Odds still favor new iPhone at WWDC 2009

The wait is almost over: Later today, Apple will commence its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, ending months of speculation over whether or not the computing giant will introduce a new, updated iPhone. Media and analyst forecasts still argue both sides of the debate, but most of the buzz still favors a new iPhone, with longtime Silicon Valley insider John Gruber writing [1] on his Daring Fireball blog that the device will arrive with the codename iPhone 3GS and will offer significantly faster processors, twice the RAM and twice the storage, and a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in battery life, along with a video camera and additional features. Gruber expects the iPhone 3GS form factor will be largely unchanged from its predecessor, adding "I assume that the new models must look different--newer, cooler--in some way, but I don't know how."

Gruber also echoed last week's Financial Times report [2] stating Apple will introduce a low-cost iPhone priced at $99. "But since I expect the new top-of-the-line iPhone 3GS to start at $199, that means the $99 iPhone must be something else," he writes. "I see two possibilities: (a) a new device, something that is to the iPhone what the iPod Mini was to the original iPod; or (b) the existing 8 GB iPhone 3G, unchanged but reduced in price. I would wager heavily on (b)--that the new iPhone 3GS models will not replace the 3G, but rather assume the flagship position while the year-old 3G slides down to the second spot in the product lineup. I believe Apple will eventually create an iPhone Mini or Nano or Junior--something that is smaller and thinner, in an array of colors but with fewer features and lower tech specs, at lower prices. And when they do, they will promote it heavily in a major play for raw mobile phone market share."

Additional photographs said to depict the iPhone 3GS surfaced over the weekend: The French blog Nowhere Else published [3] images of an all-black, 16GB device.

For more on the WWDC anticipation:
- read this PCWorld article [4]

Related articles:
All signs point to yes for new iPhone [5] in June
What's new and what's missing in iPhone 3.0 [6]