The beast itself
With today’s announcement of the iPhone 4 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, we take a look at how the device will affect New Zealanders, what new features it will unlock and which carrier or carriers it will be provided on.
I won’t go into too much detail about the device itself here, as there will be many articles posted about it on this blog as the day progresses. This post is primarily about how the device and New Zealand will get along.
UMTS 900MHz
Apple have added extra band functionality to the iPhone 4. It now supports Quad-band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100MHz). This might not be significant to many of our readers, however this means that the iPhone now supports Vodafone’s extended 3G service. No longer is Telecom the ‘ideal’ carrier for the iPhone in New Zealand – they are now matched with Vodafone being able to provide better coverage for customers who upgrade.
Micro SIMs
The iPhone 4, like the iPad 3G, now sports a Micro SIM tray as opposed to a full-sized SIM tray. This means that the regular sized SIM cards available from carriers in New Zealand will not fit and work in the phone. Carriers will need to provide new SIM cards to people wishing to upgrade, or you could try your hand at some hackery. Both Vodafone and Telecom have confirmed they are getting Micro SIMs but have yet to announce a date when they will be available to the public. One would hope this announcement makes them speed up the process.
Which carrier(s)?
As I have explained, Vodafone and Telecom are now pretty much matched for speed and coverage on the iPhone, with the addition of UMTS 900MHz. However, one must ponder whether the ‘rights’ to the iPhone 4 will go to Vodafone, Telecom or both. New player 2degrees would most likely not be considered as they have not established a 3G network yet, and the phone would perform poorly on 2G only. However, going by past years, the phone will be factory unlocked and able to be switched to any carrier at any time.
Vodafone will be especially keen to carry the iPhone 4 due to it’s new found support for the carrier. Telecom have stated, actually during their massive XT outages earlier in the year, that they are no longer interested in the iPhone. Not to say they would decline the offer, but more they won’t go out of their way to get it.
When?
Unfortunately, like the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4 will not be available in New Zealand until the end of July – during the “second wave” .
iPhone 4 will roll out worldwide to 88 countries by the end of September. iPhone 4 will be available by the end of July in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
What do you think about the iPhone 4′s compatibility and potential in New Zealand? Let us know in the comments below.
Once the iPhone 4 is out you'll only be able to buy a new 3GS in black with 8GB storage, so hopefully the resale value of the 32GB's (and even 16GB's) won't keep going down. The only way to get a White 3GS is going to be second-hand. Those that don't want an iPhone 4 may opt for a second-hand 3GS and this could help raise the price of those that are no longer available with the larger storage (to an extent).
(Daniel Burgess has made 613 comments)
camtab, yeah I would agree the 32GB iPhone 4 will be around $1350. But since no more 32GB 3GS will be sold at $1099 and people may not want to pay the $1350 for the 4, they may want the same capacity in a cheaper phone. Since no more 3GS are being produced, price will go up since supply is fixed and demand is bound to be decent.
I think the current TradeMe pricing is just due to the flood of sellers at the moment. When it's died down and the 32GB 3GS discontinued, I think I could get about $1000 for my good condition 32GB 3GS which I've owned since launch last year – in due time.
It's simple Economics. Not everyone wants the best but some people may be particular about capacity. I will essentially own a collectors item.
Selling now would be stupid, because everyone else is. Demand is fixed, if not lowered due to the iPhone 4 announcement and supply is multiplying by the day.
Yes they can be 'fashioned' but not everyone, including me, is going to want to hack together a SIM card for their phone. I doubt Telecom would let the opportunity of rejecting iPhone 4 users from their carrier so I would say they'll make a best effort to get Micro SIMs out soon – but again, there are no guarantees.
There is also another underlying factor but I can't talk about that right now.
All good mak.. You raise some very valid points. I look forward to hearing more as time goes on
(camtab has made 468 comments)
I know we havent been given any date for the Iphone 4 (just end of July) but have we been given a date for the Ipad? I am left wondering what NZ will get first…with all the hype over the Iphone 4, there seems to have been a distinct lack of updates and information on the Ipad release. I would imagine the Ipad would be released first (given it was announced like over 3 months ago) but who knows. Anyone else have any thoughts…
(camtab has made 468 comments)
Because of the huge demand in the US I wouldn’t be surprised if they push back our release date for the iPhone, like they did with the iPad.
(Omad has made 65 comments)
@ Omad: That is my concern….drats. With the Ipad not being locked to any carrier, was easy to import but the Iphone is a whole different story. Guess there is the UK option but they appear to be more expensive there than US (which I am led to believe is $699us for uncontracted 32GB model..but still sim locked).
(camtab has made 468 comments)
Following the line of discussion in this post, this morning i managed to find an email address on a press release statement for iphone 4 and decided to give them a quick email….
My response:
Although this tells us nothing we didn’t already know, i think that apple have set themselves a target that they really would like to keep to. I’m assuming that they’ve got set shipments to this second group of countries which will go ahead regardless of whats happening in the first group. We’ll just see what happens in the coming weeks i guess…
(luke has made 6 comments)
Maybe this means they will be getting it sooner.
http://www.9to5mac.com/node/18161
(Omad has made 65 comments)
I guess that means its august then
(luke has made 6 comments)
This will be my first iPhone so i figure if I've waited this long another couple of months won't hurt.
(Omad has made 65 comments)
@ luke: glad you got a reply there, they very rarely (if ever) reply. I am sure they would love to stick to a date but history shows (iPhone 3 and iPad) that they often have to push it all back after strong sales in US. Fingers crossed I guess
(camtab has made 468 comments)
What I don't understand is why the Canadian store has the iPhone 4 listed in the store as "coming soon" (or coming july as it once did) yet NZ and Australia, who are meant to get the phone at the same time, don't have any mention of the phone in the store. Very strange….think NZ is Apples forgotten little orphaned child.
(camtab has made 468 comments)
Sorry pushed submit too soon. Was going to check (and just did) that other countries included in the second wave of iPhone 4 also have it in the store. Singapore, hong kong, Ireland, Italy….you get the picture. Why not nz or Australia? Anyways…nothing we can do but wait so will go do that
(camtab has made 468 comments)