The Apple Channel

November 29, 2007

The blogosphere is abuzz with a report that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said Apple is expected to launch a 3G version of the iPhone next year, bringing the smart phone the ability to download and connect to the Internet at a faster rate than it does in its current incarnation.

At a meeting in Santa Clara, Calif, Stephenson spilled the beans when asked when the 3G iPhone would hit the market. "You'll have it next year," he said, according to Bloomberg.com.

AT&T has the exclusive on the iPhone in the U.S. While today's iPhone costs $399 in the U.S., Randall said he did not know how much the next-generation product would cost. Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, "will dictate what the price of the phone is," Stephenson said.

The iPhone currently connects to the Internet through AT&T's EDGE network which downloads from 70 Kbps to 135 Kbps. Devices connecting to the 3G network, available now only in major metro areas, can download at speeds of up to 600Kbps and 1.5 Mbps, according to AT&T.

Apple's decision to run the iPhone on the EDGE system was criticized before the launch of the product earlier this year. Jobs reportedly said that Apple would stick with the EDGE network because 3G chips would diminish the iPhone's battery life in September.

"We've got to see the battery lives for 3G get back up into the five-plus-hour range,'' he said. "Hopefully we'll see that late next year.''

Apple announced the iPhone at this year's MacWorld conference, and it was speculated that he would announce the 3G version at MacWorld in January 2008.

Apple will make a developers kit available next year for third party application developers looking to make software for the iPhone.