Next-Gen iPhone: It’s All About the Guts

It’s widely accepted that Apple will introduce a fourth-generation iPhone to legions of frothing developers and mobile users next month at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference.

Opinions on the forthcoming version of the iPhone diverge thereafter. The guts of the device, as I’ve said for months, will likely be different than the current iPhone iteration. Expect the iPhone 4G (for lack of a better term) to come in 16GB and 32GB flavours. It’ll also likely contain a faster processor thanks to the P.A. Semiconductor employees Apple inherited as part of the acquisition the company made last year. Expect the forthcoming iteration of the iPhone to run on 256MB RAM, double the current amount. However, the next-gen iPhone’s form factor will likely be the same.

John Gruber, of the eminently readable Apple blog Daring Fireball, expounded upon my belief in a blog post yesterday. Gruber, like yours truly, also believes the next two available versions of the so-called Jesusphone will come with additional storage and a faster processor so mobile geeks can download apps and reach their Facebook pages more quickly.

But Gruber also believes the new iPhones will be able to capture video, an interesting development that should help Apple sell to more customers that might have otherwise opted for a Flip Video (from Cisco’s Pure Digital division) for example on top of the iPhone or a simpler, traditional mobile.

In any case, additional storage will need to be included in future versions of the iPhone, to accommodate the growing needs of users. Applications eat up valuable space and data-intensive functions such as video need to be stored somewhere other than a laptop or desktop computer.

The iPhone will probably be sold at the $199 and $299 price points, which of course is what Apple sells the device for at present.  (No price cuts for you!) Apple, which has never been known for price cuts, will hold the  include more functions in the next iteration of the iPhone as a tacit and unique acknowledgement of the brutal economic recession that’s gripped the world.

These are other relatively significant but anticipated if not announced improvements, such as copy and paste, that’ll be contained in the next version of the iPhone too. Many of the 100 or so enhancements, such as copy and paste, that’ll be included in the third version of the iPhone’s operating system, were announced in February.

Much of Apple’s success with the iPhone in Canada course depends on the price of the data plans that come attached to it. Take for example, the 6GB for $30 a month iPhone promo that Rogers Wireless ran in July of last year to stimulate demand. The promo from Rogers, which created it after being roundly criticized (during a slow news cycle I might add) for not matching AT&T’s unlimited data pricing plan in the United States, was successful by all accounts. (It should be noted 6GB a month, though not technically unlimited, is more data than almost any Canadian wireless user will chew up in a given month even with the iPhone, which doesn’t process data nearly as efficiently as the BlackBerry. But I digress).

The promo, should it be reintroduced by Rogers Wireless as rumoured, will do much to drive incremental demand in Canada as data service costs are still the preeminent concern of prospective wireless device users.

We may get the real meal iPhone deal from Apple on June 8, one way or another, when the WWDC commences in San Francisco.