Reading @sacca yesterday got me thinking anew how fortunate we as Americans really are. Even with a president that has been as disastrous as Bush, we can "start over" at least every eight years thanks to term limits.
With that in mind, I’ve added a Countdown timer to the sidebar this morning. If you want to add your own, go right ahead. My source for this is in the source.
I saw a 3G iPhone on the plane last week (carried by an insider). Here’s what I can repeat:
1. The Enterprise apps will seriously threaten RIM. IT departments will be able to remotely enable/disable the handset just like a Blackberry. Exchange integration is tight & will be true push. The App Store [may] also be integrated into an enterprise portal. That may not be available day 1, but sounds like it is coming.
2. AT&T will heavily subsidize the phone for up to one year of sales. Details on the contract weren’t shared, but I understood it to mean AT&T was eating the cost-difference on the handset in order to maintain carrier exclusivity, at least for another year. Target street price in US: $199 with possibility of only one-year contract – that is speculation based upon the rest of conversation.
3. Apple was pissed that AT&T announced this (duh, but interesting to hear it confirmed).
4. The AT&T 3G network is up & running right now. The phone will be announced by Apple "sometime in June", with near-immediate sales availability.
5. The 3G form-factor, casing & color appear identical to the first-gen.
6. A "whole team of engineers" is working on bringing real GPS to the iPhone.
7. Battery life is a bit better than first-gen iPhones.
8. Connection & web usage on the 3G network "screams" – is "very fast".
9. I own a first-gen iPhone and will replace mine in August