Gadget Watch: IPhone 3G on the Way

Wed, May 21, 2008 at 2:22:28 pm PST

Looks like the long-awaited iPhone 3G is coming early next month: iPhone 2.0 Worldwide Launch on June 9th. When I say “long-awaited,” I’m speaking about myself. The only reason I haven’t already acquired one of these tin cans is because the current version doesn’t support the faster 3G network.

A June 9 launch date for the iPhone 2? No surprises there, and now it looks like inside sources are confirming the June 9 date, which is also when Steve Jobs’ keynote at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is scheduled.

But Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz has got wind of the details of the launch, and his source tells him that the Second Coming will be a worldwide event — not just in the United States. He also claims that his snitch, “someone very, very close to the 3-G iPhone launch”, says that the current fixed pricing model will be discontinued in favor of a more Euro-friendly flexible price point, one that can shift subject to the markets and the whims of the telcos.

The last point concerns Spain. As we reported this morning, Telefonica will indeed carry the iPhone, and will be launching it along with its brand new Madrid megastore on June 18.

This seems plausible enough. Despite the odd delay, all of Apple’s hardware ships worldwide immediately upon launch. And the evidence coming in from around the world corroborates Jesus’ story: The million and one one-line press releases from cellphone carriers announcing deals with Apple, for one, and the iPhone drought in the UK, Germany and even the online Apple store, for another. What is amazing is that Apple kept things quiet for so long, considering the amount of people involved.

So far, we count over 40 countries with iPhone deals, and in some of these there will be multiple carriers offering the iPhone.