There were always two factors that stopped me even considering the purchase of an iPhone – the lack of 3G and the lack of available storage space.
At least the latter of the two has been fixed with the launch of a 16GB iPhone, albeit for $100 more than the 8GB (it works out at €340 for any Irish thinking of buying one when in the US next).
The iPhone only launched in the US in June 2007 and it has already seen a price cut and now a hardware upgrade. Put simply, someone buying an iPhone now would get twice the storage for the same price as someone who bought an iPhone at launch.
Arguably this upgrade is needed more in the UK than the US and Engadget had said that UK o2 stores were rumoured to be getting stock of the 16GB device at lunchtime today, however British buyers haven’t yet been given the option to buy the bigger iPhone online yet.
As for us Irish – still no sign of a launch here. It is expected in 2008 but when exactly is anyone’s guess. Let’s hope that by that time 3G-capability will also be built into the device – again, this is rumoured to arrive some time this year.
But if you’re not interested in getting a phone but do want an iPhone-esque mp3 player, there’s always the iPod Touch which now has a 32GB option in addition to the 8GB and 16GB models. The Touch is basically an iPhone without a Bluetooth or GSM chip inside and 32GB means the device is finally catching up to the standard iPods of a few generations ago (the first colour screen iPod came in 30GB and 60GB models if I recall correctly). The device costs the same as a 16GB iPhone and if it’s simple storage you’re after you’d get far more value for money elsewhere. Oddly enough, the new Touch doesn’t seem to have hit anywhere other than the US store, so Irish buyers may have to wait it out.