After letting information leaks about frequencies and prices of future Xeon Penryn, information spread on the web about the future Penryn-based CPU which will power our notebook in a near future. Based on 45nnm engraving and Core architecture those Santa Rosa-compatible processors will use 800MHz FSB, while clock speed should not really increase and top at 2.6GHz, cache memory/core will increase to 3MB. Those CPUs will also embark some SSE optimizations to boost performance especially for multimedia applications; but more importantly it should be less power-consuming giving longer battery life cycles.
Next evolution of Intel mobile platform will come mid-2008, entitled Montevina, it will replace Santa Rosa for high-end notebooks. Montevian will bring a lot of new features as well as support for many technology enhancements. It will be based on 45nm Penryn CPUs featuring 1066MHz FSB. Montevian chipsets will support both DDR2/DDR3 memory as well as DisplayPort and HDMI/HDCP. On the wireless side, a new module codenamed Shirley Peak should bring improvements of 802.11n capabilities (not used so far by Apple), while a module named Echo Peak will bring support WiFi/WiMAX. Last but not least, Montevian will sports the new Cantiga GM/PM northbridge chipsets, and the ICH9M southbridge, letting us expecting for a faster integrated shared memory graphic chipset too.
In the second half of 2008, Intel will offer Low voltage (LV) and ultra-low voltage (ULV) version of Penryn processors, to give integrators processing solutions for smaller devices. In addition, LV and ULV Penryn CPUs will have their die shrink from the 35 squared mm for current Merom LV/ULV CPUs to 22 squared mm.
While information and rumors seem to have slowed down probably to reflect the fact that all agreements regarding carrier selection for the iPhone in Europe have been signed, Vodafone officially complained that the iPhone is not a 3G/3G+ compatible device; almost confirming the potentially 3 carrier winners: O2/Telefonica, T-Mobile and Orange. One could consider this official announcement as a way for the British operator to explain why it will not be an exclusive carrier for the iPhone in many countries in Europe. If this could look like the official explanation, there is another one, not mentioned by Vodafone but which could be the real basis for not being a European iPhone carrier. Vodafone has massively invested in 3G and 3G+ technologies in Europe as they potentially should generate higher benefits, as subscription to those services are rather expensive (mobile video chatting, etc.), and Vodafone would have loved having a iPhone 3G to bundle it with its premium 3G/3G+ offers. In addition virtual carriers are putting high pressure on prices for standard mobile phone technology-based subscription or pre-paid cars offers.
If the iPhone will be a 3G device in the future, it is currently not possible as 3G components are much more power-draining that GPRS/EDGE. It is currently a technical limitation around battery lifetime and heat release.
Dana, one of our longtime valuable readers, sent us a short message spotting interesting points, and illustrating the difference between the USA and European business plans for the iPhone launch:
In writing news reports on what carriers Apple may select for iPhone in the UK , France, etc. etc., there's one angle you haven't written about, but I should think it ought to be of considerable importance to Europe. You Europeans have reasons to enter each other's countries very often, and how are you going to use your iPhones when out of your own country if Apple selects a different carrier for each European nation? Sure, you may be able to use them as mere telephones thanks to roaming, but the iPhone is much more than a telephone and I should imagine that when out of your own countries you will lose all these other functions because they are serveribased. Apple's business model, guaranteeing monopolies to various carriers in individual countries, seems remarkably unsuited to the modern global world.
When looking at mobile phone dominant carriers in Europe, Vodafone and Orange are the sure leaders. However, they used different strategies to expand their offer from their local market to other European countries. Orange used its brand name while Vodafone mostly invested in local carriers, such as SFR in France. So, a French consumer having a SFR contract, can travel in Europe, and it will have preferential price for emitting or receiving calls using local carriers being part of the Vodafone "Alliance", such as Swisscom in Switzerland. The same French consumer with an Orange contract, will use preferentially existing Orange network in Switzerland, or in any other countries where Orange is present as a carrier. In case Orange is not there, it would have signed agreement with local carrier.
Now when looking at the iPhone, the question is quite obvious. Will French or Spanish or German consumers be able to enjoy all features of their iPhones only in their countries, or will they be able to use them via special agreements made between Apple-selected carriers: O2/Telefonica (Spain), Orange (France) and T-Mobile (Germany)? If so, then it would mean that more than 200 millions potential European consumers can travel at least in UK, Spain, France and Germany and enjoy all features of their iPhone. Expanding this hypothesis, it could also mean that consumers having an iPhone with Orange/Telefonica/T-Mobile could use all features in any EU/European countries where one of those carriers is locally present. If so, for sure Vodafone will be strongly impacted if the iPhone is as successful in EU as in USA.
Apple should face it, the iPhone will probably not sale well in Europe if it comes linked to the exclusive carrier and only work locally! Especially taking into account of the existing 3G/3G+ network being much more developed in EU than in USA, not even mentioning the higher coverage of mobile phone networks in EU. For sure Cupertino would have taken those points into account and the business plan for Europe will have to be adapted as the condition of used, otherwise, it might not have the same success than in USA. The Asian iPhone planned for first half of 2008, will most likely have to be the iPhone 2.0 featuring 3G/3G+, and offering it in other countries than Japan will probably be an even more challenging project than in Europe
