“I am in fact truly in awe of what I witnessed Tuesday. Steve Jobs is the Salesman of the Century–nothing wrong with that. And Apple and Jobs have done everything right with the iPhone–so far. I certainly want one, and am rooting for Apple to dominate and transform the handset industry,” Mike Elgan writes for Computerworld.
Elgan writes, “However, I fear that the iPhone vision and the keynote were so flawlessly executed that Apple may have raised expectations that will be hard to fulfill. The things that might shatter this wonderful iPhone illusion are the things we do not know.”
Elgan’s 20 unanswered questions about the Apple iPhone:
1. How much will it cost to own an iPhone?
2. What will be the “unlocked” iPhone price?
3. How much will it cost to replace a lost or damaged iPhone?
4. How fast is the iPhone?
5. What did Jobs mean when he said the “iPhone runs OS X”?
6. How well will the iPhone sync with Windows applications?
7. Will businesses be able to use the iPhone?
8. Will the iPhone support Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents?
9. Will you be able to use your iPhone as a modem for your laptop?
10. Will the iPhone scratch or peel?
11. Will the iPhone be called the iPhone?
12. Will people hate the on-screen iPhone keyboard experience?
13. Can you use the iPhone to make VoIP calls?
14. Will people accept iPhone’s slow Internet connection?
15. Will third-party software vendors be able to create applications for the iPhone? If not, why not? If so, what are they?
16. Will iPhone’s single-carrier model wreck the product for most users?
17. Will there be any way to wirelessly share files with the iPhone?
18. Will the iPhone kill sales of iPods?
19. Will Apple be able to fill iPhone orders accurately?
20. Will the iPhone really “change the world?”
Elgan writes, “The iPhone vision Jobs unveiled was bold, risky, and amazing. Now we can only wait and see what Silicon Valley’s master magician really has up his sleeve. If Jobs and Apple can produce the right answers to these 20 questions, they’ll make a believer out of me.”
Full article here.
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