Barge: Apple Introduces 3G IPhone >AAPL
By Ben Charny
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)--Apple Inc. (AAPL) on Monday introduced its
long-awaited 3G iPhone for $200, which will be available starting Wednesday,
and outlined its new iPhone software store, in moves demonstrating how central
Apple's iPhone is to the computer maker's future.
The new iPhone was the most eagerly anticipated of the developments Apple
Chief Executive Steve Jobs revealed Monday during an address to a gathering of
Apple developers. The new version is also slightly thinner than the older
model and contains a global positioning service. Apple intends to sell the
device in 70 countries over the next few months.
Apple also unveiled another 3G iPhone, which costs $300, but has double the
memory of the $200 version.
The 3G iPhone is considered key for Apple to gain share in Asian and
European nations where wireless networks that deliver Internet access at wired
broadband speeds are much more in demand. The new device, in tandem with the
new iPhone software sales that Jobs also introduced Monday, is also expected
to drive more business from enterprises, an area Apple has been historically
weak in, and thus potentially help Apple take some share away from BlackBerry
smartphone maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) and No. 1 handset maker Nokia
Corp. (NOK).
So far, there have been 6 million iPhones sold, Jobs said.
-By Ben Charny, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-8230; ben.charny@dowjones.com
