It's Official: Apple iPhone Launches June 29 (with video)

After weeks of anticipation, speculation and guesses good and bad, Apple (AAPL) tonight confirmed the launch date of the iPhone: Friday, June 29.

The news came in a series of three TV ads aired Sunday night and posted shortly after on Apple's website here. The first ones aired at 7 p.m. ET, according to several sources, one before the broadcast of 60 Minutes on CBS, and another just before the 7 p.m. broadcast of 7th Heaven.

Each demonstrates a selection of the iPhone's functions and ends with the words "Only on the new AT&T," the Apple logo, and the tagline: "Coming June 29."

The ads are straightforward and ungimmicky, except perhaps for "Calimari" (see below) ,which jumps from watching the giant squid scene in Pirates of the Caribbean to searching for the nearest seafood restaurant in San Francisco to calling for a reservation. It will be interesting to see if the iPhone -- and the Net -- work as quickly and seamlessly in the real world.

The only news in the ads, besides the launch date, comes in the small print on the AT&T screen. It reads:

"Use requires minimum new two year activation plan."

That should put to rest rumors floated two weeks ago that the iPhone might be offered contract-free, with prepaid and pay-as-you-go options.

Pasted below is the YouTube version of the Calimari ad:

Comments

[lacie]

IM THE FIRST!

[Roy]

Ummm, hate to break it to you PED, but the 2 year requirement was announced way back in January. Where have you been?

[C.Diddy]

I can hear the apple fanboys running to gather up their allowance money now. Now you have an extra week to save up, considering it was rumored that the release would be June 20th.

[Jo Keisonyou]

"Ummm, hate to break it to you PED, but the 2 year requirement was announced way back in January. Where have you been?"

And your point is? Who cares!

[Mike]

This phone is nothing more but a nice interface into existing technology. Other than that there is little new in it. Plenty of other phone in Japan and Europe can do just as much if not more than the iPhone. Here in the US the new Helio Ocean is just as good of a phone if not better and it supports G3!

[Philip Elmer-DeWitt]

Roy writes: "Ummm, hate to break it to you PED, but the 2 year requirement was announced way back in January. Where have you been?"

ex ped: You must have missed the reports that the iPhone might be sold with prepaid and pay-as-you-go options. Item updated to clarify why the line about the two-year minimum activation plan might be considered news.

[palex9]

the phone is neat. but at&t is not known for out-of-the-box thinking. my guess is that there WILL NOT be a special unlimited iphone data plan. and for me, that would be an immediate deal breaker. i only pay $15 a month for unlimited data with sprint. the pda phone i have lets me do just about anything the iphone can, plus more, like watch tv via my slingbox. so besides the apple lemming-army, i wonder how many business users will go with apple. remember, no replaceable battery, among some other limitations...

[Asher Pat]

palex9 - i read you and weep. but the army of iLemmings is big and growing every day.

I have nausea from the Apple sucking by the media (Walt Mossberg is a chief Apple missionery, only uses the "cool and unbiased" method, for example) but the public is buying into it and if I had to put my money, I wud bet that Apple will be able to sell the 10mil no problem.

[Brad Schultz]

The iPhone is slow and on AT&T's unreliable network, and cost $500 to $600... Ouch. The Blacberry 8830 does everything the iphone does, is much better, has full qwerty keyboard, less money and is EvDO....!!!!

[Rolo H]

I'm glad the phone is coming out. I'm not a Mac or Apple fan. I can't phathom the idea of tying my self down for two years of pay as you go data plan from AT&T for the phone. Does anyone know if the Helio Ocean will work on any other network. I think the Ocean is a much better fit for me, but I'd like to use it in the Verizon Wireless network.

[travis d.]

i saw the ad's between 5:30-7pm pst while watching the yankee's vs red sox game, yankee's won thank goodness. i want the phone, but i'll wait for 2nd generation and some of any potential bugs / problems to be worked out, or additional features to be added / streamlined.

[travis d.]

sorry, one more note, i don't understand why people are complaining about the price. if you buy a descent ipod you spend $200-300, correct? then you buy a separate smart phone, another $200-300, correct? so, here you get both in one item with more features, for the same price as the separate items together. no one is saying the iphone is the best phone out there, it's just another option for people to choose from - competition is good remember? and a 2 year plan, last i checked, most cell companies require a 1-2 year plan for any service. unless you do pay as you go and that's a small market. and stop mentioning phones in japan & europe, we all know they have better phones, but we live in America. if you love the japanese phones so much, move to japan and shut-up! this phone is not for the international business person, not trying to compete with a crackberry. even steve jobs has low selling expectations the first year. i'm not an apple apologist, i don't own any apple products, not even an ipod, but people need to get off their back and stop being so judgemental. never seen a bigger bunch of people rooting for a companies doom and filled with jealousy - grow up. every product has limitations.

[Woods]

Travis D a few corrections. The iphone will not even have enough capacity to compare to the ipod. So you are comparing a lemon to a grapefruit. In addition, smart phones already have mp3 playing functions (with expandable memory), 1 - 2 MP cameras, video recording and playback, and web browsing (albeit not as good as the iphone). So the iphone is still too much money when you look at it. If the only and I repeat the only advantage is the ability to browse the web like you would on a computer (without screen limitations), then that is what you are paying a premium for. If so, how many people actually browse the web on an EDGE network. I have tried, it sucks. Look at the adoption of those services, and you will see the truth. Majority of data revenues from telcos come from SMS not browsing.

[mike cross]

Can't wait to walk into Starbucks with the new i phone. Total chick magnet!!

[travis d.]

Woods... good points, thanks for the knowledge. That's why I'll wait 1-2 generations, hopefully they'll boost the memory and add/streamline other features (and look around at other devices, i just want the best i can get for my money w/o having re-buy 1-2 years later).

[jack dowland]

i heard from a bay area insider that the reason for the delayed launch is because the phone is "not ready for prime time" and will be just the next apple failure- ala that poorly thought out tv experiment, et al.

i'd wait till the day after the launch and short the f out of APPL.

[Dealmaker]

I don't care how the Iphone does considering Apple's stock has already made me rich in 5 months. Thanks for the hype tech nerds...

[Woods]

Travis D. Apple's entry into the phone industry is great. But you said correctly, wait 1 - 2 years for Apple to get it right, and also for the competitions feathers to get ruffled and wake up. Then you will see what the industry truly has to offer. Let the cool kids get the first generation and let the informed purchasers get it later. That is why Apple and at&t are being conservative with the numbers.

Plus do not think Verizon will lay on its butt too long. Helio or the the Ocean manufacturer (I think it is Pantech) will be a valuable partner.The Ocean is just as good in my opinion as the iphone. No touch screen, but the Ocean makes uses of all the front realestate on the phone for the screen (so there is no advantage to the iPhone). That is my prediction.

[mike cross]

This iphone is going to make me sexy as hell. I'm gonna walk into Starbucks wearin my 4 inch stilettos and Gucci handbag. Order my Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino and then whip out the iphone. Oh baby!

[mark]

Too much hype...my opinion is to sell, that is right...SELL yahoo short.

[cindy]

SELL AAPL...too much about nothing

[saud]

I don't get why everyone's still complaining about price and such; if you can't afford it, don't get it. For what it is, it's not a bad price. Let's also consider the fact that it's made by Apple, a pretty reliable company in terms of quality ( I use windows). I have the blackjack but will be using my upgrade to get the iphone because I have been looking forward to it. Really, you aren't paying 500-600 dollars for what's in it, moreso, you're paying for the coolness-factor. But I think 600 for that technology isn't too bad. Sure I could get an 8 gig micro sd card for my blackjack and headphones, but it's not going to be of the same quality as the Iphone. Also, I don't get the big deal about the 3g; I'm a 19 year old college student that doesn't use mobile web much, other than to check scores. I don't think this is being marketed at business users for this reason.

[iphone]

yes finally iphone launches. Who will bet it will sell over 10 millions?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A50yjVBfD2I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3bvwuASJhE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsIfo2yCnmE

[newtype]

To the iPhone Detractors:

1. "EDGE is SOOO slow" - Hello! The iPhone also has WiFi. How many smartphones out there have WiFi?

2. Count how many taps it takes to go from starting up the phone, viewing a movie, searching google maps, and calling the restaurant (aside from typing in "seafood"). That's right. It take just 8 taps. Try counting how many taps it takes to perform the same action on a Treo. That's right. More than 20. If you don't understand the idiocy of the latter method, you deserve your phone.

3. People buy iPods to listen to music because the experience is so good. Most people don't use the music feature on their phones because the experience is so bad. If you don't think this is significant, then I have a big manuscript I'd like you to copy by hand, just like the Gregorian monks used to do.

4. It's funny how so many of you are trying so hard to convince some of us how the iPhone sucks already WITHOUT HAVING EVEN TOUCHED ONE IN PERSON. It's like someone who talks trash about the Yankees having never even seen a baseball game. Trust me - continue with your "convincing" arguments about how the iPhone is overpriced, underfeatured, and slow - it's quite a funny show!

[Woods]

Newtype no one is taking anything away from the iPhone. It is welcomed because it will make all phones better and cheaper. The fact is that it is overpriced, and believe me not saying that because I can't afford it. Dollar for dollar, you are over paying. And I am not talking about other smart phones. Look at the Helio or even the SonyEricsson, look at what you get for the price, and do a side by side with the iPhone, then you will get what everyone is talking about.

And your other points.
(1) EDGE is a concern because although they talk about it having WiFi, there is no Cingular or at&t plan to let you use WiFi hot spots. Chances are you pay for it at Hotspots. And if you are at home and you have WiFi, well guess what you probably have a computer there as well, so no need for the iPhone.

(2)The number of taps to get to music on a treo. Still not comparing apples to apples. A treo is a crappy business device that plays music and video. As I said earlier compare that argument to the Helio Ocean or Sony Ericsson and then you have a point.

(3)Not sure what you mean by your witty comment, but the sound quality is the same for all devices. If not the same codec, then the same lossy factor, the only difference is in your headphones.

(4)No one is saying it sucks again. It looks cool, very cool. The only fact is that it is over hyped for what it offers. Fact of the matter is that if it was not an Apple, there would not be half this much excitement.

Apple has the cool factor that noone can match, and that is what people are buying, the cool factor. The phone, iPod heck all their stuff looks cool, and the quality is good too. But from a pure engineering and tech dollar for dollar breakdown, it is overpriced. Think of the first gen iPod, would you pay the same price for it now.

[ali]

how much is the apple phone going to cost

ex ped: $499 or $599 depending on how much memory comes built-in. --Philip Elmer-DeWitt

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