Atif Unaldi

The defragmentation on consumer electronics seems very popular… As a power user of mobile technologies, I am looking for a “mobile solution” which has a big vision without a big screen ( ?!?! , eyeglass or a projector) also the input to this machine is also important. Keyboard is big, voice maybe the best solution, but this input solution must be so handy. Also a mobile solution will be live with you so it must be a stress proof ( You probably understand what I mean.. ) First iPhone covers non of them. Lets look at the second one…

Apple Inc. took dramatic steps to boost sales of its iPhone handset, offering an aggressively priced new model that surfs the Internet at higher speeds and dropping its insistence on revenue-sharing with wireless carriers.

The moves are an acknowledgment by the Cupertino, Calif., company that the original iPhone was too pricey for the mass audience, especially in a weakening economy. Apple said it will halve the entry price for the new iPhone 3G to $199 in the U.S. and abroad, compared with the $399 starting price for the current iPhone.

In an interview, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said the iPhone could even be free to consumers in some countries outside the U.S. if they commit to richer wireless plans with carriers.

The price drop and new iPhone model — which goes on sale July 11 — were the highlights of a speech by Apple executives at the start of a weeklong Apple technical conference, during which they also demonstrated an array of new software that works on iPhones and announced a new service called MobileMe that will provide more sophisticated email and other functions to users of the iPhone, Macs or Windows computers.

Mr. Jobs told the audience that Apple surveyed people who hadn’t bought iPhones and more than half of them said their decision was based on the price of the device. “We need to make iPhone more affordable,” Mr. Jobs said. He said the company had so far sold six million iPhones world-wide.

When it launched the iPhone last June, Apple shook up the wireless world, in part by forging an unusual relationship with carriers under which it received an undisclosed portion of the carrier’s monthly subscriber fees. Those arrangements are ending for the new models, though the company will continue to share fee revenue from existing customers. One reason is resistance from carriers in overseas countries where Apple is now putting increasing emphasis.

In the U.S., Apple’s wireless partner,ATand T’sInc., will be subsidizing the new iPhone and requiring buyers to sign a two-year service contract. Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, estimated that AT&T might be paying Apple as much as $499 per iPhone, though Apple and AT&T declined to disclose the actual number.

“We’ve gone back to a basic subsidy model that we use for all our other manufacturers,” said Ralph de la Vega, AT&T’s wireless chief.

Despite the price cut, users of the new iPhone 3G will have to spend more on their monthly service fees, at least in the U.S., than before. AT&T will charge users of the new device $30 a month for an unlimited data plan, instead of the previous monthly fee of $20, while the starting price for its iPhone voice plan will remain unchanged at $39.99. The increase will help AT&T more quickly recoup the subsidy for the iPhone.

The news that Apple will no longer be sharing in wireless subscriber fees with its carrier partners rattled some investors, sending Apple’s stock tumbling by nearly 5%. The shares recovered, falling $4.03, or 2.2%, to $181.61 as of 4 p.m. trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

In an interview, Mr. Jobs said $4-a-gallon gasoline and other broader economic trends weighed on his decision to cut the price, though he said the company would likely have made the same decision in a stronger economy. “I think the larger economy is a factor in every decision,” he said.

The price change means the iPhone will be priced in line with devices like Palme Inc.’s Treo and Research in motin Ltd.’s BlackBerry Curve, which costs $199 from AT&T with a two-year wireless contract.

Mr. Jobs said he didn’t fear a backlash from existing iPhone customers, disappointed that they had paid significantly more for their devices than future users. Apple encountered an onslaught of such criticism last year after dropping the original price of the eight-gigabyte iPhone model to $399 from $599 just months after releasing the device. “This is the way the technology markets work,” he said.

Relatively slow Internet access speeds were one of the biggest complaints about the original iPhone. The new model works with third-generation, or 3G, networks wireless technology. In a demonstration, Mr. Jobs said the new iPhone loads Web pages 2.8 times faster than its predecessor.

The iPhone 3G will also support Global Positioning System technology, or GPS, which is becoming an increasingly common feature in mobile phones for a range of applications, including driving directions. Apple is making a major push to encourage software development for the device, a strategy underscored by a series of demonstrations. A start-up called Loopt Inc., for example, showed an iPhone application that will allow users to track the location of friends and to send an invitation to meet up in person.

Apple’s new iPhone model closely resembles its touch-screen predecessor, except for a plastic shell on the rear of the device that comes in black or white. The $199 model will come with eight gigabytes of storage capacity for songs and other data while one with double that capacity will sell for $299.

The product, available in only six countries today, will be selling in 70 countries in the coming months, the company said. Apple hasn’t yet announced carrier partners in two large markets — China and Russia — but Mr. Jobs predicted deals in those countries by the end of the year.

Relatively slow Internet access speeds were one of the biggest complaints about the original iPhone. The new model works with third-generation, or 3G, networks wireless technology. In a demonstration, Mr. Jobs said the new iPhone loads Web pages 2.8 times faster than its predecessor.

The iPhone 3G will also support Global Positioning System technology, or GPS, which is becoming an increasingly common feature in mobile phones for a range of applications, including driving directions. Apple is making a major push to encourage software development for the device, a strategy underscored by a series of demonstrations. A start-up called Loopt Inc., for example, showed an iPhone application that will allow users to track the location of friends and to send an invitation to meet up in person.

Apple’s new iPhone model closely resembles its touch-screen predecessor, except for a plastic shell on the rear of the device that comes in black or white. The $199 model will come with eight gigabytes of storage capacity for songs and other data while one with double that capacity will sell for $299.

The product, available in only six countries today, will be selling in 70 countries in the coming months, the company said. Apple hasn’t yet announced carrier partners in two large markets — China and Russia — but Mr. Jobs predicted deals in those countries by the end of the year.