June 11, 2007
Walt Mossberg Shows College Leaders His New iPhone
Walter S. Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal’s personal-technology columnist, picked up his review copy of the Apple iPhone this morning, and he gave his initial impressions of the much-anticipated gadget to college leaders during a speech at The Chronicle’s Presidents Forum.
As he pulled the phone from his pocket and explained what it was, oohs were heard from several audience members.
“I don’t know whether I’ll give it a good review or not,” he said, noting that he will use the phone for the next couple of weeks before writing his review. “I can already see some things I don’t like about it. I see some other things that I do like a lot about it.”
He said a crucial question was whether the iPhone’s touch-screen keypad is an adequate replacement for the keyboards on BlackBerries and other advanced cellphones.
“They are claiming that through clever software they have figured out a way for this to be actually far more accurate and efficient than you think it will be, and I’m testing that proposition,” he said. “And I can tell you that in the first hour it works a little better than I thought, but I’m still not sure it works as well as a regular keyboard — and the first hour is not a very fair test, so I’m going to keep going at it.”
Mr. Mossberg named cellphones as one of the top three technologies to watch at the moment, arguing that the era of the PC is ending. “The PC’s been a big deal. It has peaked.”
“This is the next level or elevation of the cellphone,” he said of the iPhone. “Not because it’s better or necessarily better than your Blackberry … but this runs a real computer operating system” and therefore can offer full-featured e-mail software on the go.—Jeffrey R. Young
Posted on Monday June 11, 2007 | Permalink |Comments
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you should also consider what the cost is of the iPhone for a year… iphone cost
— allen stern Jun 11, 05:59 PM #
The link to iPhone ‘true’ cost is so obsolete it is completely irrelevant. The pricing is from February. There are two things that were reported recently about this. First, AT&T sales reps were instructed to bend over backwards in waiving cancellation penalties for existing Cingular users on 2-year contracts who want the phone (i.e. no penalty if you’re only 2 months out). Second, it has been reported that there will be special aggressive pricing of voice/data plans for iPhone; as in ‘less expensive than other plans’.
The iPhone may end up being cheaper than a BlueBerry, or a RZUR, or that Prada chick fashion thing.
— Predrag Jun 11, 07:09 PM #
Predrag – I didn’t take into account cancelling your current plan. And naturally ATT reps will let you move over – they let you do that now basically.
Your last statement will come true if the iPhone does not sell like they want it to.
There will have to be some specials for the average customer to want one.
— allen stern Jun 11, 07:17 PM #
“They are claiming that through clever software they have figured out a way for this to be actually far more accurate and efficient than you think it will be,”
That’s what they said about the Newton too
— ELS Jun 11, 07:45 PM #
Aah – the newton – I was one of the first salespeople in the nation to be certified to sell those at the Wiz. Sold 2 the first day (man those spiffs rocked) and one came back the next day. They never sold. It was just too early for it’s time.
— Allen Stern Jun 11, 08:03 PM #
iThink iSee an iFlop
— Juve Jun 11, 08:37 PM #
The efficiency of the keyboard is not going to make or break the iPhone. Even if the plastic keyboards of Blackberries and Treos are better for typing, who cares? Those are business devices serving a small small base of the population. The iPhone is aimed at “the rest of us”, and few regular people feel compelled to type out moderate to long emails on ANY mobile device, whether it has a plastic keyboard or not. The iPhone is more of a “output” device, rather than an “input” device. You use it for listening to music/video, reading news from the web, reading email, looking up directions, or movie times, looking at pictures, etc. etc. Most people will want to get information from a device like this, not push information out (ie, type out emails). But if you need to type, you can do that too.
I think the iPhone is going to remake the idea of what a SmartPhone/PDA can be. It really is going to appeal to regular people in a way that no other PDA/Smartphone ever has, and as the unit’s price comes down next year and the year after that, regular people are going to adopt the iPhone and its successors in droves….
— H Kobler Jun 11, 10:25 PM #
Well said Kobler. I consider myself a very fast typer on my PDA, and it’s still slow enough that I very rarely write e-mails that are more than a few sentences, most long e-mails can wait till I get home to my remote e-mail, or back to work. So even if the iPhone typing is slower – it’s still a race of turtles – so who cares which one is faster?
— Mase Jun 11, 10:47 PM #
The whole point of not having a keyboard is to NOT be like a blackberry. I for one, gladly welcome the removal of “keyboards” from the iPhone. They are horrid to work with. Hopefully the iPhone’s touch screen will prove better.
— 3DG Jun 11, 10:49 PM #
I found this rather interesting:
“The iPhone is more of a “output” device, rather than an “input” device. You use it for listening to music/video, reading news from the web, reading email, looking up directions, or movie times, looking at pictures, etc. etc.”
Nowhere in there did you even mention making phone calls or typing text messages, probably the two most basic functions of a cell phone…
As far as the keyboard goes, I don’t use my cell phone for e-mail, yet my last two phones have had qwerty keyboards. This is primarily because I send a lot of text messages and the full keyboard makes it very easy and convenient to do so. No one really enjoys having to press a number three times to get to the letter they want to use. If the iPhone’s keyboard is not reliable, it’s going to hurt the c/v perception of users like me (demographic 18-22 y/o male).
And whether or not your typing out long e-mails, a faulty keyboard will still make it rather frustrating to type in urls for surfing the web, typing in directions for where you want to go or typing out the name of the movie you want to go to.
On the other hand, I really hope it does work out so that the keyboard works very well. If it does I might think of picking one up.
— glow Jun 11, 11:01 PM #
I think most 18-22 y/os will find that the iPhone keyboard (which is a full keyboard on the screen) will be quite sufficient for text messages, which are typically short. And if the iPhone’s virtual keypad isn’t 100% as effective as a Treo or Blackberry’s (as if most 18—22 y/os have those devices anyway….they don’t), then I think the iPhone’s music and video playback capabilities will more than make up the difference in that audience’s mind.
— H Kobler Jun 11, 11:59 PM #
@ Kobler
Trust me, if the keyboard is crap, alot of people are going to be pissed, whether or not they are blacksuits, well-to-do or teens, if its not an email, its a text message and vice versa & the very people this phone is aimed at, likely texts 10x more than the guy/girl with the Treo/BB. Even those with a “dumbphone”.
Not to mention how it’ll hurt the phone’s pride and joy, Safari.
— Genjinaro Jun 12, 12:09 AM #
As I see it, the keyboard will make or break this device for a very large segment of the population.
The Sidekick is the quintessential communications tool for Gen Y, and the only reason that there aren’t a lot more of them in use is because they’re too expensive. And the iPhone could easily get hung up on both price and keyboard over the Sidekick.
The Blackberry is the quintessential business communications device. Again, I think the primary reason more business people don’t have them is price. Again, the iPhone could get hung out to dry compared to the Blackberry for both price and the keyboard.
What the Sidekick and the Blackberry have that you don’t find on any other devices I know of, is a really decent and useable QWERTY keyboard and the critical communication software for their market — IM for Gen Y, and Microsoft Exchange for Blackberry, on top of slimmed down proprietary OSes that are optimized for these specific functions and what little else they can do is very secondary.
In comparison, both Treo and WinMo have devices with QWERTY keyboards, but they are more general purpose OSes and not specifically optimized for just one primary application, and they don’t handle multi-tasking well (or at all). Sure, you can get tens of thousands of different pieces of software for them, but you’re still trying to force-fit a square peg into a round hole, albeit perhaps a somewhat flexible square peg.
Of course, in the case of WinMo, it’s a pig of an OS that requires a hell of a lot more CPU to make it minimally useful as compared to PalmOS, and it clearly is a poor adaptation of a desktop OS for a handheld format, whereas PalmOS is at least optimized for the format, if not a single specific mission-critical application.
What the iPhone brings to the table that neither the Sidekick nor the Blackberry have is WiFi, a real web browser, a real multi-tasking OS, a decent amount of storage, etc…. No other handheld platform has these features.
If the keyboard really is as useful as Apple claims, then I think they’ve got a good chance of knocking both the Sidekick and the Blackberry out of the park, at least for those who can afford them. For everyone else, their success with the early adopters will drive sales much higher, once the less expensive units come out.
If the keyboard sucks, then they’ll probably still sell as many as they can make, at least for this year. But their long-term sales will be very slim, and not nearly enough to justify the R&D that went into the iPhone.
So, I guess we get to wait and see.
— Brad Knowles Jun 12, 12:52 AM #
Some of you guys seem to be forgetting something. Steve Jobs proudly announced in his KeyNote that the iPhone will be featuring what he called “Desktop-class applications”. So no more flimsy cheap looking apps like on Wind*** Mob*** devices.
Problem is: what’s the use of desktop-class applications without a desktop-class input method? Your full-featured word processor or spreadsheet will just be sitting there collecting iDust on your iPhone.
So if this “desktop-class” thing is seen by Apple as a unique selling point, the onscreen keyboard better be GOOD!
Admittedly, I was blown away by the KeyNote presentation of the iPhone and I still think it’ll be a great device. But since then, I’ve discovered a lot of reasons why I won’t be buying one (at least not the first generation). Some of them: * No UMTS/HSDPA – which I currently have here in Europe (yea I know, we don’t know how what the iPhone will look like when it appears in Europe) * Only a half-VGA screen – my current PDA has VGA – I can’t imagine stepping down * No replaceable batteries * Most important: Apple wants to control ALL apps being developed for the iPhone to ensure they don’t compromise the stability of the device. In principle this is good but has a huge disadvantage: the amount of third party apps will be significantly less than for WM5 devices. I have some very good niche-apps running on my current WM5 device which I use intensively. I’m quite certain that Apple or any alleged software company will not be developing iPhone counterparts for some of these.
I currently have a HTC Universal a.k.a. iMate JasJar/QTEK 9000/MDA Pro/etc. Which has a very usable keyboard – the screen can flip and twist in such a way that you can use it in “laptop mode” or in “PDA mode”. Much, much better than the BlackBerry type keyboards or even the “slide-open” types found on many models. I’m now so accustomed to this nice keyboard, that I only hope the iPhone will once adopt this concept.
I would really want an iPhone, but only without all of the disadvantages and preferably with decent built-in a keyboard!
— MeQ2 Jun 12, 02:39 AM #
Steve Jobs said anything you can build in HTML/CSS/Ajax on Safari can run on the iPhone. In one fell swoop the iPhone will become the easiest mobile device in existence to develop useful mobile apps for. So, while many will see the iPhone facing challenges (and some predicting failure), I’m confident that this simple but fundamentally important detail or element will make it extremely attractive not only for individuals – but for businesses. No longer will people have to develop complex J2ME or Brew apps that have poor or no integration with actual communication features. Now, they’ll be able to build things themselves, hosted on their own websites and completely control their application destiny for connecting mobile users to their information and resources. Ok – I’m a new Apple fanboy. But, the reason platforms become wildly successful is due to the ease in which people can build their own stuff to run on them. Symbian and Windows Mobile PCs have nothing on this simple but elegant strategy. Fast EDGE today. HSDPA tomorrow. Bottom line – nothing you build today will have to change. It will just run on subsequent, better versions of the iPhone. Sure, the iPhone will be an iPod. But, I suspect few will care. For the fist time they’ll have a real web browser they can take with them…anywhere. Bravo Apple. Salesforce.com in my pocket! Facebook in my pocket. IMDB in my pocket. Wordpress in my pocket, etc., etc.
— David Geller Jun 12, 03:05 AM #
Mr. Mossberg was fooled by apple.. incredible!.. A real computer operating system?... Symbian is more advanced than the iPhone’s OS, and there’ve been several devices with real and full linux….
— andi Jun 12, 05:04 AM #
So desktop-class apps = widgets and web apps? Whats the point of a full OS if you cant run any third party apps at all. The Iphone is for I-sheep.
And Walt, how is the e-mail on an Iphone better than the Exchange integration in Windows Mobile or Blackberry? Walt, the Iphone may not fail, but you do.
— Surur Jun 12, 05:11 AM #
this remember me the old days of ZX Spectrum. Do you remember the strange and messy keyboard? criticism initially flowed about it, but after a few minutes of use i did ruled that keyboard, and it was revolutionary…. may be it is the same with the iphone keyboard. I love the idea of a virtual keyboard, it makes the screen bigger and free for use when the keyboard isn’t needed, who care’s if I will get a few more seconds to send a shrt sms msg 2 my grl ?
— mario Jun 12, 05:18 AM #
glow wrote:
>Nowhere in there did you even mention making phone calls or typing text messages, probably the two most basic functions of a cell phone…
Oh, it’s a phone? I thought it was the latest improvement of MP3 and media player ;-)
I’m curious to test the keyboard myself. I never imagined how much and how fast people may type SMS on ordinary phones (I don’t). So I feel that this kind of UI actually may win…
— Martin Trautmann Jun 12, 06:58 AM #
Don’t forget a lot of people have phones without the full keyboard, just a number pad, and predictive text. My ahem prediction is that the iPhone will be faster for typing than a number pad and predictive text, but slower than a full keyboard on a Blackberry/Sidekick etc.
— Matt J Jun 12, 06:58 AM #
@ David Geller
Like Surur says: if you have programming knowledge, you’d know that it’s nearly impossible to develop full-featured apps with just HTML/CSS/Ajax. And what’s more: these are all open standards, which means that sooner or later every (mobile) device will run “Apple apps” apps developed in these “languages”, not just the iPhone. Those “desktop-class” apps currently on the iPhone have most definitely not been developed in HTML/CSS/Ajax, but probably in Cocoa.
This software development announcement made by Mr. Jobs is imho just an attempt at alleviating the “third-party sofware” pain I mentioned in my previous post. But just try developing, say, a full-featured audio-processor with web-app technology…I guarantee you’ll have a ball!
@ andi
I’m real curious how you’ve been able to determine the inferiority of the iPhone’s OS in relation to Symbian. Are you one of the lucky few that have a review model?
The iPhone’s OS is supposed to be in core 100% Mac OS X. So unless Apple is plain out lying, the iPhone’s OS will be more advanced than Symbian. As you may or may not know, Mac OS X is basically a Unix clone the same way Linux is a Unix clone. This would make OS X on an iPod at least as advanced as Linux running on another mobile device.
— MeQ2 Jun 12, 07:21 AM #
What all of you are forgetting is that the keyboard is just software and therefore is upgradable . If everyone just simply abhores the keyboard then apple can tweak or ever totally change it with a simple software update through itunes. It will not flop for this reason alone, it is adaptable. No plastic keys locked into the design. If the public does’nt like it then apple will change it. And that goes for anything in the iphone. It is all software.
— adam Jun 12, 08:01 AM #
I’ve scanned 22 comments (amazed at the response!) and can’t see that anyone wants to use voice input for sending email. While it’s not always a good idea, I would love the option to, from my email compose window, hit “record” and speak my response. Why can’t we separate message from modality from medium?
— Amon Jun 12, 08:49 AM #
There are an awful lot of pretty confident opinions and predictions here from people who haven’t yet gotten their hands on an iPhone. I thought academics were supposed to be committed to thoughtful inquiry once the evidence was in.
— Jim Jun 12, 09:24 AM #
Re: the Newton. I couldn’t remember if Steve Jobs was at the helm of Apple when the Newton came out. Wikipedia says it was John Sculley. I think Jobs has a better finger on the pulse of the American Consumer than John Scully did. I’ll be in line to get an iPhone as soon as they’re available.
— PRayl Jun 12, 09:37 AM #
All the “b“s in BlackBerry should be capitalized.
— Peter Jun 12, 10:13 AM #
Steve Jobs was the one that killed the newton. I think that was the first thing he did after returning to Apple. I to will be getting one as soon as they come out. I currently have a BlackBerry and I mainly use the phone to read emails. Typing in those little keyboards is a pain.
— JB Jun 12, 10:22 AM #
Good catch Peter, thanks for pointing that out. We just fixed the second B in BlackBerry.
— wiredcampus Jun 12, 10:22 AM #
What all of you are forgetting about the keyboard and every other asspect of the iPhone, is the person who has the sharpest eye for detail is the number 1 quality control person at Apple. You really think Steve Jobs would let any little piece of the iPhone be “Crap” I mean really people, who do you think is a tougher crititc, you or Steve Jobs? Lets just say for sake of argument, that the keyboard is crap, on a treo or blackberry you’re screwed, its it the hardware. But the beauty of the iPhone, is if it’s that bad, they’ll just fix it software, issue an update and it’s not “Crap” anymore. If you can’t see the possibility in that, stick with the blackberry, after all it really “easy” to type on one of the the new pearls
— Geoffrey Stormzand Jun 12, 10:28 AM #
I love dressing up in my Star Trek uniform and pretending that my iphone is a orgasmatron phaser.
— Mr Spock Jun 12, 10:43 AM #
what a lot of people fail to realize is the iphone is a great idea but in order to get to the 3 gen or 4 gen version this one has to be a homerun. instead of talking down about the phone let all the idiots who buy first gen technology do what they are supposed to do. I use to work in the cell phone biz and the one concept I would tell people about pda phones is that if you needed on your job would pay for it Simple as that. They would get mad at me at first but its true. I see people with 8800, treo 750 not giving a crap because its a tool for work nothing more. Thats why if the concept of the iphone is going to stay we have to get to the 2nd or 3rd generations. I wont pick up anything without EVDO rev A or HSPDA. And for that matter Sprint is going to s tart testing its 4G network work. Someone mentioned earlier relating the iphone to icandy and that was the perfect analogy. until they get something more robust and more inline with what nokia, RIM and HTC are releasing then expect a highly refined and stylized mule cart my friends
— bob Jun 12, 10:50 AM #
I think people who have never used a keyboard will be more accepting of the keyboard.
Dialing while driving… now there is something Im concerned about… Can I dial without looking?
— matt Jun 12, 11:22 AM #
Does it vibrate?
— Ben Jun 12, 11:38 AM #
just want to meantion that the keyboard can probably be modified with a software upate. so there might be many types of keyboards depending on your style.
and i like the idea of the iphone being an output device instead of input device.
and i’m a fan boy and don’t think i can say NO!
— robert Jun 12, 12:02 PM #
To the fellow who said, “Steve Jobs said anything you can build in HTML/CSS/Ajax on Safari can run on the iPhone. In one fell swoop the iPhone will become the easiest mobile device in existence to develop useful mobile apps for.”
I think you fail to realize the ramifications of only allowing web widgets on the iPhone. For one, these are not full applications that integrate with the OS, these are widgets with all the many limitations that entails. They are online only. If you are in the subway without any cell signal, you won’t have your “apps.” Or, if you are talking on the phone, you won’t have internet access and thus won’t have access to your web apps (unless you happen to be at a WiFi spot your phone can use). Because of the limitations of the slow EDGE data transfer (once again, unless you happen to be in WiFi coverage) iPhone widget apps will be very limited to things like stock tickers and the like. You won’t see any really useful apps, like 3rd party picture organizers, 3rd party media players, and certainly no high-performance apps such as games. It simply isn’t possible with the limitations imposed on widgets.
Not to mention the fact that in addition to the development costs, developers who want to write widgets for the iPhone will also have to pay for an internet server to host their apps and the bandwidth that will be used for people using their apps. This eliminates a whole tier of developers who typically write useful apps for cell phones and sell the apps for $10 a pop.
So, aside from any other possible issues with the iPhone, we won’t be seeing any really useful 3rd party apps and Apple saying that the iPhone supports 3rd party developers was a convoluted piece of double-speak. It doesn’t. No 3rd party apps run on the iPhone. They run on the Safari browser.
I want to love the iPhone, but can’t in its current incarnation.
— Michael G. Emmons Jun 12, 12:09 PM #
how can andi say that Symbian is a better OS than what will be on the iPhone…unless he already has an iPhone. having used a Symbian OS on a Sony E phone, i was not all that impressed.
— bk Jun 12, 12:13 PM #
The answer to the keyboard is to design it so it can be used in landscape mode. It appears to be designed to be used in portrait mode at this time, which makes the keyboard narrow. By allowing landscape the keys could be spaced out more and you could easily use two both thumbs as you hold it.
— Stephen Ludwig Jun 12, 12:18 PM #
“For one, these are not full applications that integrate with the OS, these are widgets with all the many limitations that entails. They are online only. If you are in the subway without any cell signal, you won’t have your “apps.” Or, if you are talking on the phone, you won’t have internet access and thus won’t have access to your web apps (unless you happen to be at a WiFi spot your phone can use).”
How people are dumb! What you’re implying is that for anyone to view any html in anyone’s computer one has to be connected to the net!!
Hey, guess what, since Internet Explorer 1.0 that is not necessary!
N00b.
— Luigi Jun 12, 12:30 PM #
There is one important issue about the usefulness of the keyboard that I have not seen here yet: If it is no good, fixing it is a question of a software upgrade. Like “changing the keyboard to landscape” . That is one download of a software update rather than a redesign of the hardware in a later revision. I think Jobs had it right at D5 when he said the future is in software not hardware.
— xander Snell Jun 12, 12:47 PM #
All this jibberish is illogical. It’s a f*** phone. Get a life!
— Mr Spock Jun 12, 01:24 PM #
Dialing while driving… now there is something Im concerned about… Can I dial without looking?
— matt
Matt… I don’t care if they give you a full laptop keyboard for input… ANYONE who dials while driving should be shot (or more realistically, have their license revoked.)
— GQB Jun 12, 01:38 PM #
For all of you that are talking about dumping your BB’s think again. the Iturd does not support Outlook, MSexchange, or any MS office docs!
— BooHoo Jun 12, 01:46 PM #
The Newton is what inspired every PDA and in its latter days was quite an amazing machine. The much maligned handwriting recognition was fantastic in the 2k models. No PDA since then has handled normal printing half as well as the Newton. It’s a real shame Jobs wasn’t around when the Newton was being developed. He’d have insisted on a better, smaller product right off the bat and we’d all have one in our pockets.
— clarus Jun 12, 01:51 PM #
I wonder how well HTML/CSS/AJAX is going to work offline….
— j Jun 12, 01:56 PM #
Hmmm… Dialing while you’re driving… here’s a thought… PULL THE FSCK OVER AND DIAL, YOU INCONSIDERATE FSCKTARDS! SINCE WHEN IS MY PERSONAL SAFETY SECONDARY TO YOUR FSCKING CONVENIENCE!?
— Jeff Jun 12, 02:17 PM #
@GQB
i drive, dial, and talk pretty easily. if you are 50 and haven’t grown up with us little multi taskers then thats your loss. maybe there should be a state issued test that determines how many simulatious tasks you can do in your car while driving, before you start killing people. better yet, maybe people can get a chart so your tasks are a function of your speed. =)
— robert Jun 12, 02:17 PM #
Right… the dozens of retards I see every day focusing on a tiny screen instead of the road are driving perfectly safely. give me a break. You THINK you multitask perfectly safely. Reality check… you don’t.
On the bright side, auto dial and dial-back look to be one-button activities on the iPhone.
— GQB Jun 12, 02:29 PM #
Why do all crackberry users feel the need to desperately defend their choice? Perhaps because they know they’ve made a very illogical choice. iphone makes my pointed ears erect.
— Mr Spock Jun 12, 02:40 PM #
well most people are pretty incompetent drivers. but it takes two to tango. i think if you give adequate lead time and avoid abrupt stopping the roads are probably pretty safe. problem is everyone is in everyone’s butt on the road and when one person makes a mistake it is hard to help the domino effect from happening. actually once i was rear ended when i was already stopped for like ten seconds, but that is probably a rare case… anyway to make matter worse i walk to work so probably don’t have a reference, and rarely get to experience road rage.
— robert Jun 12, 02:51 PM #
All this fixation on qwerty keyboards and third party applications, but barely a peep about the fact that the iPhone looks like it could be the best iPod ever made. (You know…the iPod…that little device that Apple has sold 100 million units of, making it one of the greatest consumer electronics hits in history). I think the iPhone’s iPod features are going to have a lot more to do with its success than a keyboard or third party apps.
— H Kobler Jun 12, 02:53 PM #
man your going to actually talk about the topic at hand. who’d thunk.
yea you have a point. not to mention you can actually watch videos on it, the screen is probably double that of the current video ipods.
— robert Jun 12, 03:03 PM #
What about the 2MPix camera? I have a Sony Ericsson W900i with a 2 MPix camera on it, and it’s great… great for taking pics and movies while out at the bar. Great for grabbing a funny shot, when you just don’t have your camera with it. I’d love to know some more specs about the camera.
— Tim Jun 12, 03:04 PM #
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs
— Mr Spock Jun 12, 03:09 PM #
I accidentally discovered this site. Nice posts. Particularly #35 + 37.
POST #35 answered my Q’s about the Web Apps running through Safari:
So, if no Internet, via Cell or WiFi, no apps, cause they are in the sky, not Local on the iPhone. Such approach is very unrealistic at this time. Why? I’ve had Verizon Wireless with Treo 700p… They are supposedly the best, EVDO etc… I was not very impressed the way it worked on my Treo, and never mind as a Bluetooth Modem with my Powerbook 17, all latest updates.
On Treo alone, the speed was slow, and the small screen is pathetic for Internet, even if graphics are turned off…
The EVDO is not available everywhere, and I am in NYC!!!! So, if ATT’s network is slower, and less available, those 3rd Party Apps in the Sky are mostly theoretical…
WiFi? I am in NYC, and I can tell you that more, if not most folks have finally learned to Password Protect their WiFi Networks, so it’s much harder to find freebies… The Starbucks with WiFi’s are many, but there are infinitely more pizza shops in NYC... Thus, WiFi is far from assured, never mind free of charge.
So the Sky Services are way down the road, when WiFi is available everywhere, and free, or low cost, or many Public WiFi access places.
POST #37 — I hope you are right, and that via software it’ll be possible to have iPhone Keyboard in Landscape Mode, so that “keys” are bigger…
Whether it’s dialing the phone on the screen of my Treo 700p, or Tungsten T3 prior to that, it’s no fun. It would be nice if iPhone screen gave off a vibration with each touch, as a tactile confirmation.
Voice Recognition is not a perfect science on the Desktop, after years of research. I don’t expect it to be developed anytime soon for a brand new market of iPhone, that is yet to prove itself, and to it a street etc. noise cancellation, to at least approximate the clarity of Desktop Voice Recognition, as we know it today….
NOW, LET’S GET SPECIFIC: SWITCHING FROM TREO TO iPhone:
Here are a few Q’s
Currently I have Palm Treo 700p, syncing to Palm Desktop on Powerbook 17, 10.4.9
Palm Desktop is all in One PIM, where as Apple’s Address Book & iCal are too separate applications.
I want all my Palm Desktop Data on my iPhone…
I don’t expect the Links between the Contacts and Memo’s to be preserved in Syncing to iPhone, but I do need my Memo’s on iPhone..
I don’t want the headache-workaround of syncing my Palm Treo 700p to Entourage, which is what I’ve been using for my email only…
Yet, in Entourage, I have a lot more email addresses/Contacts which often don’t exist in my Palm Desktop and thus on my Palm Treo 700p… The goal is to Merge all those Contacts (about 3-4 Thousand).
I also must be able to preserve my Categories: Contacts, Memos etc… I can’t afford losing them… The 15 Categories Limit in Palm OS was a torture to begin with. Not having the Categories in exchange for iPhone, would be a Deal Breaker for me.
Palm Treo 700p & Palm Desktop was a Complete Solution, and now, I am looking for move it to iPhone…
Obviously, the first few months it’ll be insane with iPhone. Even Steve Jobs advised people not to go to Apple Stores, and go to ATT Stores, so I don’t plan on jumping into it right away.
I hope Apple will make it easy for Palm Treo 700p Palm Desktop users, like me to switch!!!
Ideally, if iPhone can serve as a Bluetooth Modem for my Powerbook G4, 17, 1.67, that would be a dream, way beyond Palm’s Folio:)!
An even bigger dream would be Voice and Data at the same time:
Talk on the iPhone while surfing web, getting emails, watching video!
But for now, let’s hope Apple covers the basics:
I.e. I hope that Apple doesn’t mean to have iPhone be mostly for casual users/entertainment device…
Having Categories for Contacts, Memos, Calendar Events, Tasks is basic, particularly professionals. Example:
If one can’t remember the name of a doctor or a restaurant, having Categories will make it easier to find those Contacts, cause it would narrow down the search etc.
Sharing the entire Category or a group of manually selected Contacts should be much easier via email then through Beaming it on Palm Treos/PDA’s.
BIG CONCERN!!!!
if iPhone crashes while away from Mac, how does one Restore it’s Data, if there is no Card Slot? Will there be some kind of way to do that via Dock Connector? If so, let it be as simple as SuperDuper Cloning, except on the go!
External Storage for Extra Stuff – movies etc.
Of course, I’d like to be able to read and edit Microsoft Office Docs, and be able to use iPhone as Voice Recorder, Video Recorder (be able to email videos, or upload it to YouTube), Sling Box Controller for DVR, AppleTV, TiVo etc., AV Chat via iChat or and Skype!
But first: I hope Apple will make it easy for Palm Treo 700p Palm Desktop users, like me to switch, bringing all the PIM Data into Mac + iPhone easily!!!
HANDSFREE
Of course, having a great pair of earphones, with a mini boom, thin and transparent, noise cancellation for hands-free phone calls is a must!!! And if it’s cables free – wireless, Bluetooth,that would be fantastic!!!!
It would be nice to know that someone actually read this:), or better yet, have this quoted on iPhone Atlas, so that others could add to this discussion!!!
Wish I could have a meeting with Apple MINDS and bring along a few of my friends, who, like me, could contribute greatly to the DESIGN of iPhone/Desktop Smart Data Sharing Echo System.
I’ve played a little with Address and Entourage, which, unlike old Palm Desktop, support Services (share Contacts), and are searchable via Spotlight.
At the same time, maybe I should reconsider my expectations of iPhone being the Ultimate Treo:)?! So then, it’s back to Laptop and EVDO etc. card for business, and run around and play with iPhone, which can’t be a BE ALL ANSWER to all?
I surely don’t have the patience to do Office Docs on my Treo, or even BlackBerry!!! And Palm’s Folio — that’s a JOKE!
So, maybe I’ll have to see iPhone is a mostly Read Device, and quick replies… I just want to be able to Find Contacts at least as easily as I can now on my Treo. After that, it’s all gravy:)!
— concernedyethopeful Jun 12, 03:12 PM #
I think what a lot of people seem to be missing here is that the iPhone is so much more than all of the crap PDA phone bricks that everyone is talking about. Those things suck!
I could honestly care less if it runs this or that application or has some spectacular keyboard. I text all the time on a terrible little SLVR keyboard…and it really doesn’t bother me, or any of my friends with normal cell phones. What I care about is the fact that it’s an iPod and a cell phone in one…two things that I always have in my pocket!
Forget about the market for stuffy BlackBerry and keyboard-phone users…I don’t know one person who has one of those. On the other hand, every single one of my friends, every guy on my dorm hallway…hell a majority of college has an iPod and a regular old cell phone.
I wonder where the market for the iPhone really rests, eh?
— manwich Jun 12, 03:45 PM #
@clarus
once again apple make a “first of its kind” product, and the bashing begins… 3-5 yrs from now all manufacturers will have caught up and it’ll all be common place.
— cc Jun 12, 03:46 PM #
For all of you guys making things up about how iPhone does not have support for Office ... do a simple google search and you’ll find that there are already ajax based apps that handle Office documents. Problem solved for iPhone. Now that SJobs has given out the info about what the iPhone will run, who wants to bet that there won’t be Excel and Word client apps in droves … some probably ready at or right after product launch.
Also, no, you do not need a live connection just to use this sort of app … only for web service based apps. I can personally guarantee you that I have two widgets I use (a cpu temp monitor and a wireless network sniffer) that work just dandy without a live internet connection. So, having apps that operate independently of a connection will be a reality as well.Brag all you want about Symbian or other proprietary mobile OSes but the iPhone’s common and easy development platform will guarantee that it will have software options that blow the other guys away and can be developed RAPIDLY.
Haven’t you naysayers learned anything about Apple yet ? They occasionally make products that flop from a sales standpoint but they ALMOST NEVER make a product that actually functions poorly. Whether the iPhone finds its market or not I can’t say, but I can pretty well assure you that it’s form and function will become the benchmark for phones.
— BSK Jun 12, 03:59 PM #
To #54:
I manage to find free Wi-Fi spots everywhere I travel these days. Here in my hometown (Bloomington, IN) we have more free Wi-Fi spots, ,including the public library, than pay.
As for the phone crashing while you’re away from your computer, its OSX. odds are just the app will crash. iPods can be “reset” with out being hooked up to a Mac. But your point is well taken, in the event of a system crash. This probably why they don’t want third party apps on it (although I don’t completely buy that arguement.)
And for all the posts complaining about the phone not being able to run Microsoft Office software then don’t buy one. It’s not for you. Think of it as an iPod that has Internet access that happens to be a phone (an expensive one).
As for me I’ll buy one, if I can get one. My only disappoint is that I won’t be able to Skype on it, but I’m betting that was an AT&T decision not Apple’s.
Oh yeah, as for those posts that think they can “text and drive” I hope you slam into me one day. Then I’ll take your house.
— Tony Di Giacomo Jun 12, 04:04 PM #
It’s Interactivity, Stupid!
Just zoning into one way communication :download and navigate, just makes for another idiot tube although a mobile one. Sure iPod is fantastic for music. Hope his Stevenness does have a good input solution or else he owes all of us a dinner…(his challenge to Walt Mossberg recently at WSJ’s Conference D)
— Ravi C. krishnan Jun 12, 04:25 PM #
It will be all okay if only it supported the Flash player. If the iPhone doesn’t, it just isn’t gonna be that powerful.
— v Jun 12, 05:31 PM #
I think there will be a healthy ecosystem of third party software for the iPhone. Both Ajax and PC apps. First third party apps for the iPhone are already being released. Take a look at dvdtoiphone.com for example. And there will be hacks that allow homebrew code to run within a week.
— Marc Jun 12, 05:39 PM #
Regarding:
Like Surur says: if you have programming knowledge, you’d know that it’s nearly impossible to develop full-featured apps with just HTML/CSS/Ajax.
Web applications just use XHTML/CSS/Ajax as the front end, but you can use PHP, Perl, .NET, Java, etc. on the backend.
Having a full (almost) full featured web browser on a phone will actually enable building and running some very rich applications.
Moodle, for instance, runs very nicely on Safari, it should work very well on the iPhone, esp. with the lightweight themes for PDAs (it also works reasonably well with WinMo’s version of IE on my PocketPC:-).
A handheld with a a data plan means that anywhere a student has a connection, they can be working on their courses, and that online courses can be delivered to any student with an iPhone-or the similar systems coming from other vendors.
This will be especially big in urban campuses where student’s already spend a good deal of time in transit, and in markets where the handheld is already becoming the standard platform.
— Michael Penney Jun 12, 05:51 PM #
It’s all about the aggravation factor A+T=F. The math looks like this:
How (A)ggravating is the task + How much (T)ime does it take before you become numbed to it and perform the task without thinking = Total Aggravation (F)actor
Multiple key punches on a regular cell phone to cycle through characters is (A)ggravating, but after a certain amount of (T)ime most people got used to it and it isn’t a big deal anymore. People text with ease and without even thinking about it – even though the solution isn’t as elegant as a full keyboard.
Other people deal with the (A)ggravation of tiny keyboards on their Blackberries and the like, this includes mistypings from big fingers on tiny keys. The (T)ime to get used to retyping was shorter than the normal cell phone, so the total aggravation (F)actor was less. That said, the introduction of full keyboards on mobile phones did little to dent the Texting on normal phones.
Losing the tactile input of actual keys and putting up with the inaccuracies of the iPhone input will be (A)ggravating, but if the (T)ime it takes to get used to tapping a flat surface and retyping mistakes is short enough, people will adapt and they won’t care. Ultimately, if the the Aggravation (F)actor isn’t greater than that of normal cell phones or Blackberries, then the iPhone virtual keyboard is a non-issue.
— Tjiva Jun 12, 06:00 PM #
“You won’t see any really useful apps, like 3rd party picture organizers, 3rd party media players, and certainly no high-performance apps such as games. It simply isn’t possible with the limitations imposed on widgets.”
You’re right, an iPod Cell Phone will fail because it won’t run a 3rd party photo organizer.
You heard it here first folks! ;o)
— Tjiva Jun 12, 06:03 PM #
One reason Jobs doesn’t let you write applications for his iPhone is the same reason Jobs didn’t put a tuner or mic in his iPod—so that Apple can offer an elegant, integrated, intuitive experience to every user every time. The iPhone, like the iPod, must “Just Work” for everyone. iPod FM would have introduced reception problems and tuning vagaries that would have diminished the experience for people who wanted not versatility, but musical clarity. A microphone would have added a jumble of hard-to-hear, hard-to-name, hard-to-find files. For casual users—and we are all casual users of something—what is left out can matter as much as what is left in.
Opening the iPhone to third-party applications would invite variable or poorly-executed ‘features’ when Apple needs rock-solid uniformity. Remember, to most people phones are not computers, and users will neither understand nor trust phones that behave badly. Some day—after the iPhone is well established and loved—Jobs will start blessing commercial apps. Later still, iPhone may tolerate hackware; but until then I would expect Apple to kill common hacks like so many viruses.
The reason today’s smart phones can let programmers in is because only able and informed people find and use their programs. But Apple intends to offer an inviting, feature-rich interface through which a busy public may wander happily. Jobs is concerned with USA Today, not the college dailies. And Jobs alone—not Nokia, Motorola, or RIMM—will be held to the standard of delivering wonder. (I am reminded of Orson Welles, who alone among filmmakers was forever accused of making films that were ‘no Citizen Kane.’)
What else? Right, the iPhone’s price. Yes, it is high. But Apple defied everyone by selling ‘MP3 players’ for three and four hundred dollars. People would pay as much for a ‘phoneless iPhone’—an iPod with the beautiful new interface, display, and useful WiFi. Bill Gates had to subsidize Zune to meet a $250 price point, and Zune is no phoneless iPhone—its only WiFi offering, crippled song sharing; its only stylistic advance, the color brown. Yet no current phone approaches Zune’s media usability, much less iPhone’s. So be sure to factor one free Super-iPod into the bargain before dismissing iPhone’s price.
Yes, other phones have better keyboards, if better means dedicated real estate, thumb-ability, and tactile response. (If better means easier reading or flexible layouts for different languages, characters, or some day emoticons, maybe not.) Every phone must make choices, some hard, but it is striking how many people offer one or two to declare the iPhone not merely different, but doomed. I for one look forward to Steve Jobs’s choices—to his unmatched taste, creativity, and execution. It’s good to have competition, right?
— apple air conditioner Jun 12, 06:34 PM #
Since iPhone, like all iPods will have a Doc Connector, I guess we might even see the external keyboards, ala old Palm days 1999 etc.
Since iPhone has Bluetooth (for earphones), the external keyboard, or any other device could be connected that way too.
Since iPhone has Bluetooth (for earphones), that solves one of my older problems – having my Cell Phone and iPod on the same Hands-free Stereo Set. Scullcandy has been a blessing till now, although I was hoping that it would someday go totally wireless, with noise cancellation etc. Now, with iPhone, Cell and iPod in one that problem would be solved…
As to my previous, mile long Comment #54, more and more I suspect that iPhone would be “for the rest of us” type of device — elegant, simple, stable multimedia, ala iPod, and the geek + biz folks would remain left out on their Palm Treos or Window Mobile Smartphones…
Personally, I fall into both camps. Being able to do voice memos is nice, and so is making videos on my Treo 700p. Office Docs on Treo, I could do, but don’t have a need for…
Being able to Categorize my Contacts, which is similar to Apple’s Address Book’s Groups, which is similar to iTune’s Playlist – that I hope will get carried over to iPhone, when Syncing it…
As to WALT MOSSBERG iPhone FIRST IMPRESSIONS etc…, it’s crazy how a few tech King Makers, like Walt, in this case, can make or break product. It reminds me of Cinema or Broadway Shows Reviews, that can make or break a show/movie, with a few exceptions… Sports are different: either one scores = it works, or not. With Cars, it’s even simpler – getting from A to B… So, with iPhone, we’ll get from A to B, except we might not have a swimming pool, tennis court, 5 start hotel etc. on that flight, but there might be video chat on the next Flight = Generation, voice recorder etc.
Meanwhile, the web base applications that require Internet Connection is among the immediate concerns. The Connection is simply not going to be always there, free or paid…
Even with a Cable Connection of 9,000-1,000 kbps at home, the Word Processing on Google is not the fastest. Thus, even if WiFie was free everywhere, would iPhone run as fast on it as my Mac Powerbook 17, G4, 1.67GHZ, 2gb ram?!
But, before all that:
Today, if a phone breaks, cell phone company gives you a loaner. If it’s a Palm Treo, they’ll ship it in 2-3 Days. I wonder if ATT or Apple Stores would be able to match that, particularly in the beginning, where the supply of iPhones would be limited…
Worse yet, what if iPhone breaks when one is on the road, traveling? Will they ship to the next hotel?:)!
The “devil” is as always in the details, but we’ll all know more soon…
Hope Apple is watching this and similar Comments Boards closely and is taking plenty notes.
— concernedyethopeful Jun 12, 08:11 PM #
Message #65 is right on the money. Apple is not about technology, Apple is about usability. The user experience is what sets all of its devices apart.
In my pocket is an N95 from Nokia. It’s a nice phone, it mostly works and on the hardware side it beats the crap out of the iPhone on many aspects – minus the touch screen of course.
But wait, can the Google Maps application on the phone use the integrated GPS antenna? Nope. Because that generic app wasn’t created for this specific phone. Can I click on an address book entry to navigate to that person’s home? Nope. The hardware can do it, the separate apps can do it, but there’s nothing on the phone to integrate them.
So yes, of course Steve Jobs wants to lock down the device. Even if only for innovation’s sake – because only Apple knows what it will put into the next iPhone. Or even take out. If your 3rd party app breaks because of that, it will kill the integrated experience.
Most manufacturers create great hardware with all the latest technology built-in and then they skimp on the software – it gets contracted out to some outside developer who can barely manage to get their stuff feature-complete under the time and budget pressure. Updates are few and far between, the relationship goes awry and after that, your expensive hardware toy gets no more updates and is basically dead. Just in time for next year’s model.
The superior user experience is what gives Apple its lead over everyone else. And I have to say that judging by the hostile, ill-informed and downright dumb remarks on this site, Apple will be able to sustain that competitive advantage for some time to come.
— Freez Jun 12, 08:30 PM #
ok. i get it. it is a phone and more. who cares if the keyboard works like a black berry. i have blackberries and their key boards arent the best in the world either.
i must confess. i have been known to read email and type, while in the car, but only when stopped at a light.
i am over the ideal demographic post 50, but cant wait to get my hands on one. just for the cool factor and the wicked apps
— big mac Jun 12, 09:01 PM #
Thank you Comment #67…
As stated on these Fools Page:
The Internet Connection for 3rd Party Web Based Applications is a big concern
“Finally, Web applications, while cool, are notoriously lightweight and in their infancy as usable platforms for work and play. They’re also entirely dependent on Internet connectivity. No signal, no software.”
But those Fools guys have always been a suspect to me…
Apple will have to explain the “ No signal, no software” to the general public… But even if it doesn’t, right away, iPhone will be a STATUS SYMBOL for many…
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS?!
Doctors, lawyers etc. can afford status.., while their work stuff could be on their EVDO/Cellular Card + WiFi enabled laptop, or WiFi Enabled Palm PDA’s or Treos… I.,e. For folks with $$ it doesn’t have to be either or. They’ll either add a 2nd line on iPhone/ATT or shift their Phone to iPhone.
If all their PIM info (Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Memos) is on Outlook on Windows, they can share it between Treo and iPhone. If it is on Entourage on Mac, they the Contacts and Calendar are shared with Address Book and iCal and thus Treo and iPhone…
Some of those folks will also watch their home TV’s on their Sling Box installed on Treos…
But, for most CIVILIANS, iPhone will be more than enough…
And Palm and others can stand on their heads and badmouth iPhone all they want… Then in 2 years or so, they’ll probably be selling it too… :)
Of course, personally, I wish Verizon offered iPhone now, so that I wouldn’t have to pay Cancellation Fee — I mad as hell about that whole concept..
I also would prefer not to give up too much when switching from Palm Treo 700p, which is far from stable, never mind small screen.
The date to watch is 30 Days Money Back Guarantee, as far as iPhones Returns. Also a flood of AppleCare and ATT Tech Support Calls, and overload on ATT Cell Data Network which is going to be FLOODED!!! If Verizon, who is supposedly best in that are with their EVDO can’t always deliver, or guarantee speeds, ATT is probably more likely to crack… Hope that doesn’t cause too many premature 30 Days MBG returns.
One thing’s for sure:
Every Apple Store will be running Demo Classes on this product, which have always been NIGHT AND DAY better than any other DEMO for any other product on Earth, never mind cell phones.
In my area, in NYC, Verizon’s stores are the most high end, and they can even remotely compare with any Apple Store… So, here we are…
— concernedyethopeful Jun 12, 09:47 PM #
No, it’s not a Newton … I worked on the Newton 1.0.
Damn handwriting recognition … :-(
Will “multi-touch” fare better? Not sure, but it can’t be as bad as a Treo touchscreen … can it?
:-)
— William Luciw Jun 12, 10:04 PM #
Given the whole Safari-browser-as-web-application platform business, will the iPhone support the recently released Google Gears offline support bits? Won’t that combo address some of the above comments about no online access in the subway, etc.?
— kandro Jun 12, 11:11 PM #
re: #6 (Juve) – This is VERY exciting, to say the least – please take note of AAPL now and 12-months from now. Making money is fun! This “flop” is going to change everything – enjoy!!!
— rv Jun 12, 11:48 PM #
Some people are talking as if the iPhone is being marketed to the developer community. Or even the smartphone community.
The truth is, if not one developer or existing smartphone user bought an iPhone, it would still be massively successful. This is a mass appeal product. It has a more human, more responsive interface. It has a warm and emotional appeal that is classically Apple. And the evidence suggests that this philosophy works to the tune of billions of dollars over tens or even hundreds of millions of people. With double digit growth and a nearly doubled stock price in 18 months.
I’m buying one because I’d like to browse the web on my phone. And right now that experience is so crappy it’s not even laughable.
So to the naysayers and armchair technologists I say this … don’t buy one. It’s not going to make a bit of difference.
The vast majority of people who will be buying an iPhone will have never used a keyboard on a handheld device. And history tells us that what you learn on is what you stick with … hence Mac users and PC users.
So it follows that hardware keyboards are already dead, as most people who learned on an iPhone will consider plastic buttons clumsy and unintuitive … whether they are faster or not (remember the Dvorak keyboard?)
And as far as an SDK goes … who cares? It’s a consumer item that is worth every penny as is. What next, will someone want to develop apps for my microwave? Should the computer that makes ice in my fridge be an open platform that 3rd parties can write apps for?
— barnacle999 Jun 13, 07:39 AM #
Mr. Barnacle999 is entirely correct. There is a superior product here in many ways and that is the essence of capitalism. Did you buy a perfect cell phone already? No. That’s the point. This will be a product that is still much, much better than anything else!
— I Phone Jun 13, 12:40 PM #
“I don’t know whether I’ll give it a good review or not”
Mossberg hasn’t been given a free toy yet by Apple that he hasn’t splurged over.
— anonymouse Jun 13, 02:02 PM #
To manwich, comment #55:
I completely agree with you. The way this thing has been advertised makes it appear to be geared towards EVERYBODY. Take a look at the commercials. All you see is a hand holding the phone. The business people who want everything in one device and the college “kids” who want… everything in one device. This device is revolutionary, just like the iPod. I don’t have a reference base for smartphones/PDAs, so I have no idea what to expect. I was skeptical of the iPod when it first came out, but when I finally decided to get one… I was NOT disappointed. Quite the opposite happened, I became obssessed with it. I have the feeling I will be just as attached to the iPhone. But I guess we’ll all find out in two weeks what its really capapble of.
— akgal12 Jun 13, 02:41 PM #
There seems to me to be far too many opinions about a device that only a handfull of people have even used. Look, has anyone tried to type a text message on a regular cell phone key pad? Its a joke, you have to be 16 years old to be able to do it with any speed. I have read so much negative press about the keyboard, so i watched the key note again last night because i was starting to think the thing is a piece of junk…but low and behold, i was amazed at the thing all over again. I use a palm treo but im on verizon thru work and cant change but my wife is getting one for christmas. The price? Hell i see so many 20 year olds with 250 dollar pairs of sneakers and 499 is too much? Just look at that phone and compare it to every other phone in the way it looks and operates in the demo…please, there is nothing close. The only thing to be honest im not real pleased with is apparantly it is not 3G just Edge and that may make internet viewing slow since that is one of the major advancements….to be honest, all of this hbap and lknoinopinew and noanfoein code stuff you guys are talking about is way above my head. I just know, i have 600bucks and im going to buy one for my wife instead of buying her a new ipod and she will use it for that, she will use it for the phone, the calander, and occassional message to me by text and an email here and there when we are traveling. Every other cell phone is ugly compared to this thing, dont even mention the side kick, jesus that thing is like a shoe with buttons, the chocolate bar, well yeh whatever, the prada, joke, and all the HOT nokia phones…anyone ever looked at the price? 3 bills plus….and dont hold a candle to what this phone looks like. Besides all that, when is the last time anyone blogged about a motorola or nokia or ericson or samsung or LG or even a blackberry phone??? Never! So we will all just wait and see..but if we are predicting here, i predict a pretty damn big hit, as big as the hype? Probably not…after all its just a friggin music playing phone…but the coolest one there is..
late
— cjf Jun 13, 07:03 PM #
cjf (post #77), we’re of the same mind.
To any doubters, you should really refresh your memory by watching Jobs’ keynote address from January, where he demoed the iPhone.
Just go to the iTunes Music Store, and search for “Macworld Keynote Address”, and download it as a podcast.Start watching at 27 minutes (the earlier minutes are spent on Apple TV), and try to imagine if this device will appeal to some of the tens of millions of people that already use an iPod and carry a phone at the same time.
Try to imagine if the iPhone will appeal to the legions of iPod fans who have been clamoring for a decent video player in their pocket.
Try to imagine if these people are going to care much about a virtual keyboard, or that there’s not an SDK for third-party developers.
If you have any scrap of a realistic perspective on things, you’ll realize that a keyboard and third-party developers just won’t matter in the long run…
And P.S.: the keyboard is definitely quite functional anyway, and third-party development restrictions will eventually be loosened once the iPhone gets settled in.
— H Kobler Jun 13, 08:12 PM #
Another perspective…
Let’s take a look at this from the carrier’s point of view.ATT makes no money on the sale of the device.
Their breakeven comes at around month 20, and they need to keep you as a phone customer around 40 months to match their current profitability model.
imho, the device will sell like gangbusters. ATT will get a ton of initial users, then bear the brunt of returns and cancellations. After all, virtually all the features of the iPhone work without cell service.
Smart move for Apple, lot’s of downstream headaches for ATT?
— Alex1 Jun 15, 11:03 AM #
Hey Alex1 from #79… where are your sources for this? I’d be interested to read this.
— Tim Jun 16, 08:52 AM #
No more “BlackBerry Thumbs”!!!
http://www.apta.org/AM/Template.cfm?Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=34990
— Viswakarma Jun 19, 10:41 AM #
iPhone killer is the fact that it is locked to one cell provider. Period. If you want a iPhone, you have switch to AT&T. Until the expand the device to work with Verizon, they will never reach the level of expectation that fanboys have. Niche device. Bank on it. Not going to change the world. Nothing new. STFU.
— Tim Jun 21, 07:44 PM #
The iPhone is revolutionary. It will be released soon and everyone that came to this article did so because they are curious about the iPhone.
— Dennis Jun 29, 03:57 PM #