3G iPhone follow-up
On Monday we learned about the new 3G iPhone: lower purchase price ($199 for 8MB version), GPS integration, longer battery life, and more. A lot of the buzz was around the lower price, but if you look at the total cost of ownership you will find out that it is actually more expensive.Over the 2 year plan with AT&T, you're going to pay an additional $10 per month for data ($240) and an additional $5 for SMS messages ($120). So instead of a total cost of ownership of $1815, you will pay $1975. For the additional features, the price is probably worth it. In comparing against other smart phones, the cost is competitive too. Gizmodo has a more detailed breakdown that includes phones from Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T.
Speaking of new iPhone features, Gizmodo also has an article that discusses the new video conferencing add-on for the iPhone. There has been discussion from the community over the missing, built-in video conferencing features, but as you can read about there is a low-cost, add-on solution.
Finally, an interview with Steve Jobs following the keynote revealed Apple's plans for recently acquired PA Semi. Apple plans on designing and developing next generation iPhone and iPod Touch chips, instead of outsourcing to the likes of Samsung. There's the obvious benefit of being able to have one less 3rd-party know about upcoming product releases (which Apple likes to be as secretive as possible), but the real benefit comes in developing technology that cannot be repurposed for other companies. So instead of competitors working with the same 3rd party chip developers, they will have to figure out similar technology on their own. And unlike the low volume of computers, the iPhone and iPod products sell enough to cover the investment all on its own.
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