Finally the iPhone 3G has been announced and it will arrive in Australia on July 11th. To purchase one you will need to sign up with either Optus or Vodafone, and both are running sign up’s for people who want to register their interest. Which phone company? It will depend on the price of the phone, the plan and the coverage of the provider, and this last point is going to be specific to your area.
This is the time when we can all point at the people who purchased an iPhone from the USA (and unlocked the device to be used on local networks) and say “Dude, you wasted your dollars”. I am sure they will disagree, however time and time again history shows that when purchasing technology, patience is a virtue. The 3G iPhone will be the technology gadget of the year. It will have all the productivity features, ease of use and ‘cool factor’ of the 2.5G iPhone, but with much faster download ability for it’s content. But what extra features will we see in the future? With the iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit) now available and being downloaded by small developers all the way up to mega corporations you will soon see a multitude of software available. In the future from Apple I bet we will even see a service like the Itunes music store for your pc, but sitting natively on your iPhone so songs can be downloaded directly through the phone network. For the first time since 3G launched I am keen to trial 3G phone content, load music onto my phone and use it for more than just calls and email. Bring on July 11.