 |
|
Jobs Unveils State-of-the-Art iPhonePOSTED January 10. 2007 SAN FRANCISCO -- Like a modern day Alexander Graham Bell, Steve Jobs is trying to reinvent the phone. Apple Inc. has unveiled its most ambitious device to date since the Macintosh computer. The new iPhone combines an iPod, phone and Internet device in a sleek, state-of-the-art 21st century device. "iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We are all born with the ultimate pointing device-our fingers-and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse." The iPhone lets users send text messages, watch photos and videos, even take pictures with a 2-megapixel digital camera built in. Scrolling and navigation is done by sliding and scrolling your fingers on the screen, a method that Apple has patented. In all, Jobs said there are over 200+ patents the company has applied for with the iPhone and he says Apple will defend them if necessary. Also impressive is the partnership Apple has linked to build the phone. Yahoo will provide free e-mail access and Google will offer its map serivce to iPhone. Even Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang came on stage during the keynote to promote the service shortly after Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who is on the Apple Board of Directors. Cingular Wireless will be the exclusive carrier of the iPhone and CEO Stan Sigman also spoke on stage about the partnership. Cingular is now part of AT&T and is the largest carrier in the nation with 58 million subscribers. The new iPhone will also let users take advantage of the Web with its own version of the Safari browser built-in along with the Mac OS X operating system. Users can see full pages and scroll, pinch and zoom in on pages with their fingers. The FCC has yet to approve the new device from Apple and the iPhone is expected to be available in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US), and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple's retail and online stores, and through Cingular's retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple's new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset. iPhone includes support for quad-band GSM, EDGE, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR wireless technologies. The iPhone requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X v10.4.8 or later and iTunes 7; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2). Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple and Cingular will announce service plans for iPhone before it begins shipping in June. © Copyright SVDaily.com |
|