After what must have been an eternity for iPhone-starved Europeans, details on the launch of the coveted Apple
Before the news came out, blogs were buzzing with speculation about the iPhone itself and whether it would be an improved version of the one released stateside with AT&T
Once it was known that the iPhone is identical to the U.S. version -- slow speeds and all -- many scoffed. But Steve Jobs explained that a 3G iPhone would drain the battery too quickly and potentially anger consumers who expect the phone to hold a charge similar to current devices from manufacturers such as Nokia
But here's the kicker -- Steve Jobs doesn't really care.
Apple's new iTunes store supplies songs and ringtones direct to devices via Wi-Fi, and Jobs pointed out that Wi-Fi is the optimum channel for media downloads anyway. To cement this point, Apple's U.K. launch included a deal with The Cloud that will give iPhone users free access to its 7,500 hot spots in the U.K. If the Internet experience on the iPhone is poor via EDGE networks -- as many in the U.S. have complained it is -- it could be less likely that users will download carrier-billable Web content such as games and video. The ones getting left out in the area of content sales by a non-3G iPhone are the carriers, not Apple.
In fact, Vodafone's
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