If you look back at it,  the 3G iPhone's been in the air since 2007. We haven't had much news on it since Steve Jobs talked about it, but analysts from UBS might have a lead on the concept as they believe that the 3G iPhone will be released by mid-year. Why they think that, we don't know yet, but hey, it might be true. More in the full article.

If you'd care to recall, O2 signed an exclusive deal with Apple to distribute the iPhone in the UK. So far, the mobile phone company is pleased with the sales of the unit. This has lead O2's CEO Matthew Keys to make a few predictions about future sales of the product.

Want to know what he had to say? Head on over to the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below.

A recent report by Jim Goldman on CNBC mentioned a few juicy rumors about a new Apple sub-notebook which allegedly will going for US$ 1500. In addition, he also gave out a few details regarding the impending arrival of a 3G iPhone.

Considering that Goldman cited unnamed sources and Apple has declined to comment on his statements, we can't really be sure about the validity of the claims. More information in the full article.

Smashing the various iPhone 3G rumors to bits is the announcement of an iPhone 3G coming in 2008, delivered by Apple's main man himself, Steve Jobs.

"You can expect a 3G iPhone later next year," said Jobs in a press conference aptly named "Mum is no longer the word," held in the Regent Street Apple store in London.

Jobs explained the reason why Apple did not put the iPhone on EDGE in the first place: the 3G chipset technology will just drain out the iPhone's battery life (currently 8 hours). However, future iPhones will indeed run on 3G.

An iPhone model equipped with 2G EDGE technology is already in the works, and will be available in the UK on November 9. That may also mean that the leaked German T Mobile ad may not be just a rumor after all.

After a long period of wondering when they'll get a taste of Apple's hottest pie, UK finally gets the iPhone through O2, and will be launched in the UK for a reasonable price of GBP 269 or US$ 537 (VAT-inclusive).

While UK will not be able to enjoy 3G service from O2 (as advertised in a rumored leaked ad from German T-Mobile), the UK telecom service will provide free WiFi usage for O2 iPhone customers through 7,500 hotspots in UK.

If you're living in the UK and interested in getting an iPhone, then this pricing information will come in handy: there will be three payment plans for the O2's iPhone service:

• GBP 35 (US$ 70) - 200 voice minutes, 200 SMS
• GBP 45 (US$ 90) - 600 voice minutes, 500 SMS
• GBP 55 (US$109) - 1,200 voice minutes, 500 SMS

You also need to know that the iPhone's EDGE service will cover only 30% of the UK upon launch.

Once you're decided on getting one, you can drop by any of 1,300 participating Carphone Warehouse outlets to talk with a resident iPhone "expert".

Is this a sign of good things to come? A German T-Mobile ad was leaked, indicating a new iPhone variant soon to hit European shores: an iPhone with 16GB of storage and 3G-level 3.6 Mbps internet connection, with both HSPDA and UMTS that is mostly native to Europe.

The price tag for the new iPhone is a bit...pricey, however. Compared to the recent iPhone price cut - US$ 399 for the 8GB model - the 16GB model with 3G internet access is set to be priced at 499 Euros, or US$ 687, which is a tad more expensive.

According to the ad, T-Mobile will offer three rate plans for potential new iPhone users in Europe (in Germany, at least), named L, XL, and XXL. L offers 200 minutes and 100 SMS messages, costing 50 Euros per month (or US$ 69). XL gives 300 minutes for only 60 Euros (US$ 83) while XXL lets subscribers go crazy with 400 minutes of calls for US$ 96.

Of course, this is only a "leaked" ad, so it may be best if you take this with a grain of salt. However, with Apple already promising a formal iPhone launch in Europe for this year's last quarter, this may really be it.

Anyone who has had to deal with snail-crawling 2G or 2.5G-limited Internet access would want 3G on their iPhone, too. "Where'd my SMS go?" wouldn't even begin to cover the network grief experienced with the multimedia-enriched mobile phone, but it appears that in order to have 3G, you'd have to get another iPhone.

 

Or so they say. While many rumors have flown around dubbing European phone buffs as the lucky ones to get the extra G, none have proven factual or true. And while Steve Jobs himself admits that iPhone 'surfing' on AT&T isn't as fast as preferred, Apple is going to be hard-pressed to come out with a simple 3G solution.

Another bit of interesting developments was a mention of AT&T, Apple, planning, iPhone and 3G in one sentence. PBS' Robert Cringely wrote in a column that he believes "Apple and AT&T are planning a fall rollout for full 3G iPhone service, with technical trials already underway in certain AT&T markets," although there were no factual statements to support his claim.

He goes on further that the iPhone has a 3G capability tucked within its innards, ready to burst open at Christmas when a new firmware rolls out and flicks the magic switch. Some folks have turned their iPhone inside out and have yet to spot a piece of hardware that rings 3G-capable, pointing against the speculations of Cringely.

3G needs a transceiver with 3G capability, blogs Philip Elmer-DeWitt, which means that another iPhone with the hardware would be needed before being able to even use 3G capabilities. In turn, that would also require more power for the additional hardware. 

But instead of scrambling over the comm for Scotty, Apple considered battery life was first and foremost in their list of priorities. Apple has assured customers that Wi-Fi Internet access can still be used as a faster alternative to AT&T's current EDGE network, but while hotspots are few and far between, there's nothing more you can do to speed up your iPhone 'surfing' experience.

The iPhone has been generating so much hype over the past few months. Six months before its release, it was announced along with its features. Now this led to some people criticizing this move as a bit rash. They have also been questioning the features, or lack thereof of the iPhone. In the Sys-Security Group, an article stated certain problems that would be inherent to the phone.

"The lack of voice dialing, 3G Internet access, Word or Excel support, the fact it canÂ?t be used as a laptop modem, no support for removable memory, no 3rd party applications, and mostly that its calendar, task, and e-mail will not sync with Microsoft outlook."

Lack of Voice Dialing. Some have questioned the lack of voice dialling in the new iPhone.  Voice Dialing adds a great deal of simplicity to frequently called numbers. To use it, just simply say the name of the person you want to call and the phone will dial it automatically for you.

Lack of 3G Internet Access. 3G, or third generation technology, is often associated with the ability to transfer voice data and non-voice data simultaneously. 3G service allows telephone calls with streaming video (video telephony) and the ability to download files such as music.

No Word or Excel support. This basically means you will not be able to open files with the extensions .doc (Microsoft Word Documents or .xls (Microsoft Excel).

iPhone cannot be used as a laptop modem. Certain smartphones allow you to use it as a modem to connect to the internet. This is an additional service that the user will have to pay for. The advantage though is that the user will never have to look for a hotspot, since you will be able to connect to the internet.

No support for removable memory. Smartphones often have memory slots where memory cards or memory sticks can be inserted to further increase the storage of the phone.

No 3rd party applications. This means that the phone will not support software developed by other companies to increase the functions of the phone.

Calendar, task, and e-mail will not sync with Microsoft outlook. This problem has been addressed by Steve Jobs in his Keynote speech in MacWorld.

If the iPhone comes out, we're sure it will find a niche to fill, although the businessmen and women along with those who have a need for customization might think they're better off with other mobile phones or PDAs that have the mentioned features that the iPhone lacks.

 

We cannot blame the skepticism that greeted our report last month of rumors that Apple was working on a 3G model of the iPhone. For rumors like this, with Apple historically being tight-lipped about their "drawing-board" products - until Steve Jobs says so, that is - obtaining evidence may require us to "borrow" the CIA (on the other hand... maybe we shouldn't). This report still doesn't count as evidence, but it lines up pretty neatly with the chances of seeing a 3G iPhone in the future.

According to AppleInsider, a Swedish firm has received assurances that not only will they receive their iPhones in September, they could also look forward to a 3G model in their hands as early as January 2008. AppleInsider did not name the Swedish firm, or for that matter, its service provider, so it's rather difficult to take this story at face value. AppleInsider did mention two other elements which encourage a more optimistic outlook on this rumor:

• They cited Steve Jobs mentioning 3G in his MacWorld keynote (Was everyone too busy going all ga-ga over the iPhone to notice this?);
• Unlike the U.S., the 3G market is more developed in Europe (no surprise, being that some of the biggest cellular manufacturers are European; e.g. Nokia, and these are the guys Apple is going up against).

We, among other industry observers, already argued that going 3G would be a smart move for Apple if they are planning on pitching the iPhone overseas. Our only question now is whether a 3G iPhone (unit price, not as bundled with a service plan) would cost even more than a 60GB PS3 (US$ 600.00), just to pack the bleeding edge in cellular tech.

Barely a month after its unveiling, and even though it isn't even available to the public yet, it seems that Apple may already have to start picking up the pace even at this stage. As it turns out, a quick search around the Nokia website reveals that their engineers are already working on something that, admittedly, looks cooler than the iPhone.

As seen in one of the photos, this new work-in-progress unit from the Finnish mobile phone company has been dubbed as "Aeon". No, they're not the ones from Final Fantasy X (no, the blue one isn't "Shiva", and so on).

If it turns out that this will be the look of Nokia's next generation handsets, then Apple may be in trouble. Not only does the Aeon look very pretty, but as with most current Nokia phone models, it will also most likely be 3G-capable, one main feature which the iPhone still lacks.

There still isn't much data about this new contraption, but we'll be keeping an eye on it to see if this new idea pushes through.