Just as expected, Apple revealed version 2 of the iPhone yesterday at the WWDC. The mobile device, which will be available in 22 countries worldwide on July 11th, offers a sleuth of new features: 3G network support, GPS, simultaneous voice and data connections, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, secure access via Cisco IPSec VPN, WPA2 Enterprise and 802.1X authentication, a flush headphone jack and better battery life (300 hours standby, 10 hours talk time, 5 to 6 hours high speed browsing, 7 hours video, and 24 hours of audio).
Apple also revealed the new App Store, which will give you access to all the applications created by independent developers using the iPhone SDK.
iPhone 3G now comes in two models, black and white, yet the most significant announcement could be the price itself. In an effort to reach a number of 10 million iPhones sold worldwide, Apple will now offer the device at significantly lower prices, $199 for the 8 GB model and $299 for the 16 GB one.
This was easily one of the most exciting days of WWDC in recent years with many more announcements accompanying news of the iPhone3G, and all that just on day 1.
Apple also announced the expected transformation of their .Mac service into MobileMe. It will let you store all your email, contacts and calendars on a secure server on the me.com site and sync to any one of your devices, whether Mac or PC. MobileMe will work with native applications and current .Mac users will be automatically migrated to it.
Day 1 of WWDC 08 was also the opportunity to reveal a little bit more about the next Mac OS, Snow Leopard. Expected in about a year, Snow Leopard will offer Microsoft Exchange support and introduce Quicktime X, with optimized codecs and a better playback experience. OpenCL, 64-bit technology and a Multicore architecture will also mean much improved performances.
There’s more to come at the WWDC, notably with the Design Awards expected in a few days. We’ll keep you posted!
