Apple Reveals New IPhone For Half The Price

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs made the announcement Monday, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

“It’s amazingly zippy,” Jobs said. It’s actually billed as being twice as fast as the original and it’s also slimmer around the edges.

The price cut is part of a new deal Apple struck with the iPhone’s exclusive carrier in the U.S., AT&T. AT&T will no longer break the company off with data plan usage shares and will instead subsidize the cost of the phone.

The phone includes a few other changes as well. In order to keep iPhone users from “unlocking” their phone so they can use it with carriers other than AT&T, the phones will not be sold without immediate activation. Before, they could be bought at the store and activated online, later.

Jobs said the new phone will use AT&T’s 3G, or “third-generation,” network. The 3G phone will have a battery that is maximized for the 3G network, able to handle five to six hours of web browsing, seven hours of video and 24 hours of audio usage.

The new version will also come with a global positioning system.

“They are redefining the concept of a handset,” said Tim Bajarin, president of technology research firm Creative Strategies. “The iPhone is a personal mobile computer. That is really what it is.”

Apple’s also launching a new App store, that will start off with an inventory of hundreds of applications for the phone.

The new phone will come in a couple of versions with the 8-gigabyte phone selling for $199, while the 16-gig will go for $100 more.

By year’s end, the iPhone will be sold in 70 countries. It will be available in the U.S. July 11.

Related posts:

1. The New iPhone 2.0?
2. “My Notebook and Who?”