New Delhi, June 7 (Inditop) With Indians beginning to get a feel of the speed and features of third generation (3G) telephony, gizmo lovers are anxiously awaiting the launch of yet another version of the iPhone from Apple Inc.
And this could be as early as Monday, when Apple starts its much-watched five-day World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.
Expectations are high that co-founder Steve Jobs would have orchestrated and finalised every moment leading up to the launch of the Version 3 of the iPhone. The grapevine is abuzz that the new offering will be named the iPhone Video.
“The mystery and the build-up to such Apple events add certain appeal to its products,” said Nishant Arya, among the first in India to buy the official 3G version of the touch-screen iPhone from Vodafone last August.
“I have heard the rumours. If a new version of the iPhone is launched, I’ll be back in the line the day they start selling it,” the 22-year-old gizmo freak told IANS.
Jobs, 53, himself has been out of public view for over six months due to what doctors said was hormonal imbalance that saw him rapidly lose weight thorough 2008.
Apple says Jobs is unlikely to be back till the end of the month. But people haven’t forgotten his surprise at the 14th edition of the conference – slipping a new hardware out of his jeans pocket in the middle of his keynote address.
“Perhaps the biggest surprise at this conference could be the return of Jobs who missed out on the keynote at the MacWorld in January,” said Prasanto K. Roy, chief editor of the ICT publications of CyberMedia group.
“His return will not only charge up the fans but will also stamp content amongst investors,” said Roy, a gizmo buff himself and a columnist on such devices.
Last year’s conference had not only seen the iPhone 3G debut, Jobs had also said India will be on the global iPhone roadmap, much to the delight of Apple fans in the country who swear by its iPod, Macs and now the iPhones.
With 400 million mobile phone subscribers and some 12-15 million new connections every month, India had overtaken the US last year as the country with the second largest telecom network in the world after China.
For the moment, India is still struggling with slower second-generation (2G) telecom networks. This, despite 3G telephony in vogue elsewhere for more than five years.
But the state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), which provides telecom services in the national capital and Mumbai, and the pan-Indian Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) have made a beginning by offering 3G in limited areas.
The 3G mobile services not only allow much faster communications but also offer a wide range of applications such as high-speed Internet access, video calls, fast music and video downloads, interactive gaming and global positioning over the Web.
Now Apple fans are debating on what features the Cupertino-based company, known for its crafty uber-cool designs, will offer with its new iPhone.
A better camera is a given. There can be a secondary camera for video calls, as AT&T has recently upgraded its video telephony network in the US. Then the glossy finish of the previous version could be replaced by a matte look.
These apart, memory will also double to 32 GB if one goes by tradition, while an electronic compass may sport the home-screen.
“The Apple iPhone has come a long way since its first version. A lot of basic loopholes in terms of software have been plugged. The introduction of 3G as a hardware update has done the company good,” said Roy.
“It will be interesting to see an upgraded device with decreased price tag.”
