Apple's iPhone

[eversio11]

http://www.apple.com/iphone

I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about Apple's latest 'revolutionary' product, but I'm going to have to give it my optimistic bill of approval. Jobs' keynote firstly compared the product to other smartphones like the Blackberry and Treo. This is brilliant marketing, instead of targeting the 16-20 year old cell phone target, they're going for the older and more professional age group (the kind that can shell out $600 for a 'smart' phone). That's not to say 16 year olds won't be carrying these around in high school next fall, but a majority of the sales will be in a slightly older age group.

The most interesting part of this phone is the OS X platform. Jobs promises desktop class programs and performance from this, in something no larger than some of the smallest phones out there. This has amazing developmental potential, and is the only logical step forward in advanced cell phone production. Along with this is the ability to use the Safari web browser, fully featured and viewing entire websites (not just WAP shit). From the demonstration this looks like it has been implented well into a 3.5 inch screen, but I'll have to try it myself to see if it really works. I also like the email integration, Apple promises full pop3 and imap support (pretty much all the major email providers, AOL, Yahoo, etc) complete with rich text and inline photos. A very nice touch.

The 8 gb capacity for the iPod is decent, but after photos and other programs I'm sure it will be more like 6 gb. This is not even a 1/6 of my music collection (not to mention video concerts) but 6 gb should be enough for some of my favorite and most recent music acquistions. Needless to say, a lot of users will be constantly removing and adding music to their collection, which sounds like one of few frustrations with this product. If you already have a 20+ gb iPod, you'll almost certainly won't be replacing it with this phone. I do however like the new UI for scrolling through music, it seems about 90% easier and intuitive.

If I do buy one of these, it will be mostly for the great phone features. The most interesting thing I found was the random access voicemail. Now instead of sitting through some stupid voice saying 'First.. unheard message.. sent.. TODAY.. AT.. SEVEN.. FORTY THREE.. PM........', you have direct access to any voicemail in your box by simply touching it on screen. This is probably the best feature of the entire phone, although the hold and conference setup
seem really great, too. The contacts page is pretty nice, too. You have a picture of the person (how many times have you wondered which John that is in your phone?) along with all their numbers and emails on one page.

So why do I think this phone will be revolutionary? It's really the first 'dumb consumer' smart phone with an amazing UI and great integration. It won't be long before we start seeing more entry level smart phones hitting the market, targeted for the standard cell phone user. We've already seen it happen with the enV and Blackjack, those 'extra' features on phones are becoming more and more part of the selling point. Hell, I don't even think it will be long before we see tablet PCs fully featured tablet PCs the size of the iPhone. And this product really is the revolution.

I don't know if I'll be among one of the first buyers of this phone or not, I'll really have to see how well all these features work in reality. $600 is a lot to shell out, but taking in account of everything that you get (remember that POS RAZR launching at $500?) it's not too bad of a deal. I guess it will all depend on reliability and quality of the call in the end. What do you all think?

[BrodyP]

I was so going to post this today you beat me to it.

June 06 I think it hits exclusively to Cingular customers.

[eversio11]

Originally Posted by BrodyP

I was so going to post this today you beat me to it.

June 06 I think it hits exclusively to Cingular customers.

That's the thing, I am a Cingular customer but I just renewed my contract 6 months ago so unless I want to shell out $900 and buy this thing out of contract, I won't be able to have it for at least 18 months. Also, Cingular and AT&T are starting to merge together, and I have absolutely no credibility for AT&T as a company after they sold out our freedom to the government.

[Oz]

Originally Posted by BrodyP

I was so going to post this today you beat me to it.

June 06 I think it hits exclusively to Cingular customers.

2006? Hmm.

I think there will be a new generation of phones with all these features and more - including TV and ~3gb onboard storage. I'm waiting for that generation of phones to get to the $400ish price point before getting one.

[Cl0ak]

I'd buy it for like $299. The touch screen I don't know about though besides i'd scratch the hell out of the thing especially at work.

[BrodyP]

2007!!

Do you guys really think its necessary to have all these features on a telephone?
I can say I have never browsed the web on any of my phones. Maybe if I was using it for business but for everyday use I dont feel the need to carry around a mini pc. I kno the Ipod for me fased out pretty fast, i mean how much music can I listen to. But if this is the new way technology is going then adapting is just a matter of time.

[eversio11]

Originally Posted by BrodyP

2007!!

Do you guys really think its necessary to have all these features on a telephone?
I can say I have never browsed the web on any of my phones. Maybe if I was using it for business but for everyday use I dont feel the need to carry around a mini pc.

That's the whole point, this is revolutionizing the way you view internet on the phone

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by eversio11

That's the whole point, this is revolutionizing the way you view internet on the phone

not really revolutionary, just evolutionary and getting the best press so far. Apple is an awesome marketing company and it looks like they sold you. Apple is going against established big time companys this time, totaly unlike it's big strikes in the past.

Apple started the PC revolution all alone in the market and now has what, a single digit share except in a good year. the Ipod when tied to Itunes was a good call, taking an illegal market with no legitament competion legal by providing the infrastructure and an attractive price point.

this time Apple is moving into one of the most cut throat industries out there and the market is saturated. unlike the Ipod, this time they will really have to deliver a marketing program to justify why their product is worth more than the dozens of others on the market and make a decent profit on the limited market share i think they'll capture by over pricing.

they might have a few gimmacks that will differentiate their produt for a couple of weeks before the competition steps in. competion is good, a killer phone from Apple will mean better, cheaper phones for us all.

[TexasF355F1]

I'm really interested to see how the battery life is.

[eversio11]

Originally Posted by ericn1300

not really revolutionary, just evolutionary and getting the best press so far. Apple is an awesome marketing company and it looks like they sold you. Apple is going against established big time companys this time, totaly unlike it's big strikes in the past.

Apple started the PC revolution all alone in the market and now has what, a single digit share except in a good year. the Ipod when tied to Itunes was a good call, taking an illegal market with no legitament competion legal by providing the infrastructure and an attractive price point.

this time Apple is moving into one of the most cut throat industries out there and the market is saturated. unlike the Ipod, this time they will really have to deliver a marketing program to justify why their product is worth more than the dozens of others on the market and make a decent profit on the limited market share i think they'll capture by over pricing.

they might have a few gimmacks that will differentiate their produt for a couple of weeks before the competition steps in. competion is good, a killer phone from Apple will mean better, cheaper phones for us all.

Did you not bother to read my first post? We practically agree.

This phone is entering a market that is indeed saturated, with un-userfriendly interfaces and complex setup steps. Apple is taking the thinking out of the smart phone and making it more accessible to a younger crowd. They aren't trying to ENTER the smart phone market, they're CHANGING the smart phone market.

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by eversio11

Did you not bother to read my first post? We practically agree.

This phone is entering a market that is indeed saturated, with un-userfriendly interfaces and complex setup steps. Apple is taking the thinking out of the smart phone and making it more accessible to a younger crowd. They aren't trying to ENTER the smart phone market, they're CHANGING the smart phone market.

i don't think making a cell phone more accesible to a younger crowd is a real asset in the market place today, kids already dominate the market. how about the other end of the market, make it more accesibile to the older folks. but then again look at how fast kids like you go thru phones. it will sell to kids of all ages because it's cool, expensive and exclusive and not because it brings any real value to the market.

[capricorn]

From dailytech.com - Apple Sued for Trademark Infringement Over iPhone - http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5673

Apple iPhone = iPWNED?


Everyone knew this move had to be coming. While Apple may have popularized the little "i" with products like iMac, iBook, iPod, iTunes and iLife, the iPhone name has already been taken. Cisco has owned the trademark for iPhone since 2000 when it was purchased from Infogear. Infogear originally filed for the trademark in 1996 (well before Apple jumped into the "i" business). Cisco just recently ushered the name into service with a new line of VoIP devices marketed by Cisco's Linksys division.

Although Apple and Cisco have been in talks for quite some time over the iPhone name, no agreement was ever reached. Nevertheless, Apple boldly decided yesterday to announce the iPhone at MacWorld. Cisco isn't too happy about the move and has filed a lawsuit against Apple, Inc.

"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," said Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel for Cisco. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."

Cisco isn't going down without a fight on this one and it intends to fully protect its line of iPhone products. "Today's iPhone is not tomorrow's iPhone. The potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone and PC is limitless, which is why it is so important for us to protect our brand," said Chandler.

I find this quite interesting...

[BrodyP]

Thats what Apple gets for being a to phones. Good article I'll be sure to mention that to the Mac freaks in the office.

[Toksin]

Asia Pacific region gets it 2008...

So we wait a while.

It's a cool concept, nothing new (except for the UI and it's oh so sexy packaging) but for fucks sake please let it be drag & drop and not have a program like that crapfest iTunes.

[drunken monkey]

I'm not convinced about the need for all of the capabilities in a single handset but i'll say this, I travel a lot and whenever i've had troubles registering on a foreign mobile network, I've always been able to e-mail my way out of any problems. Last minute restaurant, theatre and cinema bookings via my usual online services has been a godsend for a person with my lack of organisation and time keeping skills.

Of the things on my current phone (nokia n73) that I used to think were superflous, I've used:
Mobile internet, camera, video (good enough for recording details of a project site) and this funky bluetooth "radar" locator to find friends in a crowd....
(still haven't felt the need to transfer pdf, flash or my existing .rm files though)

Of course, that doesn't really have any relevance to the iPhone of which the main selling point is the UI. I've not seen it in action but right now, I'm not convinced by the touch screen. However, the basic concept; that is an iPod with a phone (instead of a Phone with an mp3 player) is very attractive. It does seem a bit big though....