iPhone News Updated

Haptic Feedback, Fingerprint Identification, and RFID Tag Readers in Future iPhones?

Apple has let loose a number of revealing new patent applications that cover some interesting technologies that could be used in future iPhones.

Haptic Tactile Feedback

Perhaps most interesting amongst the patent applications is the acknowledgement by Apple that despite the many advantages of the iPhone’s multi-touch screen, a lack of tactile feedback remains its biggest disadvantage:

However, one of a touchscreen’s biggest advantages (i.e., the ability to utilize the same physical space for different functions) is also one of a touchscreen’s biggest disadvantages. When the user is unable to view the display (because the user is occupied with other tasks), the user can only feel the smooth hard surface of the touchscreen, regardless of the shape, size and location of the virtual buttons and/or other display elements. This makes it difficult for users to find icons, hyperlinks, textboxes or other user-selectable input elements that are being displayed, if any are even being displayed, without looking at the display.
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Unless touch input components are improved, users that, for example, drive a motor vehicle, may avoid devices that have a touch input component and favor those that have a plurality of physical input components (e.g., buttons, wheels, etc.).

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The Real Cost of an iPhone 3GS

That’s what it costs to build an Apple iPhone 3GS, which sells for $199.

The estimate is based on a tear-down analysis of the new 16 GB phone, done by iSuppli, which conducts technology research and breaks down electronic devices to measure value.

You might call the iPhone a bargain at its advertised price, but wait, there’s more: The $199 tag in the United States is based on a customer’s signing a two-year service contract with AT&T, the exclusive carrier for iPhones. The basic AT&T contract with mandatory data plan costs a new customer about $80 a month, according to AT&T’s Web site.

For those who want to buy the phone without a contract — that is allowed this year — the retail price jumps to a whopping $599 for the same model. Of course, there is an iPhone-like device that performs many of its infotainment functions but isn’t a phone, and has a starting price of $229: the iPod touch.

According to iSuppli, the $179 wraps in materials and the cost of manufacturing it. In the real world, the seller must add the costs of marketing, distribution, the accessories bundled with the device and a host of other expenses.

Said Andrew Rassweiler, principal analyst for iSuppli, in his report, there’s “a great deal of similarity between the 3G and the 3GS. By leveraging this commonality to optimize materials costs and taking advantage of price erosion in the electronic component marketplace, Apple can provide a higher-performing product with more memory and features at only a slightly higher materials and manufacturing cost.”

Toshiba, Samsung and Infineon are the major suppliers for the iPhone bits. There’s a component breakdown on the site.

[Thanks: http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com]