Apple iPhone – Should You Believe the Hype? |
Everybody is gaga over the iPhone. It’s sexy, it’s sleek, and it’s definitely all Apple design all the way. Steve Jobs wowed us with his presentation of the iPhone. However, that could have just been the effect of the famous Jobs Reality Distortion Field. The question on our minds is: Is the iPhone a contender in the cut throat mobile phone arena? We look at a few issues that may hinder the fledgling iPhone on its first flight out of the Apple Aerie.
Price
At $500 to $600 the phone is incredibly expensive. You could buy a Nintendo Wii, a few games and still have money left over a good night on the town. Considering some wireless companies give phones away with their plans it might be hard to convince a consumer to part with a months rent for a phone. Also what kind of high priced data, voice, music or text packages will a user be forced to buy in order to take advantage of all the features of iPhone.
Who is the User?
With a device this pricey, thoughts would turn to enterprise corporate users in the Blackberry or Windows Mobile space. However without an enterprise email service it might be hard to sell corporations on laying out the cash for a phone that an employee can use to play music and take pictures instead of getting business emails.
iTunes
Yes you can play and organize music but can you buy songs write from the phone? That is a question that remains to be answered. According to an Apple VP in an interview with itwire.com, “iTunes was designed to exist on the Mac and PCs. That’s where the music should live.” So it sounds like no iTunes on the phone. Maybe there is something else for the iPhone? I can’t imagine that Apple would pass up on the huge revenue stream guaranteed by direct iTunes downloads to the iPhone.
Name
Apple is being sued right now by Cisco over the name. If they have to change it, will it still be as cool. Yes it will be cool, but if Apple has to change the name they will look pretty silly or pretty stupid or both.
Applications
Right now there are a few big smart phone OS players. The iPhone uses OS X as the operating system for the iPhone. So a brand new OS player emerges on the scene and, guess what, Apple is going to very strict about who gets to create an application for their phone. In other words, Apple owns you, your data and you will be locked in forever and ever, Amen. Compare the software available for OS X and Windows. Windows has a lot, actually a whole lot compared to the Mac. Are we going to see that same trend with an OS X based iPhones? Mobile application publishers will have yet another platform to target if they can get on Emperor Jobs’ phone.
The Touch (Touchy) Screen
This one is pretty obvious. Where do most men put their phone? In their pocket with their keys and who knows what else. Where do women put their phones? In their purse with a whole bunch of other stuff. How well will this screen hold up to daily use? If the iPod Nano was any indication we should fair amount of complaints about scratched screens. If you have a scratched screen on your $600 sexy phone, you might be a bit upset.
So right now there are a few questions to be answered before purchasing an iPhone. Luckily, you will have plenty of time to wait and see how the details work out.
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This phone is without a doubt cool, and it will be worth it for some, especially those that also are wearing designer clothes and carrying around a small dog.
Mikey,
Are you saying Paris Hilton will love this phone? I got a similar impression. I would love to have a phone like this but I’ve got to eat and I need a place to live!
How much did the iPod cost when it came out? It’s the same thing. People are willing to crack the wallet for some expensive purse, so why not an expensive iPhone that does wayy more than a purse could ever do?!
Its radical because of what Steve Jobs DIDN’T say. Think about the OSX possibilities and it starts to get really interesting.
Over here in the UK a Palm Treo costs £229.00 (plus taxes). Thats nearly $400 – without a contract. An iMate XDA £509.99. Sony Ericsson P900 is £499.00 plus tax typically.
At $499 and $599 this will translate to (yes its slightly inflated) into £350 – £450 (contract free).
Apple have pitched the price well as this iPhone will easily compete. Watch the competition (if there is any) begin to edge prices down. That is the problem Apple will have because no one will catch upin the next 12 months
Lets see what the operators do with it – probelm is for its first 3 months it’ll be like golddust. Apple have iPod production well in hand now so, give em a chance.
This is a really terrific convergence technology – and its just the first!
Apple deserve it to be a resounding success!
J
It will be really interesting to see how much the iPhone is when it’s hit Europe, also I wonder if they have decided on a network for Europe. I guess the big players like Vodafone, TMobile and O2 will all be in the hunt.
I agree with Mikey and Loki on the price it’s a bit high.
Jim
One thing that makes me a little nervous is how Apple controls what software goes on the phone. If I’m interpreting this correctly that means I can’t develop an application for the iPhone like I would for the Mac. Maybe this will change in the future but a rich third-party application community has really helped the Mac. I think it could really help the iPhone too.
Thoughts?
most of the criticisms i’ve read of the iPhone tend to reflect rather narrow thinking, and this article is no exception. it’s pretty clear to me that Jobs, and Apple, aren’t going for existing markets…they are creating a new one. there simply is no product out there that combines the best mp3 player with high-quality video (there is zero mention of video in this article), fully functional web navigation AND a powerful cell phone. it clearly can’t do SOME of the things that some of the “smart” phones can do, but it does many things they can’t, and does them, by all accounts, brilliantly.
as for the scratch-pottential, man those iPod sales have really suffered because of that problem, haven’t they? besides, i am sure there are companies coming up with innovative scratch-protection products as we speak.
as for the price, man those iPod sales have really suffered because of that problem, haven’t they? most folks are spending at least $200-$300 for an iPod alone. for another couple hundred bucks you get a great cell phone AND video player AND web navigation device. and, just as the original iPod’s price came down, so too will the iPhone.
many of the other short-comings mentioned in other articles, like no 3G support, can (and i’m sure will) be fixed through software updates.
the iPod will be big…very big.
- combatbutter
oops..i meant the “iPhone” will be big. obviously, the iPod is doing just fine.
- combatbutter
I can’t believe how idiotic you sound. If you actually know anything about the iPhone you would know that it’s meant to be a smart phone not a regular phone that only does calling,texting and has a camera. This price is absolutely on par because your getting a $300 phone and a $300 iPod video. Also if you knew anything you would know that the iPhone has a proximety sensor so it knows if the iPhone is close to something like your ear and the touch screen doesn’t work. Apple’s iPhone is the most amazing phone on the market along with the best music/video player so do your research next time buddy.
“Yes you can play and organize music but can you buy songs write from the phone? That is a question that remains to be answered. According to an Apple VP in an interview with itwire.com, “iTunes was designed to exist on the Mac and PCs. That’s where the music should live.†So it sounds like no iTunes on the phone. Maybe there is something else for the iPhone? I can’t imagine that Apple would pass up on the huge revenue stream guaranteed by direct iTunes downloads to the iPhone.”
Are you kidding me? As someone who knows iPods, there is often an update for the phone. Now Steve mentioned in the presentation that you shouldnt worry about replacing the phone with a new one with new buttons, since the iPhone has a touch screen they can just update the software to add whatever they want. Now the buttons thing is off the topic, but it still stands that they can update software. Software that can say… download music? Well the iPhone does have internet access, and an audio player, and OSX. Methinks the iTunes store will soon be available to a pocket near you.
P.S. You make it seem as if since they didn’t mention anything about downloading music from your iPhone, it’s not good enough for you. A thousand shames on your soul.
I’m really curious about a couple of things. First, is the battery removable? A dead battery in an ipod is no big deal, aside from the lost time while Apple replaces it and ships it back, but losing a few days’ use of my cellphone would be financially unfeasible. Second, what storage capacity will it have? A $349 ipod has an 80 gig drive. I would expect this to have at least as much. Third, who actually makes the cellular phone components? Is this a Motorola, an LG, a Samsung, or something else? The connection quality of cellphones varies widely by carrier AND manufacturer.
Thanks for the tip Roger, the correction was made.
I’m a software developer (including J2ME) and so I would never recommend this phone because of the fact that you can only run approved applications. That being said, what I wanted to say is that I don’t think the price is a factor. If I remember correctly, the Motorola Razr was about $400 when it launched and people bought that up like crazy. I do think the iPhone price will come down by a small amount, but not much. Apple isn’t exactly known for low prices and I don’t think they want to be.
Furthermore, regardless of the price or specs, we all know that every Mac fan out there is going to buy one no matter what, so it will a huge success on those sales alone.
this is a really cool phone, but like the other people said will it infact hold up to daily use? Because some of us will just have this no other ipod or anything just this phone,what other stuff do i have to buy along with this phone just to make it work?
yes…its pricey.
yes…it will take me til June to afford it (maybe), but
yes indeed….I’ll probably be in line to get one the day it comes out.
Why?
*no longer need to carry nano AND cell
*may not need to carry laptop due to wi-fi capability
*widescreen ipod….woohoo.
And if it helps my pudgy self look like Paris Hilton carrying the newest hottest phone……so be it
If I am not mistaken thousands of people fludded stores when the Playstation 3 came out spending the exact same amount. I’ve even heard that people were selling them online for thousands of dollars to those who missed out on the first round of sales. Now remember most gamers are in their young adult stage of life lieaving us to believe that not just rich celebrities can afford to spend a few hundred dollars on the newest technology. Also keep in mind that a smart phone today can cost around 3-5 hundred dollars and an iPod costs from 2-3 hundred dollars so if you add these two products together you get a product easily 5-8 hundred dollars. So I think a price of 5 and 6 hundred dollars is an amazing price for the iPhone.