A new report from investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts that Apple’s 2008 releases will include a 3G iPhone and a modified Apple TV. According to AppleInsider, the research report was written by Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey and was based on information obtained from component suppliers in Asia.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson have indicated that a 3G iPhone is planned for release next year, although there has been no formal announcement. The second-generation iPhone is currently being designed, the Goldman Sachs report said, and will have a form factor similar to the current model.
‘Pent-Up Demand’
The impact of the iPhone’s highly successful U.S. launch in June, and the iPod’s position as the leading portable media player, has reignited media curiosity about what Apple has coming up. Similar reports are likely to increase in the run-up to the annual MacWorld show, which has been a launch pad for earlier Apple products.
Bailey is quoted as saying that the new iPhone will debut in the second half of 2008, but that a smaller upgrade with more flash memory is expected earlier in the year. Some observers have speculated that a 3G iPhone will be announced at the MacWorld conference in January.
Although the iPhone’s recent launch in Europe was “pretty good,” according to IDC analyst Chris Hazelton, it wasn’t as boffo as the reception in the U.S. One factor noted by Hazelton is that there are several competing 3G smartphones in that market, so the device wasn’t perceived as being as unique there as here.
He said that there is “pent-up demand” from some potential customers in the U.S. and elsewhere who are waiting for a second-generation version of the iPhone, with 3G.
Flash Laptop?
Bailey’s report also said that Apple not only will modify its Apple TV to include an…