While the current EDGE iPhone retails for $399 in the US, the price for the new device remains a mystery. It goes without saying that Jobs will be the one to set the price of the device and hopefully, it will more or less match the price of the current device. After all, everyone expects the current model to get even cheaper during 2008.
It seems that the main reason for withholding the 3G model’s release is the battery life. Back in September Jobs noted that the battery wouldn’t last for too long if the iPhone were to support faster networks and the new batteries would have to power the new device for at least five hours.
Rumor has it that the new 3G iPhone is Steve Jobs’ secret weapon with which he can hope to drive iPhone sales past the 10 million units milestone. Surely Apple could use any boost available. Back in September, the iPhone only sold 1,4 million units and the hype surrounding the device was already starting to fade.
In the mean time, Europe proves to be a more difficult customer than US was, and early iPhone sales in Germany and the UK are going everywhere but through the roof. The device has just arrived in France, but nobody expects it to perform much better.