few pictures too. Apple filed for some confidentiality of the details submitted, but they knew that wouldn’t be sufficient (and it wasn’t). So they had no choice – they had to announce early.
Any handset due for sale in February 2008 would be announcing right now for exactly the same reason and it’s not hard to work out what effect that would have on European iPhone sales which are all slated to start 9th November. And, yes, it is feasible (although unlikely) that Apple would launch a 3G variant outside the US first, but they couldn’t risk needing to modify an in-manufacturing model to achieve an FCC approval. As they’ve shown with the iPod and current iPhone, they don’t believe in regional variants.
If a 3G iPhone is announced in 2008 it won’t be on sale in the US before late July (or possibly even later if AT&T’s 3G coverage needs improvement) and a staggered release to give Apple time to update their agreements with the networks in Europe and maximise the international press coverage feels likely too.
Link: Apple’s iPhone filing with the FCC
Link: iPhone passes FCC approval just over 4 months after being publicly announced
