![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
AppleInsider.com confirms the story that began to be passed around yesterday: that one of the chief gripes of early adopters of Apple Inc.'s latest runaway hit product, the iPhone, is about to be addressed at last, if not until late next year.
As reported here, Randall Stephenson, CEO of the resurrected Ma Bell (AKA "the new AT&T"), announced that sometime in the latter half of 2008, iPhones capable of connecting to high-speed 3G networks will become available. This should finally silence all the bitching and whining and pissing and moaning in the trade press and elsewhere about the iPhone's being tethered to AT&T's EDGE network, which is slower than 3G but more widely available. (For some reason, even though 3G promises vastly greater speed, telcoms have been slow to upgrade to it. My guess is there's a Catch-22 here: telcoms won't spend the $$$ to put it in until they see it become popular and they know they can sell it, and it won't become widely popular unless more companies take the plunge.)
I can see the logic in initially using EDGE rather than 3G: when you're first introducing such a thing, you want it as widely adopted—and usable—as possible. Obviously, Jobs & Co. went on the assumption that even a slower signal that's broadly accessible is better than a faster one you can't even get hooked up to where you are. I'm still probably not getting one unless the price comes down some more, they unlock it from the AT&T monopoly and my old TracFone and iPod both give out, but it's nonetheless worth noting.
As reported here, Randall Stephenson, CEO of the resurrected Ma Bell (AKA "the new AT&T"), announced that sometime in the latter half of 2008, iPhones capable of connecting to high-speed 3G networks will become available. This should finally silence all the bitching and whining and pissing and moaning in the trade press and elsewhere about the iPhone's being tethered to AT&T's EDGE network, which is slower than 3G but more widely available. (For some reason, even though 3G promises vastly greater speed, telcoms have been slow to upgrade to it. My guess is there's a Catch-22 here: telcoms won't spend the $$$ to put it in until they see it become popular and they know they can sell it, and it won't become widely popular unless more companies take the plunge.)
I can see the logic in initially using EDGE rather than 3G: when you're first introducing such a thing, you want it as widely adopted—and usable—as possible. Obviously, Jobs & Co. went on the assumption that even a slower signal that's broadly accessible is better than a faster one you can't even get hooked up to where you are. I'm still probably not getting one unless the price comes down some more, they unlock it from the AT&T monopoly and my old TracFone and iPod both give out, but it's nonetheless worth noting.
