“Although the recent unveiling of its iPhone was stunning, Apple Inc.’s radical mobile device is already generating a lot of questions as the company prepares for its big sales push in June, industry observers say,” Ryan Kim reports for The San Francisco Chronicle.
Kim reports, “Neil Strother, an analyst with the research company NPD Group, said customers last year paid, on average, $63 for a cell phone and $200 for a smartphone. He said that could be a problem for Apple as it tries to sell beyond its rabid fan base.”
MacDailyNews Note: We told you people to get your shots. Rabies is not a game.
Kim continues, “‘Consumers are not used to paying another couple hundred bucks more just because Apple makes a cool product,’ Strother said. ‘Some fans will buy it, but for the rest of us it’s a hard pill to swallow just to have the coolest thing.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, iPhone is just “cool.” That’s it; no UI that makes it possible for people to actually use their phone’s features or anything else, just cool. No wonder Strother can’t figure it out; he doesn’t understand the product very well at all.
Kim continues, “AT&T’s Glenn Lurie, president of wireless national distribution, acknowledged the iPhone will appeal to more high-end users, but he said consumers will find considerable value in the device. ‘It’s such a leap past other things; it will make innovations. That’s great for customers,’ Lurie said. ‘I think it has the opportunity to change the game.'”
Kim reports, “The iPhone has one battery that is not replaceable. It is designed to provide five hours of talk time, video playback or Internet browsing, or 16 hours of continuous music playback. Rob Enderle, a technology analyst, wondered if that’s enough for consumers who might not get enough juice in one day from Apple’s iPhone battery. ‘If you’re going to be doing a lot of stuff on this phone, you really have a five-hour window,’ he said. ‘But if you listen to music and then the phone doesn’t work, that’s serious. The phone always has to work.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Has the so-called, self-described “analyst” Rob Enderle ever heard of the TunePower Rechargeable Battery Pack for iPod from Belkin or any of a hundred other similar solutions already on the market? Such devices connect to iPod via the Dock connector and double, triple, or multiply even more the play time of iPods. iPhone features the same Dock connector as iPod. Extrapolate.
Kim continues, “Palm spokeswoman Marlene Somsak said the iPhone does not appear to be aimed at business and sophisticated customers because it lacks a physical QWERTY keyboard, which she said is essential for text entry.”
MacDailyNews Take: Now let’s hear from someone who’s actually used the iPhone’s keyboard instead of some FUD-spewing spokeswoman whose company is about to be steamrolled by Apple: “I have used the Apple iPhone. I had a private briefing the day after Steve Jobs’ keynote and spent about 45 minutes noodling around with the device. I think the iPhone’s virtual keyboard is a huge improvement over the mechanical thumbpads found on the Treo and any other smart phones of its size. The buttons are significantly larger, you don’t have to hit them dead-center, you lightly tap them instead of punching them down, and the software is smart enough to know that you meant to type ‘Tuesday’ instead of ‘Tudsday.’ After 30 seconds, I was already typing faster with the iPhone than I ever have with any other phone,” Andy Ihnatko reported for The Chicago Sun-Times last Thursday.
Kim continues, “Apple’s Steve Jobs, for his part, doesn’t look worried. He said at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco earlier this month that he feels he has the competition beat by five years, with all the software advances and design touches on the iPhone. ‘We’re going to enter a very competitive market, a lot of players,’ Jobs said. But, ‘we think we’re going to have the best product in the world.'”
Full article here.
“If you thought that iPod and iTunes was subject to FUD, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, my friends. You’ll have to look to the Mac to find a threat of such magnitude that inspired such a FUD campaign. The reason for such a campaign against iPhone? Money. Lots and lots of money and the fear of losing a good portion of it to Apple,” SteveJack wrote in our opinion section on January 10th. “So, keep this in mind whenever you read about Apple’s iPhone and you see an article slanted against the iPhone: the real Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt is being felt by all of the companies that Apple just humiliated… They are very scared and rightfully so.”
Related articles:
Ihnatko: Hands-on with Apple’s iPhone (which runs Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard) – January 18, 2007
Apple’s Phil Schiller gives CBS News hands-on tour of iPhone – January 12, 2007
David Pogue: hands on preview of Apple’s iPhone, ‘gorgeous and so packed with possibilities’ – January 11, 2007
PC Magazine hands-on test of Apple iPhone: multi-touch UI ‘takes the breath away’ – 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
Hands-on with Apple’s iPhone – January 10, 2007
The massive FUD campaign against Apple’s iPhone ramps up – January 10, 2007
Analyst: ‘iPhone’s willful disregard of global handset market will come back to haunt Apple’ – January 18, 2007
Microsoft CEO Ballmer laughs at Apple iPhone – January 17, 2007
Street Insight: Apple iPhone faces a number of potential obstacles – January 16, 2007
IDG News Service: ‘Reality might tarnish iPhone’s shine’ – January 16, 2007
The Times: Apple’s brand of corporate hubris is almost always damaging in the long run – January 16, 2007
Hackers ‘salivating’ over Apple’s iPhone – January 15, 2007
Bloomberg writer: Apple iPhone won’t make long-term mark; will only appeal to a few gadget freaks – January 15, 2007
Dvorak on Apple iPhone: ‘I think Apple can do wrong and I think this is it’ – January 13, 2007
USA Today writer: Apple iPhone is an ‘ordinary, average product’ at heart – January 12, 2007
FUD Alert: Analyst – I am pretty skeptical Apple’s iPhone can succeed – January 11, 2007
The massive FUD campaign against Apple’s iPhone ramps up – January 10, 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
Where’s that wrascilly wrabbit? Compliments to Elmer Fudd.
It’s worth every penny.
Ultimately, the consumer will have the last word regardless of the FUD. Wasn’t the iPod looked upon by so many “experts” withh much the same level of scorn and doubt when it first came out?
(Yeah, this is from the the Department of the Truly Obvious, but still needs to be stated.)
Ease of typing IS going to be critical, and its good to hear that those who have tried it have had good experiences.
..as the mobile industry realizes that Apple has set their sights on their pot of gold claimed from now visibly inferior UI. They fear the iPod effect where Apple steamrolls them into 2nd, 3rd, or farther down the total sales volume/profits.
OK, iPhone, let’s get out there and kill, kill, KILL!!!!!
“Has the so-called, self-described “analyst” Rob Enderle ever heard of the TunePower Rechargeable Battery Pack for iPod from Belkin or any of a hundred other similar solutions already on the market?”
Of course not, because that would mean they actually know what they’re talking about.
I’m not sure how this qualifies as FUD considering how each point is actually a valid one.
Why does the iPhone get slammed for 5 hours talk time when it’s more than the BlackBerry 8700 series or the Pearl (which top at four hours).
http://www.blackberry.com/compare/compare.do?handhelds=281&handhelds=302&handhelds=321&handhelds=242&handhelds=245&handhelds=243&method=getFeatureView&x=62&y=3
realist,
“Consumers are not used to paying another couple hundred bucks more just because Apple makes a cool product,” Strother said. “Some fans will buy it, but for the rest of us it’s a hard pill to swallow just to have the coolest thing.”
That’s a valid point about iPhone’s price?
The rest is also regurgitated FUD from the talking points memo from Microsoft, Palm, etc.
You should rename yourself more accurately: nominalist
I paid almost this much for my Treo – which is half baked and buggy. If the iPhone will allow me to work with Word and Excel docs like my Treo I will pay the cancellation fee to Verizon, flush my Treo down the toilet and wait in line at the Apple Store for an iPhone.
The irony of all this FUD is we’ve only officially known about the iPhone for a week. Imagine the amount of FUD we’ll be reading between now and the release date.
MW: “save” as in I’m saving each and every penny for this amazing piece of equipment.
the bit about ‘it lacks a keyboard’ is the highest epitome of FUD: it appears everywhere. “The iPhone will fail: it lacks a keyboard. Can’t appeal professional users who need to type messages”.
I am not worried then: if this is the reason the iPhone will fail it with thence be a huge success among professional users. They will type furiously faster with the iPhone while moronalists (moron-journalists) will faint “but.. but… that’s nonsense, it cannot be: the iPhone lacks a keyboard. They CAN’T TYYYPEEEEEEEHHAAAAAAAAAHHHHHRRRGHHHHH”
Those thumb pad QWERTY keyboards suck BIG WANG! I hate them like cancer. And that’s the problem with the phone industry right now…
They think I want thumb pads and I DON’T! That’s why Steve Jobs is a genius.
Apple gets it, the killer app of the phone is being a phone! The GUI and multi touch will make it a pleasure to use. Apple wants to control the apps because it doesn’t want the user experience damaged by poor third party software. Is the price too high? No given that you’ll have a proper smart phone, media player, inernet device and GPS that really does “just work”. The demand is going to be huge for this product.
If you figure the phone’s cost with a 2 year contract and the data charges, this thing is going to cost more than a MacBook Pro. Since Apple requires the service as a pre-condition to buying the iPhone, don’t try to break it out.
Too much for too little too closely tied.
No dice.
And Steve please, please bring that beauty to Europe ASAP.
I think the FUD is loads of fun. It reminds me of the early iPod FUD in 2001. I bought the 1st Gen iPod and was always very happy with it. I expect the iPhone to be no different. What a hoot it will be to see all the naysayers proved wrong.
It’s valid to say that the early adopters will pay a premium for the 1st gen version – but that’s what’s great about being 1st at anything. I didn’t want a Rio when that’s what “the masses” were buying. And I’ve never cared how many people used PC’s as opposed to Macs. Lonely at the top? Just the way I like it!
Lot’s of FUD and yet the facts really haven’t presented themselves completely yet. Everyone talks about how much the service will be yet they haven’t even announced that yet! Talking about jumping the gun. Not even all the features and software has been announced as final yet either so how does everyone no how little or much the iPhone has to offer?
Everyone needs to wait until June and really see what this is all about rather than beating the bush without knowing what’s behind it.
Steve jobs bring iPhone and other products to the intire W-O-R-L-D !!!!!!!!!
Big Wang….isn’t Wang a computer???
Here’s some pro-Apple FUD… are we all soooo certain the price as announced will be the price at release? Not discounted?
Or could this be another case of underpromising and overdelivering?
They’ve got to disclose the device in detail to the FCC… but they can change the price any day for any reason…
Moreover, why would they want to disclose the REAL price to the world 6 months before shipping?
=====
Seriously, analysts are sooooo stupid, not going one brain cell beyond what Apple has announced or what their competitors have whispered in their ear:
– Not questioning what the price will REALLY be.
– Missing (for the most part) the obvious pending shipment of large capacity videop iPods based on multitouch and the full screen.
– Questioning why Apple announced in advance (Macworld no less) when they fricken stated it outright–the specs are all going to come out via the FCC.
Last quarter will be tough for Apple to beat no matter how good the products, but mainly 2007 is going to be brutal on competitors. Apple ships beautfiul full screen multitouch while Zune still has a fake clickwheel.
Welcome to the Social…
Darwinism.
=)
Truely astonishing they could criticize a 5 hour battery life – The talk time for a Blackberry 8700c is 4 hours….The Verizon version of the RAZR is good for 3.33 hours, although the GSM version is quoted as 6.67 hours.
When people actually start to do side by side comparisons, I think they’ll see that the 5 hour talk time compares favorably with any alternatives the less enlightened may be considering…
As for swapping batteries, only a small fraction of the most obsessed talkers need to do that to get through the day. Who wants to juggle an extra piece of stuff with them just so they can talk for an entire 8 hour business day? Much better to work via SMS and e-mail.
Gee, a device that will actually let me FIND and USE all it’s features, without:
A.) Going Blind
B.) Developing some new type of RSI
C.) Losing one’s mind and smashing said device against nearest hard surface.
At this point, the iPhone is really just an advanced technology demonstration (and Wall Street appeaser). Apple showed the world and is now reaping the benefit of a massive potential user critique. What looks good, what’s bad and a list of what things could be tweaked or added or improved.
Brilliant move!!!
ALL these critics are merely shills for the various industries that will take a beating because of the iPhone’s brilliance. The iPod proved to the world that when a product is done right, how people flock to BUY and what happens to competitors’ mediocrities. And now THIS… iPhone?!?!?!?! Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Palm are all shaking in their boots. Cell phone service providers are freaking. Microflaccid is about to lose yet ANOTHER potential monopoly.
Heady times, these!
To me, the funniest one is the complaints of a lack of physical keyboard.
Years ago, I worked for a forms design/automation company. We had a product that would allow you to fill out the forms that we produced on-screen. This was originally a DOS program. It would display the form on the screen and you had a couple of lines at the bottom of the screen where you would type in what you wanted in a particular field.
Our chief competitor actually allowed you to enter the data into the field as you saw it on the screen. Our chief developer at the time said this would be really difficult to do.
Solution: Marketing stepped in and worked to convince everybody that this was a bad idea. “Sure, it looks cool. But what if you’re viewing the form at 25% so it will fit in the screen? You can’t see what you’re typing! Our way is still the best!”
(Entertaining aside: When I worked on the Mac version of the software, I wrote it so the user entered data on the form. When I first showed it to marketing, I was dutifully informed that this was unacceptable and I had to do it similarly to the way the DOS product worked, which made no sense to me. I asked around and heard the above story which struck me as a really stupid reason. So I did one of the things I rarely do–made it an option…)
To pull the analogy to a close, this is similar to what other smartphone developers are doing. Since they can’t change the keyboard, they’re trying to convince everybody that a 2.5-inch physical keyboard is better than a 4 inch virtual keyboard. They may be right–I don’t know. I haven’t tried either. But, if I was in the market for a smartphone, I’d certainly wait and see.