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Apple unveils new iPhone

Apple unveils new iPhone

Even Apple knows how to have a Blue Light Special.

At its annual conference devoted to software, Apple today unveiled a new iPhone, offered up a discounted version of the current model and slashed prices on its MacBook laptop line while upgrading them.

Though some analysts predicted a software-centric conference, Apple kicked off its San Francisco Worldwide Developers Conference with a big focus on hardware and an eye on recession-pinched wallets.

The new phone — called the iPhone 3GS —— is twice as fast as the current version and includes video capability with simple editing and sharing functions, voice control and a digital compass. It will also have a longer battery life, the company said.

On June 19, the Cupertino company will begin selling two new models — 16 and 32 gigabytes — for $199 and $299, respectively, with a contract from its U.S. carrier partner, AT&T. The older 8GB model will sell for $99. On June 17, the company will roll out iPhone 3.0, its new operating system for the device, which is free for iPhone owners and $9.95 for iPod Touch users.

“We really hope this opens the market up even more,” Apple Vice President Phil Schiller said.

The company also announced it would release its latest Macintosh operating system, Snow Leopard, in September for just $29.

With the end of Apple’s participation in Macworld, which in the past was the company’s main stage to show off new gadgets, the developers conference has gained even more prominence.

“They’ve pulled out all the stops,” said Creative Strategies President Tim Bajarin. “This is now the main venue.”

While Apple strives to outpace smart-phone competitors, from Research In Motion’s BlackBerry to Sunnyvale-based Palm’s just-released Pre, it is the phone service providers that will be feeling the heat, said Shiv Bakhshi, analyst with mobilePerspectives.

“From a user’s perspective, this is spectacular,” he said. “But the demand for more bandwidth will be great. More of us will use more apps. You will be able to do 50 other things and the iPhone will be more affordable. Cumulatively, that will create a bandwidth crunch for the operators. This is creating a challenge for the carriers to keep up with Apple.”

Already, there are questions about when AT&T will support all of the iPhone’s advances.

IPhone 3.0 will come with a “tethering” ability, which will allow users to connect — wirelessly or through a cable — their phone to their Mac or PC laptop to access the Internet over the cellular network. It will be available with 22 carriers in 42 countries, but not yet in the United States through AT&T.

When Scott Forstall, vice president of iPhone software, said the tethering capability would be rolled out “later,” the crowd hissed.

“They are going to be under great pressure to support tethering,” Bajarin said of AT&T.

The new iPhone operating system will also allow for faster Web page loading, which will enable better video and audio streaming, according to Forstall. “It just screams,” he said.

A new function, which works with Apple’s MobileMe online service, allows users to locate a lost iPhone — on a map or by making a beeping sound. It also allows them to erase all the data on the device remotely — with the ability of restoring it through iTunes and Apple’s backup function.

Forstall announced a new service that allows users to rent and buy movies, TV shows and music videos from the company’s online iTunes store with their iPhone.

He also reviewed some of the previously announced new features of the new iPhone 3.0 operating system, including cut-copy-and-paste, additional parental controls, the ability to send multi-media messages and a spotlight function that allows users to search across many applications, from e-mail to music.

Speaking to hundreds of iPhone developers, Forstall also talked about some of the new capabilities the iPhone developers kit will give independent software writers. InApp Purchase will let them sell products through individual applications — such as magazine subscriptions or new packs for games. Developers can also write software that can turn an iPhone into a medical monitor, providing such data as a diabetic patient’s glucose levels and provide information and how much insulin is needed.

The App Store, which now offers some 50,000 applications for the iPhone, crossed the 1 billion app download mark in April. The apps run on the 40 million iPhones and iPod Touch devices that have so far been sold.

“The iPhone — we can’t really call it a phone,” said developer Adam Schechter with Connecticut-based Precision Consulting. “It’s a platform.”

While much of what was announced Monday had been anticipated, it was nonetheless a love fest between software developers and Apple.

“Apple has won the hearts and minds of developers,” said Ge Wang, the Stanford University assistant professor and cofounder of Smule. The Menlo Park iPhone apps development startup created Ocarina, a virtual flute. “As a developer, it feels really good to have this kind of attention paid to you. It’s such a symbiotic relationship.”

A team of Apple executives shared the stage once dominated by Steve Jobs, who is on medical leave and was a no-show in spite of anticipation that he’d make an appearance.

After causally striding onto the stage, Schiller quickly unveiled a complete upgrade of its laptop line-up with longer-lasting built-in batteries and price cuts ranging from 5 to 15 percent.

A $1,199 MacBook Pro is Apple’s answer to these economically strained times, though the feature-heavy laptop is still much more expensive than many on the market. “The Windows world is throwing out a lot of laptops in the $399 to $899 range,” Bajarin noted.

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

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