Rumor rubberizes iPhone 3.0
Third Coming due July 17?
The next iPhone will have an OLED display, double the processing power, a 50 per cent improvment in battery life, and a rubber-backed body with a light-up Apple logo on the back.
That is, if a Tuesday article by Apple iPhone Apps is to be believed.
According to "a source who is closely connected to Apple's hardware development team," all this new iPhone goodness and more will be available for purchase on July 17.
Many of the features that the AiA's source predicts will be in the new iPhone have been reported here and elsewhere, including a 3.2-megapixel camera with in-phone video editing a built-in FM transmitter and digital compass, enhanced location services, video and still-photo MMS, and a top capacity of 32GB.
The source adds to this gaggle of goodies the aforementioned OLED screen, a rubberized body (à la the ancient Newton, presumably, and not the "Rubber-tread backing" mentioned by AiA), and a light-up logo on the back - which a pair of posters over at MacDailyNews postulate might double as the much-needed flash for the iPhone's camera.
The new iPhone is alleged to come in 16GB and 32GB versions for $199 and $299, respectively - a safe prediction, seeing as how Apple appears loath to enter a lower-priced arena.
All this, of course, remains pure speculation, since Apple has a long-established policy of not commenting on unannounced products.
Maybe AiA's source made the whole thing up. Maybe he or she saw one of many possible prototypes, and ran with it as real.
And maybe Apple is devilishly stirring the rumor pot, hoping to shift some of the spotlight away from the Palm Pre, which is now officially set to launch on June 6th, a mere two days before Apple kicks off its annual Worldwide Developer Conference with a keynote speech by the company's marketing SVP, Phil Schiller. ®
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COMMENTS
@ Michael C - big thanks
Yup, exchanged my water damaged puppy @ Apple store in Canada. No questions asked, no requests for my carrier invoice or contract, nada. I did have to make an Genius appointment.
They kept the old phone, my wallet got $229 CAD lighter (after tax) and I left with a working iPhone 3G 8gb.
Kudos to them for having finally gotten a clue. Good thing I had kept my phone for my kids to play with, rather than junking or recycling it.
Txs again, Michael, for the heads up on that water damage policy change.
@OLED
OLED is cropping up on games consoles like the GP2X Wiz, so there's no reason why it's not phone capable.
It has better contrast and there's no battery eating battery life.
@AC
"Funny - the iPhone has sold around 3.9 million, Blackberry has sold 7.2 million in the same space, dominating it is not. Smart phone sales still only represent 12.7% of the sales and going nowhere fast in the recession."
Where did you pull those numbers from? The IPhone has sold 21.4m units.
As of 18th Dec 2008 BlackBerry has 21m subscribers (http://www.rim.com/investors/pdf/Q3F09_MDA_FS_PR.pdf).
Not too shabby for IPhone considering the 9 year lead for BB.

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