New iPhone 3G S 'in SA soon'
2009-06-10 07:43
Cape Town - The new generation iPhone 3G S is coming to South Africa in July, but Vodacom is staying mum on the exact date.
"Vodacom will launch iPhone 3G S, the fastest most powerful iPhone yet, in South Africa in July 2009," Dot Field, the Vodacom Group's Chief Communications Officer told News24 on Tuesday afternoon.
Field did not elaborate on the exact date, nor did she comment on News24's query regarding the pricing of the new phone in South Africa. It is also not clear whether Vodacom will continue to be South Africa's exclusive distributor of the iPhone.
Apple Inc unveiled the iPhone 3G S at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday, just two days after smaller rival Palm unveiled a phone called the Pre which many analysts had predicted "would take a bite out of Apple's sales", the Associated Press reported.
According to media reports the iPhone 3G S will be available in the US on June 19 and in the rest of the world on July 7.
The new 3G S model of the iPhone, looks the same as the 3G iphone which came out last year, but sports a faster processor, longer battery life, an internal compass, a video camera and a photo camera with better resolution and auto-focus.
"The 'S' stands for speed, because this is the most powerful iPhone we've ever made," Apple's vice president of marketing, Phil Schiller told the conference on Monday.
A 16-gigabyte version of the 3G S will cost $199 and a 32-gigabyte version will be $299, subject to a 2-year contract with US cellphone provider AT&T. Last year's 8-gigabyte iPhone 3G now costs $99, instead of $199.
The original iPhone 3G model was launched in South Africa on 26 September last year, more than two months after the international launch on 11 July.
For further information about international pricing and availability click here.