SA's iPhone fans on hold
2007-06-29 09:58
Cape Town - It seems consumers in South Africa who are eager to lay their hands on Apple's much-hyped iPhone are in for a long wait.
When News24 asked Apple PR manager Megan Richardson when the gadget will be available on our shores, she said: "We have no idea. We don't have any information of a launch date, but we're hoping," she said.
Richardson said the phone will for the time being only be launched in the United States.
It will reportedly be offered exclusively in the United States by AT&T Inc's wireless division.
The iPhone, which sports no keypad but instead a touch-sensitive screen, was unveiled in January by Apple boss Steve Jobs.
"It works like magic," Jobs said at the time.
The phone comes with a built-in, two-megapixel digital camera, as well as a slot for headphones and a SIM card.
According to the Apple website, the iPhone automatically synchs the user's media - movies, music, photos - through iTunes on computers running Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows. It also synchs e-mail, bookmarks and nearly any type of digital content stored on a computer.
It supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology and can detect location from Global Positioning System satellites. The phone can also send and display e-mail and SMSs.
To make a call, users tap out the number on an on-screen keypad or scroll through their contacts and dial with a single touch.
According to the Associated Press, gadget fanatics in the United States have been camping out for days in front of Apple stores.
The phone goes on sale on Friday evening.
The four-gigabyte model will cost $499 (about R3500), while an eight-gigabyte one will be $599 (about R4 200).