I’m following all the action in San Francisco because I really want to get the new iPhone. I’m still waiting to hear about more carrier options, but this is what is announced so far.

• 3G - This is a bit of a no-brainer and we all saw that coming.
• GPS - Again, most people had predicted this. Still I’m excited about it as it means one less device.
• Loopt - A social app with the GPS element. Shows you where your friends are which is really cool. Can also show where you are, which might not be so cool. Especially if you called in sick.
• Super Monkey Ball - Steer monkeys in balls using the iPhone’s motion sensor. Silly and not very useful and destined to be a huge hit.
• MLB@bat - Almost instantaneous updates on baseball games complete with video. Very cool, and hopefully other sports will follow. I can’t wait for live snooker updates!
• Cro Mag Rally - Caveman racing game. See Super Monkey Ball.
• Increased language support - Great for writing Japanese and Chinese. Now I just need to learn Japanese and Chinese.
• Battery life -300 hours standby, 3G talktime of 5 hours, 5-6 hours of ‘high speed’ internet browsing, 7 hour of video and 24 hours of audio.
• Espresso machine - The iPhone will make coffee for you first thing in the morning.
• Time Travel - With the second generation iPhone you can travel back in time and buy those stocks you missed out on.

Those last two are unconfirmed. Come on, Steve! Increased carrier support!

This article seems to think they will have to. I certainly hope they will and that they will do so soon. As I’ve said before, the locked in contract with O2 is honestly the thing that’s keeping me from getting one.

iPhone sales would go through the roof if they opened up the carriers. I expect this will happen relatively soon. Bring on the 3G iPhone I can use on Vodafone!

Apple iPhone

Good news, hipsters iPhone owners! O2 has just announced that they will be reducing the monthly tariffs on the iPhone. This move is largely due to less sales than anticipated; while 200,000 iPhones have been activated, this number falls 10,000 short of what Apple and O2 wanted.

Customers on the £55/month plan will see a £10 price drop on their monthly bill while those on the £35/month will get three times as many minutes and double the text messages that they had before.

This is good news for anyone who already bought an iPhone, as well as those who are planning on getting one soon. I love the iPhone and I want one rather badly. I think it’s a brilliantly designed piece with a great deal of potential. I’m not buying one just yet.

Sales of the iPhone will improve with these price cuts. Sales will improve more when the 3G version is released soon. But if Apple really wants to send sales skyrocketing they’ll ditch this locked in contract with 02.

Apple iPhone