It’s been a massive morning of Apple announcements out of the Worldwide Developers Conference in the US, so it’s only natural to summarise all the local implications here in one place. Here.First off, the iPhone 3GS. It will launch on June 26 here in Australia, with price and availability to be confirmed by each of the carriers. So far, we’re yet to hear any official announcements from any of the networks, although you may have noticed a heap of Optus ads on the site which sort of indicates that they’ll be jumping on the 3GS bandwagon. We’re also waiting on the networks to announce whether they’ll be allowing MMS and tethering with the 3.0 firmware update – we’ll keep you posted when we know more.
Speaking of the 3.0 update – it will be released in Australia alongside the rest of the world on June 17, not the June 26 date stated in the original press release. Free for iPhone users (naturally) and $14.95 for iPod Touch owners.
Moving onto those MacBook Pro announcements – the MacBook category has been decimated, with only the white MacBook still available. The Unibody MacBook has morphed into the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which has a starting price of $1,899. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,699, while the MacBook Air is back to $2,399.
Snow Leopard will launch in September – just like the US, although we won’t know pricing details until closer to launch. However, if you do happen to buy a new Mac before Snow Leopard launches, you can upgrade to the new OS for just a $14.95 handling fee.
And that’s pretty much it. Obviously expect to hear more as the networks start trumpeting the 3GS over the next couple of weeks. But in the meantime, is there anything in particular you want answered about the Australian implications of the WWDC announcements?
Paul
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 1:45 PMNot happy about the ipod touch “upgrade”. Does anyone have any idea what this $15 3.0 upgrade is going to do for the touch.
Ashley
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 2:19 PMThe Ipod Touch 2G will gain Bluetooth Functions with software 3.0 upgrade.
e.g. A2DP, wireless accessory control (including gaming), and peer-to-peer connections.
Paul
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 6:09 PMVery interesting bluetooth. They really crippled the touch. Perhaps skype with a bluetooth headset is now a reality. Opens up a few options.
Many thanks for your comment Ashley.
nozlaf
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 2:31 PMthe ipod touch fee is aparently due to a SOX accounting issue, god knows how that works but thats the official line they spun back when the last update was released.
if you pay it you get all the functions that the iphone would get minus the functions the hardware can’t support e.g. phonecalls
Brendan
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 2:32 PMHi, I know the info is there somewhere (just too lazy to look) – can you tell me if the iphone 3gs now covers the nextg 850mhz band?
B
Ben Knight
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 7:45 PMCellular and wireless
* UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
http://www.apple.com/au/iphone/specs.html
The iPhone 3G currently works perfectly on Telstra’s NEXTG Network. We have 2!
Prabhath Jayalath
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 3:25 PMI think it’s a game of chicken with the Aussie Telcos. They all have their pricing worked out, they just don’t want to reveal it in case the other carries do one up on them and offer a better deal in response.
They have to reveal the plans at some point, but that could be within days of the release. I forget but how did this whole thing happen last year with the iPhone 3G?
Oh and Tethering/MMS are supported by all 3 carriers. There was a slide in the Keynote which showed all the supporting networks, which included Telstra, Vodafone and Optus.
Rhys Kingston
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 3:29 PMThe Optus network is already crippled. Allowing tethering is just going to finish it off!
Prabhath Jayalath
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 3:34 PMI was about to say Vodafone isn’t much better but then again they’re running off the same towers…
ZacG15
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 4:51 PMWill the iPhone 3.0 update give video camera to the iPhone 3G or is video only for iphone 3G S?
Nick Broughall
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 4:54 PMOnly the 3GS, I’m afraid…
Adrian Evans
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 5:35 PMI would love to know what the fourth carrier is doing!
Am I the only one in Australia with the iPhone 3G on Virgin?!
I’d love to know if I can use all of my 5Gb now.
Ryan Hynes
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 8:21 PMSo what exactly does the upgrade give to current 3g owners. Bluetooth etc.
Jonathan Lim
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 7:00 PMCopy, paste, undo. Spotlight to search through contacts, music, videos, etc. Panoramic keyboard on mail, sms. MMS(finally) these are the major changes..
Touch
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 10:43 PMWill there be a new iPod Touch? I haven’t seen anything saying so.
Paul
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 8:30 AMI would also like to know. Any hardware changes. I would like to GPS in the touch so I can finally use some of the location features.
Jonathan Lim
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 6:57 PM@Paul iPod touch only has bluetooth and wifi functions. GPRS features are only on the iPhone 3g and iPhone 3gs. So nope you wont be able to use it unless you have wifi.
@Touch I highly doubt there will be a new iPod Touch any time soon. At least not until the next year.