Tech enthusiasts, rejoice! Today is Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference, where Steve Jobs delivers his annual keynote address. Although the surprise has mostly been removed thanks to leaked details of the iPhone 4G, there are still things to check out. Here’s more from John Moe, our tech contributor over at Future Tense:
The iPhone 4G is likely to have a different name when it rolls out, since one could get confused that 4G would mean the data network it runs on (it actually runs on a 3G network) and not “4th generation”.
Here’s some more things to look for:
- Magic Trackpad – Engadget has details on what they say will be a new interface device that will be introduced, kind of a combination mouse and finger input device. Not sure what it does but that’s what I said about the mouse decades ago.
- Video Chat – According to many rumors, the front facing camera on the leaked iPhone prototype means video conferencing. So you can look at someone in real time as you talk. Dick Tracy’s wrist watch = realized.
- AT&T – Last week they introduced their new pricing plan and, since Jobs has said he’s not adding new carriers any time soon, you have to think that those pricing plans were at least partially informed by what’s going to happen today. A lot of people adopting video conferencing adds a lot more traffic to AT&T’s network so maybe more people move to the more expensive plan or pay the (reasonably priced) overages. Not sure that’s what it will mean but I can’t imagine AT&T wants to lose money. It’s also possible that the rate cut is just AT&T trying to get more customers in anticipation of losing exclusivity in the not too distant future.
- Free version of Mobile Me? A cool but underused service that lets you sync multiple devices and gives you 20gb of online storage.
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