A work day - and a bunch of blog posts and news articles later - I've got a few thoughts and one lingering question about today's Apple announcements.
First off, Apple's event and IFA 2007 (the bigger-than-CES consumer electronics show in Berlin) are both over, and as Engadget points out, nobody's said an official word regarding an iPhone release on a European carrier or two. "Coincidentally," Apple Expo Paris is just a few weeks away, kicking off on September 25th. Apple has used Expo to launch new products before, and it would only make sense that the first European phone from Apple would be launched on European soil.
Combine that with the super-drastic iPhone price cut announced today, and the quick kick to the curb for the 4gb model (if you hurry you can grab one for $299 from the Apple Store while supplies last), and you've got yourself a hole at the top of the iPhone lineup. Or at least you could look at it that way: iPhone debuted with two configurations and now the cheaper one's gone and the flagship model is cheaper. So there's room at the top for a new iPhone.
Plus, the new iPod Touch (essentially an iPhone minus the battery) debuted in 8gb and 16gb configurations. So clearly Apple has the supplies and plans to fit 16gb of NAND memory into iPhone's form factor. Add it up and you get a 16gb iPhone with European-spec 3G just waiting to be unveiled in Paris later this month.
Of course it wouldn't be like Apple to leave consumers in its native land out in the cold like that. So if a next-gen iPhone does arrive on European shores in a few weeks, might a 16gb, 3G model also be on tap for release on AT&T? That seems like a stretch, but then again if two months ago you'd told me Apple would be cutting iPhone's price by a third come September, I'd have thunk it a bit more than just a stretch. Could be that Apple has some more tricks up its sleeve for the holiday shopping season.
