Analysts: Apple ‘iPhone’ design and business strategy more ambitious than expected

“Apple’s phone designs are more ambitious than expected. And some say its business strategy may aim just as high,” Scott Moritz reports for The Street.com.

Moritz reports, “Industry observers stalking the development of Apple’s highly anticipated iPhone are abuzz over patent filings showing blueprints for a mobile device that also incorporates a number of functions like a PDA, music player, video player, game player, digital camera and GPS satellite location. The patent filing, which includes two pages of sketches depicting several devices, covers a broad range of shapes and features.”

“‘You can tell the legal team was involved, they covered all the bases,’ says American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu, referring to the breadth of possibilities presented in the filing. Wu issued a report Friday on Apple’s iPhone plans,” Moritz reports. “The news comes as Wu’s colleague Albert Lin published a report Tuesday announcing that Apple’s iPhone is set for production early next year.”

“The iPhone that Wu and Lin expect to hit retail markets early next year, is likely to be a music phone aimed at Sony’s Walkman phone and LG’s chocolate,” Moritz reports. “Wu and Lin expect the tech maverick to go its own way by offering a wireless service to go along with the iPhone. Ventures like Boost, Amp’d and Virgin Mobile resell other telco’s wireless service under their own brand. This strategy is known as mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO. ‘Apple is a company to watch out for,’ says Wu. ‘This is when they are the most dangerous. They could turn the business model upside down.'”

Full article here.

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38 Comments

  1. They are not in shapes and sizes. It’s just a lengthy iPod with only a screen. You can pick any functionality that you want and the screen will be modified to look like that device. So, it’s all in the software.

  2. highly doubt that this will be unveiled on Tue. Seems as if the development stages are early.

    who knows though…it’s about time for ‘ole Steve to wow everyone with “One more thing…”

    MW: paid…as in, as soon as I get paid, I’m gettin’ one of them new magic apple biatches

    t

  3. Guys, I don’t believe in it. MVNO is bulk commodity business -this is not what Apple is doing. You don’t need to become a street constructor to manufacture cars, do you?
    Cell networks are infrastructure, Apple is not an infrastructure company. And if a carrier is willing to let them operate a virtual network in his own, why doesn’t he just partner with Apple?
    Nono, cell the phone 200-500$ a brick and you got a winner.

  4. Pure speculation (again). US telcos won’t offer any service to Apple – they consider it a competitor and a threat to their own music-download biz (see Verizon). Apple is a non-starter in Japan and Korea against the locals. At most the iPhone will be a GSM-based curiosity for the Mac fanbois to overspend on and flash in public, hoping to impress the crowd.

    Pathetic.

  5. Whatever Apple’s model, the American mobile phone industry is woefully behind the times and really needs to be stood on its head. It’s a bad joke that 20 million Mac users are virtually excluded from using their cell phones to connect to the internet. In India, I used my cell phone as a tethered modem without a problem; but in America this is almost impossible. Ridiculous!

  6. >’You can tell the legal team was involved, they covered all the bases,’ says American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu,>

    Well, what a surprise! A legal team getting involved in purely legal matters.

  7. Just in case all the anals are dead wrong about what The Steve will announce and when, I’m buying AAPL PUTS. It could get uglier than a monkey.

    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”raspberry” style=”border:0;” />

  8. Anonymous
    Some of us would like a simple was to carry files and contacts without jumping through hoops to link with our Macs. At the same time, using it as a mobile modem for a Macbook and maybe some music files and pictures would be nice. Not having a decent tool for this is what is pathetic.

  9. It’s been my impression that Mr. Wu talks up Apple, and specifically Apple stock before every keynote and other important announcement from Apple, then afterwards, he downplays his earlier reports and reduces his estimate of their stock price target.

    Next week let’s see what he says. Until then I wouldn’t trust him to accurately describe what my dog just left me in the back yard.

  10. Hey, Anonymous:

    “At most the iPhone will be a GSM-based curiosity for the Mac fanbois to overspend on and flash in public, hoping to impress the crowd.”

    Like, doh! You seem to be referring to something called “brand loyalty”.

    You can purchase any old car but you aspire to a Porsche. You can fly any old airline but you aspire to Virgin Atlantic. You can buy any old TV set but you aspire to a Sony Bravia.

    Unless you’ve been in a cave for the last 30 years, you’d recognise that the entire basis of high-value brands is built entirely on fabois.

    Spending more than required actually purchases something which delivers above expectation and gives sufficient remuneration back to the brand to continue innovation.

    Apple – in that sense – is egregious as an American company given the country’s general conservatisim and lack of innovation when compared with Asia Pacific [much better at build-em-cheap] or Europe [design-em-cool].

    I’m proud to be a supporter of Apple and if you call me “fanboi” I’ll just take that as a compliment.

    And yes, it’s all about impressing the crowd, dick.

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