What to expect from Steve Jobs on June 9
Thursday was a red-letter day for 3G iPhone rumors. On Wall St., the “rumor of a rumor” of an iPhone delay was enough to drive Apple (AAPL) share prices down 5 points in midafternoon trading. Meanwhile, a dozen subway stops to the north, a line 60 customers deep had formed spontaneously outside the company’s flagship Fifth Ave. store. According to Engadget, at least some of the people in the queue thought the new iPhone had already arrived.
So it was refreshing to receive a note to clients from Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster on Friday morning with some sensible advice about what to expect when Steve Jobs takes the stage at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference on June 9. According to Munster, look for:
- A new iPhone. Like every Apple analyst on record, he believes Jobs will take this opportunity to unveil an iPhone. But following up on a May 20 note in which Munster cautioned investors to keep their expectations in check, he believes the new device will be almost identical to the current model, with the exception of a 3G chipset to allow faster downloads. iPhones in new shapes and sizes, he expects, won’t come before January ‘09.
- A new OS. With the new iPhone will come a new operating system — OS X iPhone — that will open the device up to enterprise software and to all the 3rd party apps that have been under development since March.
- Focus on integration. Munster expects Jobs to spend a lot of time highlighting Apple’s “unique value proposition” of having Macs and iPhones running on the same operating system platform. “With control over the hardware and the software, Apple offers a uniquely integrated ecosystem of [consumer electronics] devices, which we believe is driving Mac sales, and vice versa.”
- New MacBooks. Given that it’s been two years since the MacBook was introduced and that the MacBook Pro is essentially the same design as the PowerBook G4 that came out 5.5 years ago, Munster believes there’s a 60% chance Jobs will introduce redesigned notebooks on June 9 and an 80% chance they will come this summer — in time for the back-to-school sales rush.
So when should iPhone buyers queue up? Like Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz, Munster believes that Apple is planning a worldwide release of the new phones in mid-June — not, as previously speculated, June 27 (opening day of Pixar’s Wall-E and the anniversary, almost to the day, of the first iPhone’s release).
But unlike Gizmodo, Munster gives a good business reason for Jobs to push up the date of release. In a note to clients dated May 16 he points out that a mid-June shipment — one month after the original iPhone was listed as unavailable on its Web site — would allow Apple to book the initial surge of 3G iPhones in the June quarter, making up for all the iPhone sales the company lost in May.
How does the I phone hold up in general? My husband gives his phones a beating and broke the brand new Razor with in a day or two. Considering the expense and condition of the last two phones, I would not want to buy him an Iphone unless they are nearly bullet proof. What do you all think? Is it ruined the first time you drop it?
New i-phone should have voice activated command. I start developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome due to excessive usage of the touch screen interface!
I’ve used many smartphones over the years; Nokia, Motorola, HTC Palm, Apple.
The iPhone has less features overall, but the touch interface is outstanding. It completely changes cell phone use. I’m not an Apple fanboy, but Apple did innovate cell phones with the iPhone. I tried using an HTC touch device…it’s ok, until you launch the browser, or some external app and realize your using a shell, and clunky windows mobile launches. I’ll be the first to say that phones from years ago can do all the iPhone can do and more, but the interface seems to makeup for it. I’ll buy my iPhone again when it’s available (sold my old one on eBay to and got almost as much as the retail price) and I’ll love it all over again.
to seth I just ordered my touch diamond which runs windows mobiel 6.1. If the demo is true this should blow the iphone out of the water
SJobs will drop his panties & moon the audience.
I have owned SEVERAL windoze smart phones(Q, Q global, Tilt) and none of them can hold a candle to iPhone. Windows users would like nothing more than to believe the iphone’s success is without merit; nothing could be further from reality
IPhone the most over hyped piece of junk out there. I’ll take a Windows OS on my phone anyday. Can do a whole lot more than that IdiotPhone.
sounds good… having 3G means not having WIFI… :S… it would be way batter than the expectation that if Apple embeds WiMaX support. Lastly PLEASEEEEEEEE make it ATNT Free phone this time…
AT&T Mobility retail employees have been told they cannot schedule any vacation time from June 15-July 15 of this year because of a big “promotion” rolling out. Wonder what that is?
This is yet another rumor report with ZERo new information. Also none of these “rumors” yeild anything close to the buzz that surrounded the initial iPhone release. Enough apple stories.
Nobosh.com
The iPhone will eventually become the iMac in your pocket, which is basically what it is. 3G is just the first step. I can’t wait to see what comes next! Apple rocks. http://stocksbuyorsell.com
The more I use my iPhone the more I cannot believe it is categorized under “Phone”. I think this is a whole new segment with a phone just as a feature. I think it is a great misfortune that this groundbreaking device is listed in such a mundane category.
This device is unbelievable
With ebay prices going for $400 to $500 for a used 8gb, the question is, should i bother selling our 2 iPhones before keynote? if I don’t I’ll have to wait until the end of the year to get one to justify the cost of getting two more iPhones. I’m sure we can use our old treo 650s in the meantime and would rather take that and not risk losing the iphones on our vacation next month.
These are the article’s I was waiting for!
The article didn’t say the original iPhone was released on June 27th, it said that the anticipated date for 2008 was June 27th, which is “…the anniversary, almost to the day, of the first iPhone’s release.”
ex ped: Paul, Carl was right. You’re reading the version of the item I edited to deal with his objection.
>>>The iPhone has OSX on it now. They are updated in to software 1.2.0 come WWDC, but it has always been built on OSX
Yes, but they’ve never given it a proper name. OS X iPhone will now become a new brand.
The original iPhone launch date was June 29, not June 27 as noted in the article. So the cosmic alignment with Wall-E probably wasn’t perfect enough for Steve Jobs.
The iPhone has OSX on it now. They are updated in to software 1.2.0 come WWDC, but it has always been built on OSX
Actually, it’s only been about two years since the MacBook was released (and two and a half since the MacBook Pro).
ex ped: Fixed. Thanks.
3G isn’t just for “faster downloads”. WCDMA is for voice as well as data, and the quality is close to landline, especially when compared to the AMR-HR codec that AT&T forces for most GSM voice calls.
It would be nice if the tech press would try to understand what they are writing about so it can be communicated accurately to readers.
The MacBook was introduced in May 2006, which is two years ago to the month, not three years.
ex ped: My mistake. Thanks for the catch.
Two way video would be sweet, and would only work in 3G markets (major cities or within WIFI) and would require a 2nd gen iPhone without adding a forward facing camera shomehow to the old model. Why not, we never got flying cars, at least we can have video communicators that are easier to use than a VCR.
A believable scenario. However, I would expect Apple to go for more marketing clout through distinctly separate phone, laptop announcements. - the latter more nearer the back-to-school holiday segment of the year. I also believe the 3G will come with a few surprises, tempting things that cannot be done with the existing product.
Apple store line: It is highly possible that people in line were getting iPhones for resale in China Town for shipment to China. Look closer at the pictures published, I think http://www.engadget.com has the main story. (not profiling, just making an observation) http://www.ismashphone.com
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Silicon Valley veterans like to joke that Steve Jobs must be surrounded by a reality distortion field; if you get too close to him, you start to believe what he's saying. Thanks to the success of the iPod, the launch of the iPhone and the renewed interest in the Mac, Apple has made believers out of millions of customers - and made a lot of investors rich. But Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple - and watching Steve Jobs operate - since 1982, first for Time Magazine, then for Business 2.0, and now for Fortune.
I bought my friend an iPhone because she said she needed a phone stronger than she was (perpetually breaking phones is her style). She’s had it since Feb and dropped it once, the screen cracked - Apple replaced it for free but that was due to Amex guarantee only - so use AMEX. Since then, no problems, I got her a hard case that she uses most of the time - that helps. My own iPhone is very strong - not one problem in almost a year - but I am more careful.