Apple aims to make hot-selling iPhones even more appealing, yesterday premiering a speedier new model complete with a video camera and slashing the price of its predecessor to $99.
Apple vice president of marketing Phil Schiller made the announcements yesterday at an annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco bereft of any sign of the firm's renowned chief executive, Steve Jobs.
Schiller said the new iPhone 3GS, the first model to capture video, will be available on June 19. 'The 'S' stands for speed, because this is the most powerful iPhone we've ever made,' Schiller said.
He said a 16-gigabyte iPhone 3GS would cost $199 while the 32-gigabyte model would cost $299. Schiller also said a next-generation iPhone 3.0 operating system will be released worldwide on June 17 as a free upgrade to owners of the smartphones.
Apple also said that it has sold more than 40 million iPhones and iPod Touch devices, which are essentially iPhones without mobile phone capabilities. Sales of applications for the devices reportedly passed a billion in April.
Enhancements on the iPhone 3.0 operating system include voice command, downloading rented videos, and customisation to additional languages including Arabic, Hebrew, and Korean.
A new 'Find My iPhone' feature lets people use an Apple online Mobile Me service to locate lost or stolen devices. The feature also lets people remotely erase all data from lost or stolen iPhones.
But Apple hit a disappointing note with an otherwise enthusiastic audience when it announced that its new Snow Leopard computer operating system would not be available until September. A 'near-final' version was given to developers at the conference so they can begin tailoring programmes for the system.
Apple's upgrades, and the timing of releases, position the company to fend off competition from the Palm Pre as well as Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system, according to analysts.
Approximately 5,200 software developers from over 50 countries registered to attend the sold-out conference, according to Apple.
There was no sign of 54-year-old Jobs at the conference however. He has been on medical leave of absence since January. Apple has been secretive about Jobs's health since he underwent an operation in 2004 for pancreatic cancer but has been adamant that he is returning to the company's helm at the end of this month.
