iPhone News Updated

32GB iPhone 3G on the way at last?

AppleInsider is suggesting that the long awaited iPhone 3G with 32GB of storage could soon be making an appearance, due to apparent shortages of the 8GB model – while in-home activation could well be making a re-appearance.

Rumours here, rumours there, rumours popping up everywhere – and the latest from AppleInsider is that the iPhone 3G could soon be getting a 2 and a B to become an iPhone 32GB.

iPhone fans were shocked when Apple CEO Steve Jobs failed to bring the iPhone 3G with 32GB storage to life on June 9 at the Moscone Convention Centre in San Francisco alongside the iPhone SDK launch event.

That’s because the iPod Touch was launched in late 2007 with 32GB of storage, so a 32GB iPhone was hardly beyond the realms of possibility.

Although hardly a unique prediction, I immediately suggested that a 32GB iPhone 3G would appear later in 2008, to counter any advances from mobile phone competitors, with the Google Android “GPhone”, due to be the HTC Dream launched next Tuesday being one such big competitor, alongside the Nokia N96 and others.

Well, AppleInsider’s report is hardly confirmation that an iPhone 32GB is on the way, but it once again raises the possibility that it will appear this year, and will greatly annoy anyone who has recently purchased a 16GB iPhone 3G.

It will also be the first time a “phone” has shipped with so much internal storage, and clearly would challenge the Nokia N96 with its 16GB of internal storage (and expandability through an 8GB MicroSD card to 24GB).

The rumour is based on “shortages” of the 8GB iPhone 3G, but AppleInsider cautions this could be because of stocks needed to supply Best Buy, the first non Apple or AT&T store allowed to sell the iPhone in the US retail channel.

So what’ll happen if the iPhone 3G 32 comes this year?

If a iPhone 3G 32GB model will come this year, it will certainly cause a flurry of global coverage, and will help Apple to compete for market and mind share at a crucial time – the Christmas / end-of-year / holiday shopping season that all companies love and dearly want to take maximum advantage of.

I’ve personally held off from buying an iPhone 3G for precisely this reason, and because I also have an iPhone 2G with 8GB of storage that I’m very happy with, why rush into an 8GB or 16GB iPhone 3G when a 32GB model seems inevitable?

AppleInsider also reports that AT&T’s systems are showing up a “fifth” option to purchase, entitled “Home”, which suggests that “in-home activation” is on the way.

It also raises the possibility of unlocked iPhone sales in the US, at higher prices, for tourists who want to buy an iPhone 3G and use it back in their home countries, something that currently is not possible with US iPhone purchases.

If Apple and AT&T allow this, it’s also likely because the iPhone Dev Team (and others) still have not figured out how to unofficially unlock the existing iPhone 3G, thus also allowing locked iPhone 3G sales as they must be activated at home via iTunes to be of any use to US consumers.

Apple is known to have worked with Infineon to make the unofficial unlock process exceeding difficult, especially considering it hasn’t yet happened, although iPhone fans do all live in hope.

So… no concrete confirmation just yet, but in its place a juicy rumour instead. That’ll do for now!

[Thanks: http://www.itwire.com]

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