Jun 9 2008
Apple announces 3G iPhone and replaces dotMac with MobileMe just like you knew they would
The rumor sites really do ruin Stevenotes. I mean when Jobs comes out and announces that Apple has built the all new iPhone 3G, with networking that is twice as fast as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party apps built with the iPhone SDK, we’re all thinking, “Yeah, we know. We read about that last week! What else you got?”
In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning USD$199 for the 8GB model, and just USD$299 for the 16GB model. iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries — Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US — on July 11.
Also spoiled by the rumor sites was the announcement of MobileMe, an internet service that delivers push email, push contacts and push calendars from the MobileMe service in the “cloud” to native applications on iPhone, iPod touch, Macs and PCs. MobileMe also provides a suite of elegant, ad-free web applications that deliver a desktop-like experience through any modern browser. MobileMe applications include Mail, Contacts and Calendar, as well as Gallery for viewing and sharing photos and iDisk for storing and exchanging documents online.
MobileMe, also available on July 11, is a subscription-based service with 20GB of storage for USD$99 per year for individuals and USD$149 for a Family Pack, which includes one master account with 20GB of storage and four Family Member accounts with 5GB of storage each. Users can sign up for a free, 60-day MobileMe trial and current .Mac members will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe accounts. MobileMe subscribers can purchase an additional 20GB of storage for USD$49 or 40GB of storage for USD$99 annually.
Note:
The BookEndz are docking stations for the Mac laptops. They are available for quite a few different models including the MacBook Pros, MacBooks, and Powerbooks. I had the chance to test the 17″ MacBook Pro model. It has connecters for all the ports on the laptop, and a special area for the MagSafe power adapter. 
My buddy Geoff Smith is the creative genius behind the ringtones at RingtoneFeeder.com. “We are really exited about this new concept and we are confident that the ringtones we are producing will make a positive difference for the millions of iPhone users out there. Unlike traditional ringtones which are often made from extracts of songs or existing sounds, we are producing short songs that are made to be ringtones, they are unique, sometimes even topical and optimized specifically for the iPhones.”