RSSiPhone 3.0! iPhone 3G S! iPhone ZOMG!
By Tim Conneally | Published June 17, 2009, 3:04 PM
Just as the eagerly-awaited iPhone 3.0 software update became available, AT&T made an announcement that some subscribers' upgrade eligibility would be bumped up just in time for the iPhone 3G S launch this Friday.
AT&T addressed the subscriber frenzy today and said that any customers who would otherwise be eligible for an upgrade between July and September will be given their upgrade pricing effective tomorrow. This means that rather than make these customers wait one to three months, or otherwise force them to pay the full price of the new iPhone (an additional $200), they will be given amnesty, and be allowed to buy the device at its discounted upgrade price of $399 for the 16 GB model, or $499 for the 32 GB model when it goes on sale on Friday.
To accommodate the additional customers this will add to the crush of line-waiters, Apple announced this afternoon that its stores will open early at 7:00 am on Friday to hand out the pre-orders (perhaps they'll want to think of another term for those now), and then open to the general public at 9:00 am.
And for those not quite close enough to their upgrade to the 3G S, today's free 3.0 software update provides more than a hundred functionality enhancements to the iPhone 3G to play with. Unfortunately, MMS and tethering are still not available among them.
Even with the 3.0 upgrade, AT&T still says that the ability to send picture and video messages will not be available until "late summer," similarly, the operator has said that tethering will indeed be available, but it has no announcements regarding when customers will be able to add it to their subscriptions.
If you want your news to be taken seriously... Pick better titles... Seriously!
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|This article has a pricing error, I just checked with AT&T and the upgrade pricing is $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model, not $399 and $499 like the article suggests. Those prices are accurate for an early "partial" upgrade for people that haven't been with their current contract long enough.
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|"This means that rather than make these customers wait one to three months, or otherwise force them to pay the full price of the new iPhone (an additional $200), they will be given amnesty, and be allowed to buy the device at its discounted upgrade price of $399 for the 16 GB model, or $499 for the 32 GB model when it goes on sale on Friday."
What? Instead of paying $200 they will be "allowed" to pay $399 or $499? Something is wrong with the way this is worded, Angela. It has to be. That's just crazy.
"Even with the 3.0 upgrade, AT&T still says that the ability to send picture and video messages will not be available until "late summer,""
Funny, most phones/plans have had that that for ages. Hell, my $60 plan through Verizon allows that..unlimited. Perhaps they're just too "innovative"... ;)
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|The iPhone isn't worth crap to me until it can multitask several applications simultaneously.
EDIT: That was a response to your "most phones/plans have had that for ages" comment. Indeed, other phones have had lots of things available to them the iPhone still doesn't.
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|I installed the 3.0 update on my ipod touch 1st gen 32gb and all went well. The 1st gen devices don't have the broadcom wireless chip so can't provide the bluetooth and teathering required for interactive gaming (multiple devices) or use any of the other new communication features the update provides to newer models.
The new search, landscape mode and cut\copy\paste features alone are worth the time and money (if you actually paid for it that is ;} )
Worth updating: YES
Happy to be missing some of the new features because of Apple's shortsightedness of not having included a £2 comms chip when the touch was designed: NO
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|Just finished the install. Seems a bit snappier. The Safari update definitely boosts performance. Thanks for the free OS upgrade Apple.
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|ZOMG! I DON'T CARE! :)
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|Lame title...
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|I can't even install the 3.0 on my phone. It says it cannot be updated at this time because the iPhone activation server is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.
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