Apple’s soon-to-be iPhone rivals sound just like iPod rivals circa 2001

17 years ago

Apple’s newly announced iPhone “got everybody — from techie bloggers to late-night TV hosts — talking when it arrived fashionably late on the wireless communications scene. Would-be rivals are welcoming the challenge but questioning Apple’s claim that the iPhone is ‘revolutionary,'” May Wong reports for The Associated Press.

MacDailyNews Take: What did you think they’d do, come out with the truth and say, “we’re 5-10 years behind, Apple’s got the thing patented up the wazoo, and we’re screwed, so sell your shares and buy AAPL?”

Wong continues, “Apple’s competitors predict that even as the gadget will likely boost the company’s fortunes, it will have limited market share and fall short of the successes Apple has seen with its iPod portable music player. They contend some of the phone’s much-touted features — such as its touch screen, movement sensors and music player — are not innovative or new. ‘They’re just jumping into the party where everyone else is,’ said Peter Skarzynski, a senior vice president at Samsung Electronics Co.’s telecommunications unit in North America.”

MacDailyNews Take: In other words, they’re saying the same things that the MP3 player makers said when Jobs debuted the iPod.

Wong continues, “Apple is getting in at a time when competition in the cell phone business is, as ThinkEquity Partners analyst Jonathan Hoopes puts it, ‘as hot as Hades.’ Because nearly everyone already has a wireless device of some sort, the success of the iPhone will depend on whether Apple’s notoriously slick marketing machine can persuade consumers to replace their current phones with an iPhone that costs $500 or more. In some cases they’ll have to switch carriers as Apple’s gadgets will work only through Cingular Wireless.”

MacDailyNews Take: Hence the reason why Jobs froze the market by announcing iPhone 6 months early. Let’s see what At&T does to alleviate carrier switchers’ pain, too.

Wong continues, “Nokia Corp. Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told analysts last week that he doesn’t think Nokia, the world’s No. 1 handset maker, needs to change its business approach because of the iPhone. But Apple’s entry ‘will stimulate this market, it’s very clear,’ he said. ‘The fact that we will see multipurpose devices from many manufacturers, I think it will be good for the industry. And in that way, I very much welcome (Apple to the market).'”

MacDailyNews Take: He sounds like Diamond Multimedia, makers of something called the “Rio,” circa 2001. For most info, please see related article: More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Rio is dead – August 26, 2005

Wong continues, “Padmasree Warrior, chief technology officer for No. 2 handset maker Motorola Inc., posted a ‘morning after’ blog saying she’d always been a fan of Apple’s creativity. She called the iPhone a “compelling concept,” but she also outlined its potential shortcomings. ‘There is nothing revolutionary or disruptive about any of the technologies,’ she wrote.”

MacDailyNews Take: Again, saying the same things that the MP3 player makers said when the iPod steamroller arrived.

Wong continues, “With the iPhone still months away from the market, no one knows all its features or how well it functions in real life. Any criticisms leveled now — the high price, the exclusive distribution through Cingular Wireless, the choice to use the slower 2.5G data network, the apparent lack of support for Microsoft Corp.’s business e-mail programs, the lack of a traditional QWERTY button keyboard — could become moot or insignificant later.”

MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s iPhone supports MS Exchange via IMAP. There is still the question of whether iPhone will support Exchange Direct Push (Engadget has more on that issue here). The Chicago Sun-Times Andy Ihnatko actually spent time with the iPhone and reports, ” 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… After 30 seconds, I was already typing faster with the iPhone than I ever have with any other phone.” Why wait for “later” when many of Wong’s points are moot now?

Wong reports, “If the incumbents are nervous, they’re not saying it.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: If those in the path of Apple’s heavily-patented iPhone aren’t nervous, they’re delusional. We already smell blood.