Rebooting the iPhone

With the one-year anniversary of the iPhone coming later this month and a new iteration of the game-changing smartphone due imminently, the Web is abuzz with speculation and anticipation. As it happens, Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver the keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco next week. Expect Big Announcements. "This is a developers conference, so Apple is going to talk about things that are of interest to developers," says Michael Gartenberg, Jupiter Research's vice president and research director. Of course this doesn't mean Apple won't be talking about things that aren't of interest to you, dear reader.

Apple has been accepting a flurry of applications to its exclusive $99 iPhone Developer Program in the run-up to the conference, meaning the new phones will likely have a whole lot more functionality. "We've got instant-messaging clients coming, games coming, who knows what," says Gartenberg.

That "who knows" is precisely the rub. Jobs and Co. are notoriously secretive and nobody really knows what's coming next week. But that doesn't mean we can't have fun dipping into the rumor mill. Here's what the geeks are gossiping about this week:

• Consensus has it that the new iPhone will run on the 3G mobile network, which allows for more data transmission, more efficiently. Kiss that clunky old EDGE network goodbye and enjoy more seamless Web browsing, even when you're not in a Wi-Fi hotspot.
• When the iPhone made its big debut last year, the reason it didn't run on 3G, according to Jobs himself, was because it was a drain on the battery. So, we might logically expect more bang for our battery on a 3G iPhone.
• Somewhat more tantalizing is a recently published patent that Apple filed for a "Touch Screen Device." In it we are teased with the prospect of integrated GPS and an "optical sensor" for video capability hinting deliciously at the possibility of videoconferencing for the iPhone. Voice and speed dialing would be a natural fit. Actually, it's kind of a surprise that the original iPhone didn't have these options.
• Despite all these new features, a 3G iPhone could possibly be lighter and thinner (or, then again, possibly thicker), come in other colors, and come in 16- and 32-gigabyte versions.
• Conventional wisdom seems to be congealing around what not to expect: do not, for example, hold out for a touchscreen keyboard that reorients horizontally when you flip the phone on its side. Such a feature would appeal to people who can't stand the iPhone's wonky little buttons. But the possibility of haptics—which recreate the feel of an actual keyboard—can't be completely ruled out just yet.

© 2008