“At the moment, the iPhone is in an advanced prototype stage, which I was allowed to play with for only an hour; the finished product won’t be available in the United States until June, or in Europe until the fourth quarter. So this column is a preview, not a review,” David Pogue reports for The New York Times.
“Already, though, one thing is clear: the name iPhone may be doing Apple a disservice. This machine is so packed with possibilities that the cellphone may actually be the least interesting part,” Pogue reports.
“As Mr. Jobs pointed out in his keynote presentation, the iPhone is at least three products merged into one: a phone, a wide-screen iPod and a wireless, touch-screen Internet communicator. That helps to explain its price: $499 or $599 (with four or eight gigabytes of storage),” Pogue reports. “The iPhone’s beauty alone would be enough to prompt certain members of the iPod cult to dig for their credit cards. But its Mac OS X-based software makes it not so much a smartphone as something out of ‘Minority Report.'”
Pogue reports, “As you’d expect of Apple, the iPhone is gorgeous… You won’t complain about too many buttons on this phone; it comes very close to having none at all… Note, too, that the software is still unfinished, and many questions are still unanswered. Will you be able to turn your own songs into ring tones? Will there be a voice recorder? Will the camera record video? Can you use Skype to make free Internet calls? Will the battery really last for five hours of talking, video and Web browsing (or 16 hours of audio playback)? Will you someday be able to buy songs and videos from the iTunes Store right on the phone?”
“At this point, Apple doesn’t yet have the answers, or isn’t revealing them,” Pogue reports. “What it does have, however, is a real shot at redefining the cellphone.”
Much more in the full article here.
Related articles:
PC Magazine hands-on test of Apple iPhone: multi-touch UI ‘takes the breath away’ – January 11, 2007
Mossberg’s initial take on Apple iPhone: ‘radical and gorgeous’ with ‘brilliant new user interface’ – January 11, 2007
NewsWeek’s Levy interviews Apple CEO Steve Jobs about iPhone – January 11, 2007
Why Apple’s iPhone doesn’t do high-speed mobile phone networks (yet) – January 11, 2007
RealMoney: Apple just blew up the whole damn mobile-phone supply chain with its new iPhone – January 11, 2007
ZDNet: Hands on with Apple’s iPhone: ‘elegant, ravishing, simple, sleek; impeccable & intuitive UI’ – January 11, 2007
Apple iPhone FUD campaign begins – January 10, 2007
Nine ways Apple changed the face of consumer electronics yesterday – January 10, 2007
Analysts and investors applaud arrival of Apple iPhone – January 10, 2007
Top 10 things to love and top 10 things to hate about the Apple iPhone – January 10, 2007
How Apple kept the iPhone top secret for 30 months – January 10, 2007
Hands-on with Apple’s iPhone – January 10, 2007
The only thing really wrong with Apple’s iPhone is its name – January 09, 2007
Is Apple building ‘The Device?’ [revisited] – January 09, 2007
Analyst Bajarin: Apple’s iPhone and Apple TV are industry game changers – January 09, 2007
Time: ‘iPhone could crush cell phone market pitilessly beneath the weight of its own superiority’ – January 09, 2007
Analyst: Apple iPhone should be given its own category – ‘brilliantphone’ – January 09, 2007
Cingular to use Synchronoss Technologies’ platform for Apple iPhone – January 09, 2007
iPhone photos from Apple’s Macworld Expo booth – January 09, 2007
Enderle: Apple’s iPhone is going to do very well – January 09, 2007
Apple debuts iPhone: touchscreen mobile phone + widescreen iPod + Internet communicator – January 09, 2007
FUD Alert: Analyst – I am pretty skeptical Apple’s iPhone can succeed – January 11, 2007
The Register’s Ray: Apple ‘iPhone’ will fail – December 26, 2006
Analyst: Apple iPhone economics aren’t that compelling – December 08, 2006
CNET editor Kanellos: ‘Apple iPhone will largely fail’ – December 07, 2006
Palm CEO laughs off Apple ‘iPhone’ threat – November 20, 2006
I read the article. How could he get away with calling Paul Thurrott a “camel’s ass stuck up a monkey-shit tree” ??? That’s insane.
Here come the blog wars.
“This machine is so packed with possibilities that the cellphone may actually be the least interesting part”
David.
Gets.
It.
-c
Apple could incorporate one more feature every six months and release a new generation and keep sales going for years before anyone could even catch up with the first gen… just like the iPod!
The phone is the no. 6 or 7th thing I want to try.
This thing is the ultra mobile computer, and I want….
but I;m stuck in verizon land.
I’m losing my patience. (location: Belgium)
Why I would go for a new iPod over an iPhone for a while:
(1) If I were going to spring 600 bucks on a “convergence” device, I would want something that would actually replace my ipod – all 23 gigs of my music/photos/video podcasts. I mean, it is widescreen with brilliant video – but only 8 Gigs? Perhaps as a nano replacement it works…But it is no full ipod replacement with only 8 Gigs of memory…
(2)Apple tends to wildly exaggerate battery life, so if they say 5 hours -I take it with a grain of salt and wonder – what if it is something miserable, like 2 in real world conditions? Without a user-replaceable battery, it has to have some good battery life unless you want to be saddled with a charger at home, work, car, etc…
(3) If I so much as glance at my ipod screen, it scratches – hopefully it is more smudge-scratch proof than it seems…
Finally, the software is closed – so you have to wait for Apple to release a “widget” that you could really use but Apple hasn’t released it yet.
Seriously, the phone part is nice, but to be able to use the internet properly. Not like it is on my Treo 650. That is cool. iTunes on it. Cool. iCal, very cool. Perhaps a text editor? Something using InkWell? That would be killer.
I’m already sold though. If it syncs with iCal properly, and has iTunes, and is a phone. That is all I wanted. All the other stuff is amazing.
The good thing about anouncing six months early, it that it gives a lot of people time to let their contracts expire with the other services.
1. Sprint can now kiss my ass goodby in six months.
2. The MF’s at MS can do the same (has nothing to do with cell phones but I like to say it anyway)
3. I’m on parole, out of the joint, and don’t miss the California Men’s State Correctional Instiution for the Criminally Insane, Vacaville, California.
4. Yo Mamma.
5. Yo Ballmer
Pogue is smart enough to call his article a “Preview” not a “Review”. Too bad the iPhone’s detractors, most of whom have not had the priviledge of physical contact with the iPhone, can’t put this type of perspective and context into their gripes.
@Cell Block C
Hey what up man!! I was in Cell Block D!! Maybe we can knock over a truck full of iphones and make some money!!!
=D
“This machine is so packed with possibilities that the cellphone may actually be the least interesting part”
I’ll second that…and I think there’s going to be quite a few others (i.e. milliions) chiming in with that sentiment. That said, and considering the iPhone lawsuit, how about a better name, Apple? It’s like Cisco has given you the perfect opportunity to take a few weeks or months reconsidering the moniker for this sweet new piece of tech.
Phone? This is SO much more than a stupid phone.
It’s me.
-thhgttg
The only thing it needs is a medical scanner, and you’ve got yourself a Tricorder… Hey! That’s what they could call it!
Pogue is cool.
This device has practically fulfilled all my wishes as to what a digital device should be if carried around all day: Sync data, calls from address book, photo and video viewing, ipod, email and browsing. The fact that it looks so sleek, and any other features is just added bonus for me!
“iEverything”
Truthbearer – quit frigging trolling, I read the exact same post from you yesterday.
According to Apple, the lower capacity iPods (read nano), are the best selling ipods to date. Maybe that played a role in the decision to include only 8 GB? I could imagine that a hard drive would drain the battery too fast.
Pogue’s piece is easily the best that I have read on Apple’s ‘phone’. He gets what it is all about but he is not uncritical about the less convincing details. In particular, he recognises that his piece is a preview, not a review. This got me wondering whether this doesn’t reflect a pattern from Apple: they previewed iTV last time, then released it on Tuesday (under a different name); they previewed the iPhone on Tuesday and we expect them to release it in June (under a different name?). If this is how Apple is going to pre-announce its new products, then it’s a significant change from “we do not discuss unreleased products” (or whatever the correct wording was). Goes to show how much more aggressive the market (and the marketing) is these days.
” . . . you’ve got yourself a Tricorder… Hey! That’s what they could call it!”
Or iCorder? You don’t want Trek’s lawyers sniffing this one either.
iPlod this device is not going to add to the existing market for cellphones, because there are lots of people who will want IT (see National Post cartoon yesterday, backpack labelled iWant) in addition to what they already have.
But it seems to me that those who travel a lot are one market and those who do not are another. I fit in B, for example, fly rarely. What I want is a larger screen on my 30 gig iPod, with the flip horizontal feature for photos. I don’t even want a cell phone, but do have the PayGo cheapo for my wife, who always turns the phone off when she drives anywhere.
But category A people are the ones who will want to take IT along and may not even bother taking their laptops on some trips that they would take before IT arrives. For sure, 8 gigs won’t cut it for the photo or music collection, let alone video, which means that the iPhone is useless as presently designed, and while I don’t want one myself, as a shareholder I am more than delighted: I am ecstatic. Because the iPhone is more than affordable for those who now pay for RIM’s ubiquitous Blackberry et al.
When Apple brings out the iPod with the big screen, plus one or two of the new sensors, and 100 Gig hard drive, it’ll fly off the shelves in droves. In other words, the 200 patents have uses over and above the iPhone, and iPlod detects that the next few months will bring us goodies that will be so popular that will make the analyst stock predictions look ridiculous. In retrospect. Apple will, however, be unable to bring you anything in BROWN.
It’s “The Device”, plain and simple.
“gorgeous and so packed with possibilities”
At first, I thought he was reviewing Gisele Bündchen.