“Several of the world’s leading CE executives have said that the pending launch of the Apple iPhone was most important introduction in CE of the past 20 years… The comments were made during a major industry summit in the US over the weekend,” David Richards reports for Smarthouse News. “Top executives from Dell, Panasonic, Philips and Sony voiced their opinions and agreed on many of the issues facing their companies and the industry during the Manufacturer Power Panel at the CEA CEO Summit.”
“Ron Garriques, president/CEO of Dell Global Consumer Group, Stan Glasgow, president/COO of Sony Electronics, Stewart Muller, president/CEO of Philips Consumer Electronics and Joseph Taylor, executive VP/COO at Panasonic were members of the panel,” Richards reports.
The four executives were asked for their opinions of Apple’s iPhone and if it is, as some have claimed, the most important introduction in CE of the past 20 years. “Garriques said, ‘If you can reset in the consumers’ minds that cellphones can be priced at $499 to $699, instead of the thinking that it is just $1, that’s good.’ He echoed the view of his colleagues that ‘the marketing and hype surrounding iPhone is good,’ and said that even if iPhone isn’t all that it is supposed to be ‘you know that they are working on iPhone2, iPhone3 and 4 versions.'”
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s iPhone is priced at US$499 for the 4GB model and $599 for the 8GB model. Beyond the pricing “mistake,” Garriques’ attempt at using future iPhones as FUD against iPhone is an interesting study in desperation.
Richards reports, “Taylor said, ‘Apple makes intuitive products. You can open the box and figure them out in two minutes. We can learn from Apple and make things easier to use.'”
Full article here.
