
A while ago Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., announced the iPhone 3G or the unofficial name, iPhone 2. This iPhone will have all the features like its predecessor, the original iPhone, plus several more features, which is hard to believe, for a cell phone.
The Upside
Microsoft Exchange now can be used with iPhone. I’m not familiar with the software because I never used it but according to Apple it’s basically created for corporate users. Apple wants the next iPhone to be used by both the regular individuals and by enterprise people.
It also has GPS, yes you read it right, it has a built in GPS system on the iPhone 3G. So basically you can go anywhere and track yourself on your phone; it tracks you by getting your exact point from three sources, a near by Wi-Fi signal, near by cell phone towers, or directly from the GPS satellites. I give 5 Stars to Mr. Jobs for adding the GPS feature on the next iPhone.
Not only that, the biggest surprise to iPhone fans and everyone else was the price that Mr. Jobs announced to everyone, an incredible low price for $199 for the 8 GB, and $299 for the 16 GB. With our US economy in recession it still wouldn’t stop someone like me to buy one without a second thought. After I saw the price for the 8GB I was just blown away and I said to myself that I will get one and I’ll find the money some how to get it .
The Downside
This is the part that blows big time. You cannot buy the iPhone 3G online nor can you activate it by yourself. You have to go to an AT&T store and actually sign a 2-year contract with AT&T and pay for the iPhone 3G up front. After I heard that I became hesitant about buying it. I’m currently with T-Mobile and I thought that I would just buy the iPhone 3G at full price, wait for couple of months for some techi guy to develop a software to unlock it and use T-mobile 3G network, unfortunately that plan is in the trash. AT&T has one of the worst plans I have ever seen, their lowest plan is $39.99 for 450 anytime minutes and with 5000 minutes for nights and weekends. Also, for the data plan, AT&T has raised the price from $20/month to $30/month and they are no longer sharing their revenue with Apple, sucks for Steve Jobs. So basically if I leave T-Mobile, since my contract with them ended long time ago, and sign up with AT&T, I would have to pay $36 activation fee, plus pay $40/month for voice calls, plus $30/month for the data plan, and on top of that taxes are added.
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