Apple is expected to announce the new iPhone next week
at Apple's developers'conference next Monday.
The new iPhone will be accompanied by support for
corporate e-mail and a slate of new programs that could
help boost sales of the devices, which sport a
touch-sensitive screen, wireless Internet access and
iPod-style media functions.
Analysts are also betting that Steve Jobs will show off
a long-rumored phone running on a 3G network.
That would address one of the chief complaints about the
current iPhone: the speed at which it calls up Web pages
on AT&T Inc's pokey EDGE network.
There is also speculation Apple could bow to a cellphone
industry practice and offer a subsidized iPhone, an
arrangement where AT&T could kick in a couple hundred
dollars to make the devices more affordable. AT&T
already gives Apple a slice of the monthly service fees
it gets from iPhone subscribers.
Some reckon that will include the ability to download
songs from iTunes using the cellular network. IPhone
users now have to be connected to a Wi-Fi network to get
music from Apple's online store.
Apple will also roll out its highly anticipated support
for corporate e-mail, a capability it showed off earlier
this year and that is expected to give iPhone a push
into business, which now overwhelmingly use Research In
Motion Ltd's Blackberry devices.
Apple will also launch its iPhone "applications store"
that will sell programs made by developers outside of
Apple. The service marks an about-face for Jobs, who
initially blocked third-party software from the device.