iPhone 3G Available Now!
Finally! The much anticipated iPhone 3G is available for sale in the United States as well as 21 other countries. People lined up hours if not days ahead of the launch of the iPhone just to be one of the first few people to have their hands on the iPhone.
Not all went well though. According to this CNN Report, staff at an NY AT&T store had trouble activating the iPhones. It took them almost half an hour to activate Kenny Pichardo’s iPhone. Kenny was the first to buy one at that particular store. AT&T blamed the the problems on a glitch with iTune’s software that aides in the activation of the iPhone.
What really surprises me up to now is the level of coverage that the iPhone is getting. It was in almost all the major cable news channels we have locally. It was featured on CNN and BBC. Not to mention the countless blogs all over the internet such as ours. It’s truly a triumph for Apple’s marketing rather than anything else.
Another thing to note is that the iPhone became available for the first time in Japan. In a country where high-tech phones are norm and that people have been exposed to phones that can download music, stream videos and even receive live TV broadcasts, the iPhone still made an impact. Roughly a thousand people still lined up in front of Softbank Corp.’s store to get their hands on iPhones. Proving that it’s not the amount of technology that you can place in a device but it’s how well you design and integrate it’s features and make it easy to use that ultimately draws people to use it.
Some well known journalists have had their hands on iPhone way ahead of us mere mortals. They were able to post reviews of it just before the iPhone went on sale.
Ryan Block from Engadget has his review. He had this to say about the iPhone…
If you’re an avid Symbian, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile / Exchange user, chances are you might think the iPhone 3G is Apple playing catch-up — and you’re not wrong. 3G, GPS, third party apps, enterprise messaging, these are all old hat. But even the would-be iPhone killers being churned out weekly haven’t yet found a way to counter the iPhone’s usability and seamless integration of service and software, desktop and mobile, and media and internet.
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal had this to say about the iPhone during his interview at Yahoo’s Tech Ticker…
The iPhone is “the best, most complete smartphone” on the market and clones such as the Samsung Instinct are a poor substitute,
Walt also wrote a review on his blog.
Apart from the launch of the iPhone, the next big thing is the launch of the App store. I went ahead and checked it out. I downloaded some free software namely AIM and the iTunes remote even if my iPod Touch has not been updated yet. As for this writing the servers of Apple seem to have trouble coping that I can’t get through to it.
A little over 500 apps are now available during the launch of the App store. More will follow in the coming weeks. With this event, Apple has really transformed the iPhone from simply being a smartphone to a certified platform for handheld devices. Some of the apps look wicked awesome. I can’t wait to get my hands on Super Monkey Ball and other games such as that.
I’m really excited to see more and more apps developed for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
With the availability of the iPhone in these countries and with more countries to follow, the iPhone is on target to fast becoming the smartphone to beat. I can’t wait till August. According to the grapevine, that about the time that the iPhone will be made available here in the Philippines. Let’s see what Globe can come up with in terms of plans and pricing.
Are you excited to get your hands on an iPhone? I know I am!
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Apple News, Juan's Posts, iPhone, iPod Touch
0 opinions for iPhone 3G Available Now!
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: