The phone is now available in 86 countries

End of suspense. Apple has opened in beauty the annual Conference of its application developers, yesterday in San Francisco, featuring a faster and more powerful multifunction iPhone phone version. At the same time, the mark Apple announced a division by 2 of the price of the previous model. In the absence of its charismatic boss, Steve Jobs, in sick since January, is his Vice President Phil Schiller, he returned to reveal the characteristics of the new device.

The new iPhone 3Gs the "s" meaning "speed" (speed) is equipped with an auto-focus camera with video function, enhanced autonomy battery and especially a very enhanced navigation speed. A newspaper page appears and almost 3 times faster than with the model launched last July. This third version of the iPhone will be sold from June 19 in the United States and in several European countries, including the France, the Canada in 16 and 32 GB versions. The output is scheduled in 80 other countries "in the weeks to come". In the United States, the new aircraft will be marketed at a price ranging from $ 199 at 299.

Moreover, the current iPhone 3 G, huge global success, sees its price drop as early as Monday to 99 $ for its version of basic (8 GB), a blow hard for phones multifunction competitors, in particular the Pre, marketed by Palm since Saturday, including the price of 199 $ had stalled on the iPhone.

Therefore, Apple did not disappoint his fans. Never a phone had as much talk about him. The iPhone is a star which is already sold more than 23 million copies worldwide. Its first generation was launched in June 2007 in the United States. The second version, running on mobile broadband 3 G, has been marketed in the summer 2008. The phone is now available in 86 countries.

In the first quarter, Apple was third in the world of the manufacturers of "smartphones", these smart phones to access the Internet. Behind Nokia and RIM (the manufacturer of the BlackBerry), its market share has doubled in the space of a year to exceed the 10 of this market segment, according to the Gartner Institute. Therefore, from the top of the market the most cost-effective and only currently grow that Apple has attacked the mobile market. The United States are of course the first market to Apple: ATT sold more than 7 million copies in a little less than two years. In the first quarter of 2009, Apple was the clear number two of "smartphones", with 19.5 of the market according to IDC, behind RIM (55.3).

But Europe is not at rest. On the old Continent, the France has become the second country of Apple, behind Great Britain, but before the Germany widely. While T-Mobile sold "that" 330,000 iPhone between November 2007 and December 2008, Orange marketed in more than 800,000 on the period.

SFR breathes

In France, only one country in the world in which the iPhone is sold by three mobile operators since the justice broke the exclusivity between Orange Apple, about 1.2 million of these phones to all found licensee since late 2007. "It began to be hard without the iPhone," says an officer of SFR. And for good reason: the turnover of the mobile activity of Orange in France rose by 7.4 on the first three months of the year, with the iPhone. While sales of SFR were stable in the first quarter... in the absence of the iPhone.

But, since there the toy of Steve Jobs in boutiques, SFR breathe: the iPhone is part of its best sales with 159.000 units since April 8... Sometimes taken lightly by the historical heavy weight of the mobile, the arrival of the iPhone has changed the market: it launched the tendency of the terminal screen touch and testified of ease of use ever. With the arrival of the iPhone 3 G less than a year ago, Apple has also created another revolution: the mobile multimedia. More than 1 billion small applications (video games, news,...) have been downloaded from its store App Store, that everyone (manufacturers and operators) is now seeking to imitate.