Apple, AT&T Plan to Sell iPhone

By NICK WINGFIELD and DIONNE SEARCEYNovember 29, 2007 4:35 p.m.
Apple Inc. and AT&T Inc. plan to begin selling a version of the iPhone next year that operates on a wireless network for surfing the Internet at fast speeds.
AT&T Chief executive Randall Stephenson said Wednesday at an event at the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, Calif., that consumers could expect an iPhone that works on "3G" wireless networks sometime in 2008. Such a product would address one of the major shortcomings of the iPhone, the Apple-made cellular phone for which AT&T is the exclusive wireless distributor in the U.S.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr. Stephenson's statement, but Apple CEO Steve Jobs has previously suggested a 3G iPhone could be available next year as the underlying technologies that enable compatibility with the fast network become more practical. Mr. Jobs has said that the current generation of 3G chips drain battery power too quickly but that new ones will eventually overcome that problem.
The iPhone comes with a number of innovative features including a touch-sensitive screen and a more capable Web browser than is typically found on cellular phones. But the device currently works on AT&T's slow EDGE network in the U.S., which limits users to browsing the Web at speeds comparable to dial-up Internet connections.
Write to Nick Wingfield at nick.wingfield@wsj.com and Dionne Searcey at dionne.searcey@wsj.com