I don't see that in the article. Unless you're referring to this, which doesn't mean that:

he probably came to that assumption because italy have been the first to sign the deal (or maybe because it was such a radically DIFFERENT deal to the one everyone knows so far.)

its a good sign for us though. no lock-in, higher price.

I think he was reffering to the bit about a several month exclusive, although I interpret that is within Italy and not a worldwide exclusive.

Sorry, probably didnt make it clear the first time round, but agree with you. Paid firmware for new features.

I think this was the apparent reasoning for charging for firmware on the touch. Because only an upfront fee is paid, american accounting rules? require a fee to be paid for new features. This didnt apply to the Iphone because apple was getting kickbacks from AT&T through the monthly fee being charged. So going forward if there is no contract then we will be back to the same situation as the Ipod Touch.

Security patches etc wouldnt be adding additional functionality so based on the above reasoning there wouldnt be any charge.

Your probably spot on for the SDK taking over and alot of features being released on there rather than firmware and the appropriate amount being charged. At least we can pick and choose what is useful this way.

Anyway all speculation, I guess time will tell and we will just have to wait and see.

Anthonyw your argument about paid updates falls over when u consider the Apple Tv. It had new features added but at no charge. Its nothing to do with the AT&T contract apple have, its just something about the way certain products are accounted for .... not that I have any idea about it.

Sorry dont mean to be one of those people who is a smarty pants, but just thought id give my input

Apple TV comes under a similar firmware upgrade to the iPhone because Apple specifically account for it under deferred income, due to it being a standalone item that provides income via iTunes for the HD-Video Rental store, and that's something that is only accessible via the device (I think).

Yes, interesting article on TIM and Italy. As someone wrote, it will probably be premiered in June, with the premise that it will be released worldwide in a few months time. As mentioned before, the US FCC will require approval. And since Apple have ordered 3G models from their factories for May, it might take a few months for the works to be in place. This was the case when the first version of the iPhone was premiered early in that year, but was only released mid year. I would hate to wait another couple of months for it to be trickled down to the Australian market.

I neeeeeeeeeeeed it I caaaaaaaaaaaaant wait. Besides my birthday is late june

Sorry but according to your profile, your birthday is November 30!

LOL. Someone's lying about their age...

dont believe everything you read on the net

Honestly

Hi Walexx

I'm on here to learn, its all good. I'll admit i dont know too much about Apple products, and have only become interested because of the Iphone.

I am hoping that we wont have to pay for updates, just trying to understand how they will get their revenue without the preferred carriers.

Revenue from charging a higher premium price for the iPhone at authorised resellers. My bet is that the 3G version of the iPhone will be significantly higher than the current price. Revenue from the SDK as well.

No probs Anthonyw, like I said, I didnt want to sound like a smarty pants, I dont actually get the whole set up myself, but yeah, from what I do understand, certain products by the way they are accounted for can have 24months of updates that can add features to the product etc without extra cost. The iPod touch doesnt come under that for some reason. Its all a bit over my head.

As for the price of the iPhone. You can be guaranteed no contract, no lock will mean a higher price. When they were released in Germany (or France ?) a few months ago in unlocked form they were heaps expensive, so most people went to the contract. Still in our market, when you consider the price of the competition, even at a premium feature for feature the iphone will cream everything in its path. I just hope it gets a better camera and true GPS when the 3G model is released.

I love my current iPhone, but its already waiting to be replaced with the 3G version

actually to me it is quite simple.

apple will sell the handset to the carrier for a more expensive price than they sell it to an exclusive carrier like at&t. But as the carrier no longer has to pay apple revenue share the carrier can afford to subsidise the handset for long term contracts like they do with almost every other handset.

so theoretically everyone wins ... apple gets more $ for the handset, carrier doesnt have to pay rev share and end user gets a phone at a subsidised price.