“Steve Jobs pulled an iPhone out of his pocket last week during a staged Q&A at the Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference, but quickly tucked it away. His comments about Apple’s dive into the cell phone market were almost as fleeting, but the company’s CEO did offer up some new tidbits to eager buyers,” Computerworld reports.
“Jobs also confirmed that the iPhone is powered by Mac OS X, not a miniaturised version or a completely different operating system, as some had theorised earlier this year,” Computerworld reports.
“‘Take out the data [from Mac OS X], every desktop pattern, sound sample. If you look at Safari, it’s not that big. It’s real Safari, real OS X,’ Jobs said. That may explain the controversial decision last month when Apple announced it would delay Mac OS X 10.5, known as Leopard, at least four months to free up enough developers to wrap up the iPhone by June,” Computerworld reports.
Full article here.
I’d like to know what AT&T will charge with an iPhone Plan. How much in internet, etc. That is the burning ? at this point. Will AT&T charge a premium for a iPhone plan versus other phones?
June 29th cannot get here fast enough.
“Jobs also confirmed that the iPhone is powered by Mac OS X, not a miniaturised version or a completely different operating system, as some had theorised earlier this year,” Computerworld reports.”
BS, of course the iPhone has a miniaturised version of OS X. I mean, how else could Apple cram an OS into that small form factor.
If you remove the user interface for the desktop and laptop versions of Mac OSX, I would imagine the resulting OS would take up a dramatically less amount of space.
maczealot, that’s what SJ explained. They removed the extra stuff (desktops, sounds, etc.) to get the OS size down. I don’t think that qualifies as miniaturized, as the core OS didn’t change.
Who wasn’t aware of that?
How is this news? And a week after the event?
Haven’t we been trying to tell people this? I think that folks who are use to MS technologies don’t really understand how OS X is structured, and being as it’s a modular OS, it can be scaled to these types of devices. It’s STILL OS X, even though the UI is different. The underlying technologies are the same. Darwin is the same. Why is this so hard to believe?
-c
“They removed the extra stuff (desktops, sounds, etc.) to get the OS size down. I don’t think that qualifies as miniaturized, as the core OS didn’t change”
Exactly. If you nibble around an apple and leave the complete core and stem intact, it’s still an apple. The core is not suddenly smaller. Brown perhaps, but not smaller.
THE BIGGEST QUESTION IS
Since AT&T is still upgrading to 3G network quality and we have to use the slow Edge network.
DOES THE CURRENT VERSION OF THE IPHONE SUPPORT THE UP COMING 3G NETWORK SO IT’S A SIMPLE UPGRADE OR WILL EARLY ADOPTERS BE SCREWED?
If Vista is 15 gigs you can bet the essentials of OS X are under 2 gigs.
Copying an original takes much more code remember.
If I take your clothing off, skin you alive and gut you clean.
Are you still you?
Of course not, your a corpse of course.
So is the iPhone OS really Mac OS X?
Of course not, because the iPhone is not a Mac. It’s a phone. So the OS should be called iPhone OS X.
Do you really think internally at Apple the iPhone OS is called Mac OS X?
I don’t think so. Chop, Chop.
It will simply require a firmware upgrade to go from 2.5G to 3G. AT&T wanted to go with Apple to utilize and show off its’ 3G network. Don’t be surprised if it has 3G compatibility out of the gate.
Weird. I just realized I don’t want one. No, let me restate. I want one terribly badly, but I just realized that I don’t really have any use for it.
Think with me for a moment:
1. I won’t use it for an iPod, i.e. at the gym, mowing the lawn (with sound isolating earbuds) because it’s too precious. I won’t want to scratch it or break it.
2. I won’t use the photos that often, just like I don’t use them that often now. Photos are just a gimmick on these things.
3. I won’t watch video on it, just like I don’t watch video on it now. Perhaps if I commuted to work on an hour-long train ride. Then, maybe. Or if I flew on a plane twice a week. But I don’t. So I just won’t watch movies on it.
4. I won’t check email on it. Maybe every once in a while I care so much about an email that I *need* to check it from the car or restaurant, but… actually, nope, I never have to read email that badly. So it’s a nice feature. But I’m not going to be using it.
5. Using the Phone. Yeah, I’d really want to use it as a phone. The thing is gorgeous and obviously quite easy to use, but I’m concerned about that special screen. When happens when it’s up against my car keys in my bag during a 4-hour bumpy car trip? And what then after 2 years? And even the non-screen side. I freak out when my wife’s negligence gets a tiny scratch on the outside cover of my powerbook almost as badly as I would if she or anyone scratched my car. Mac products are so nice that I want to care for them, and getting the whole thing scuffed and torn up makes me actually want to baby them, which means I won’t use them as fully or often as I might.
6. Checking the internet. Well, besides the phone, which obviously is a useful function this is really the only non-phone feature I can think of that I might actually care to use from time to time. And even then, it would be when waiting for a few moments before some on-the-road meeting or especially for directions. I don’t see myself using the mobile internet from a tiny form factor all that much. What’s the purpose? Maybe for a few seconds here or there, but if I’m going through the virtual nytimes in the morning, I’m not going to be reading for 45 minutes on the iPhone, I guarantee…
So there it is. I want one, but I’m 90% sure I won’t get one. And if I do, it’ll be because it’s a piece of art, not because I’ll use it all that much.
</confession>
An OS is not a person, Chop Chop.
“If I take your clothing off, skin you alive and gut you clean. Are you still you?”
Your hyperbole went too far. It’s more like just removing lots and lots of clothes. It would still be you and it’s still OS X. Without getting too metaphysical, you skinned and gutted wouldn’t be someone else either.
@San Niklos
I’m have the exact same feelings. I’ve been on Mac’s since 1988 and love the products, but, do I need all features? No, I need a phone. I’ve got a iPod for music, a MPB for internet and email.
But, for the trolls that say the iPhone is too much money; listen up! Checking Cell Hut unlocked AT&T compatable cell phones I found the following:
Nokia N73 sale price $459.98 (silver)
Palm 680 ” ” $439.98
Nokia E61l ” ” $529.98
Nokia N73 ” ” $498.98 Black Music
I-Mate Jamin ” $599.98
Nokia N95 ” ” $764.98 MULTIMEDIA GPS PHONE UNLOCKED SILVER
Nuff Said!
Crabapple, Maczealot was making a joke.
“If I take your clothing off, skin you alive and gut you clean. Are you still you?”
My fingerprints would say, yup, it’s me. If you slice off my fingers, my dental records would be a giveaway. Go beyond that, and DNA testing could still prove it’s me conclusively.
It’s just that I wouldn’t be very fun at parties anymore (not that I ever was, but blood can really be a buzzkill).
This is the biggest trojan horse ever. Very smart move from Apple. Sell millions of cell phones with the OS X UI and watch as people come by thousands to replicate that experience getting a Mac. Very smart indeed.
Now, give developers a SDK at WWDC and suddenly you transform the iPhone into a platform, but one that replicates the OS X experience.
Those shares are going up to US$ 200 pretty soon…
Ah, but what is it about us that makes us truly individual?
Is a mystery, non?
“Does the current version of the iphone support the up coming 3g network so it’s a simple upgrade or will early adopters be screwed?”
They won’t be screwed. They’ll get the EDGE capability they paid for.
Yeah, that was a given.
@ Descartes
Maybe we’re all unfeeling automata, just like the animals you used to torture.
“It’s just that I wouldn’t be very fun at parties anymore”
Unless you like to party with Norwegian death-matal bands like I do. ;P