LoopRumors is reporting that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is in London for today’s big iPhone announcement. So if Steve’s in town — and according to online reports the Apple store on Regent Street is shrouded in black — what might we expect from today’s 10am press event?
- O2 seems 99% likely to be the UK operator
- Orange could have snagged the French rights; T-Mobile for Germany
- The iPhone could very well, in proper Apple style, go on sale today in the UK at 4pm (when the store re-opens)
- We’re now at best feeling 50/50 about a 3G iPhone turning up, following news of O2 upgrading its EDGE network. Frankly, this will suck big balls because the words ‘free’ and ‘wi-fi’ are rarely seen in UK coffee shops
- There have been rumours of a 16GB iPhone being announced, and the US price drop suggests that there’s room at the top of the range for one… But again, we’d be (pleasantly) surprised if this happened
- The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store could be announced for Europe (which would make sense
- iPhone firmware 1.1.1 could be released immediately after the event, worldwide, adding one or two new features
- Among those potential updates, an improvement to the iPhone’s SMS features would be well-advised for Europe, given the much higher popularity of text messaging here compared to the US
Historically speaking, Apple’s recent announcements have tended to slightly underwhelm, hence why we’re erring on the side of caution with our predictions. As for pricing, we’d be surprised (and disappointed) if the 8GB iPhone exceeded £249 on contract in the UK, because doing so would position the handset far beyond competitors such as Nokia’s N95. But time will soon tell, peeps…
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