iPhone looks very promising however I find it strange that people are raving about its input interface without ever using it. I believe the single most important feature of a phone is its input interface and thats one of the main reasons the likes of Nokia, RIM are so good. I seriously don’t like the idea of using your finger to control navigation. This is not something very new. Anyone who used a stylus most often then not have used their hands when their stylus has gone missing. Its impossibly hard to click the correct button for those with large fingers. Apple has claimed its so smart that it can detect false touches, however that remains to be seen since no one outside Apple has got to use it. If this input interface doesn’t work then I surely think this will severly affect the uptake of the new phone which looks good in rest of the features.
Digital Hell
· 2 years ago
The battery is definitely a big issue, and a massive problem. Until batteries improve, I don't think we're going to see the mainstrea using cellfones to watch video.
Although the phone is locked to Cingular and GSM, this isn't a massive problem. Unlocking phones isn't hard, and I don't think the iPhone will be any different. Being a GSM device, it'll work in Europe too which has a huge celluar phone market. Won't work in Japan though, but they're already doing way cooler stuff.
ET
· 2 years ago
After living in Japan and using no more than 10 different mobile phones while there, there is no doubt in my mind that the flip phone/clam style phones are the best choice (IMHO). For me there is nothing worse than carrying a big chuck of phone in you pocket.
I hope Apple will come out with a iPod Nano phone or something more sensible...
Guy Pelletier
· 2 years ago
Apple endevor to anything new is usually full of hype then disapointment. I own a Ipod and it does great things for me, however the main reason I got it was to watch and listen during long flights. My battery life is 1 hour after 6 months of use. The service to get it fix is taking it's time. These new gadets from Apple are great in concept but short on functions. By that I mean, we (as a collective group of geeks) are used to a certain level of functionality, anytime a new gadget promises more but takes away from the basics is actually going backwards.
Guy
Ian Muir
· 2 years ago
This device is widescreen, but it's obviously not designed well fo video.
2hr battery + 4GB storage = great for low quality mp3s
I guess it's better than the ROKR.
blogger@wordpress
· 2 years ago
Oh and theres six months to the launch - Where will the market be in June 07?
(It's not so much the iPhone. Give Jobs a tea cup and he can talk it up such that you want to marry it :-))
Byron
· 2 years ago
And yet they will still probably move 10m units. It's like the iPod: No FM radio! It sucks! I can't live without my FM radio feature! CREATIVE already makes three players just like this and THEY have FM radio!
Apple is betting that GPS doesn't matter. Battery life doesn't matter. GSM doesn't matter. User Interface matters. Seriously, how many people go out and spend their own money on a smartphone or a Blackberry?
Anton2000
· 2 years ago
Hey dudes, some times the oldfashioned guys in ole europe have all the fun with the chicks :-)
Speaking of distortion field, have you noticed that Channel 9 is linked over at techmeme in the discussion about how Vista is screwing game developers?
See the actual link : it's a post with one comment.
Hmmm...
Whatever (techmeme) sponsorship buys you.
Shame on Gabe on that one.
And shame on the Redmond lunatics, obviously.
Nick
· 2 years ago
Well, Apple has time to change and enhance their iPhone, perhaps to churn out half a dozen varieties like they did the iPod and Macs. But I tend to agree that chances are good the product will flop. On the other hand, the design will influence the market for years to come.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Stephane: Gabe needs to pay his rent. You got a good way for him to do that?
Chris Norris
· 2 years ago
For some post-revolution perspective, check out this thread at MacRumors that started right after the initial iPod launch (found via xckd).
I've had the same phone since 2003. It's a piece of s**t. Black and white (err, green and black), no camera, can't send text messages, can't really do anything. I've been checking out new phones lately. I want something with a basic camera. I want messaging. I want to be able to check bloglines and my email from it. I'd like to be able to write blog posts and email pics from it. I wanted to get it soon, but I'll tell you what:
I'm willing to wait until the summer to see how this thing stacks up now. My only big hesitation is that if I get the 1st gen one, a better one will be out in 6 months.
Joseph Scott
· 2 years ago
I'm curious where you got this:
Battery is only two hours ... (if you play video)
The iPhone specs indicate something completely different:
Battery: Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing
Granted that may not be the best battery life around, but it way above your two hours number.
Ben Hwang
· 2 years ago
Actually, the fact that it's GSM means that if you have accessibility to the sim card, then you can change it out for any other carrier. Being such, that means that it does support most of Europe since Ericsson is actually the biggest infrastructure builder in the world and happens to be a GSM vendor.
The biggest issue will be Asia where there's smaller GSM carriers, but mainly they're CDMA/SCDMA.
North America's biggest carrier is still Cingular so it's not too surprising why they launched there.
Stephane Rodriguez
· 2 years ago
"Gabe needs to pay his rent. You got a good way for him to do that?"
I guess having an ad block has nothing to do with screwing algorithms so that sponsors are given gratuitous links. Those ad blocks don't decrease the value of the service. But gratuitous links in the main conversations do.
Also, it will be of interest to follow whether Microsoft buys their way in the "conversation" (or lack of) for another month. That'd be ridiculous and quite telling for a company that should instead be talked about by others.
Mujibur
· 2 years ago
OK, this is going to go down just like the CmdrTaco post about the original iPod: "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
You have no freaking clue. The signifigance of this device goes far, far beyond battery life or whether it's 3G or not.
Oh, and BTW you earlier claimed all the products you had predicted earlier this year were released at some point. Where is the Apple tablet Scoble?
You, just like your former employer, has little clue how to make great technology for regular everyday consumers. Oh and BTW, it looks most of Wall Street disagrees with you.
Idiot.
Simon Brocklehurst
· 2 years ago
You know - what really amazes me, is that even after seeing the demo of the iPhone, so many people still don't get it.
More on my blog entry, "It's The Gestures, Stupid" @
Pretty shocking. Of course, the iPhone isn't perfect. But do you think Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft/HTC are going pick up the ball and run with it from here? I doubt it. As someone said to me today, if these guys "got it", they'd have already done what Apple just did with the iPhone.
If Apple fixes the mistakes they've made with iPhone, they're going to make one almighty dent in this market.
Rick Blaiklock
· 2 years ago
What I want is the iPhone minus the phone - i.e., the next gen iPod with the full screen etc.
My phone, with it's archaic fixed button interface, strangely enough does allow me to make phone calls and it doesn't need to be recharged every night.
Mujibur
· 2 years ago
Oh and BTW, not having a blog sure hurt Apple this go round, didn't it.
You don't hold yourself accountable for the crap that you consistently spew. It's lame. You continue to lose credibility.
Look at Gartenberg's comment that it's unfair to compare Macworld and CES! You did that very thing last year.. and oh by the way, you came on the afternoon of the very last day while people were packing up their booths.
You have zero credibility outside of Microsoft technologies. All this blog is a vehicle that companies use to reach people. You have little insight anymore now that you don't have access to Microsoft.
Marko
· 2 years ago
The only public information -- the keynote slides -- say that the device gets 5 hours of battery life playing video. If you directly contradict this Apple-provided information, shouldn't there be, you know, proof?
Jonquil
· 2 years ago
Apparently Apple required extensions to the GSM network's services -- things like the ability to show on the phone who voicemails are from are not standard. That's why it's locked in to Cingular, because nobody would commit to adding services unless they got a benefit in return, in this case exclusivity.
kirk
· 2 years ago
Hey Scoble, do you have anything to backup your 2 hour battery life claim? I'm thinking you must have access to a prototype or something, because the official word is 5 hours for playing video.
Also, I'm trying to track down confirmation that the iPhone will be a closed system. That just doesn't make sense. As far as I know Apple hasn't addressed that issue, so everything we're hearing right now is just speculation.
Andrew
· 2 years ago
> It’s Cingular only and GSM. That automatically > keeps more than half of Americans from considering > this and for the rest of the world? They are > laughing about the iPhone now
I don't understand this comment about GSM and the rest of the world. GSM is by far and away the most predominant cell phone standard in the world, the last statistic I saw said something like over 80% of all cell phone subscribers in the world use GSM. As for America, the USA is the 4th largest single-country market of GSM subscribers, behind China, Russia and India (where GSM phones apparently outsell bicycles!).
Are you seriously suggesting that Apple should have picked one of the other cell phone technologies for their iPhone? Why on earth would they have done that?
Habanero
· 2 years ago
Mujibur@17.. what's up with name calling? :P
Brian Lutz
· 2 years ago
I suspect that Apple will still manage to sell a few million of these to the "buy two of anything with an Apple logo on it" crowd, and a couple million more people will buy one as a fashion accessory. Beyond that, it becomes a bit of a harder sell...
Michael Markman
· 2 years ago
I've been having lots of IMs and emails with folks who are going through the same sense of let down and raising the same sorts of questions about iPhone gotchas.
No tactile feedback, battery life, singular, a Steve-perfect closed environment not open to third-party apps, protection for the screen, yada-yada the blogosphere is swimming in them.
But I'm still jonesing for it. Or at least I want to touch one.
The other thing to bear in mind is that with the work Steve showed yesterday, Apple has kicked open a doorway to a very rich treasure room.
The U-I work and much of the HW and SW development can apply to a whole range of devices: a real video iPod with a hard drive and a bigger battery... a tablet computer... touch-screen control panels for home automation. A really cool universal remote for your home theatre.
Work on gesture rich U-I has been going on for a long time in a lot of places. Apple may be at the head of the parade to commercialize it, regardless of how the first iPhone fares.
Comic Strip Blogger
· 2 years ago
I don't understand: why Steve Jobs claims that WITHOUT TACTILE FEEDBACK typing on touch screen will be better than in phones with QWERTY keyboard? This is white lie. Number one lie of iPhone.
Brett Nordquist
· 2 years ago
Paul's list is valid, especially the part of tactile feel of the buttons. Sure my Treo 650 isn't nearly as sexy. But sexy wears off in a few days and productivity and ease of use are what I care about long term. Smart Phones are already too complex for many people. The iPhone must do more than my current phone and be easier to use. If it only does one of those, it's not for me regardless of price or carrier. I'll wait to pass judgment until I can play with one. But right now it seems like Jobs told me about a lot of stuff I can do with the iPhone but I'm not sure any of it makes my life any easier. Photos and video are cool but take a backseat to phone and email/SMS.
Scott Mace
· 2 years ago
Robert, yesterday I posted some concerns about calendar sharing with an iPhone:
What’s going on here? Read the features list right: battery life is FIVE hours. And 8 Gigs are a lot of storage since more storage would result in a much bigger device. in europe very few are using utms so gsm is the right choice. give them a chance - it’s great device!
Hypertime McMultiverse
· 2 years ago
Nothing beats this quote from APC.com:
"Do I want one of these? You bet! Is it one of the most technologically advanced phones on the market? Absolutely. Do we live in a perfect world? Of course not. Do I wish Apple had reconsidered a few aspects of the iPhone to make it even better? Yep."
That pretty much sums it up. Scoble, I will make my first comment on your blog in June with my new iPhone.
John Gibson
· 2 years ago
Matthias, how many devices get anywhere ner the stated battery time? That is the theoretical limit and I'm sure it's calcualted in a non real usage way, i.e. w/all radios off etc...
If it get 60% the battery life claimed, I'll be shocked.
John Gibson
· 2 years ago
The deal killer for me is the lack of a removable battery. I.e. the inability to carry a spare battery to swap in when you run down the primary battery.
If one is a heavy user of the multimedia or internet functionality of the device the option to be able to swap batteries is a requirement.
Andrew Kimpton
· 2 years ago
Re point (7) - Cingular only might seem like it keeps the rest of the world away - but that's just a carrier choice.
Now if this device had been CDMA only that would truly have kept the rest of the world away. Instead of facing 'just' a problem of production ramp-up and carrier negotiations Apple would have also needed to design, test and 'fit' an entirely new radio module into the device.
Palm is perhaps the only other smartphone vendor out there to have tried it, and frankly I don't think it's worked out so well for them.
Alex
· 2 years ago
The question on my mind isn't "what did Apple get wrong?"... my question is "How do they get it so right, every time?"... I think a lot of it has to do with the Steve Jobs factor - the aggressive, "we don't take no for an answer" attitude, that seems to be missing from the "team and consensus building" that appears more common at places like Microsoft. I did a post the other day on this very topic... http://www.thealexblog.com/2007/01/09/iphone-vi...
Michael
· 2 years ago
Forest. Trees.
BTW, you totally got the battery life wrong.
Lee
· 2 years ago
I was thinking about the smudging you would make to the screen with your fingers.
Lance
· 2 years ago
The other carries such as LG, HTC, NOKIA...do get ...apple is not the only innovator..checkout the following links:
No 3rd party development? That sucks hardcore (at least for me). One of my favorite things to show people when I have VS.Net running is the PocketPC/SmartPhone emulator for developing software. Nice thing about being a developer is that if I want a tool that doesn't exist, I make one, and trust me when I say you can do some really cool things when you start thinking of little conveniences that can be thrown together in a few hours. And the more people who have that ability means that more people who don't code can benefit from them as well (contrast with Xbox/XNA Express)
colin
· 2 years ago
It's pants - it's just a PocketPC with a better interface and lower spec radio, though the UI and the fanboy following will likely be enough to sell quite a few. My teenage sons have had pocket pcs for 2+ years giving them a phone, music player (now with stereo bluetooth), note taker, games machine, internet access, etc all in one.
However, that just means that Microsoft should be ashamed that it's had all this for 2+ years but but didn't pitch to consumers (just focusing on business) - though it's likely that price had something to do with that.
Mariano
· 2 years ago
Scoble, i see your heart is still a bit on MSFT side... Overall the phone is an amazing upgrade to existing handset technologies, specially in terms of software; sometimes i wonder how phone vendors are so conservative about new features... The battery issue is def a problem, maybe the biggest one, they could have made the battery replaceable so you can always carry a backup, or keep a separate batteries for multimedia apps. GPS would be nice, but it would make the cell a lot bigger... Nokia cells have good features but they are always bulky devices, It is a major issue the size of this iPhone and together with the design i predict this phone will be a huge success all around the world, Why did the V3 RZR succeed? because of its crappy VGA camera? no! because of its nice design and looks. Anyways, who knows what will happen until June.. it they released it today i´ll def buy one, but 6 months its a long time in tech... Scoble, keep the good job, im starting to think about blogging because of you...
Ben
· 2 years ago
As has been pointed out, the rated battery life is 5 hours for video. And let's face it, video is not a mobile device feature that most people use on a regular basis anyway.
"They are laughing about the iPhone now."
What are you on about? You mean they're laughing because it's on Cingular? That's in the US only, and I expect Apple will partner with T-Mobile or 3 in Europe. Or they're laughing because it won't come out until Q4 2007 in Europe? No one is going to catch up with Apple's UI innovations by then.
Portable devices are an engineering compromise and of course you can come up with a list of features which it doesn't have. If it had 3G, GPS, a 5-megapixel camera then the battery life might really be the two hours you seem to imagine it is.
Michael
· 2 years ago
Mujibur -- The CmdTaco reference is exactly what I thought of when I read this post. "No gps. Less megapixels than a Nokia. Lame."
Ben
· 2 years ago
Also Kedrosky's list is pretty silly.
You can't use it while it's in your pocket? Oh no!
It's exclusive to one carrier - this applies to many smartphone launches in the US and beyond.
It's "vaporware" - ie Jobs announced it before the FCC testing process leaked it. Presumably when a vendor like Nokia pre-announces its handsets (which it always does) they are all vaporware too. Does he think there's a serious chance that it's not going to come out, which is what the term implies? At worst Jobs announced a quarter earlier than usual.
PXLated
· 2 years ago
Amazing that people are coming up with lists of negatives when not a single one I've read (in the blogsphere) has even touched the thing. Seems the MSM and analysts that did get a chance to fondle are pretty much positive/enthusiastic. And, they are reaching the minds of real people, not just geeks and bloggers. Reality check...Walk into your local VFW/Legion and they've all heard of the iPhone already today. Ask them about blogs and you'll get a blank stare.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Battery life is five hours ONLY in audio!!!
If you play a video, the battery life goes down to two hours. At least that's what I've been told.
Oh, I'll buy one too. Why? Because I am a gadget freak and want to be the first one on the block to have one.
But, I thought I was an outlier and that no one should listen to people like me who just buy things because Steve Jobs made them.
Rish
· 2 years ago
Robert,
The battery life on the Blackjack sucks too. Infact it sucks enough that Samsung ships the unit with two batteries. However even then I can't live without mine, just because it makes my life easy.
I think the killer app on iPhone other than the phone itself is safari integration. More than videos, I want the ability to browse the web and if I can get decent battery life there, I'll be happy. But again that is a personal preference. Still video watching would be an occasional thing
GPS - With 3G and Google maps, do you really need GPS receiver built into the phone. iPhone is not 3G yet but I am sure by 08 it will be and around that time 3G networks will be fast enough to stream map data live on the phone... with 16GB flash memory caching map data won't be an issue and you can always track location of a phone by using signal strength information from cellphone towers etc...
Cingular + GSM to begin with might not be a bad start - remember Moto Razr, it was exclusive to one carrier when it started out. Now it is everywhere.
Remember this is just V1 and apple already has a strong foundation. The possibilities are endless for a whole new line of phones. The important thing to note here is that Apple has a headstart over everyone else.
Remember iPod in an icon... It is the cool thing to have. For most teenagers and early 20s iPhone will do that too.
Also the Asian market is huge. In the Indian market unlike the US a phone is a status symbol and it is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. In India people don't shy away from spending $400 - $450 on phones every year and this market is growing. For these people this is their primary computer and iPhone does a better job at being a primary computer than other phone out there. Just imagine with a docking station this thing could be hooked up to a large screen display and regular keyboards etc... In India that would be a huge success.
Is iPhone for the enterprise and the business user though - perhaps not but there is a possibility that apple has one in the wraps for the enterprise too. Something that syncs with Outlook, activesync etc and has all the tools business people need. Also with OSX there are lots of exsisting apple shops that could easily build applications for iPhones or port exsisting applications to iPhone
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
When I was in Europe everyone was buying 3G phones. That's innovative. Can this phone do it? No.
Goebbels
· 2 years ago
Reality Distortion Field, indeed.
Jesus. Actually, Jobs bends it, distorts it... this is more like cracking, smashing, completely denying or excluding reality.
Josh
· 2 years ago
Does anybody know if the iPhone's camera will be able to take videos, or just pictures.
PatrickQG
· 2 years ago
"Battery life is five hours ONLY in audio!!!"
Uh? According to the published specs: Battery Up to 5 hoursTalk / Video / Browsing Up to 16 hoursAudio playback
Hypertime McMultiverse
· 2 years ago
“They are laughing about the iPhone now.”
Unfortunately for them, their investors aren't.
Mike A
· 2 years ago
Robert,
Battery life in audio is 16 hrs. Battery life in video/phone is 5 hrs. Please see the official specs again. Standby is unknown, though one can logically deduce that it must exceed 16 hrs by a large margin.
Tomi Itkonen
· 2 years ago
Partly, Apple targets its products to people who value design over technical performance and feature set. To slightly exaggerate, those people want devices which resonate with their shiny new kitchens or earrings.
Another target for Apple is the KISS people. Those want simple, easy-to-use things, with minimum of technical jargon.
So, I predict that iPhone will find its audience from the people above.
And Nokia and others will take notice and instill good bits of iPhone into their products - very rapidly.
It is a mystery why Apple broke the news this early. Why are they showing their cards now; what advantage they are now getting?
Orbit
· 2 years ago
how much is MSFT paying you for these anti apple articles
Stanley
· 2 years ago
"In the BlogHaus last night there were a few “pro Apple folks” who were REALLY disappointed with this. They also pointed out that if you need to text, or email, or blog from your phone that using a touch screen will be very unsatisfactory compared with a Blackberry or a Treo."
Who cares? The point of the iPhone is that it's a staus symbol. It's a status symbol to show how both "rich" and "hip" you are. Functionality isn't the issue here.
LayZ
· 2 years ago
Has ANYONE been able to confirm Scoble's unattributed comment about battery life? Or are we just going let him get away with that like he speaks from a position of authority?
nice research
· 2 years ago
Battery life is 16 hours in audio. 5 hours in video/talk. Haven't seen any numbers on standby.
How hard is this information to come by. Sheesh.
Rob Bazinet
· 2 years ago
I think you are right on Robert, the iPhone is not all what it's cracked up to be. One thing to realize...all of the Apple Zombies will buy it just because they have had the iPhone marketing carrot dangled in front of them for so long now
They hear Apple and they salivate and you will see all the MacBook, iPod toting people with their new sucky iPhones. Just my opinion.
Giving credit to where credit is due, Steve Jobs has done a masterful job of people wanting Apple. Granted, their products are very good but even a mediocre one will sell well.
-Rob
Goebbels
· 2 years ago
"When I was in Europe everyone was buying 3G phones. That’s innovative. Can this phone do it? No."
Uhh, dumb, dumb, dumb... Clearly there can be supply issues and their are definitely carrier relationship issues to be dealt with, but why would Apple delay Europe and Asia launches? Let's see: the U.S. is a mix of CDMA/EVDO (with both Verizon and Sprint being the most controlling of their data services) and GSM/EDGE with the migration to GSM/HSDPA incomplete (UMTS is a non-starter, more or less being bypassed in the states because of our lagging the market)... Europe is essentially GSM/HSDPA now or will be by June... Japan and Korea are CDMA. Moreover, in all markets, the world over WiMax may bypass any of these standards as a 3.5/4G standard.
The iPhone already has 4 antennaes in it: GSM/EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth. Is it supposed to have NINE?!: GSM/EDGE, CDMA/EVDO, GSM/UMTS/HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth.
Or should they (1) launch from the dominant world standard and the most advanced, most available "high speed" data service of their PARTNER -- Cingular, Edge, (2)build off that standard and add HSDPA when they enter Europe, and (3) build a CDMA phone when they enter the Japanese market?
I'd go with the second strategy and its unlikely that its any other way: based on what is supported/available in Europe, Japan, and Korea.
Goebbels
· 2 years ago
"Has ANYONE been able to confirm Scoble’s unattributed comment about battery life?"
LazY, it's been confirmed he pulled it out of his ass and made it up. 5 hours, the same as most Blackberries.
David Geller
· 2 years ago
Robert - in this case I think you're casting your own reality distortion field. The device doesn't yet exist and I'm quite certain you've not yet touched one. There are three of them in existence - according to Jobs. Three. The product is 6 months out. Except for things we know can't change (like adding tactile feedback), everything else is open.
Regarding GSM vs, say, Verizon or Springs 3G... keep in mind that most of the world is GSM. Apple wants to target as large an audience as possible - not just half of North America and parts of Asia. Though, he's already noted that future radio options will come. Also, I've been using a Blackberry (various models, recently the Pearl) on GSM and, frankly, it's fine. Great in fact. Rarely do I even think about slow downloads. Certainly for text email, GSM and EDGE are quite good. And, most of us spend a fair amount of time either in our home and office - where we're likely to have WiFi. So, if that's true, the iPhone has better than 3G speeds most of the time. I've tried using MobilePC phones in mixed WiFi/EDGE environments and found the experience horrible. Apple has a good track record of making WiFi painless, so I'm hopeful this phone will be very different from others before it.
Regarding the camera... I just don't get it. I realize I may be in the minority, but using my cell phone camera for anything other than capturing Bigfoot or the Lochness seems close to pointless. They all, basically, suck. And pixel count means nothing. It's the lens. So, whether it's 1, 2 or 5 Mpixels, it's going to pale in comparison to your average point & click or DSLR. Still, give the iPhone a chance. In June if the camera still sucks, say so - but back it up by having tried it and publishing examples.
The only thing I regret over the last two days is not buying more AAPL.
MRKisThatKid
· 2 years ago
So Apple Inc. should have made it CDMA, just for you Americans and the rest of the world which is GSM can go to hell?
Keith Patrick
· 2 years ago
It's starting to sink in that this thing costs as much as a 60GB Playstation 3.
MGB
· 2 years ago
It says clearly here in the tech specs section that the iPhone has five hours of battery life for Talk/video/browsing and it has 16 hours of battery life for audio playback.
This "two hour only" spec seems to be purely rumor at this point.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Nice: can you give us a URL for battery life? I am going off of what people are telling me here at CES. I will correct my post.
MRK: no, not saying that. The rest of the world is going 3G very quickly. That's what a bleeding edge phone should have. Particularly one that costs $600.
Solo
· 2 years ago
Some notes on my own enthusiasm for the iPhone:
If I don't wind up buying an Apple product, I surely will be buying something that the iPhone makes possible because of its critical redesign of the whole smartphone/pda concept.
The iPhone is going to make voicemail usable. Indexed vm is a great idea.
It will be the successor to ALP/Palm as those guys insist on committing a long, public suicide. Palm OS 4 is as black-belt a productivity/communications tool on a small phone as I could currently wish for.
I want Notes, Contacts, Calendar, To Dos and email in my pocket. I want them to sync reliably with my Mac. Am using a great flip phone, Samsung i500, that had no successor in this country. (Mexico and China got the i550).
The iPhone means that by the time I am ready to change phones I will have a well designed tool. Yes, I am looking for a more "Nano" solution than a bulky brick. No Treo in my jeans pocket, maaan! But probably no iPhone v.1 either.
Larry
· 2 years ago
You cant teather it to your laptop to get broadband Internet access on the go (the biggest reason I use a 3G phone) and no video phone.
Worthless to me.
Patrick Schriner
· 2 years ago
You have to compare this to M$ based PDAs, and imho it blows these devices big time. It actually has a design. It's got huge storage space. It's got a huge display. It's got a serious OS underneath.
Tiny battery? Well I wonder how at all it's possible to fit that much hardware into such small a device. It's a very small device.
Goebbels
· 2 years ago
"Nice: can you give us a URL for battery life? I am going off of what people are telling me here at CES."
Why? Firstly, are you unaware that Apple has a web site? That there are trustworthy sources out there that have had experience with it/interaction with Apple? Why are you just going off innuendo and rumors from people at CES and not doing some real research? It would take you about 5 seconds to find the battery life at the web site, or more easily you could have actually watched the presentation where it was stated.
Why the hell should we trust or care about your opinions if you are just making them up based on crap out of your ass?
Goebbels
· 2 years ago
"You have to compare this to M$ based PDAs, and imho it blows these devices big time."
I would say the MS devices blow the iPhone... oh, sorry, you probably meant to have "away" in there. I agree.
rjmalfalfa
· 2 years ago
seems to me that the author of this blog has a serious and definitive BIAS against Apple products-
sad that he can not embrace all companies that at least try to be forward thinking-
why do i read his rants against apple?? I guess no more for me-
sad cause i really thought this guy was smart-
see ya
cachorfreelance
· 2 years ago
3G support will be included...Cingular and Apple are working on this as we speak. A touchscreen completely changes the game in this space. I think basically everyone who see's it goes into shock. One, a shock where they say wow thats just too much. Or shock that theyre Palm stock dropped 20%. Either way, 200 patents means a lot of royalties. Expect Apple to be VERY aggressive in this area just as they were with iPod. And this is just a V1 product. A friend of mine who got the first looks at Motorola's lineup for the end of 2007 said it just doesnt compare. Not even close.
hugh macleod
· 2 years ago
At this rate we'll be calling it "Newton 2.0" by 2008....
Scott
· 2 years ago
"Nice: can you give us a URL for battery life? I am going off of what people are telling me here at CES. I will correct my post."
While you're there, be sure to look at the Quicktime demos. They give a clear view of the UI in action and shows how muti-touch works using white circles that represent your fingers.
Hugh, saw your hate-filled cartoon... pathetic. Would you like to wager on the success of Newton 2.0?
(It has already added almost 12 billion and trimmed a few billion from it's competitors market cap in two days. Just because Scoble and his buddies that decided to make up features since they are at the lame conference decided to talk it down doesn't mean much. I can point out past successful predictions of Scoble: PMCs beating iPod, iTablet, etc...
Darryl
· 2 years ago
Hey Guys, I just had a great idea. It came to me over the last couple of months as I've read all the speculations and prognostications about how this product sucks, would flop and doesn't deliver. These assumptions all made long before the product has shipped or has been handled by any of these prognosticators. I'm reminded of all the failure predictions of a 5g mp3 player introduced in 2001 at a retail price of $399. The predictions were all the same. Too expensive. Doesn't have an FM tuner, not compatible with Windows, yada yada yada! 80 million units later, with every potential manufacturer clamoring for what crumbs of market share possible to scrape up, another product is released. The prognosticators having, not learned any lesson, stick their collective necks out on the block again. Anyway, the idea I mentioned earlier is, I'm going to collect these predictions and speculations over the course of next year and have a regular quotefest by next years Macworld\CES show. I'm not speaking only of Apple products here, I'll be including any manufacturers product that get pre-judgement treatment from all the "experts", bloggers and responders. We'll all have a great laugh pointing out the the foot in mouth predictions. I suppose the point is...Let the product ship. Give it try. Damn, are we so full of ourselve that we can see into the future.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Darryl: I will buy one. I'm sure it'll be a huge success no matter what anyway. Steve Jobs got EVERYONE to talk about it. There isn't a single person I've met that doesn't already have an opinion on it.
Nikolaj Stenberg
· 2 years ago
I don't know about you americans, but text-messaging is big in Europe. Even if Apples new and patentet screencontroles work as Steve J says, they're going to grease up.
While both camera and battery suck bigtime on the iPhone (nobody in their right mind will deny this), there real issue in my opinion is in the software.
I've owned 10+ smartphones over the past two years, and I always find, that Symbian OS-based devices (like Nokia) are far superior in speed, userbility etc. than Windows Mobile-software. In my opinion this is because of experience. The only thing Windows Mobile is good at, is syncing with Windows (... it is a big issue though).
I'm looking forward to seeing how well - or poor - Apples implementation of BSD on the cellphone will do. Betting it will be as poor as the first editions of Windows Mobile - but hopefully it won't.
And by the way: If you have to get into the big markedshares, you have to go corporate... Can't imagine the iPhone doing that.
Scott
· 2 years ago
However, I am very disappointed in Apple's decision to make the iPhone a closed system. The potential for third-party applications would be incredible. If you're an Apple Developer, like myself, who would love to write apps that run on the iPhone, file a bug report to let Apple know how you feel!
Lack of HSUPA / UMTS in the first generation is unfortunate, but I can live without it. A camera flash & GPS would have been icing on the cake.
Still, the core features are compelling enough that I'm buying one when they are released.
John Bauer
· 2 years ago
Why would you publicly print what people are telling you at CES instead of checking the facts first at apple.com? Oh right, it's a blog, no standards necessary. And bloggers wonder why they're not considered journalists . . .
Nikolaj Stenberg
· 2 years ago
@ John Bauer... As Scoble says: it's the destortion field... :-)
Darryl
· 2 years ago
Getting everyone to "talk about it" is what Steve Jobs does. It's what he's done for the past 30 years. Being surprised is like expecting MS to ship a product when promised. Reality Distortion Field aside. Anything this guy introduces, he has a way of making it seem like the best thing since sliced bread. but the market always determines whether it will succeed or not. That goes for any product, not just those introduced by The Steve. My point is still the same. Determinations made about a products performance or quality of it's implementations before it ships is just,... I don't know... Kinda...STOOPID!!! They've made clear that this thing will not ship for 6 months. Who knows what will happen in that time. Hell, it may not even be called an iPhone by then.
mandarin
· 2 years ago
"GPS - With 3G and Google maps, do you really need GPS receiver built into the phone [...] iPhone is not 3G yet but [...] with 16GB flash memory caching map data won’t be an issue [...] you can always track location of a phone by using signal strength information from cellphone towers."
I'm sorry, dear sir, but never has such a short quote harboured such myriad logical fallacies! 3G? 16GB flash RAM? Where did you pick up those preposterous specifications -- from Apple's site, peradventure?
As for the comment about tracking the phone's location, I suppose it's simply a matter "dry-ungulating" the phone's exact coordinates with the help of... ehh, nearby link towers? Heah.
Alan A. Reiter
· 2 years ago
Josh (52) the iPhone does NOT have video recording capabilities. This was ** confirmed ** to me by an Apple PR/industry relations executive.
The lack of video recording is ridiculous.
I write about the wireless imaging capabilities of the iPhone in my camera phone weblog:
John: my blog is not a news article and hasn't been fact checked. Thank you for being an astute reader.
BillTheCat
· 2 years ago
Let's see, a "technical evangelist", then a "blogger" for the most part, you haven't done anything significant with you life maybe rather than spouting mindless opinions about products you know nothing about you should get a "real job" and try and make something of your life before you tell your grand kids what a waste you were...
Anton2000
· 2 years ago
Quote of the day :-)
They begin to look like malcontents who kvetch about the weather so much that they don't notice the sun coming out.
I recall traveling to Africa a couple years ago with a spare plug-in battery pack to extend the hours on my iPod. For anyone needing longer iPhone hours, I presume there will soon be third party suppliers of such batteries. I don't see this is being more than a false issue.
Keith Patrick
· 2 years ago
While I like that the iPhone will support touchscreen (hope they're using some smudge-resistant coating), I don't agree with Jobs' dissing of the stylus. The reason being my fingers have poor resolution - my fingertip is has about a 30 pixel diameter, and my fingernail will hit an area about 10 pixels wide. For my computer screen, it'd be fine, and for a lot of tablet and iPhone stuff, it'd be fine, but for things like writing out text or selecting small controls, I need a true pointer.
billg
· 2 years ago
Watch a 2-hour video on a phone? Better be a good flick. Wouldn't you be upset if your TV shrunk to postage-stamp dimensions?
It is very unlikely that I will ever buy an iPhone, but it seems to me that it's success will depend on how it improves the experience of using a cellphone, not on how well it imitates an iPod running OSX.
David Little
· 2 years ago
This is a blog and you have to quantify/verify comments and I appreciate people sharing what they see and hear since I'm not there.
The Apple site states something completely different regarding battery life. However, you cannot replace the battery on the current device displayed at CES (device is not out to market yet so we will have to wait and see).
It may not have GPS but it does have Bluetooth so you could connect to a Bluetooth GPS receiver... BUT you cannot install 3rd party applications. UGH!
I will most likely see this device around the neighborhood but will I see it in the workplace? I doubt it. I need a device and software that can be used at both the workplace and at home.
I have never seen such a story run and run. Well done Apple (computers), Inc. Now everyone has heard of the iPhone!!
Som
· 2 years ago
Robert, it saddens me to see you go down the same road as a John C. Dvorak. Sure, you might find rising hit counts as the Apple "zealots" respond to these types of posts. But is that a positive way to trumpet the power of blogging? Or do you do a disservice to the medium which you are so proud of helping to build?
When you insist on providing demonstrably false information to help make your points (ie- the 2 hour battery performance), you're going to get called out. And no amount of labelling your critics with prejorative terms like "zealot" or "fanboy" will make your point stronger. Acknowledge the error with grace under fire, Robert. I've seen you do it many times before.
Remember that credibility is like virginity; once lost, you can't reclaim it.
I know much of your commentaries are shot from the hip, but fact checking is an important ingredient for establishing blogs as a reliable information medium. Please don't duck the responsibility by saying your post isn't a "news article and hasn't been fact checked". Your status as one of the a-list bloggers should compel a higher standard.
The short of it is your own credibility should require rudimentary fact checking, regardless of whether your blog fits the standard of "commentary" or "news".
All that said, I write this in the hopes of engaging you constructively. Especially since I've been called a jerk by you on one other occasion!
Now as far as the iPhone is concerned, just wait to see what the non-geek public goes for. Remember the T-Mo Sidekick does quite well as a similar device and the iPhone moves the goal posts against that.
zato
· 2 years ago
What has changed at Scoblizer since the move to PodTech? Nothing. Three quarters of it was Apple bashing, and still is. What is the relationship between PodTech and MS? Are any of the comments posted here from people who aren't being paid to post negative crap about Apple? Blogging at it's finest, Robert. Keep up the good black PR work.
Michael Gannotti
· 2 years ago
Okay so just like in our last posting I said I expect the AppleTV to do extremely well and make great market stides in grabbing control of that new arena as the next logical extension of the iPod/iTunes platform I don't see that happening here. Funny thing is I think this is a much more innovative device that the AppleTV and has much more cool factor. What it doesn't have is a virgin market, that much of a differention, multi-carrier support, etc. to make it anything more than another really good phone product in a sea of phone products ranging from bad to great. This will definately be one of the cooler devices out thier but it will not appeal to business (I can here all my buddies in operations at different companies drawing a line in the sand about turning Imap on so people can synch their iPhone), due to cost will mostly only come in to play for new or renewing users who can get it at 2 year subsidized service (and then only Cingular customers) and lets not forget the fact that most cell phones have fairly short life spans so this will have an appeal of one, maybe two years max and would have to be replaced by newer models. I think Apple will have a popular phone here but the market share will be much smaller than we will see with AppleTV and it will quickly be faced by cheaper knockoffs that emulate its function amongst the other carriers.
Bill K
· 2 years ago
Cisco is now suing Apple over the iPhone name.
Whatever you think about desirability of iPhone, you have to admit Jobs has pulled off a PR coup making CES seem trivial.
IT Guy
· 2 years ago
Don't bash Apple for not doing 3G for the US market, that's a US carrier problem. Presumably when they offer it in Europe, they'll need to respond to European market realities, where 3G is far more entrenched.
Martin Dufort
· 2 years ago
Hey Robert: I totally agree that a built-in GPS would have made a significant move forward with that phone. Even with rumors of embedded photo geo-tagging functionality. However, as reported by a bunch of other bloggers, this will be a closed phone. Not ability to install 3rd-party apps. This is looking less interesting as the apple skin is being peeled off.
Thanks - Martin
Michael Gannotti
· 2 years ago
I agree Jobs has done a PR master pice, he usually does and they should be the envy of the tech world in that regards. I also think the phone will be highly desirable but again unlike the AppleTV it is hitting a satuarted market place in a limited distribution channel. Will probably be a Cingular top seller but not have a market impact in the way that the AppleTV has an opportunity to.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Zato: you think I bash Apple? That's funny, considering I'm typing to you on my Apple MacPro, my wife and son both have MacBookPros and I just bought a MacBookPro and I'm going to get one of these phones and we just played the keynote from MacWorld in the BlogHaus.
I take far more shots at Microsoft, but you don't notice those.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Som: I already corrected my incorrect statement and apologized for making that error. You come and work 22 hours a day and type a blog in a car in between halls and interviews and see how good you do.
IT Guy: OK, I won't blame Apple for that. But since I'm gonna spend $600 of my own money on this, I will blame them for not letting me do video with the camera. I will blame them for not putting a GPS into such an expensive device. I will blame them for making me bring a separate iPod on international flights cause I can't charge up two batteries (I want to watch two videos on the way to Switzerland, for instance).
Tim
· 2 years ago
Robert, the closest device that I have touched to the iPhone is the PPC-6700. I'm blogging about the diffs as we speak, but people who are making comments about whether or not this is a superior phone/mp3 player/connectivity device have apparently not spent time with Windows Mobile 5.0. The differentiator is, and will be, a UI that is suited toward fingers, and not a stylus.
Think about it. All of the other stuff in the middle, I mean ALL of it (video, 3G, GPS, and so on) can change with little brouhaha, but changing the user interface is a huge deal. Apple got the hardest part, the UI, right. Yes, it would be better to have some kind of tactile feedback, but compared to the WM5 UI I deal with every day (and I thought it was a cool phone until Monday evening), this is like comparing Win95/98 to Vista or OS X.
With tons of rebates, the PPC-6700 is just now coming down into the sub-$300 range. List is $549.
The real question is, "Why would anyone shell out $549 for a Windows device as poorly executed as this?" The answer is: because it was better than the alternatives.
You don't have to be the fastest deer, just faster than the slowest. The smartphone market sucks so bad... even with the issues you've brought up (which are fixable), the iPhone behaves in a manner that is at least five years beyond the other phones.
June will be an interesting month. :D - Tim
mike
· 2 years ago
"And Nokia and others will take notice and instill good bits of iPhone into their products - very rapidly."
it's called a patent.
you are a moron.
Webomatica
· 2 years ago
Just as with the iPod and the fruit colored iMac before it, the "average consumer" isn't going to care about the acronyms and the code names. If they can make a phone call with it and show people photographs of their pets and look "cool" waving it around that's all most people are going to care about. Heck the iPod mini and the Nano and even the Shuffle were all blasted for not enough storage or no screen. It all comes down to pricing things about $100 more than they are comfortable, so people stretch to pay that $100 premium just because it's Apple.
This thing will be huge, even if relatively not many people buy it because practically everybody, from grandmas to teenagers have or want a cellphone. The market for the iPod is small compared to that of cellphones. Apple is going to make a killing on this even if they don't totally take over the market.
Terry
· 2 years ago
Heh...you are wrong as usual. This thing is going to sell in the millions. Have you ever traveled outside the U.S.? Everyone else uses GSM. Duh. hey guess what, they have power on airplanes. Neat huh? Finally your only other comment is that the camera sucks? Puh-lease. No wonder you used to work at Microsoft.
Tony
· 2 years ago
Just heard on the BBC that Cisco is going to sue Apple over the iPhone name. It appears Cisco did not give permission to Apple as everyone seems to assume.
"“And Nokia and others will take notice and instill good bits of iPhone into their products - very rapidly.”
it’s called a patent.
you are a moron."
No, I think u are. You have to be silly to think that other companies like Nokia, HTC, LG and others are going to rollover due to iPhone over hype. This is their bread and butter (especially Nokia). Plus Nokia has been working on their on version of iPhone for years and so have most companies...LG (touchable chocolate) has one almost exactly like iPhone. This is why probably Apple put their phone out so early (6months) another compnay like LG was probably very close to launching there own and taking the luster and revolution out of the iPhone. See the following links:
Apple is making a consumer electronic device for the average user who don't care about GPS, EDGE versus whatever, locked/unlocked phones, etc. They are focusing on what people truly want to do with a phone: make calls and check email. All the other stuff is pure fluff...who cares?
People aren't as feature focus as you think. Compare the Creative Nomad with the iPod. Which has better technology, more features, can be used with more file formats? The Nomad, but iPod has more market share.
looks like what iPhone should, especially flash for camera at back of phone. No flash in Apple iPhone.
appleraffle
· 2 years ago
I don't know all that the iphone will or will not do, but I believe one of the biggest mistakes is to lock into just one phone provider. Cingular advertises the "least dropped call" nonsense, which is total hogwash. In my opinion cigular sucks. As far as the battery life goes, has Apple not learned from the iPod. If the general public is stupid enough to purchase this device with a non-replaceable battery than, let them drown in their ignorance. If Apple is smart, they would have a dept dedicated to just reading the feedback on the blogs to prevent future fiascos with their produts.
The lack of built-in GPS is not a killer. Here in the UK many existing phones use Bluetooth (which the iPhone does have) to link to a Bluetooth GPS receiver. So all that would be requires is for Apple to do a deal to license some maps if they wanted to do this.
blackbox
· 2 years ago
it is GSM only? well what do you think it should be? GSM is the global standard in mobile telephone, Apple wants to sell this thing globally and not limit it to the US. And Cingular offers largest GSM user base in the US, so this is a no-brainer.
yes Nokia's new camera's blow the iphone's away, but have you seen the Nokia phone that does so and looked at how big that thing is? come on, that thing is a camcorder not a phone.
GPS will just reduce the battery power and with cell triangulation you get enough location data, and you can always add GPS via bluetooth if you are a hardcore offroader.
the whole thing about Cungular is also nonsense ... so Cingular will sell it here in the US, but you will be able to buy the phone unlocked and then you can also use it on T-Mobile -- it is a GSM phone afterall.
blip
· 2 years ago
Fair do's to the Scobelizer. He's had a crack at the iphone but later admitted that he's a closet Mac freak and he'll be blagging himself a free one ASAP.
Cut the man some slack people.
Andre Natta
· 2 years ago
While I'm loving the way the phone is supposed to work, I'm probably going to be more interested in what the next generation looks and operates before I finally make the switch. Great points though.
David
· 2 years ago
In what way is this thing better than my SPV M600? Or the HTC P3600 (which also does 3G)? Yes, it's pretty, and yes, the UI is nice, but it'll take about a week for someone to clone that in Visual Studio for £10. This might be "revolutionary" in the US, but the rest of the world has had touchscreen smartphones for some considerable time... and 8Gb of SD card is only £60.
It'll sell (remember that it'll be dirt cheap on a £35/month contract) to the "style" crowd, but "reinvention" isn't happening here.
happyberryneko
· 2 years ago
(A short note on cost) We have to remember that yes apple is pricey but they give discounts (like for teachers, students, etc.) And just b/c you aren't a student doesn't mean that you can't get that discount, like if your child is a student you can use their discount. That or you can have someone you trust buy the phone for you with their discount and switch it over to your name, anything is possible you just have to read the small print. And I've seen a ton of comments on other blogs saying how the cost is unreal, than wait a few months (also if you wait you can save yourself the hell of dealing with the bugs (with is NORMAL for anything super new)). The iphone is not geared toward apple's normal buyers (students, artist, musicians) they are trying to get new people hooked (read this as business people).
Russell
· 2 years ago
i've never liked having all my eggs in one basket. just give me a basic phone that has strong reception and does txt msgs and email, and i'm set. ipod's are negligible weight/bulk, so does it really hurt to carry your music separately? look how far we've come from boomboxes hoisted on shoulders!
Dannie
· 2 years ago
UHM... one can bitch, but in a few generations that is going to be one hot little item. Let them work out the bugs and bring it up to speed, or wait for the copies, the clones, the improvements. Either way, it is a step in the direction of things to come.
Anyhow Robert, I got your point.
Jimmy Lin
· 2 years ago
I think we should leave the reviews after we get our hands on the phone first.
Wait and tell... Don't jump to the conclusion so fast.
Henry Jin
· 2 years ago
I wonder if I am laying on bed/coach playing with iPhone while facing upwards, will the screen be LANDSCAPE OR PORTRAIT automatically???
Mike
· 2 years ago
Why should cingular care if the phone does not work out? They have a two year contract! Your stuck. That is why cell companies have contracts so they can lock you in to what they know may be obsolete technology in a short time. Fortunately my cell company does not have contracts.
southpawreview
· 2 years ago
Considering how quicly Apple comes out with new iPods, I'd say that if you wait a few months this thing will only get better and better.
Hans
· 2 years ago
Robert you are actually missing the point here. Having keyboard, camera flash, storage expansion slot hinders innovation. GPS who needs that anyway, its so 2000ish. Use google map and... sure they find a way. If you can't see the innovation here, you my friend must have been a PC user for a long time. Don't blame Apple for that.
Tina
· 2 years ago
Battery life isn't good, but it doesn't suck either when considering the large size of the screen. If you compare it to other smartphones, their battery lives are around the same: Treo 680=4 hours, HTC TyTn=5 hours, BlackBerry Pearl 8100=3.5h, etc.
I definitely won't be getting this iPhone, but maybe the next generation or the one after that again.
154 comments in two days. I think it's unlikely the phone will flop. Even less likely that it won't caus a sea change in the design aesthetic of other phone/PDA makers. It's a pretty incredible step forward. Yes, $599 is a lot, but if I'm not spending $300 on a Treo and $300 more on an iPod, then I've got $600 all of a sudden.
It is disappointing that Cingular is the carrier. I was really hoping Apple would sell the hardware alone and unlocked from the Apple Store, ready for whatever GSM SIM card you insert. However, seeing now the integration that the phone demands from the carrier service, it's clear that Cingular had to step up with several special service customizations and accomodations in order to make this deal work. If unlocked versions lose a lot of functionality, then they may keep the distribution locked up for a while.
webdog314
· 2 years ago
Just a reminder... While it may or may not get 5 hours battery life, it DOES have an iPod port. How long do you think it will be before someone makes a "battery extender" clip-on for those long video or internet sessions. Seriously, how much time do you really need to be using your phone for sending emails and browsing the web? If you're spending more than a couple hours staring at that tiny screen you probably should have brought your laptop.
Steve
· 2 years ago
Just wanted to say to everyone calling this a brick, that it isn't, not by a long shot. Going by the measurements in this image:
Sorry, I couldn't find a copy on the apple website, but it's from a blog post also saying the iphone sucks.. He probably got it from there, I'm just too lazy to look more than a minute.
It's actually thinner !! than the Moto razr closed. Less than a cm wider, and about 2cm longer.
That doesn't seem very brick like at all. It's about half an inch longer than a 4.5 gen ipod, and nearly as thin as the 30gb model. I could keep that in my pocket no problem.
Yeah it's no itty bitty flip phone, but it's thin enough to sit comfortably in a pocket. Plus, half of us are women, they have purses to put the thing in. Oh, and anyone who still uses a belt clip for their phone, looks like a jackass. FYI.
Graham F
· 2 years ago
Your points suffer from your US-centric world view, and ultimately this view impacts the strength and accuracy of these points, and impacts your value as a blogger. Don't do yourself any more disservice: stay off the bandwagons.
Rob Greenlee
· 2 years ago
This iPhone is cool looking and thin, but if I had to choose between this new Apple iPhone and the coming Nokia N95. The decision would easily fall into the N95 camp.
While thinness is cool it does compromise the capability of the phone. Being a little thicker is ok if the phone has a bigger longert lasting battery, 3G, Edge, Quad-band, GPS, 5 megapixel camera, 30 frame per second video recording and WiFi support.
The device is not on the market, it's name may change as well as features. 6 months away is a long time. I'd say the general concept was shown as a working model to show the features, it runs OS X etc. I doubt they are manufacturing them in mass right now.
r
· 2 years ago
everybody who's complaining about battery life needs to actually read the tech specs. 5 hours of talk time is *great*- the motorola razr, for example, only gets about 3 hours...and this is according to motorola's website, the real-world performance of the razr is significantly less, i can assure you ....
Reg
· 2 years ago
iPhone (Apple Pon) accessories already in the works:
Snap on keyboard - it has a dock connector, and OS X - a small snap on keyboard, or a full blown - fold out PDA type 104 key keyboard are sure to come out.
JUNE - Why so long? - FCC - sure, but more than a dozen companies are already working on attachments, cases, expansion, etc...
The phone is a little computer, with OS X (light) - and a connector. What Gizmos can you think of already?
Depending on the processor speed - the Apple Phone would make a great 1 eyed brain for a little robot - enough RAM and CPU can go along way to Linux developers... 2MP camera is great for email, printable size too...
Still - I look forward to a full screen iPod - 100 GB for $349, you can keep the phone and camera, contact and etc stuff. The updated iPod will have the same screen as the iPhone (or bigger) - with a larger battery, and focus on music and video - of course.
the Apple phone starts off as a status symbol - people paying top margin for the shiny new toy.
LayZ
· 2 years ago
"Som: I already corrected my incorrect statement and apologized for making that error. You come and work 22 hours a day and type a blog in a car in between halls and interviews and see how good you do."
Boo hoo! When DON'T you have and excuse for your innacuracies? You CHOOSE to do this, so no sympathy for you! Saying you don't care about accuracy would have more credibility than trying to blame circumstances. Weren't you just on the campaign trail? you think those "journalists" get to use the "I was tired" excuse when making errors in reporting? It's clear all you care about is "being first" in the hopes of getting hits, over being accurate.
natslovR
· 2 years ago
I'm a pocket pc user of a few years now, currently own a jasjam, previous phone was an o2 mini. Prior to that it was nokia 6xxx/8xxx type phones
The iphone blows the high end "small" PPC market out of the water. It is everything a PPC phone wants to be but better, more integrated and easier to use. Just watching the demos on the apple site i see so many things that frustrate me about my PPCs that apple appear to have solved or done significantly better.
At the price suggested it is not going to be competing with disposeable pay-as-you-go phones or the teen kids market, it's a phone to replace my PPC, make it how it should be and include an ipod. In 12 months when they reach Australia i'll be ready to upgrade. It's in the ballpark of the price i've paid for each PPC phone since moving off nokia so the price isn't that much of a factor. Sure i'll lose 3G which has been underwhelming anyway and i'll have to find new car navigation software and continue to use my BT GPS.
Note: i don't own an ipod (or any portable mp3 player) and don't have a mac and never have.
KeithDaddy
· 2 years ago
Any other 'mad texter' like myself will have to re-learn the NON-KEYBOARD approach of texting. I, as well as a lot of people, can text someone without looking the keys... even with an older 1-9*# keypad. I guess I won't be texting while I'm having sex anymore...
Tomi Ahonen
· 2 years ago
Hi Robert and readers of the Scobleizer blog
Fascinating thread, good discussion. Some of the international comparison issues - what works in America vs Europe vs Asia - are discussed in my blog where I handicap the chances of iPhone reaching 10 million in a year. I say it is do-able, but not quite by the strategy announced. The smartphone market is too small, but if Apple also attacks the musicphone market (was 309 million units last year - yes, over 6 times bigger than all iPods sold in 2006), then it can achieve the 10 million.
Briefly. In America the GSM standard and Cingular exclusive deal limits reach. Corporate/enterprise customers will be reluctant to buy "iPods cameras and video iPods" for their staff bundled in the smartphone offerings. But because of iPod's strong established customer base, they can reach the needed 4.7 million out of America.
In Europe the 3G will be a massive flaw, and by Christmas 2007 a 2 megapixel camera is obsolescent. If the phone can't do SMS one-handed and blind, the phone will fail in Europe. I am assuming Apple is smart enough to fix this (and just in case, I also wrote an open letter to them highlighting this need which has been widely quoted). But because Europeans buy more expensive phones than Americans, and their penetration rate is 50% higher than Americans (European cellphone subscription penetration per capita is 110% already vs 75% in USA and under 60% in Canada), and Europe is bigger (in population), the smaller European target of 3 million can be reached.
In Asia it is even more tough. By 2008 the 2 megapixel camera is a toy. In Japan and South Korea today aleady over half of all users are on 3G, so nobody in their right mind would buy a phone with an archaic technology like 2G. The lack of a memory stick module is a serious flaw for the target audience who all have two phones and in many countries replace phones every six months (thus memory module vital for maintaining all kinds of libraries of digital memories). In Asia also SMS is a must, so same assumption, the touch screen has to operate blind and one-handed for sending SMS text messages. But again, with some heavy work, the needed 2.3 million units can be sold into Asia. They do love their gadgets and expensive phones in Asia, from Hong Kong to Indonesia and what would probably be near 1000 dollars of a price in its SIM-free version, is still acceptable price for the wealthy young professionals who need to show off.
Ok, thats the summary. If you'd like to read the full blog with the regional variations etc, please visit my blog at www.communities-dominate.blogs.com
PS Robert, no surprise on the theme of my last blog on the iPod vs musicphone saga ha-ha, but to let you know, I'll be returning to that topic one last time next week when the Apple quarterly results are out..
Tomi Ahonen :-)
Andrew Hitchcock
· 2 years ago
When I was in Europe everyone was buying 3G phones. That’s innovative. Can this phone do it? No.
Robert, speed is not innovative. Of course tech specs improve with time.
Also, the FUD you spread by not doing a trivial amount research (looking up the battery life) is shameful.
Lance, I agree that the Touchable Chocolate looks neat, but the other two are "concepts" which means there is a very small chance they'll actually come out. What's the release date for the LG one?
Steve W.
· 2 years ago
Idunno... iPhone looks pretty good for version 0.9.
What we're seeing is the gulf between how Apple thinks and how Microsoft thinks. Apple has made constant, relentless improvements to the whole iPod system since day two, even in the absence of significant competition. Then Microsoft thinks they'll supplant the iPod with the Zune. They put their best foot forward and it turned into the most pitiful ass kicking Microsoft has ever received from anybody.
the Design of iPhone make it stand out, not the features it has to offer...
Simon
· 2 years ago
Cingular sux. Big time. They spend $350 Million in advertising every year to tell people they are they best. There are 58 million subscribers (suckers) out there today. I had this service and it was the worst ever. I'm sticking with Verizon even if it does mean not having the latest, greatest coolest looking phone.
Switching to Cingular is not an option for me, and should not be for anyone with any brains at all. Cingular Sux.
peaceguy
· 2 years ago
im just waiting for the deployment of WiMAX phones and systems so we dont have to worry about cdma/gsm and we can use voip phones anywhere we go ;) iPhone2.0 ? lol.
yuE
· 2 years ago
well, guess that the LG counterpart model is better then iphone... sighs...
and ipod has way too small a capactiy for MP3s...
no deal for me over here
Andrew Hitchcock
· 2 years ago
I had this service and it was the worst ever. I’m sticking with Verizon even if it does mean not having the latest, greatest coolest looking phone.
Simon, have you been paying attention? Verizon blows. They are the most consumer hostile cell phone company around. Their employees don't know how to do math and the company insists on castrating any phone they sell.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Andrew: Verizon might blow, but at least it works in Montana. Cingular doesn't own a single cell phone tower there. Verizon works at my mom's house, Cingular does not.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Andrew: regarding "FUD being spread": if anyone takes only my reporting as gospel and does no additional research before drawing a conclusion, then they are an idiot, and I don't want idiots as readers.
I corrected my error pretty damn quickly once the facts were pointed out to me.
Oh, and if there's any reader who doesn't also read the comments here before drawing a conclusion, then, they also are an idiot, and I hope I don't have any idiots reading here.
Andrew Hitchcock
· 2 years ago
So your blog is like Slashdot? You only know the true story by reading the first few comments :)
Once the link was posted, you changed it fast, but at first when someone told you it was five hours, you should have gone to the website to check. Just saying, I'm not angry.
As for Cingular not having any towers in Montana, that's an easy fix, don't go to Montana :) … Well, Montana does have a cool computer museum.
feartheseeds
· 2 years ago
"Oh, and if there’s any reader who doesn’t also read the comments here before drawing a conclusion, then, they also are an idiot, and I hope I don’t have any idiots reading here."
Dude, like, there's like 15,650 something words here, how much of a genius do you want us poor commentators to be in order to be a part of the Scoble experience? 183 responses to an iPhone post? Holy crap people: "Blackberry", look into it. You can thank me later by not buying an iPhone just like the rest of the 6.5 billion of us.
Goebbels
· 2 years ago
"if anyone takes only my reporting as gospel and does no additional research before drawing a conclusion, then they are an idiot, and I don’t want idiots as readers."
Which makes you an idiot for doing zero research or reading before posting.
mcstylin
· 2 years ago
It makes sense to wait before rushing out to get this latest tech toy..Just like its iPod counterparts, the iPhone is in its first run and obviously will be under revision until it is something consumers, tech geeks and tech analysts applaud. The early Nano's were hated upon by many and now have become a better, stronger product from Apple..It will take time before the iPhone has won over the hearts of many.
avuee
· 2 years ago
And Steve Jobs is raving about is iPhone. I wish America saw it the same way as he does. But no offense, but does anyone really think that they are going to switch to either Cingular or whatever the other service is just for the phone? What if you HATE both carriers? Let's say the iPhone went to Verizon, then maybe... maybe I'd wait. But maybe in the meantime there will be some "upgrades" to the iPhone before it's released in June. That's just my two coppers.
Matthew Reed
· 2 years ago
Every 1st generation software/hardwreu has its flaws and cons. The iPod took 5 or 6 years to reach the popularity it is at now. It became popular because the flaws and bugs were worked out.
Sure, the iPhone may have its flaws already, but I wouldnt be surprised if they too are worked out, and it really does "change the phone".
vanni
· 2 years ago
so i am hearing the same negatives about the iPhone that i heard when the iPod first came out. except back then hardly anyone in the windows world even knew what to make of it. when i would point out all the features...they would either be stunned or just not get it. then itunes came and WOW! everyone got it. All the negatives on the iPhone will be gone in a year. i am lining up for mine... ;-)
Joe
· 2 years ago
What you don't get is that the iPhone is the first step of a many-runged ladder; just like the Mac was the beginning of real personal computing.
Imagine, a permanently online OSX in your pocket. That's what it's REALLY about.
DL Byron
· 2 years ago
How 'bout the fact that anything CES did was overshadowed by Macworld and this announcement? Something was announced in Vegas and then something else, and oh right smart phones are smart.
Teresa Valdez Klein
· 2 years ago
Digital Hell: From what I understand, unlocking the phone won't be difficult, but unlocked phones operating on other networks won't support all of the iPhone's fuctions (like listening to voicemail in any order you want).
Nick: Not to be a Macsturbator or anything, but Jobs did say that one of this phone's great features was how easy it would be to change even after it was sold. I can imagine that Apple will monitor the consumer buzz and add new features that you can download via a software-update like system. If the interface is screwy, maybe they'll allow users to make adjustments based on the size of their fingers.
I'm not saying that I put my faith completely in Apple, but they really, really do get user interfaces. It's possible that they really have cooked up something revolutionary here. It is a pity that we have to wait until June to see it.
varun
· 2 years ago
1) GPS is a non issue, because using tower triangulation, they can determine someone's location with very reasonable accuracy.
2) Lack of 3G is a legitimate problem. However, Steve Jobs says in the key note itself that 3G will be added in the future.
3) Lack of tactile feel may be a very big problem, however, lets see how Apple implements their keyboard, which may stop this problem from being a deal breaker.
4) Camera without video is stupid, but they should be able to fix that easily enough.
5) Closed system is also a big problem, but I am sure if consumers start resenting it, Apple will immediately publish a set of API's.
6) However, the new UI, and the amazing potential of this device will probably more than make up for these issues, for a significant number of people. Also, the price is not a problem, because in other countries, people buy high quality phones without contracts for anywhere between 200-1000 dollars, and i doubt that they will release it tied to a single service outside the US.
Scott
· 2 years ago
"The other carries such as LG, HTC, NOKIA…do get …apple is not the only innovator..checkout the following links:"
The Nokia and BenQ devices do look interesting, but they are only design prototypes.
In creating the iPhone, Apple has created a whole new platform - allowing it to leverage it's experience developing applications, such as Final Cut Pro, Mail.app and iPhoto; along with OS technologies, such as Core Animation, Core Image and Dashboard. I don't see how the cell phone industry can keep up in this space.
The only other company who could have come even close to putting out something like the iPhone is Microsoft. However, Apple's prior experience in creating it's own notebooks, the Newton and iPods have given it a huge advantage in this segment.
In addition, Mac OS X technologies, such as Core Image, are already designed to work on two different platforms - Intel and Power PC. At runtime, Core Image detects what hardware is available and just-in-time compiles image processing tasks for either the GPU (graphics card) or one or more SIMD vector units (SSE on Intel or Altivec on PPC) - whatever is most appropriate for the job.
Instead of creating a whole new API, Apple was able to bring Core Image, and dashboard like effects, to the iPhone by adding it's graphics processor to the existing list of supported hardware.
As for releasing a tablet based Mac, it appears that Jobs still doesn't think general-purpose tablet computing is ready for prime time. It's likely that the iPhone will be the only fruit of Apple's tablet research we'll see over the next few years.
missbhavens
· 2 years ago
Perhaps it's been mentioned somewhere up there in all those comments (I quit reading after 100...nothing personal; I have a 100 comment limit) but it seems to me that the iPhone's true purpose is to behave as a wireless pocket computer and not as a phone or an ipod at all. With that in mind, I'm less ticked off about it's arrival: I was hoping (assuming?) there would be a big ipod upgrade to widescreen and was so excited because I was just saddled with a 3hr bus commute twice a week and I subscribe to over 80 videoblogs! I hadn't yet bought a video ipod because I figured I'd go blind watching that teensy screen! So I held out. Turns out I held out for nothing. I have a relatively new Treo 650 that meets all my phone and daily planner needs. It also runs all my nursing software, something the iPhone certainly will not do. And $500 is too steep for anything that will die in two to five hours.
I'll have to hold out again till they de-phone the iPhone. Next year? Yikes. That's a lot of sad, lonely bus rides.
Vibhu
· 2 years ago
When the iPod came out, i was like - what ? no FM ! it wont sell. it did.
So, with the iPhone (or whatever it will be called after Cisco and Apple get through with it), its something which everyone would want - or envy if they dont have the money.
Let me put my points across to you - from a perpective of a person in India .
6. Battery is less. - Not really a problem for those who can afford it. Sure, it may be a problem for a rickshawala, but they cannot afford it anyways. For others, like me, who work at the desk and comp all the time, it will be getting charged all the time.
7. its GSM ! Can you believe that ! The CDMA networks in India are pretty much owned by the company, which means we have to be at their mercy for the phones we get. with GSM , we depend on the network companies only for the SIM card. We can independently buy the phones. Which is a pretty good deal, as if we dont like the network provider, we can just switch the SIM and be on the same phone.
8. Camera. Well, my treo650 has a .5 MP camera. 2MP is pretty good. My sis has one 1.3 without flash, and for most uses its good. If you want flash, and want something better, you need to get a camera. Even if the phone had a good 4MP camera, people would crib about it not having optical zoome etc. etc. etc.
9. GPS . Come on man. We dont even have good maps here. GPS is a distant dream. One of my friends has a GPS. No maps. Uses it to create squiggles for his road trips.
The only point i will add is : 10. Not available in Asia for a long time :(
Vibhu..
janitorman
· 2 years ago
Yeah, I had to add my two cents on iPhone, as well. Okay, I added about 1,400 cents, but I think it's relevant:
I have read so many review and most of them do not make sence. They have compare phones that will not work in the usa on major networks and do not state how the networks control what we buy. GSM is the only way to enter the world market and apple has shown people that there can be a wider range of produces. For those that try to compare it to the treo must be in wonderland and love reset and hotsync problems I have had a 600 and 650 both have major problems and poor phone usage. Great phone have not been sold in this country. I give apple a hand for taking on all the know it alls in this country that tell you how wonderfull all the phone in this country are that will not sell anywhere else. To buy a great phone do not look here go to the unlocked market. All I want out of the Iphone is to make people understand what these company are doing to use us users and keeping manufatureing company from selling there best Here. Lets see in june what the real Iphone is Like and Just to let you Know I have several other phones on ny mind and will not be geting the first addition of Iphone. Cingular,Verison and Sprint have controled us by locked phone and stripping the down that is why most manufacture do not sell there best Here.
Suresh
· 2 years ago
yawn. give it up bro'
directtv
· 2 years ago
Blog of directtv
Anjay
· 2 years ago
Wow, glad I checked before purchase! THANK you!
Peter Graves
· 2 years ago
the iPhone will be a huge hit.... bigger than the ipod. Prepare for the retreat... wouldn't it be great if there was a scoble reality distortion field! But, there isn't.
Jerry
· 2 years ago
I hate Apple, I hate Steve Jobs, I hated the iPhone. But then I got one because the store was out of the HTC Tilt (Windows Mobile 6) and told me I could use the iPhone and return it when the HCT Tilt came in, well after using the iPhone for a week now I have absolutly no intention of ever going back to Windows Mobile. I have never had a device in my pocket that is this powerful with this good of an interface. The camera does suck unless you are in a heavily light area and have a steady hand but other then that I have zero other complaints, I watch my pod casts, watch uTube files constantly (can't help it) and listen to music, plus the phone integration is seamless and it is always 100% reponsive. I can also type faster on the keyboard this thing had then my PPC-6700 that I own previously that had a dedicated full size slide out keyboard. I will never own an Apple Laptop or Desktop Computer but they are years ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to cell phones. My single favorite feature is the fully feature web browser, I can login to my work mail though Outlook Web Access, I can login to my Bank Account without them having to have a mobile friendly version of the website and even though the EDGE network is considered slow it is a crap ton faster then 56k dialup and is still plenty fast to do anything I want to do. Don't trust comments on the iPhone until you have actually used one, I was sadly one of the people going around posting comments about how crappy this thing is and picking on all of its faults. But once I was in a position to use one for a while I changed my mind on all of them. And as for the battery when it goes dead I'll gladly pay the fee to have Apple replace it, its nice not having battery covers fall off or be tempted to buy batteries of ebay that only last for 1 hour :)
Big Mac
· 2 years ago
They are also years ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to desktop or laptop too. Last time ive changed my computer the total cost. Was 300$ to get a Quad Xeon. Value IS important. Sold my old one for 2500. Added 300 and Voila... top of the line computer for 300. Cool no ? Its been like that for at least 9 years now.
So far since the start Ive added just about 300 every 3 years to get upgraded. So its 100 $ a year to have a Verry expensive machine ? I think I spend about the same as everybody else no ? I like Apple. How much did you spend and what did you get ?
el negro
· 1 year ago
Ay I just wanna say Fuck that damn iphone.. All I hear about is people talking bout how cool it is..and how its the best phone ever made! Dude suck a dick!..the sidekick is the best phone for text,email,and instant message..im so tired of seeing people wit the iphone going onto sidekick blogs talking shit bout it.. Hell I do everything on this phone.. O0o yea and I typed all this on my LX!.. Now wut iphone lovers.. U can't type all this on that big touch screen..holla at me! Peace!
Tim
· 1 year ago
el negro,
That whooshing sound you're hearing is the breeze generated by hordes of iPhone-haters looking for ways to distance themselves from you, lest they be associated with this comment.
If you want to hate the iPhone, knock yourself out. (I, for example, will be passing on the iPhone, opting instead for something simple and cheap. If I determine that I want the application capabilities of the iPhone, I'll start looking into the iTouch.) If you want to love the Sidekick, I'm not about to stand in your way.
However, if you're going to brag about the texting capabilities of your LX, you might want to check your spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Otherwise, people might assume that you're using a piece of crap for a phone that doesn't allow you to type correctly, instead of the glorious device that blessed us with your wit and wisdom. - Tim
shryx86
· 6 months ago
I must be one of the few iPhone users who can get multiple days use off of one charge. I tend to use Wi-Fi instead of 3G. Its faster and uses less power. I can watch 3 videos on it in one charge. If you are on a plane, turn on airplane mode and it will help conserve battery. If it can't get a signal on a plane, the phone will continuously try to ping a tower which will drain the battery. I like that it doesn't currently have a native GPS system. It would severely drain the battery to have to constantly communicate its location and give you directions. The Google Maps function on the phone gives a good enough GPS function for now. The pin even moves on the map as you do.
I have noticed that people complain about the battery life and don't bother trying to do anything about it. The iPhone is a phone first and multimedia second. For those who would bash the "crappy" signal strength they get, I have no problem getting a signal in the city, suburbs, or in mountains. There were a few dead spots in the mountains, but there also weren't any town around.
All Comments
Although the phone is locked to Cingular and GSM, this isn't a massive problem. Unlocking phones isn't hard, and I don't think the iPhone will be any different. Being a GSM device, it'll work in Europe too which has a huge celluar phone market. Won't work in Japan though, but they're already doing way cooler stuff.
I hope Apple will come out with a iPod Nano phone or something more sensible...
These new gadets from Apple are great in concept but short on functions.
By that I mean, we (as a collective group of geeks) are used to a certain level of functionality, anytime a new gadget promises more but takes away from the basics is actually going backwards.
Guy
2hr battery + 4GB storage = great for low quality mp3s
I guess it's better than the ROKR.
(It's not so much the iPhone. Give Jobs a tea cup and he can talk it up such that you want to marry it :-))
Apple is betting that GPS doesn't matter. Battery life doesn't matter. GSM doesn't matter. User Interface matters. Seriously, how many people go out and spend their own money on a smartphone or a Blackberry?
http://www.myqtek.com/europe/products/s200.aspx
and to make you much more envy - enjoy the specifications
http://www.myqtek.com/europe/products/s200/spec...
Want to type fast (eg Dave's mobile blog) - a foldable Bluetooth Keyboard might be usefull
http://global.level1.com/products2.php?Id=796
works with all SIMs even prepaid cards
See the actual link : it's a post with one comment.
Hmmm...
Whatever (techmeme) sponsorship buys you.
Shame on Gabe on that one.
And shame on the Redmond lunatics, obviously.
I've had the same phone since 2003. It's a piece of s**t. Black and white (err, green and black), no camera, can't send text messages, can't really do anything. I've been checking out new phones lately. I want something with a basic camera. I want messaging. I want to be able to check bloglines and my email from it. I'd like to be able to write blog posts and email pics from it. I wanted to get it soon, but I'll tell you what:
I'm willing to wait until the summer to see how this thing stacks up now. My only big hesitation is that if I get the 1st gen one, a better one will be out in 6 months.
The iPhone specs indicate something completely different:
Granted that may not be the best battery life around, but it way above your two hours number.
The biggest issue will be Asia where there's smaller GSM carriers, but mainly they're CDMA/SCDMA.
North America's biggest carrier is still Cingular so it's not too surprising why they launched there.
I guess having an ad block has nothing to do with screwing algorithms so that sponsors are given gratuitous links. Those ad blocks don't decrease the value of the service. But gratuitous links in the main conversations do.
Also, it will be of interest to follow whether Microsoft buys their way in the "conversation" (or lack of) for another month. That'd be ridiculous and quite telling for a company that should instead be talked about by others.
You have no freaking clue. The signifigance of this device goes far, far beyond battery life or whether it's 3G or not.
Oh, and BTW you earlier claimed all the products you had predicted earlier this year were released at some point. Where is the Apple tablet Scoble?
You, just like your former employer, has little clue how to make great technology for regular everyday consumers. Oh and BTW, it looks most of Wall Street disagrees with you.
Idiot.
More on my blog entry, "It's The Gestures, Stupid" @
http://www.psynixis.com/blog/2007/01/10/iphone-...
Pretty shocking. Of course, the iPhone isn't perfect. But do you think Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft/HTC are going pick up the ball and run with it from here? I doubt it. As someone said to me today, if these guys "got it", they'd have already done what Apple just did with the iPhone.
If Apple fixes the mistakes they've made with iPhone, they're going to make one almighty dent in this market.
My phone, with it's archaic fixed button interface, strangely enough does allow me to make phone calls and it doesn't need to be recharged every night.
You don't hold yourself accountable for the crap that you consistently spew. It's lame. You continue to lose credibility.
Look at Gartenberg's comment that it's unfair to compare Macworld and CES! You did that very thing last year.. and oh by the way, you came on the afternoon of the very last day while people were packing up their booths.
You have zero credibility outside of Microsoft technologies. All this blog is a vehicle that companies use to reach people. You have little insight anymore now that you don't have access to Microsoft.
Also, I'm trying to track down confirmation that the iPhone will be a closed system. That just doesn't make sense. As far as I know Apple hasn't addressed that issue, so everything we're hearing right now is just speculation.
> keeps more than half of Americans from considering
> this and for the rest of the world? They are
> laughing about the iPhone now
I don't understand this comment about GSM and the rest of the world. GSM is by far and away the most predominant cell phone standard in the world, the last statistic I saw said something like over 80% of all cell phone subscribers in the world use GSM. As for America, the USA is the 4th largest single-country market of GSM subscribers, behind China, Russia and India (where GSM phones apparently outsell bicycles!).
Are you seriously suggesting that Apple should have picked one of the other cell phone technologies for their iPhone? Why on earth would they have done that?
No tactile feedback, battery life, singular, a Steve-perfect closed environment not open to third-party apps, protection for the screen, yada-yada the blogosphere is swimming in them.
But I'm still jonesing for it. Or at least I want to touch one.
The other thing to bear in mind is that with the work Steve showed yesterday, Apple has kicked open a doorway to a very rich treasure room.
The U-I work and much of the HW and SW development can apply to a whole range of devices: a real video iPod with a hard drive and a bigger battery... a tablet computer... touch-screen control panels for home automation. A really cool universal remote for your home theatre.
Work on gesture rich U-I has been going on for a long time in a lot of places. Apple may be at the head of the parade to commercialize it, regardless of how the first iPhone fares.
http://tinyurl.com/v3h8p
Scott Mace
"Do I want one of these? You bet! Is it one of the most technologically advanced phones on the market? Absolutely. Do we live in a perfect world? Of course not. Do I wish Apple had reconsidered a few aspects of the iPhone to make it even better? Yep."
That pretty much sums it up. Scoble, I will make my first comment on your blog in June with my new iPhone.
If it get 60% the battery life claimed, I'll be shocked.
If one is a heavy user of the multimedia or internet functionality of the device the option to be able to swap batteries is a requirement.
Now if this device had been CDMA only that would truly have kept the rest of the world away. Instead of facing 'just' a problem of production ramp-up and carrier negotiations Apple would have also needed to design, test and 'fit' an entirely new radio module into the device.
Palm is perhaps the only other smartphone vendor out there to have tried it, and frankly I don't think it's worked out so well for them.
I did a post the other day on this very topic... http://www.thealexblog.com/2007/01/09/iphone-vi...
BTW, you totally got the battery life wrong.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/15/the-lg-ke850...
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/10/08/nokias...
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/benqsieme...
However, that just means that Microsoft should be ashamed that it's had all this for 2+ years but but didn't pitch to consumers (just focusing on business) - though it's likely that price had something to do with that.
The battery issue is def a problem, maybe the biggest one, they could have made the battery replaceable so you can always carry a backup, or keep a separate batteries for multimedia apps.
GPS would be nice, but it would make the cell a lot bigger...
Nokia cells have good features but they are always bulky devices, It is a major issue the size of this iPhone and together with the design i predict this phone will be a huge success all around the world, Why did the V3 RZR succeed? because of its crappy VGA camera? no! because of its nice design and looks.
Anyways, who knows what will happen until June.. it they released it today i´ll def buy one, but 6 months its a long time in tech...
Scoble, keep the good job, im starting to think about blogging because of you...
"They are laughing about the iPhone now."
What are you on about? You mean they're laughing because it's on Cingular? That's in the US only, and I expect Apple will partner with T-Mobile or 3 in Europe. Or they're laughing because it won't come out until Q4 2007 in Europe? No one is going to catch up with Apple's UI innovations by then.
Portable devices are an engineering compromise and of course you can come up with a list of features which it doesn't have. If it had 3G, GPS, a 5-megapixel camera then the battery life might really be the two hours you seem to imagine it is.
You can't use it while it's in your pocket? Oh no!
It's exclusive to one carrier - this applies to many smartphone launches in the US and beyond.
It's "vaporware" - ie Jobs announced it before the FCC testing process leaked it. Presumably when a vendor like Nokia pre-announces its handsets (which it always does) they are all vaporware too. Does he think there's a serious chance that it's not going to come out, which is what the term implies? At worst Jobs announced a quarter earlier than usual.
Reality check...Walk into your local VFW/Legion and they've all heard of the iPhone already today. Ask them about blogs and you'll get a blank stare.
If you play a video, the battery life goes down to two hours. At least that's what I've been told.
Oh, I'll buy one too. Why? Because I am a gadget freak and want to be the first one on the block to have one.
But, I thought I was an outlier and that no one should listen to people like me who just buy things because Steve Jobs made them.
The battery life on the Blackjack sucks too. Infact it sucks enough that Samsung ships the unit with two batteries. However even then I can't live without mine, just because it makes my life easy.
I think the killer app on iPhone other than the phone itself is safari integration. More than videos, I want the ability to browse the web and if I can get decent battery life there, I'll be happy. But again that is a personal preference. Still video watching would be an occasional thing
GPS - With 3G and Google maps, do you really need GPS receiver built into the phone. iPhone is not 3G yet but I am sure by 08 it will be and around that time 3G networks will be fast enough to stream map data live on the phone... with 16GB flash memory caching map data won't be an issue and you can always track location of a phone by using signal strength information from cellphone towers etc...
Cingular + GSM to begin with might not be a bad start - remember Moto Razr, it was exclusive to one carrier when it started out. Now it is everywhere.
Remember this is just V1 and apple already has a strong foundation. The possibilities are endless for a whole new line of phones. The important thing to note here is that Apple has a headstart over everyone else.
Remember iPod in an icon... It is the cool thing to have. For most teenagers and early 20s iPhone will do that too.
Also the Asian market is huge. In the Indian market unlike the US a phone is a status symbol and it is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. In India people don't shy away from spending $400 - $450 on phones every year and this market is growing. For these people this is their primary computer and iPhone does a better job at being a primary computer than other phone out there. Just imagine with a docking station this thing could be hooked up to a large screen display and regular keyboards etc... In India that would be a huge success.
Is iPhone for the enterprise and the business user though - perhaps not but there is a possibility that apple has one in the wraps for the enterprise too. Something that syncs with Outlook, activesync etc and has all the tools business people need. Also with OSX there are lots of exsisting apple shops that could easily build applications for iPhones or port exsisting applications to iPhone
Jesus. Actually, Jobs bends it, distorts it... this is more like cracking, smashing, completely denying or excluding reality.
Uh? According to the published specs:
Battery
Up to 5 hoursTalk / Video / Browsing
Up to 16 hoursAudio playback
Unfortunately for them, their investors aren't.
Battery life in audio is 16 hrs. Battery life in video/phone is 5 hrs. Please see the official specs again. Standby is unknown, though one can logically deduce that it must exceed 16 hrs by a large margin.
Another target for Apple is the KISS people. Those want simple, easy-to-use things, with minimum of technical jargon.
So, I predict that iPhone will find its audience from the people above.
And Nokia and others will take notice and instill good bits of iPhone into their products - very rapidly.
It is a mystery why Apple broke the news this early. Why are they showing their cards now; what advantage they are now getting?
Who cares? The point of the iPhone is that it's a staus symbol. It's a status symbol to show how both "rich" and "hip" you are. Functionality isn't the issue here.
How hard is this information to come by. Sheesh.
They hear Apple and they salivate and you will see all the MacBook, iPod toting people with their new sucky iPhones. Just my opinion.
Giving credit to where credit is due, Steve Jobs has done a masterful job of people wanting Apple. Granted, their products are very good but even a mediocre one will sell well.
-Rob
Uhh, dumb, dumb, dumb... Clearly there can be supply issues and their are definitely carrier relationship issues to be dealt with, but why would Apple delay Europe and Asia launches? Let's see: the U.S. is a mix of CDMA/EVDO (with both Verizon and Sprint being the most controlling of their data services) and GSM/EDGE with the migration to GSM/HSDPA incomplete (UMTS is a non-starter, more or less being bypassed in the states because of our lagging the market)... Europe is essentially GSM/HSDPA now or will be by June... Japan and Korea are CDMA. Moreover, in all markets, the world over WiMax may bypass any of these standards as a 3.5/4G standard.
The iPhone already has 4 antennaes in it: GSM/EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth. Is it supposed to have NINE?!: GSM/EDGE, CDMA/EVDO, GSM/UMTS/HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth.
Or should they (1) launch from the dominant world standard and the most advanced, most available "high speed" data service of their PARTNER -- Cingular, Edge, (2)build off that standard and add HSDPA when they enter Europe, and (3) build a CDMA phone when they enter the Japanese market?
I'd go with the second strategy and its unlikely that its any other way: based on what is supported/available in Europe, Japan, and Korea.
LazY, it's been confirmed he pulled it out of his ass and made it up. 5 hours, the same as most Blackberries.
Regarding GSM vs, say, Verizon or Springs 3G... keep in mind that most of the world is GSM. Apple wants to target as large an audience as possible - not just half of North America and parts of Asia. Though, he's already noted that future radio options will come. Also, I've been using a Blackberry (various models, recently the Pearl) on GSM and, frankly, it's fine. Great in fact. Rarely do I even think about slow downloads. Certainly for text email, GSM and EDGE are quite good. And, most of us spend a fair amount of time either in our home and office - where we're likely to have WiFi. So, if that's true, the iPhone has better than 3G speeds most of the time. I've tried using MobilePC phones in mixed WiFi/EDGE environments and found the experience horrible. Apple has a good track record of making WiFi painless, so I'm hopeful this phone will be very different from others before it.
Regarding the camera... I just don't get it. I realize I may be in the minority, but using my cell phone camera for anything other than capturing Bigfoot or the Lochness seems close to pointless. They all, basically, suck. And pixel count means nothing. It's the lens. So, whether it's 1, 2 or 5 Mpixels, it's going to pale in comparison to your average point & click or DSLR. Still, give the iPhone a chance. In June if the camera still sucks, say so - but back it up by having tried it and publishing examples.
The only thing I regret over the last two days is not buying more AAPL.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html
This "two hour only" spec seems to be purely rumor at this point.
MRK: no, not saying that. The rest of the world is going 3G very quickly. That's what a bleeding edge phone should have. Particularly one that costs $600.
If I don't wind up buying an Apple product, I surely will be buying something that the iPhone makes possible because of its critical redesign of the whole smartphone/pda concept.
The iPhone is going to make voicemail usable. Indexed vm is a great idea.
It will be the successor to ALP/Palm as those guys insist on committing a long, public suicide. Palm OS 4 is as black-belt a productivity/communications tool on a small phone as I could currently wish for.
I want Notes, Contacts, Calendar, To Dos and email in my pocket. I want them to sync reliably with my Mac. Am using a great flip phone, Samsung i500, that had no successor in this country. (Mexico and China got the i550).
The iPhone means that by the time I am ready to change phones I will have a well designed tool. Yes, I am looking for a more "Nano" solution than a bulky brick. No Treo in my jeans pocket, maaan! But probably no iPhone v.1 either.
Worthless to me.
It actually has a design.
It's got huge storage space.
It's got a huge display.
It's got a serious OS underneath.
Tiny battery? Well I wonder how at all it's possible to fit that much hardware into such small a device. It's a very small device.
Why? Firstly, are you unaware that Apple has a web site? That there are trustworthy sources out there that have had experience with it/interaction with Apple? Why are you just going off innuendo and rumors from people at CES and not doing some real research? It would take you about 5 seconds to find the battery life at the web site, or more easily you could have actually watched the presentation where it was stated.
Why the hell should we trust or care about your opinions if you are just making them up based on crap out of your ass?
I would say the MS devices blow the iPhone... oh, sorry, you probably meant to have "away" in there. I agree.
sad that he can not embrace all companies that at least try to be forward thinking-
why do i read his rants against apple??
I guess no more for me-
sad cause i really thought this guy was smart-
see ya
http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html
While you're there, be sure to look at the Quicktime demos. They give a clear view of the UI in action and shows how muti-touch works using white circles that represent your fingers.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/ipod/
Very impressive.
(It has already added almost 12 billion and trimmed a few billion from it's competitors market cap in two days. Just because Scoble and his buddies that decided to make up features since they are at the lame conference decided to talk it down doesn't mean much. I can point out past successful predictions of Scoble: PMCs beating iPod, iTablet, etc...
I just had a great idea. It came to me over the last couple of months as I've read all the speculations and prognostications about how this product sucks, would flop and doesn't deliver.
These assumptions all made long before the product has shipped or has been handled by any of these prognosticators.
I'm reminded of all the failure predictions of a 5g mp3 player introduced in 2001 at a retail price of $399.
The predictions were all the same. Too expensive. Doesn't have an FM tuner, not compatible with Windows, yada yada yada!
80 million units later, with every potential manufacturer clamoring for what crumbs of market share possible to scrape up, another product is released. The prognosticators having, not learned any lesson, stick their collective necks out on the block again.
Anyway, the idea I mentioned earlier is, I'm going to collect these predictions and speculations over the course of next year and have a regular quotefest by next years Macworld\CES show.
I'm not speaking only of Apple products here, I'll be including any manufacturers product that get pre-judgement treatment from all the "experts", bloggers and responders.
We'll all have a great laugh pointing out the the foot in mouth predictions.
I suppose the point is...Let the product ship. Give it try. Damn, are we so full of ourselve that we can see into the future.
While both camera and battery suck bigtime on the iPhone (nobody in their right mind will deny this), there real issue in my opinion is in the software.
I've owned 10+ smartphones over the past two years, and I always find, that Symbian OS-based devices (like Nokia) are far superior in speed, userbility etc. than Windows Mobile-software. In my opinion this is because of experience. The only thing Windows Mobile is good at, is syncing with Windows (... it is a big issue though).
I'm looking forward to seeing how well - or poor - Apples implementation of BSD on the cellphone will do. Betting it will be as poor as the first editions of Windows Mobile - but hopefully it won't.
And by the way: If you have to get into the big markedshares, you have to go corporate... Can't imagine the iPhone doing that.
Lack of HSUPA / UMTS in the first generation is unfortunate, but I can live without it. A camera flash & GPS would have been icing on the cake.
Still, the core features are compelling enough that I'm buying one when they are released.
Reality Distortion Field aside. Anything this guy introduces, he has a way of making it seem like the best thing since sliced bread. but the market always determines whether it will succeed or not. That goes for any product, not just those introduced by The Steve.
My point is still the same. Determinations made about a products performance or quality of it's implementations before it ships is just,... I don't know... Kinda...STOOPID!!!
They've made clear that this thing will not ship for 6 months. Who knows what will happen in that time. Hell, it may not even be called an iPhone by then.
I'm sorry, dear sir, but never has such a short quote harboured such myriad logical fallacies! 3G? 16GB flash RAM? Where did you pick up those preposterous specifications -- from Apple's site, peradventure?
As for the comment about tracking the phone's location, I suppose it's simply a matter "dry-ungulating" the phone's exact coordinates with the help of... ehh, nearby link towers? Heah.
The lack of video recording is ridiculous.
I write about the wireless imaging capabilities of the iPhone in my camera phone weblog:
http://www.cameraphonereport.com/2007/01/apple_...
for the most part, you haven't done anything significant with you life
maybe rather than spouting mindless opinions about products you know nothing about you should get a "real job" and try and make something of your life before you tell your grand kids what a waste you were...
They begin to look like malcontents who kvetch about the weather so much that they don't notice the sun coming out.
http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/ar...
It is very unlikely that I will ever buy an iPhone, but it seems to me that it's success will depend on how it improves the experience of using a cellphone, not on how well it imitates an iPod running OSX.
The Apple site states something completely different regarding battery life. However, you cannot replace the battery on the current device displayed at CES (device is not out to market yet so we will have to wait and see).
No third party applications confirmed? http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/10/apple-vps-confir...
It may not have GPS but it does have Bluetooth so you could connect to a Bluetooth GPS receiver... BUT you cannot install 3rd party applications. UGH!
I will most likely see this device around the neighborhood but will I see it in the workplace? I doubt it. I need a device and software that can be used at both the workplace and at home.
I have never seen such a story run and run. Well done Apple (computers), Inc. Now everyone has heard of the iPhone!!
When you insist on providing demonstrably false information to help make your points (ie- the 2 hour battery performance), you're going to get called out. And no amount of labelling your critics with prejorative terms like "zealot" or "fanboy" will make your point stronger. Acknowledge the error with grace under fire, Robert. I've seen you do it many times before.
Remember that credibility is like virginity; once lost, you can't reclaim it.
I know much of your commentaries are shot from the hip, but fact checking is an important ingredient for establishing blogs as a reliable information medium. Please don't duck the responsibility by saying your post isn't a "news article and hasn't been fact checked". Your status as one of the a-list bloggers should compel a higher standard.
The short of it is your own credibility should require rudimentary fact checking, regardless of whether your blog fits the standard of "commentary" or "news".
All that said, I write this in the hopes of engaging you constructively. Especially since I've been called a jerk by you on one other occasion!
Now as far as the iPhone is concerned, just wait to see what the non-geek public goes for. Remember the T-Mo Sidekick does quite well as a similar device and the iPhone moves the goal posts against that.
Whatever you think about desirability of iPhone, you have to admit Jobs has pulled off a PR coup making CES seem trivial.
I totally agree that a built-in GPS would have made a significant move forward with that phone. Even with rumors of embedded photo geo-tagging functionality. However, as reported by a bunch of other bloggers, this will be a closed phone. Not ability to install 3rd-party apps. This is looking less interesting as the apple skin is being peeled off.
Thanks - Martin
I take far more shots at Microsoft, but you don't notice those.
IT Guy: OK, I won't blame Apple for that. But since I'm gonna spend $600 of my own money on this, I will blame them for not letting me do video with the camera. I will blame them for not putting a GPS into such an expensive device. I will blame them for making me bring a separate iPod on international flights cause I can't charge up two batteries (I want to watch two videos on the way to Switzerland, for instance).
Think about it. All of the other stuff in the middle, I mean ALL of it (video, 3G, GPS, and so on) can change with little brouhaha, but changing the user interface is a huge deal. Apple got the hardest part, the UI, right. Yes, it would be better to have some kind of tactile feedback, but compared to the WM5 UI I deal with every day (and I thought it was a cool phone until Monday evening), this is like comparing Win95/98 to Vista or OS X.
With tons of rebates, the PPC-6700 is just now coming down into the sub-$300 range. List is $549.
The real question is, "Why would anyone shell out $549 for a Windows device as poorly executed as this?" The answer is: because it was better than the alternatives.
You don't have to be the fastest deer, just faster than the slowest. The smartphone market sucks so bad... even with the issues you've brought up (which are fixable), the iPhone behaves in a manner that is at least five years beyond the other phones.
June will be an interesting month. :D - Tim
it's called a patent.
you are a moron.
This thing will be huge, even if relatively not many people buy it because practically everybody, from grandmas to teenagers have or want a cellphone. The market for the iPod is small compared to that of cellphones. Apple is going to make a killing on this even if they don't totally take over the market.
Another reason the iPhone will win?
scobleizer isn't impressed. honestly! Check
print.wordpress.com
http://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2007/01/notes-on...
it’s called a patent.
you are a moron."
No, I think u are. You have to be silly to think that other companies like Nokia, HTC, LG and others are going to rollover due to iPhone over hype. This is their bread and butter (especially Nokia). Plus Nokia has been working on their on version of iPhone for years and so have most companies...LG (touchable chocolate) has one almost exactly like iPhone. This is why probably Apple put their phone out so early (6months) another compnay like LG was probably very close to launching there own and taking the luster and revolution out of the iPhone. See the following links:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/15/the-lg-ke850...
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/10/08/nokias...
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/benqsieme...
Steve is a liar and exaggerator.
People aren't as feature focus as you think. Compare the Creative Nomad with the iPod. Which has better technology, more features, can be used with more file formats? The Nomad, but iPod has more market share.
http://print.wordpress.com/2007/01/11/response-...
The points are all weak, and smack of FUD. BONUS: You repeat yourself and contradict yourself ! Love it!
'early adopters' and 'vaporware'. A Juxtaposition to seal your fate as an alarmist, hysteric.
http://duggmirror.com/apple/LG_KE850_iPhone/
looks like what iPhone should, especially flash for camera at back of phone. No flash in Apple iPhone.
If the general public is stupid enough to purchase this device with a non-replaceable battery than, let them drown in their ignorance. If Apple is smart, they would have a dept dedicated to just reading the feedback on the blogs to prevent future fiascos with their produts.
yes Nokia's new camera's blow the iphone's away, but have you seen the Nokia phone that does so and looked at how big that thing is? come on, that thing is a camcorder not a phone.
GPS will just reduce the battery power and with cell triangulation you get enough location data, and you can always add GPS via bluetooth if you are a hardcore offroader.
the whole thing about Cungular is also nonsense ... so Cingular will sell it here in the US, but you will be able to buy the phone unlocked and then you can also use it on T-Mobile -- it is a GSM phone afterall.
Cut the man some slack people.
It'll sell (remember that it'll be dirt cheap on a £35/month contract) to the "style" crowd, but "reinvention" isn't happening here.
ipod's are negligible weight/bulk, so does it really hurt to carry your music separately?
look how far we've come from boomboxes hoisted on shoulders!
Anyhow Robert, I got your point.
Wait and tell... Don't jump to the conclusion so fast.
If you can't see the innovation here, you my friend must have been a PC user for a long time. Don't blame Apple for that.
I definitely won't be getting this iPhone, but maybe the next generation or the one after that again.
http://extrapolater.wordpress.com/2007/01/11/ip...
It is disappointing that Cingular is the carrier. I was really hoping Apple would sell the hardware alone and unlocked from the Apple Store, ready for whatever GSM SIM card you insert. However, seeing now the integration that the phone demands from the carrier service, it's clear that Cingular had to step up with several special service customizations and accomodations in order to make this deal work. If unlocked versions lose a lot of functionality, then they may keep the distribution locked up for a while.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/images/apple-ip...
Sorry, I couldn't find a copy on the apple website, but it's from a blog post also saying the iphone sucks.. He probably got it from there, I'm just too lazy to look more than a minute.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=210
It's actually thinner !! than the Moto razr closed. Less than a cm wider, and about 2cm longer.
That doesn't seem very brick like at all. It's about half an inch longer than a 4.5 gen ipod, and nearly as thin as the 30gb model. I could keep that in my pocket no problem.
Yeah it's no itty bitty flip phone, but it's thin enough to sit comfortably in a pocket. Plus, half of us are women, they have purses to put the thing in. Oh, and anyone who still uses a belt clip for their phone, looks like a jackass. FYI.
While thinness is cool it does compromise the capability of the phone. Being a little thicker is ok if the phone has a bigger longert lasting battery, 3G, Edge, Quad-band, GPS, 5 megapixel camera, 30 frame per second video recording and WiFi support.
Checkout the new coming N95 - http://www.mobilcaster.com/2006/12/must-have-no...
Rob Greenlee
Neonode
(came out in 2004) http://www.neonode.com/Default.aspx
Snap on keyboard - it has a dock connector, and OS X -
a small snap on keyboard, or a full blown - fold out PDA type 104 key keyboard are sure to come out.
JUNE - Why so long? - FCC - sure, but more than a dozen companies are already working on attachments, cases, expansion, etc...
The phone is a little computer, with OS X (light) - and a connector.
What Gizmos can you think of already?
Depending on the processor speed - the Apple Phone would make a great 1 eyed brain for a little robot - enough RAM and CPU can go along way to Linux developers... 2MP camera is great for email, printable size too...
Still - I look forward to a full screen iPod - 100 GB for $349, you can keep the phone and camera, contact and etc stuff. The updated iPod will have the same screen as the iPhone (or bigger) - with a larger battery, and focus on music and video - of course.
the Apple phone starts off as a status symbol - people paying top margin for the shiny new toy.
Boo hoo! When DON'T you have and excuse for your innacuracies? You CHOOSE to do this, so no sympathy for you! Saying you don't care about accuracy would have more credibility than trying to blame circumstances. Weren't you just on the campaign trail? you think those "journalists" get to use the "I was tired" excuse when making errors in reporting? It's clear all you care about is "being first" in the hopes of getting hits, over being accurate.
The iphone blows the high end "small" PPC market out of the water. It is everything a PPC phone wants to be but better, more integrated and easier to use. Just watching the demos on the apple site i see so many things that frustrate me about my PPCs that apple appear to have solved or done significantly better.
At the price suggested it is not going to be competing with disposeable pay-as-you-go phones or the teen kids market, it's a phone to replace my PPC, make it how it should be and include an ipod. In 12 months when they reach Australia i'll be ready to upgrade. It's in the ballpark of the price i've paid for each PPC phone since moving off nokia so the price isn't that much of a factor. Sure i'll lose 3G which has been underwhelming anyway and i'll have to find new car navigation software and continue to use my BT GPS.
Note: i don't own an ipod (or any portable mp3 player) and don't have a mac and never have.
Fascinating thread, good discussion. Some of the international comparison issues - what works in America vs Europe vs Asia - are discussed in my blog where I handicap the chances of iPhone reaching 10 million in a year. I say it is do-able, but not quite by the strategy announced. The smartphone market is too small, but if Apple also attacks the musicphone market (was 309 million units last year - yes, over 6 times bigger than all iPods sold in 2006), then it can achieve the 10 million.
Briefly. In America the GSM standard and Cingular exclusive deal limits reach. Corporate/enterprise customers will be reluctant to buy "iPods cameras and video iPods" for their staff bundled in the smartphone offerings. But because of iPod's strong established customer base, they can reach the needed 4.7 million out of America.
In Europe the 3G will be a massive flaw, and by Christmas 2007 a 2 megapixel camera is obsolescent. If the phone can't do SMS one-handed and blind, the phone will fail in Europe. I am assuming Apple is smart enough to fix this (and just in case, I also wrote an open letter to them highlighting this need which has been widely quoted). But because Europeans buy more expensive phones than Americans, and their penetration rate is 50% higher than Americans (European cellphone subscription penetration per capita is 110% already vs 75% in USA and under 60% in Canada), and Europe is bigger (in population), the smaller European target of 3 million can be reached.
In Asia it is even more tough. By 2008 the 2 megapixel camera is a toy. In Japan and South Korea today aleady over half of all users are on 3G, so nobody in their right mind would buy a phone with an archaic technology like 2G. The lack of a memory stick module is a serious flaw for the target audience who all have two phones and in many countries replace phones every six months (thus memory module vital for maintaining all kinds of libraries of digital memories). In Asia also SMS is a must, so same assumption, the touch screen has to operate blind and one-handed for sending SMS text messages. But again, with some heavy work, the needed 2.3 million units can be sold into Asia. They do love their gadgets and expensive phones in Asia, from Hong Kong to Indonesia and what would probably be near 1000 dollars of a price in its SIM-free version, is still acceptable price for the wealthy young professionals who need to show off.
Ok, thats the summary. If you'd like to read the full blog with the regional variations etc, please visit my blog at www.communities-dominate.blogs.com
PS Robert, no surprise on the theme of my last blog on the iPod vs musicphone saga ha-ha, but to let you know, I'll be returning to that topic one last time next week when the Apple quarterly results are out..
Tomi Ahonen :-)
Robert, speed is not innovative. Of course tech specs improve with time.
Also, the FUD you spread by not doing a trivial amount research (looking up the battery life) is shameful.
Lance, I agree that the Touchable Chocolate looks neat, but the other two are "concepts" which means there is a very small chance they'll actually come out. What's the release date for the LG one?
What we're seeing is the gulf between how Apple thinks and how Microsoft thinks. Apple has made constant, relentless improvements to the whole iPod system since day two, even in the absence of significant competition. Then Microsoft thinks they'll supplant the iPod with the Zune. They put their best foot forward and it turned into the most pitiful ass kicking Microsoft has ever received from anybody.
Me? I always wait for version 2.0.
http://www.technologyevangelist.com/2007/01/ces...
the Design of iPhone make it stand out, not the features it has to offer...
Switching to Cingular is not an option for me, and should not be for anyone with any brains at all. Cingular Sux.
sighs...
and ipod has way too small a capactiy for MP3s...
no deal for me over here
Simon, have you been paying attention? Verizon blows. They are the most consumer hostile cell phone company around. Their employees don't know how to do math and the company insists on castrating any phone they sell.
I corrected my error pretty damn quickly once the facts were pointed out to me.
Oh, and if there's any reader who doesn't also read the comments here before drawing a conclusion, then, they also are an idiot, and I hope I don't have any idiots reading here.
Once the link was posted, you changed it fast, but at first when someone told you it was five hours, you should have gone to the website to check. Just saying, I'm not angry.
As for Cingular not having any towers in Montana, that's an easy fix, don't go to Montana :) … Well, Montana does have a cool computer museum.
Dude, like, there's like 15,650 something words here, how much of a genius do you want us poor commentators to be in order to be a part of the Scoble experience? 183 responses to an iPhone post? Holy crap people: "Blackberry", look into it. You can thank me later by not buying an iPhone just like the rest of the 6.5 billion of us.
Which makes you an idiot for doing zero research or reading before posting.
Sure, the iPhone may have its flaws already, but I wouldnt be surprised if they too are worked out, and it really does "change the phone".
Imagine, a permanently online OSX in your pocket. That's what it's REALLY about.
Nick: Not to be a Macsturbator or anything, but Jobs did say that one of this phone's great features was how easy it would be to change even after it was sold. I can imagine that Apple will monitor the consumer buzz and add new features that you can download via a software-update like system. If the interface is screwy, maybe they'll allow users to make adjustments based on the size of their fingers.
I'm not saying that I put my faith completely in Apple, but they really, really do get user interfaces. It's possible that they really have cooked up something revolutionary here. It is a pity that we have to wait until June to see it.
2) Lack of 3G is a legitimate problem. However, Steve Jobs says in the key note itself that 3G will be added in the future.
3) Lack of tactile feel may be a very big problem, however, lets see how Apple implements their keyboard, which may stop this problem from being a deal breaker.
4) Camera without video is stupid, but they should be able to fix that easily enough.
5) Closed system is also a big problem, but I am sure if consumers start resenting it, Apple will immediately publish a set of API's.
6) However, the new UI, and the amazing potential of this device will probably more than make up for these issues, for a significant number of people. Also, the price is not a problem, because in other countries, people buy high quality phones without contracts for anywhere between 200-1000 dollars, and i doubt that they will release it tied to a single service outside the US.
The Nokia and BenQ devices do look interesting, but they are only design prototypes.
In creating the iPhone, Apple has created a whole new platform - allowing it to leverage it's experience developing applications, such as Final Cut Pro, Mail.app and iPhoto; along with OS technologies, such as Core Animation, Core Image and Dashboard. I don't see how the cell phone industry can keep up in this space.
The only other company who could have come even close to putting out something like the iPhone is Microsoft. However, Apple's prior experience in creating it's own notebooks, the Newton and iPods have given it a huge advantage in this segment.
In addition, Mac OS X technologies, such as Core Image, are already designed to work on two different platforms - Intel and Power PC. At runtime, Core Image detects what hardware is available and just-in-time compiles image processing tasks for either the GPU (graphics card) or one or more SIMD vector units (SSE on Intel or Altivec on PPC) - whatever is most appropriate for the job.
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.4.a...
Instead of creating a whole new API, Apple was able to bring Core Image, and dashboard like effects, to the iPhone by adding it's graphics processor to the existing list of supported hardware.
As for releasing a tablet based Mac, it appears that Jobs still doesn't think general-purpose tablet computing is ready for prime time. It's likely that the iPhone will be the only fruit of Apple's tablet research we'll see over the next few years.
I'll have to hold out again till they de-phone the iPhone. Next year? Yikes. That's a lot of sad, lonely bus rides.
So, with the iPhone (or whatever it will be called after Cisco and Apple get through with it), its something which everyone would want - or envy if they dont have the money.
Let me put my points across to you - from a perpective of a person in India .
6. Battery is less.
- Not really a problem for those who can afford it. Sure, it may be a problem for a rickshawala, but they cannot afford it anyways. For others, like me, who work at the desk and comp all the time, it will be getting charged all the time.
7. its GSM ! Can you believe that ! The CDMA networks in India are pretty much owned by the company, which means we have to be at their mercy for the phones we get. with GSM , we depend on the network companies only for the SIM card. We can independently buy the phones. Which is a pretty good deal, as if we dont like the network provider, we can just switch the SIM and be on the same phone.
8. Camera. Well, my treo650 has a .5 MP camera. 2MP is pretty good. My sis has one 1.3 without flash, and for most uses its good. If you want flash, and want something better, you need to get a camera. Even if the phone had a good 4MP camera, people would crib about it not having optical zoome etc. etc. etc.
9. GPS . Come on man. We dont even have good maps here. GPS is a distant dream. One of my friends has a GPS. No maps. Uses it to create squiggles for his road trips.
The only point i will add is :
10. Not available in Asia for a long time :(
Vibhu..
http://www.theconstantjanitor.org/?p=236
desktop or laptop too. Last time ive changed my computer the total cost.
Was 300$ to get a Quad Xeon. Value IS important. Sold my old one for 2500. Added 300 and Voila... top of the line computer for 300. Cool no ? Its been like that for at least 9 years now.
So far since the start Ive added just about 300 every 3 years to get upgraded.
So its 100 $ a year to have a Verry expensive machine ? I think I spend about the same as everybody else no ? I like Apple. How much did you spend and what did you get ?
phone.. O0o yea and I typed all this on my LX!.. Now wut iphone lovers.. U can't type all this on that big touch screen..holla at me! Peace!
That whooshing sound you're hearing is the breeze generated by hordes of iPhone-haters looking for ways to distance themselves from you, lest they be associated with this comment.
If you want to hate the iPhone, knock yourself out. (I, for example, will be passing on the iPhone, opting instead for something simple and cheap. If I determine that I want the application capabilities of the iPhone, I'll start looking into the iTouch.) If you want to love the Sidekick, I'm not about to stand in your way.
However, if you're going to brag about the texting capabilities of your LX, you might want to check your spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Otherwise, people might assume that you're using a piece of crap for a phone that doesn't allow you to type correctly, instead of the glorious device that blessed us with your wit and wisdom. - Tim
I have noticed that people complain about the battery life and don't bother trying to do anything about it. The iPhone is a phone first and multimedia second. For those who would bash the "crappy" signal strength they get, I have no problem getting a signal in the city, suburbs, or in mountains. There were a few dead spots in the mountains, but there also weren't any town around.