Now for the iHype
South Africans will soon get to discover what all the fuss is about. Vodacom will shortly begin selling Apple’s second-generation iPhone. The only question is what the new handset will be able to do. CEO Steve Jobs is set to answer everything on Monday.
All eyes will be on the Moscone Center in San Francisco on that day, when Jobs delivers his keynote address to the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference. Millions of gadget junkies will be anxiously awaiting the details of the second-generation iPhone, one of the most talked-about consumer products in history. SA gadget lovers will also be watching the keynote closely, as Apple has promised to make the iPhone available in SA through Vodacom’s channels.
So far, all that’s known for certain about the second-generation iPhone is that it will support 3G for faster Internet downloads. For the rest, the media and blogs have been having a field day speculating about what else will be on the device Jobs pulls out of his pocket when he takes to the stage.
A whip-around of some of the more influential blogs suggests the phone will support high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA ), a fancy name for a souped-up version of 3G that allows for downloads over the air of up to 7,2 Mbit/s. Both Vodacom and MTN operate HSDPA networks.
The first iPhone lacked even basic 3G connectivity. Instead, Apple plumped for the slower GPRS, with Edge. Of course, the first iPhone was pitched mainly at the US market, where 3G networks are not as well developed as they are in Europe and Asia.
Beyond 3G support, it’s anyone’s guess as to what Jobs will unveil. But talk is that the always secretive Apple will include a GPS for satellite route navigation. According to news reports, the company has appointed Broadcom to supply it with GPS chips. GPSes are increasingly common in high-end smartphones, including those from Apple rivals Nokia, HTC and Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry. A GPS could pave the way for a range of location-based services from Apple and third-party software developers. And a GPS in the iPhone could do really cool stuff with mapping software from companies such as Google.
Another strong possibility is that the new iPhone will have more on board storage space for music and video. The original variants came with 8GB and 16GB of flash memory, and it’s likely that Jobs will announce that the new models will store at least twice as much information as the first generation.
The new handset will almost certainly come with a better camera. The 2-megapixel camera in the original iPhone is fairly poor, compared with the 5-megapixel cameras integrated into the top-end phones made by Nokia and others.
Some local Apple fans have expressed hope that the news of the iPhone coming to SA will also mean that the company will launch the online iTunes Store here. This store, available only in a number of developed markets, offers millions of songs, television programmes and movies for download. SA users who want access to it have had to perform contortions to get iTunes Store accounts. Apple blames the record companies, which are worried about rampant online piracy, for not launching the store in more territories. But users may be disappointed on this score. I’d be surprised if an iTunes Store is on the cards in SA, where Apple doesn’t even have a direct sales presence.
The good news is that the iPhone could be in SA much sooner than most people expect. Gadgets website Gizmodo reported at the weekend that the iPhone could reach markets worldwide within a fortnight, months earlier than originally anticipated. The 3G iPhone will be available in Spain on June 18, with other countries to have similar launch schedules, Gizmodo says.
First published as the column Technology & You in the Financial Mail of June 6 2008
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