AT&T revealed plans on Wednesday to continue 3-G build out in an additional 80 U.S. cities and 350 new markets. That expansion will continue throughout the year and is expected to be completed by the end of 2008, according to company executives. It should also make that 3-G iPhone everyone is expecting this summer potentially more attractive to some consumers.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson confirmed in late November that a 3-G enabled iPhone would be coming sometime in 2008. Most Apple watchers believe the second iteration of the phone will be available this summer or possibly earlier. Indeed, since the phone's introduction, 3-G has been a sticking point for many potential iPhone owners who puzzled over Apple's decision to omit a corresponding chipset in the device.
During his chat with the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg at last year's All Thing D conference, Steve Jobs even discounted 3-G's importance, saying that iPhone has built-in Wi-Fi and uses the EDGE network…and that that should be plenty.
"EDGE is pervasive throughout the U.S., and for many applications like e-mail, maps, stocks and weather, it is plenty fast," Jobs said. "The iPhone automatically switches to Wi-Fi whenever it senses a known Wi-Fi network, and Wi-Fi delivers data several times faster than 3-G networks. So the iPhone sandwiches 3-G networks with something a bit slower on the bottom and something far faster on the top."
That answer satisfied no one, of course, and it was always widely assumed that Apple would eventually produce a 3-G version of the phone when AT&T network build out was deemed pervasive enough.
More recently, at the European iPhone launch, Jobs used another excuse: That current 3-G chipsets are "power hogs." More specifically, he said most of today's 3-G devices have battery lives that span only 2 to 3 hours, compared to the iPhone's average 8 hours. (Note that with the 1.1.3 update, some iPhone users have noticed significant decreases in battery life after Apple supposedly fiddled around with the phone's power management/delivery)
"We've got to see the battery lives for 3-G get back up into the 5+ hour range," Jobs said. "Hopefully we'll see that late next year."
We see it now, in fact. Devices like Nokia's N95 are registering 6 plus hours while browsing on a 3-G network, so that argument doesn't hold much weigh either. The more likely hold-up is simply form factor, which Jobs has also used as an excuse. Squeezing in a 3-G chipset from the likes of Qualcomm into the iPhone while keeping the device as thin (or thinner) is likely no small feat. Nevertheless, a more robust 3-G network is good for the iPhone and many other devices .
As far as what you can expect from a 3-G iPhone and other devices on AT&T's network, most say it will deliver typical downlink speeds ranging between 600 and 1,400 Kbps, as well as faster uplink speeds, ranging from 500 and 800 Kbps.
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