iPhone 3G predictions: how did I do?
Almost a month ago, I posted my predictions for the next version of the iPhone. Let’s see how I did:
Prediction #1: Details about the iPhone release in Canada will be announced on June 9th
Steve Jobs himself will announce them during the WWDC Keynote as he reveals the next iteration of the iPhone (version 2.0/3G/whatever) and details the rollout of the iPhone to a number of other countries/carriers that also had similarly worded (brief) press releases regarding the iPhone coming out “later this year”.
1 for 5 – although this one was pretty easy if you follow Stevenotes – Mr. Jobs like to make the big announcements.
Prediction #2: Rogers will offer the 3G iPhone to Canadians.
2 for 5 – No surprise here…as I mentioned before, what better way to purge the network of the first gen iPhones?
Prediction #3: there will be a decent iPhone data plan for Canadians.
Still 2 for 5 but this part hasn’t been officially announced yet – hence my delay in commenting on my predictions. There are some pretty solid rumours floating around that seem to confirm something in the range of $30/month for unlimited data for consumers and $45/month for business users. Whether you think $30 is a decent price for unlimited data or not, it’s exactly what folks in the US will be paying on AT&T (up from $20) plus now they have to pay ($5 more) for SMS messages whereas before they were included. This is unprecedented pricing in Canada on a handset as capable as the iPhone. I’ll update this post when it’s official which is rumoured to be Friday, June 20th.
Prediction #4: the Canadian iPhone will sell for no more than $399 with a two year contract and be available before the end of the summer, if not immediately.
Not sure how to score this one….of three scorable points, I’d say I got 2/3 – The phone will be $199 with a 3 year data plan and available on July 11 – well before the end of summer…possibly even before summer if you live in the Vancouver area.
Prediction #5: I could be completely wrong about all of this.
I think I did pretty good overall….we may have to wait until July 11th (or later) to really get an idea of what Rogers/Fido are offering to Canadians. There are still a lot of unanswered questions with the rollout of the new iPhone. Here’s some of my outstanding ones:
- what is the handset price for people that recently did a hardware upgrade?
- can 1st gen iPhone get hooked up with the $30 unlimited plan (if it’s true)?
- how are the handsets going to be distributed? Instore, online or both?
- will getting an iPhone cause me to break out of my family plan?
- (assuming it’s real) are there any limits (hard/soft caps) with the unlimited data?
- what about 3rd party applications….Apple has this Apps store, perhaps you’ve heard of it?
- will the iPhone 3G be Rogers branded/feature disabled in any way? My guess is no.
Counting down the days til July 11th.