A Crave [url=http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9739157-1.html?tag=rsspr.6194753&part=rss&subj=news]article[/url] speculates that we should see 3G iPhones for US$400 or less "in a year or two" The article looks at the price declines and power boosts of Apple products over the years.

For example, Crave points out that when the first iMac came out in 1998, it had a 15-inch CRT display, a 233MHz G3 processor, and 32 MB of RAM, all for US$1,300. Now you can pick up an iMac with a 17-inch LCD, a 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a gigabyte of RAM, and a remote control for $1,100. The first iPod came in 5GB and 10GB versions, for $400 and $500 each. They used a monochrome screen and a mechanical wheel, and could display neither photos nor movies. Today, a 30GB iPod can be had for $250, and an 80GB iPod for $350.

"Just six years after the first iPod was released, you can pick up a color, video-playing model with three times the storage for half the price, or eight times the storage for just $100 more than that," notes Crave. Which is why I think those 3G iPhones for under-$400 will arrive within 12 months.

Beyond lower prices, Business 2.0 is already [url=http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/03/magazines/business2/iphone_what_next.biz2/index.htm]looking ahead[/url] to iPhone additions such as a 3G, GPS, games and a video camera. So what else does the magazine foresee for the future (in their vision, on iPhones up to version 5.0):

° Future iPhones might have programs that let you play World of Warcraft or cruise through Second Life.

° Apple's recent patent filings suggest that one day we'll have an iPhone encased in zirconia and another with an iPod-like trackwheel on the back.

° There will be at least one smaller version of the iPhone and one that's much bigger.

Meanwhile, ComputerWorld says the next-generation iPhone, "which could ship early next year in the US, will be provisioned to handle a faster 3G network," such as AT&T's High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), to support download speeds of 400Kbit/sec to 700Kbit/sec.

With a second generation iPhone, Apple is also likely to support QuickTime, giving access to streaming video that will also use more bandwidth that will tend to require a 3G network, Michael King, a Gartner analyst, told ComputerWorld.

Shiv Bakhshi, an analyst at IDC, said that Apple was "wise to have chosen ubiquitous network reach over bandwidth -- a culture of mobile data consumption in the US is only beginning to set in. By the time it takes hold, Apple will be out with 3G iPhones and AT&T will likely roll a 3G HSDPA network across its national footprint." Asked when both will happen, Bakhshi said "in under a year."

I think most of these predictions are safe and on the mark. Of course, exactly when future iPhones might be released is another story. So if you need or want one, might as well buy it now, cause the folks at Apple sure ain't offering any details on a future incarnation of the iPhone.