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New IPhone Rumor Roundup

June 05, 2008


Wall Street Journal Blogs.com
By Ben Worthen

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to unveil an updated iPhone at an event in San Francisco on Monday. Rumors about features the new iPhone will include are sweeping across the Web. Here's a roundup of what you might see on a new iPhone:

* The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that the new iPhone will use the so-called 3G cellular network, which transmits data faster than the network the iPhone currently uses.

* Fortune uncovered an Apple patent application that lists features that didn't appear on the original iPhone. These include built-in instant-messaging and video-chat capabilities, support for voice-activated commands and a GPS module, all of which could be in the new model.

* Cult of Mac says that it heard from a tipster that the new iPhone will be 22% thinner than the current version, have a longer-lasting battery and cost less.

An Apple spokeswoman tells us that the company doesn't comment on rumors.

Would these features – along with a software upgrade designed to make the iPhone more business friendly – be enough to get corporate tech departments to bite? A new survey by ChangeWave Research found that 13% of business-technology leaders say they'll buy iPhones in the third quarter of 2008, an increase of just two percentage points from what they said they'd buy in the second quarter. In contrast, 82% say they're planning to buy Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices in the third quarter, up five percentage points from the second quarter.

CIO.com talked to a handful of tech chiefs about what would make them buy the new iPhone. They mainly mentioned features like improved security and integration with Microsoft's Exchange email software that Apple is addressing in the software upgrade. Their tone, however, is universally skeptical. As the ChangeWave survey suggests, it looks like businesses plan to take a wait-and-see approach to the new iPhone.

Wall Street Journal Blogs.com