“There are a few reasons why there’s such a pent-up demand for an Apple cellphone,” Ryan Block (managing editor of Engadget) blogs:
1. Cellphones today suck. Especially smartphones. It’s 2006 and a good phone — and I mean an honestly really good phone — still hasn’t been made. A new competitor — any new competitor, be it ALP or Linux or the Applephone — is highly anticipated.
2. People are already sick of Windows Mobile dominating the landscape. I’ve been a long time Windows Mobile user, but let’s face it, it’s pretty much the only smartphone game in town in the US. You can go Symbian, but the devices just aren’t there through carrier purchases. Palm is obviously a joke, and Linux / JUIX is nowhere to be found.
3. Cellphones haven’t gotten music integration right. Sure, there are enough phones with media buttons and microSD slots to go around, but that doesn’t mean they work well.
4. Using your phone and your Mac is often a painful and tedious experience. In fact, the same goes for using your phone and most any computer.
5. People are curious to see how radically the cellphone can be re-envisioned, and the expect Apple to lead that charge.
Block then explores “the realities about the Applephone that people probably don’t want to face.
1. The battery life will probably be pretty awful
2. The phone will be buggy
3. It won’t be what people want
4. It probably won’t have 3G
5. It’s safe to assume it won’t work with Windows out of the box
6. It won’t be revolutionary
More in the full article here.
[Attribution: Digg]
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“My RAZR is just fine. Hundreds of millions of satisfied cellular customers across the globe manage just fine.”
Spoken like a true MS user zombie. Why is “just fine” acceptable? Don’t you want the products you buy the be better than “just fine”?
Personally, I buy products that are better that I consider to be great, and better than the “just fine” competition.
Why does my breath smell like butt ?
It will not be an “iPhone” or an “Applephone.” It will be an iPod with wireless. Therefore, it will not be marketed as a mobile phone, but as a new iPod with several new “must have” capabilties involving wireless. Being a phone will just be one of these functions, but not its defining characteristic.
So…
1. The battery life will probably be pretty awful
Battery life will be compared to other iPods and iPod-like devices, not to mobile phones.
2. The phone will be buggy
Why?
3. It won’t be what people want
Apple is good at giving “people” something they don’t even know they want. For example, the original iPod five years ago. It may not be what people like this author expect, but will be something a lot of people will “want.”
4. It probably won’t have 3G
It’s a iPod with wireless, so its wireless standard will be whatever is needed to perform its designed wireless functions in the markets where it is released.
5. It’s safe to assume it won’t work with Windows out of the box
Every iPod since the first generation has worked with Windows “out of the box.” Why would this one be different?
6. It won’t be revolutionary
It will become the basis for the iPod morphing into a wearable computer platform. Third parties will release new software and hardware once the “iPod” has the horsepower and Internet connectivity to be the hub (the brains, data storage, visual feedback, and user input) for the system. Think of the Nike partnership as the (already taken) first step. I can’t think of anything more revolutionary. I’m excited about Apple in 2007.
It’s really a shame that Symbian isn’t as well known in the US as in the rest of the world. Here in Europe, Symbian rules. I believe that maybe 100 people use Windows CE based phones.
The Symbian OS has it’s faults too, but it is superior to Windows CE in every way, shape and form. If Apple does the embedded OSX software right, it will own the smartphone market very quickly.
WRONG:
1. The battery life will probably be pretty awful ( No, the batteries of today are slim enough to have 2 batteries-1 for the phone and one for the music-[like in Nano or RAZR phone ultar slimness]
2. The phone will be buggy (ok could be but like iTunes 7 fixable)
3. It won’t be what people want (Funny HE knows what they want? This sounds like the iPod in 2001)
4. It probably won’t have 3G (a majority of people have proven they don’t care about 3G-they want a phone that’s a PHONE and a chance to listen to music)
5. It’s safe to assume it won’t work with Windows out of the box (Possible, but popularity of window’s ipod proved hugely successful, they won’t wait this time to release a windows iphone)
6. It won’t be revolutionary ( no it won’t, but it will be what people want)
How about making a very good phone and include iTunes. I really just want a phone with good reception, decent talk-time, and iTunes so that I don’t have to take an extra device when I travel.
Phones are for placing and receiving phone calls, folks!
There will be 2 batteries, one for the cell phone and one for the iPod player.
Music battery life will be 18+ hrs. Phone battery life will be like your present cell phone usage battery life.
i agree pretty much with all five of the reasons why an Apple phone is anticipated, but here’s my reply to the “realities”:
1. the battery life will probably be no better than existing phones, which i agree is awful.
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2. what, like many of the phones out there aren’t? maybe.
3. Apple has built its business trying to give customers what they want. witness the continuing popularity of iTS and the iPod, even in the face of competition. how would this be different?
4. how do you know?
5. as a Mac user, why should i care?
6. revolutionary i couldn’t care less about. if its interface is intuitive and it WORKS, i’d be happy with it.
7. Zune Tang’s trolls are awesome! sounds like right from an ad agency. but he can still bite me
@TowerTone: I certainly *hope* I’m talking about the phone. ;P
“Spoken like a true MS user zombie. Why is ‘just fine’ acceptable? Don’t you want the products you buy the be better than ‘just fine’?”
A phone is a tool. I use it to communicate with the world around me. Of course everything on this planet could -use- improvement but the cellular experience is nowhere near as intolerable as some of you make it seem.
As I said, my RAZR is fine. It’s also the Verizon RAZR so the UI is very much simplified from Motorola’s original. It doesn’t get in my way at all.
You want a toy. You want to take your phone into the bathroom during lunchbreaks and jerk off to the glittery mobile-OS X interface on the screen. It really doesn’t get any simpler than that.
RMN
@TrickyDick:
You are correct, of course. But the difference between a good cell phone and a lust-worthy piece of technology that every teenage girl wants is exactly what we’re talking about here. Apple knows how to do this.
You need a tool, and once you have it, you don’t think about it much.
Toys, you *want*. You lust after. You can’t live without.
Tools sell like a river, toys sells like a flood.
You just watch. =)
-c
MW: ‘brown’ (is the new brown)
Oh, and in my opinion, RAZRs TOTALLY suck ass chunks.
I’d just like to have a cell phone that is easy to use and intuitive.
Every step on my Razr takes a ton of clicks.
The alarm is gay. If you change the alarm time, logic tells you that you want it to go off at that time. But on the Razr you have to take another step and actually enable it.
My old Sony Ericsson phone worked much better in this regard.
If Apple releases a phone, it’ll be easy to figure out without using the manual.
“I’d just like to have a cell phone that is easy to use and intuitive.
…
My old Sony Ericsson phone worked much better in this regard.”
Now I’m no rocket scientist but uhh, perhaps you could just purchase another Sony Ericsson handset?
RMN