June 8th, 2010 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Platforms: iOS | No Comments »
Some thought it would be called the iPhone 4G, others expected the iPhone HD (which had our preference as well), but the new iPhone is just called the iPhone 4.
The Hardware
Next to the front camera for video calls, Apple has introduced the Retina display which offers four times as much pixels as the original. The 5 megapixel camera comes with a LED flash. The camera can record 720p at 30 frames a second.
The phone also packs a A4 CPU, the same one that is packed into the iPad. At the same time, the battery has been increased to offer 40% more talk time, something many will love. The new iPhone also packs a gyroscope.
The Software
Apple has chosen to rename iPhone OS since the iPad is no iPhone. As so, iPhone OS will now be called iOS 4. iOS will be available to consumers for free on June 21st but developers can download the golden master candidate directly. The full update will work on all 3GS models while the iPhone 3G will be updated without multitasking support. The first iPhone models are excluded from the update.
The Pricing
The iPhone 4 will sell at $199 for a 16GB model or $299 for 32GB. The 3GS will be the new budget iPhone priced at $99. The iPhone 3G will no longer be offered. The iPhone 4 will be available in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan from June 24th while the rest of the world has to wait until September.
The Numbers
As always, Apple was so kind to share a few numbers with the viewers and attendees. So far, 100 million devices are running on iOS. That is iPhones, iPod Touch’s and iPads. Those 100 million iOS based devices are controlled by 150 million iTunes accounts (remember, small iPod’s don’t run iPhone OS).
The App Store holds 225.000 apps for the iPhone and 8.500 for the iPad. Every week, 15.000 apps are submitted and 95%f those are approved. That is about 2.000 news apps a day. I wonder who is keeping track apart from Apple.
The iPad generated 35 million downloads. The iPhone generated 5 billion downloads which resulted in $1 billion in revenues for developers (and about $430 million for Apple).
From July first on, developers will have access to the iAd network. So far, Apple has collected $60 million in advertising deals for the network. Amongst the advertisers are Unilever, AT&T, GE and of course Disney.