WWDC: iPhone 2.0

Today, Steve Jobs held his keynote address (video) to reveal the next generation of the iPhone, a new price point, and the SDK software and its possibilities. The result is a phone that few will be able to say no to. Let’s start the breakdown.

iPhone 2.0 Specs
- Release date: July 11th, 2008 in 22 countries
- Price: 8G for $199 and 16G for $299.
- Bands: 3 GSM, 4 3G, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g
- Dimensions: 115.5mm x 62.1mm x12.3mm (slighter thicker then 1.0)
- Colors: Black or White backing
- Battery life (hours): Standby 300, 2G talk 10, 3G talk 5, web 5-6, video 7, audio 24
- iPhone 1.0 purchased after May 27 can swap for new phone for free. I would do it at an Apple store; I can see AT&T making the swap incredibly difficult.
- 3.5mm headphone jack, flush so no adapter needed.
- 2.0 firmware upgrade: free for iPhone, $10 for iTouch, release in early July

iPhone 2.0 Platform
- iPhone SDK will support apps, games etc.
- MS Exchange support with push service for contacts, calendar, GAL, and remote wipe.
- Cisco VPN, adds security for companies, exact implementation not known
- iWork and MS Office Support, Not sure if its just read or edit but can view Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- Scientific Calculator, improved calc, with parental controls (I guess to prevent cheating).
- Apple Push Notification Service, to save on battery life by not having constantly running background programs. Expected to be out for dev of the App Store in September.
- App Store, allow for wireless download, also has feature for enterprise use to push applications to all users in the company.
- Games currently ready include Super Monkey Ball, Pangea, and a God of War type game, each $10
- GPS with Live Tracking, Traffic and Geotagging.
- MobileMe, replaces .Mac, costs $100 a year and helps keep data in sync across computers, iPhone, etc regardless of what using it on or where located. (video)
- Can disable 3G (for battery life) but few menus deep.
- Comes with new small AC adapter that powers other iPod ish devices, appears will need a new dock though.
- Commercial, only phone to beat the iPhone is the 3G iPhone
- Hands-On: Gizmodo and Engadget, both very pleased. Noticed that it feels thinner despite being a touch thicker, better reception. 3G has good speed. 2MP camera shows no improvement. Improved audio but still mono (what?).

Also announced was development of OS X 10.6 codenamed "Snow Leopard." Its intended goal is to enhance OS performance, work with Microsoft Exchange better, handle multi-core processors better, and raises RAM "limit" to 16TB.

A new caveat has emerged with the purchase of a new iPhone next month. Apparently there will no longer be remote activation via iTunes. Instead AT&T will handle the activation in store. No word if can do same at the Apple store. The problem with this is basically the crappy service, upselling, credit report, and signing over your right arm that AT&T requires to walk out with the phone that the Apple store never did. However, its been leaked that with the 3G release, Apple will no longer enjoy their revenue sharing model, as such the headahce of supporting and maintaining the remote connection isn't worth the money anymore.