iPhone 3GS set for UAE launch in August

Apple's next generation iPhone 3GS, which was unveiled in the US yesterday, will be on sale officially in the UAE in August.

According to market sources, the new iPhone would hit the market by August but the local franchisee etisalat did not confirm the details on the time frame.

Meanwhile, Apple has halved the price of its entry-level iPhone to $99 (Dh364) to widen the trendy device's mass-market appeal, as global competition heats up after Palm launched the Pre.

The $99 iPhone will cost half as much as the $199 Pre. By slashing the price of the 8-gigabyte iPhone and rolling models out this month, Apple's strategy appeared designed to take advantage of the Pre's limited availability.

The grey market which took a lead in getting the earlier version of the iPhone to the UAE consumer has still not received stocks on the latest version. A Dubai-based reseller from Computer Street confirmed the phone would be available in one month. The iPhone 3G from the grey market is available for Dh2,900 and Dh2,500 for the 16GB and 8GB respectively.

Apple also cut prices on several of its Mac notebooks amid a tooth-and-nail battle among computer makers for buyers during the recession.

And to shore up its hold on the smartphone market, it unveiled a new, faster, high-end iPhone that takes videos and has voice features, matching offerings by rivals Palm and Research in Motion's BlackBerry. Analysts said sales could double for the cheapest iPhone.

Chief Executive Steve Jobs, on medical leave since January, did not put in a much speculated-about appearance. The next-generation iPhone 3GS – the "S" stands for speed, double that of the original model – goes on sale in the United States, Germany and elsewhere on June 19 for $199 to $299.

"They plugged the hole in the offering of the 3G iPhone," Gartner analyst Van Baker said, referring to the new features. A rambunctious crowd livened up Apple's Worldwide Developers' Conference in San Francisco, applauding as executives unveiled everything from a cheaper Mac Air notebook to a new operating system. Shares in Apple closed 0.6 per cent down at $143.85 as investors debated the merits of the iPhone price cut.

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