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WWDC 2009 Reality Check 2.0: iPhone 3G vs. 3G S

Jun. 9, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

But wait, there's more.

Apple has published a handy chart comparing the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 3G S. As you might expect, it does not clearly portray some key problems.

  • First, existing iPhone 3G customers cannot upgrade to a 3G S for $199 or $299. Those prices are for new customers only. You will pay $599 or $699. Yeah, really.
  • Amazingly, several software features Apple showed off yesterday will arbitrarily not be made available to other iPhone users. These include Voice Control and Compass. What??

Also...

Tethering, a feature of iPhone Software Update 3.0, will not be made available in the US. (Thanks AT&T.) If it happens later, it will be after AT&T adds a more expensive data plan.

MMS, another feature of iPhone Software Update 3.0, will also not be made available in the US.

The white iPhone 3G is being discontinued. If you want a white phone, you have to get a 3G S. (Not a huge deal, just pointing it out.)

By the way, was anyone else amused at the sly way Apple "countered" the Palm Pre's useful and easy-to-use multitasking capabilities? In the iPhone 3G S Guided Tour video, the commentator notes, "The first thing you'll notice is how quickly you can launch all your applications, return to the home screen, and then launch another one. Or jump between apps using embedded links." See! It's just like multitasking!

Ah well.

Discuss this Article 209

mdsharpe
on Jun 9, 2009
Presumably the compass requires a hardware compass though right?
chrismcfaul
on Jun 9, 2009
Yes - the 3GS has a built in magnetometer without it the 3G cant hope to tell which way its facing
ModernDislocation
on Jun 9, 2009
Ohh weee.... we get to Reality Check another Reality Check. "First, existing iPhone 3G customers cannot upgrade to a 3G S for $199 or $299. Those prices are for new customers only. You will pay $599 or $699. Yeah, really. " This is not true. Please look at AT&Ts website. The 199 & and 299 are for BOTH new customers as well as people eligible for upgrades. If you are a current customer and not eligible for upgrade pricing then it is 499 and 599. If you want a no-commitment option it is the 599 and 699 pricing. One can certainly argue that the 499 and 599 upgrading pricing is crap, but to say it is either 199 or 599 is flat out wrong. "MMS, another feature of iPhone Software Update 3.0, will also not be made available in the US." This is flat out wrong. It will not be available in the U.S at launch. ATT will add it later this year. This was clearly stated in the keynote. "Amazingly, several software features Apple showed off yesterday will arbitrarily not be made available to other iPhone users. These include Voice Control and Compass. What??" My understanding is that the compass is dependent on a hardware upgrade. If so that isn't really arbitrary. The upside is you are right about not being able to get the 3G iPhone in white and that at the present AT&T isn't supporting tethering.
nutts
on Jun 9, 2009
1. The compass app requires, as mdsharpe said, a hardware compass. Duh! It might also be a surprise to you that the video camera is also not available to old iPhone customers. 2. MMS *will* be made available on AT&T "later this summer" according to the Keynote. Duh! You're right about Voice Control though not being available to old iPhone users, well done! And as a note tethering will likely be an addition to the existing monthly plans. At least that's what it's like in the UK on O2 where it will cost an extra 15 or 30 pounds depending on data required/used.
WebGuy3000
on Jun 9, 2009
^&%@#&@% AT&T. Tethering was the one tipping-point feature that might have made me consider finally getting an iPhone, since all my other early objections have now pretty much been met. Oh well.
maati
on Jun 9, 2009
Paul, please add this to you reality check: 1. They claim Safari is the most used mobile browser. Wrong, it's just because their sources do not recognize Opera Mobile. When Opera's browsers are added to the satistics, it looks like this: http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/showArticle.jhtml?... 2. They highligt the lots of apps in the AppStore and compare the numbers against Blackberry, Android and Pre. It seems that they are afraid of Windows Mobile, which has a lot more apps that Android and the other newcomers. Also, it's funny how they compare their AppStore to the Pre Marketplace, which has launched only three days ago. That shows that they are REALLY afraid of the Palm Pre!
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jun 9, 2009
One item that hasn't been mentioned is what Voice Control functions will and will not work with a bluetooth headset.
lotsamystuff
on Jun 9, 2009
"It seems that they are afraid of Windows Mobile" BWAHAHAHAHA Thanks. I needed that laugh this morning.
lotsamystuff
on Jun 9, 2009
But wait, there's more... "Also, it's funny how they compare their AppStore to the Pre Marketplace, which has launched only three days ago. That shows that they are REALLY afraid of the Palm Pre!" So by your reckoning: A) Apple is afraid of Windows Mobile because they didn't mention it, and B) Apple is afraid of the Palm Pre because they did mention it. Nice logic there, chucky.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jun 9, 2009
It's odd how battery life only seems to be better if you are not using the 3G radio. Odd. It's as if any improvements made are offset by a more power hungry radio.
heran
on Jun 9, 2009
"Thanks. I needed that laugh this morning." What's so funny? If they are not why not include WM in terms of # of apps in the AppStore?
mhickin
on Jun 9, 2009
Here's an interesting article about how the iPhone is being priced in the UK. Pay special attention to the cost of tethering (£30 extra per month for 10GB). Outrageous. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/06/09/iphone_3gs_o2/
ModernDislocation
on Jun 9, 2009
@ maati Your point number 2 is not related to what Apple is talking about. They were comparing stores embedded in devices. They can't make a comparison to Windows Mobile because no such store exists. For some reason I think that if Apple hadn't mentioned the Pre Marketplace you would be claiming that is an indication of Apple being afraid of Palm. My guess is that is the narrative that you want to believe. As for Palm you can dismiss that it only has 18 apps due to it being a few days old and that is a good point, but the iPhone App store launched with over 200. That of course doesn't mean the Pre Marketplace is a failure. There may be a few hundred apps ready to go that Palm has not posted. It could also mean that developer support isn't there. The fact is that we just don't know.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jun 9, 2009
lotsa Yeah. I'm sure they left Windows Mobile off the chart because Apple didn't want to say bad things about Microsoft. Of course they didn't want to show the app count for Windows Mobile. Their keynote charts are always massaged to show bizarre things that Apple wants you to infer when the real data wouldn't make their point. Yesterday's two biggies were the "OS X Growth" chart that included iPhone but was presented as Mac OS X and all the the iPhone charts that mysteriously left out Windows Mobile. (Though they've been doing that little dance for years now) It like the usual Apple Sales chart that talks only about retail sales, on college campuses, at specific classes of universities and only in the US and the presents it as though it were general growth data.
machias
on Jun 9, 2009
Anyone that settles for AT&T waiting until the end of summer to implement MMS when it is available on the most basic of phone from AT&T right now needs their head examined. I don't know why there is a delay and quite frankly I don't care, but if I am paying for a premium service and using a 'premium' piece of equipment such as an iPhone (which I am) then I should get the most basic of features available on a three year old Motorola flip phone on this expensive hardware. I have had both incarnations of the iPhone thus far but the 3GS really doesn't interest me. I was far more interested in what was going on with Snow Leopard vs. all the iPhone app demos during the keynote yesterday. Don't get me wrong, I think the iPhone is a brilliant piece of technology and I love my 3G dearly (though I loved the form factor of my original iPhone better) but I don't think the 3GS gives me enough of a reason to upgrade at any price and quite frankly the service from AT&T dropping all over the place (and their delayed MMS and thus far lack of tethering) is seriously making me consider other phones with other carriers.
panache1023
on Jun 9, 2009
Maati, Is that really what it means? Based on what? Maybe they think WinMo is such a joke, they only listed what they think or their current true competitors, or potential comptetitors as the Palm Pre and other environments mature. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.
ModernDislocation
on Jun 9, 2009
"Yesterday's two biggies were the "OS X Growth" chart that included iPhone but was presented as Mac OS X and all the the iPhone charts that mysteriously left out Windows Mobile." They didn't present the chart as Mac OS X. It was clearly, as in explained, as a chart that included all OS X based products. They specifically called out that it included Macs, iPhones and iPod Touch. They didn't "mysteriously" leave out Windows Mobiles. The comparison was of devices that have applications stores built in. As far as I know this doesn't exist for Windows Mobile.
panache1023
on Jun 9, 2009
@ModerDislocation, It's typical Paul and MikeGalos, stating this crap as fact, when it clearly isn't and then never acknowledging it.
mherm88
on Jun 9, 2009
My early upgrade prices are 399 and 499, your post is wrong. I doubt AT&T will add a more expensive data plan, they just need to roll out their new towers to support MMS and tethering (http://www.betanews.com/article/ATT-announces-72-Mbps-HSPA-upgrade/12434...)... Waiting is a better alternative then launching it now and have the network be ungodly slow, so you really have no idea what you are talking about, you shouldn't post your speculation as fact, that's why so many people think you're blog and site are a joke Paul. The Voice Control and Compass are hardware issues, the voice control needs the faster processing power of the 3GS and the compass isn't possible without the compass hardware. And putting those 2 points you have as bullets makes it look like you're getting it directly from Apple, which you are not, I can't believe you would do that, it makes you look like an idiot and is very childish.
pthurrott
on Jun 9, 2009
Actually, to the Windows Mobile comments, I would add this. Apple had a chart listing the number of apps per phone. Conspicuously missing, of course, was Windows Mobile, which has over 20,000 apps and would thus be number two in that market.
danieldecker
on Jun 9, 2009
@Mike - Apple made no bones about the fact they were counting iPhone OS in the OS X user base numbers. They said right there in the keynote in English. It's not like they were trying to obfuscate that fact.
panache1023
on Jun 9, 2009
Hey, About those WinMo you guys are complaining aren't mentioned. Here's a fart app. http://www.1800pocketpc.com/2009/03/19/fart-machine-10-ifart-for-windows... Here's a tip calculator. http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-simple-tip-calculator-v1-0.... So, now, based on MikeGalos logic, anytime someone mentions WinMo apps, (which based on Paul's comment is 30,000 less apps than iPhone), we should all just say, "How many of them are tip calculators and fart apps", or some other idiotic hair-brained meaningless remark. But if that happened...everyone would be an Apple loving Windows Basher....just for pointing out his hypocrisy.
ModernDislocation
on Jun 9, 2009
Just to be clear on the growth chart that was presented and that has been misrepresented by various people. Here is that actual text of what was said. If don't believe me go look at the video. The graph is introduce 2:46. The growth is clearly attributed to the iPhone and iPod touch and there is no claim that this is Mac OS X growth. "This is a chart of OS X users in the first five full years of Mac OS X, 2002 to 2007. Great steady growth, adoption. Mac OS X. This isn't shipments but actual active users. Up to 25 million, but something incredible has happened over the last two years. To show you that I need to change the scale of the graph a bit. (Keynote: magic move) And this is what happened with iPhone, with iPod Touch we have tripled the number of active users of OS X across these products."
mherm88
on Jun 9, 2009
This kind of hurts my argument but I still stand by my points, I just found the last paragraph here a to be a very good point: http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/06/09/att-lagging-behind-in-iphone-30... "Because of carrier exclusivity agreements it's the end user who gets harmed because they do not have the option of using a phone of their choosing on the network they prefer. All operators are guilty of exclusivity agreements, AT&T with the iPhone, Verizon with the Blackberry Storm, Sprint with the Pre and T-Mobile with the G1. Hopefully one day soon these contracts will be outlawed in favor of consumer choice, but until then, everyone must play the cards that have been dealt."
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jun 9, 2009
panache and Moder Sorry guys, you're just buying whatever excuse for deception they chose. Where on those charts does it say what you claim? Where's that fine print disclaimer that they pretend in their ads that Apple doesn't have to provide? Of course, maybe you have a link to the slides saying: Disclaimer: Despite this being the OS X Snow Leopard section of the talk for this chart and this chart only we're including iPhone OS and iPod even though we never refer to them using OS X any more and call their OS "iPhone OS 3.0" on our website, documentation and advertising. Please note that despite our counting most of these devices as OS X despite them running iPhone OS 3.0, it should not be inferred that these deviced can run OS X 10.7 applications or that iPhone OS 3.0 applications can run on an OS X 10.7 based Macintosh computer.. Disclaimer: Despite talking about App Availability for this chart and this chart only we're only going to show apps available on a "burned into the image" app stores provided by the hardware vendor and explicity not counting other channels including carrier stores, 3rd party stores and vendor direct sales.
notawindowsuser
on Jun 9, 2009
@Pthurrott By your own reckoning the best served Windows mobile phone only has 2000 odd apps, so the other 18000 don't count or do they now?
panache1023
on Jun 9, 2009
MikeGalos, Even though it is verbally spoken, and the quote has been provided to you, it's invalid because you don't see any fine print?! Give me a break.
ModernDislocation
on Jun 9, 2009
@Mike "Where on those charts does it say what you claim?" So when Schiller said: "with iPhone, with iPod Touch we have tripled the number of active users of OS X across these products." I think he meant that he was A. Including them in the number and B. that it was with them that they tripled the growth. Why do I think that? Because that is exactly what he said. It is pretty clear you have not watched the video and on some other source for what is in the keynote. The talk about OS X was not in the Snow Leopard part of talk. And with the App part, again, they clearly said what they were comparing and it wasn't overall App availability. "We looked in all the stores this weekend" pretty much means they were looking at app stores. So, there you go. Both claims backed up.
danieldecker
on Jun 9, 2009
@Mike - Give it up man, now you are just making yourself look (more) foolish. They have always made it clear that iPhone OS is based on OS X. They have never hidden that fact from DEVELOPERS, the focus of this conference. Why is MS hiding the fact that Win 7 is just NT 6.1. Same effing difference.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jun 9, 2009
panache, I went to the Apple site and looked in vain on the various iPhone OS 3.0 pages and iPod Touch pages and iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G[S] pages and the only reference to OS X was the minimum requirements on a computer for syncing with an iPod Touch or iPhone. By that measure, should I assume they run Windows Vista which is given the same reference? Odd, it's as though on their web pages and all other documentation and marketing iPhone OS 3.0 is not the same as OS X 10.something and only appears counted as OS X that one time to make it appear as though OS X isn't stuck at <5% of the market with no growth. Perhaps you can give us a link to the Apple's OS X or iPhone OS 3.0 pages where the two are counted together.
daProject
on Jun 9, 2009
So pretty much every comment Paul made was inaccurate? lol. Compass is a hardware feature. Tethering WILL be available in the US MMS WILL be available in the US It's impossible to say that Voice Control is a software only feature. To do the on the fly speech conversions may require a beefier processor or more RAM. Nobody knows.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jun 9, 2009
danieldecker Why don't you show us the Apple web page where it shows that iPhone OS 3.0 is Mac OS X 10.something. For that matter, since it's so clearly show (and I must have just missed it), point us to the OS X page where it talks about iPhone OS 3.0 being Mac OS X version 10. (wait a minute, is it 10.5? 10.6? 10.7? What release number after that is it? Gee. You'd think that'd be obvious. I must have missed that slide saying which version and build of Mac OS X is the same as iPhone OS 3.0. Can you point me to that web page? )
panache1023
on Jun 9, 2009
MikeGalos, This is where your beard starts to interfere with your brain. Read the other posts. Links and information has already been provided to you as to how Apple made their 75 million claim. It is you who just doesn't like what they said, so you pretend it wasn't said and doesn't count. Give us all a break. Your games are old and tiresome.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jun 9, 2009
Panache Actually, you're the one claiming that iPhone OS 3.0 and Mac OS X 10.x.xxxx are the same despite Apple never refering to them that way on their website or documentation. Perhaps you can tell everybody how to run iLife or iWork on their iPhone or iPod Touch? After all they're just OS X 10.x applications, they should run. Right? How about all those new features. Does iPhone OS 3.0 include Grand Central Dispatch? How about read-only ZFS support? Do I get that with an iPod Touch? Do I only get it if I upgrade my iPod Touch to iPhone OS 3.0? Clear it all up for us.
danieldecker
on Jun 9, 2009
@Mike quit picking nits. You are coming across as childish and petty. You can't accept a world where you can think, for one second, that Apple might not be trying to obfuscate something. Grow up dude. Apple never said iPhone OS was "Mac OS X" they have always referenced "OS X", you know, the core foundation of the OS, like NT? And quit artificially complicating the numbering scheme. It's pretty easy to follow. It should be the same for you as it has been since kindergarten. 1 comes before 2 and so on. On the reverse, can you show me a page on the MS site where they publicly address the fact the Win 7 is merely NT 6.1?
daProject
on Jun 9, 2009
Definitely a problem taking a chart outside of it's context - a keynote. And then nitpicking about disclaimers when Schiller clearly stated what the chart was supposed to represent.
Delmont
on Jun 9, 2009
OK, after reading two days of articles and comments I'm finally chiming in here. I don't understand why all these current iPhone owners are complaining they have to pay more than a new customer to get the new phone? It's always been that way with ANY cell phone if you're in the middle of your contract. Why do you think you should be any different, just because it's an Apple product? I don't care what carrier, what cell phone you use/have: if you want to upgrade in the middle of your current contract you pay full price! So stop your bitching! Now, I think it's crap if I'm a 10 year long customer of ATT&T - Cingular - AT&T and why I cannot get the same prices as a new customer. Isn't my 10 year history of loyal customer worth anything to AT&T to keep me? Answer: NO from AT&T. Trust me I've argued this plenty of times with AT&T. So, stop all this bitching you iPhone users. You're not any different than me with my little Samsung flip phone! If I want to upgrade in the middle of my contract, I pay FULL PRICE. Get over your g damn smugness! By the way, my little Wal-Mart $69 Samsung dumb flip phone does MMS with pictures!!
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jun 9, 2009
ModernDislocation "The talk about OS X was not in the Snow Leopard part of talk." Oh? What section was it that talked about Macintosh, iPhone and iPod Touch?
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jun 9, 2009
danieldecker I guess I'm confused, you say "Apple never said iPhone OS was "Mac OS X" " and the text of the keynote provided by ModernDislocation says the sales they're showing is "Mac OS X. This isn't shipments but actual active users. " So, the chart was active users of Mac OS X but they never say that iPhone OS is Mac OS X but yet they include iPhone OS users as part of Mac OS X "actual active users"? Seriously. You really think that isn't deceptive?
danieldecker
on Jun 9, 2009
@Mike http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/05/13wwdc.html So there.
danieldecker
on Jun 9, 2009
@Mike if you bothered to watch, when the slide transitions from Mac OS X users to OS X users in the graph, the title of teh slide changes appropriately as does Shiller's language. It requires that you pay attention. Just because you miss the information doesn't mean you were lied to. Where is that Win 7 info I asked you for?
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jun 9, 2009
daProject "Schiller clearly stated what the chart was supposed to represent." Yes, he said it's actual active users of Mac OS X. Of course, it isn't. It's (possibly) users of Mac OS X and iPhone OS combined shown as growth over just Mac OS X users. But I'm glad that you think he was clear when he decieves you. It means he's getting the Steve Jobs knack for misleading keynotes.
danieldecker
on Jun 9, 2009
@Mike Apparently you are easily confused then. I mean, you are seemingly unable to follow a basic Arabic number scheme after all.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jun 9, 2009
danieldecker Yes, over a year ago they used to refer to it as OS X iPhone OS 2.0 in an archived press release announcing courses at a conference over a year ago. But the product we're talking about isn't OS X iPhone OS 2.0, it's iPhone OS 3.0 which no longer is not referred to as OS X. Perhaps he should have shown a drop for OS X users when they stopped claiming iPhone OS was OS X? Guess that wouldn't have made a good chart though. See the iPhone OS 3.0 pages at the Apple Website for the very clear LACK of any OS X references. See the OS X numbers minus iPhone and iPod Touch to see a chart that no longer goes up.
realtestman
on Jun 9, 2009
@danieldecker Not strictly an MS site but a blog by the developers - will this do? http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/14/why-7.aspx They never hid it, in fact they explained the numbering scheme when they announced it.
ModernDislocation
on Jun 9, 2009
@mike - Schiller comes out welcomes the crowed. He gives a brief introduction says this going going to be a great conference and gives the chart as a reason why (complete with explanation of what is being included with math). Following the chart he says "So in this keynote we would like to tell you about some of the things we are doing with the mac, iphone and ipod touch." He then goes on to say who is going to come out and talk about what. So, to answer your question of which party of the keynote, I think it would be called the introduction and not one of the product specific sections.
shark47
on Jun 9, 2009
Interesting! I guess Microsoft has a strong argument that its not a monopoly. Google did just that: http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4896 The iPhone, FWIW, is the most innovative consumer phone out there. I don't care for smartphones much, so I don't see myself getting one in the near future. I do agree with mike about how Apple conveniently redefines its markets to make its products look better.
dmccall
on Jun 9, 2009
There is a lot of poking and jabbing at AT&T by Apple. Perhaps Apple should have thought about that WHEN THEY SIGNED THE CONTRACT. Apple is just as much to blame here as AT&T. We all know when Apple announced the deal with AT&T that it was the wrong move. Had Apple released this phone to multiple carriers, then we wouldn't be dealing with AT&T's jacked up prices and feature lock-outs. Blame both, not just AT&T. Second, did anyone get the feeling that Apple is scared to death of Windows 7? I'll bet this $29 thing was thrown in this weekend. Also, because Apple had to make stuff up about W7, it feels like they are more concerned with targeting W7 than touting what they've actually done. Classic move by someone who knows their competition has a strong hand. BTW, ModernDislocation is not right about pricing. Existing customers have not finished paying the subsidy on their $200 phones, so they don't get to jump over to another subsidized phone before completing the payment of their existing phone.
ModernDislocation
on Jun 9, 2009
@ mike "...he said it's actual active users of Mac OS X." No, he didn't.
panache1023
on Jun 9, 2009
dmccall said "it feels like they are more concerned with targeting W7 than touting what they've actually done. Classic move by someone who knows their competition has a strong hand" Ironic stating that the company that has a stranglehold monopoly on PC OSs has a strong hand, don't you think?

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