“If you haven’t watched the full keynote speech from Macworld—you know, the one where Steve Jobs introduced to the iPhone—you owe it to yourself to do so. Even if you’re not an Apple or Jobs fan, what he discussed has broader implications for the future of mobile media delivery than you’d think,” Damien Stolarz reports for Streamingmedia.
MacDailyNews Note: Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ Macworld Conference & Expo 2007 keynote here.
Stolarz reports, “Apple’s entrance into the mobile phone market was very well planned. Two years in development, the product approach is right out of the Apple playbook: control the software, control the hardware, and even add value to the network (their ‘visual voicemail’ collaboration with Cingular allows random access to voicemails, abandoning a primitive 20th-century ritual involving the 7 and 9 keys).”
Stolarz reports, “The phone is entirely touch screen-based, has only a single button to go ‘home,’ and embodies the style and minimalist design you’d expect from Apple. It has a ‘multi-touch’ interface, where you can use both fingers to ‘squeeze’ pictures to grow or shrink them, a feature that will either be considered cute or revolutionary; the jury is still out until the general public can get their hands on the phones… iPhone runs OS X (I didn’t expect iPods to run OS X until a few versions from now), and going 100% touch screen without even a QWERTY keyboard is pretty bold (we’ll all have to see how easy it is to punch in letters on that thing).”
MacDailyNews Note: The Chicago Sun-Times’ Andy Ihnatko – who has used the Apple iPhone – 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.”
Stolarz continues, “CE manufacturers now realize that Apple is their new worst nightmare, the sleeping giant who can rumble in several years late to the party, look around, and drop an atom bomb on the market segment… Smartphone manufacturers are flattering themselves by thinking that Apple is competing with them. Apple is competing with phones, period.”
Full article here.
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It’s going to be the 2nd or 3rd generation of the iPhone that really gains market share. The Edge Network is too slow and even during the keynote you could see Steve attempt to gloss over the slow page loading. For many…it won’t matter that much…but for those who are velocitized by conventional web use with broadband…it will feel like a painful step backwards… until the newer faster iPhones arrive.
Hey, 2nd post!!!!
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I’m tired of hearing people say that it’ll be difficult to type on the virtual keyboard. Have you tried typing on a Palm Treo? Or doing the 111 thing to type in the letter c on a razr phone? I don’t think it will be more difficult than either of those.
Velocitized–nice word! I can see that being a problem, but I think that the general ease of use and the coolness factor of multi-touch will more than make up for it, especially for unvelocitized users or those for whom Web access isn’t as important as general phone use or great music integration.
Phones?
If the iPhone (or whatever) is just competing with “phones” then the battle is already ‘lost’ and Apple should fold up its tent and slip away into the night. It has also been demonstrated that it’s a decent – if over-priced – iPod. And that it’s at least partly a tiny Mac. And that it’s … wait, no, they haven’t shown that it plays video-games … not yet.
It needs to be a pretty decent cell-phone as well as being a passable iPod, a passable Mac, and a couple other things or its sales will spike and then plummet.
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page
argghhh–it’s the pirate’s fault..the pirates! the pirates!! the iPhone pirates!
My son just got back from Iraq for 15 days or R&R and we just finished watching the iPhone portion of the keynote.
It was fun to watch his amazement in reaction to the demonstration of features of the iPhone as Steve presented the next revolution.
Just as every other person I’ve showed that portion of the keynote to, his first reaction was “I want one”.
This will be a great product and new market for Apple to dominate… but I think I’m going to wait for 3G and more storage before I drop that kind of cash on a phone… maybe Christmas of ’07?
DLMeyer,
How is the battle already lost?
It hasn’t even begun yet.
One other big advantage of the touch-screen keypad: localized keyboards should be easy to implement. I use Dvorak, for example, and it will be GREAT to have that keyboard setup represented rather than the stupid QWERTY set that’s stuck on my Treo. I’m sure European and other keyboard users will also appreciate the ability to see the correct keyboard layout on the iPhone.
Let’s just hope the final version has voice dialing. I don’t need to be pushing the virtual keypad while I’m driving.
Business users have no interest in visual voicemail! Why would a business user not want to listen to 5 voicemails in order to listen to the one she is looking for? Why would she want to zero in on the one voicemail and select it, just to save valuable time?
Why would a business user that is making a phone call want the 12 button phone pad to come up on the screen? Why wouldn’t they just type the phone number in on a tiny QWERTY keyboard for it’s tactile feel?
The iPhone is obviously not for business users!
I know no one can tell, but Ballmer is sweating more than usual due to the iPhone.
Well, I’m sure the keynote sent many back to their drawing boards – suitably velocitized.
There is a new wireless broadband communications system being installed in many cities. It’s called WiMax, with a 30 mile wireless range and cell phone-like coverage. It may make all the present networks, GSM, 3G, even Cingular itself, irrelevant. The iPhone is already set up to automatically detect a wireless broadband connection and use that in preference to a cellular signal if available.
DL –
Comments aside – please find some other way of gaining pagerank than posting your goofy blog on MDN.
I do not understand some peoples thinking when I was working and in a meeting I would come out and there would be twenty voice mails on my phone and only two were important but I had to go thew everyone to hear the important one taking to much time. Not for business? I have treo 600,650,moto razr, moto a780 and some sony all are very difficult to read in day light if iphone with it 160 dpi and light controls will make it readable I sold. microsoft leader have said they do not want a phone that the could not dial while driving well I have almot been killed twice by people do that. Even if I do not buy one I am glade someone has awaken the industry.
John,
exactly! Software solutions are variable and flexible; therefore much more practical.
pr,
I think people will accept and understand that internet access can’t be so fast. The fact that you can manipulate and read websites with reasonable comfort on such a small device is unique.
The games that are coming also won’t be comparable to what you can do with a desktop or a dedicated portable games device, but otherwise they’ll probably be better than anything else on the market.
With all the other features, I believe the iPhone is going to be a big success. It’ll become a cool fashion accessory and status symbol and a useful tool for acedemics, sportsmen and so on – for businessmen as well, if software becomes available which enables access to Word documents and it probably will.
Toby and others,
I think the iphone will do very well…possibly even exceed the ten million mark Steve talks about. But it will also likely see a backlash due to the increasing acceptance of broadband and it’s speed. If you have never used an 8 megabit system and then used dial up…it’s agonizing.
THAT’s what I mean. The Edge network is terribly slow and 3G is not in the first edition and won’t be (apparently). Hence the idea that the 2nd generation iPhones will be dramatically more successful than the first. THAT plus the fact that the iphone will roll out in Asia and elsewhere right around the time the 2nd generation becomes available…
Why do you have to advertise your site with your comment? No hits I guess.
Another view is that Apple’s involvement is more like a neutron bomb than a classic thermonuclear device.
After all – with iPod and with the forthcoming iPhone – Apple leaves the market in situ, but simply kills all the players in the market.
Apple has many such weapons of mass distraction, including the option to license Tiger to select PC assemblers who adhere to a reference design whilst keeping Leopard to itself until Leopard itself is superceded by Genet, Civet or Cougar.
And everyone who knows Steve Jobs knows that he would not call the phone the “iPhone” unless he knew that Cisco could not win a suit against Apple. Cisco’s lame attempt to forge the packaging with an iPhone sticker at the deadline of the trademark expiration is indicative of that.
If Apple comes close to 20% of the market upon entering the iPhone, you can bet that their nightmare will be realized.
I smell a whiff of doo-doo coming from the general direction of the pants of the current cell phone makers.
Doin the stylus tap on my Treo screen – tap – oh, damn, back – tap – oh, damn, back – tap, etc.
I love my Treo but am more than ready for the iPhone.
One thing that has happen for the firt time control has been taken away from the carriers they have controled the phone and the manufatures. Why do you think uk and japan and china have a much greater selection of phones. If the iphone makes the carriers let the manufacture do what is best our selection of cell phones will improve.
Enough with the link police. If you don’t want to click on DLMeyer’s link don’t. Stop bitchin about it already.