Apple Sub-Notebook in Jan, 3G iPhone in May/June?

CNBC's Jim Goldman predicted yesterday that the rumored Apple sub-notebook has already gone into production and will be "unveiled" in January, 2007 at an Apple conference and the 3G version of the iPhone can be expected by mid-year.

Rumors claim this super-portable will use flash memory for storage, instead of a hard disk, and sport a 12- or 13.5-inch screen, making it extremely thin, and lightweight. Speculation is round half-an-inch, under 2 pounds, and a price of under $1,500. Here's Goldman's video.

The most widespread criticism of Apple's iPhone has been reliance on the slow AT&T EDGE network, rather than HSDPA.

HSDPA Frequencies Confuse Roaming Picture

It seemed as if the confusion over traveling internationally, or purchasing a GSM phone, had been sorted out: Get a quad-band GSM phone and you'll be set most anywhere in the world that has cellular coverage.

Enter HSDPA (for High speed data packet access). HSDPA otherwise referred to as UMTS, is the high-speed data access technology, often called 3G, most widely used by GSM carriers.

Problem is HSDPA works on different frequencies. So, you can buy a tri- and quad-band GMS phone, only to find it's high-speed data for browsing works only in one region. Now, you'd actually need a phone with ten bands (deca-band?) to cover voice and data everywhere.