AT&T announced today that it will begin offering the Apple iPhone 3G S on June 19th. People will be able to preorder them starting today at 5pm ET.
“iPhone 3G S is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, and we’re extremely proud to offer it to our customers on the nation’s fastest 3G network,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “We’re also pleased to offer these innovative phones and plans at incredible values, including free Wi-Fi access at nearly 20,000 hot spots.” Pricing is as follows:
– iPhone 3G S will cost $199 (16GB) and $299 (32GB) for new and qualifying customers.
– iPhone 3G will cost $99 (8GB) for new and qualifying customers.
– The 16 GB iPhone 3G will be available for $149 while supplies last.
The prices come with a two-year contract and approved voice and data plan. There are other options to purchase one without the contract.
Given the iPhone’s already huge popularity, we can probably expect to see plenty more users now. With this in mind, it seems like as good of time as any to consider what this means for businesses.
At Search Engine Strategies New York this past March, we learned that 75% of mobile search is done on iPhones. Around that time, we also learned that smartphone usage continues to grow despite even the economic downturn. Clearly the iPhone is the top dog (as illustrated in these charts from AdMob):
The mobile web is growing, and Nielsen recently found that iPhone users are:
– more than 4 times as likely as a typical subscriber to use mobile Internet
– 6 times as likely to use mobile apps
– 6 times as likely to consumer mobile video
New apps are frequently created for the iPhone making it all the more appealing to consumers. There are also plenty of these apps that businesses can use in a variety of capacities. For example, Google recently announced a businesses layer for Google Earth on the iPhone.
Don’t overlook the iPhone in your analytics efforts either. Earlier this year, Google added an advanced segment to Google Analytics looking at visits to your site coming from iPhones.
AT&T notes that small business customers may qualify for AT&T BusinessTalk, a share d minute plan where companies can share up to 20,000 minutes per month between as many as 40 employees. Apparently some businesses are even eligible for discounts.
