“Sun Microsystems Inc and Samsung Electronics Co are jointly developing a mobile phone to challenge Apple Inc’s iPhone, a South Korean newspaper reported yesterday, quoting Sun chairman Scott McNealy,” The Associated Press reports.
“McNealy said on Tuesday in Seoul that the companies were working on a “Java phone” that would surpass Apple’s iPhone in functionality and cost less, the mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo reported,” AP reports.
“Spokespersons for Sun in South Korea and the US could not immediately be reached for comment,” AP reports. “Samsung spokeswoman Lee Soo-jeong in Seoul said ‘no decision has been made regarding co-development of the Java phone.’ She said that a meeting has taken place between the two sides “to introduce the idea” but would not elaborate on its timing or any details.”
Full article here.
Good luck with that guys — don’t forget to peruse Apple’s granted and pending iPhone-related patents while you develop your “killer.”
If you believe the dorks on Gizmodo and Engadget, Samsung already has an “iPhone Killer™” in the F700. Guess that’s not going so well after all…
He he
People can very well cope without the multi touch, but with the right apps.
Set the iPhone free!!!
MDN –Sun has patents on touch remember two years ago before the iphone was announced that Sun live on a stage demoed a touch technology. Sun’s OS are as good or better then apples, apple actually license many of Sun’s OS elements.
I’m so scared!
What would Sun be supplying to this joint venture? Certainly not that horrible suckfest Solalris. Scott McNealy needs to retire.
hahahaha…. sorry for misspelling Solaris…
I remember when Sun was hot.
Sadly, their fusion petered.
“that would surpass Apple’s iPhone in functionality”
thats just it, functionality isnt everything, and thats why it wont be an iphone killer.
lots of functions that noone can use.
There is absolutely NOTHING like free advertising for one’s product. Every time one of these “inspired” companies announces something like an “iPod Killer” or “iPhone Killer,” it’s money in the bank for Apple.
Keep going, guys. Without OS X and the vaunted “economy of scale” that Apple enjoys, there’s just no way you can produce a device as sophisticated and economical as the iProduct line. No way.
But it’s fun to watch you try!
Hmm. Nowhere in the original article is iPhone killer even mentioned. More of MDN’s National Enquirer-style sensationalism?
Marketing 101 Playbook:
When you don’t have something to launch yet, stall sales of the competition by pre-announcing.
Reality:
No one gives a patooty Scott what you’ve got
A. By the time it arrives to market Apple will have an iPhone nano to contend with, and your product will look like an out-of-date Zune attempt.
B. It won’t connect to iTunes, where over 125 million store, manage and acquire more conent (soon to be 150 million…).
C. You don’t have anything but carriers or your own lame non-consumer friendly advertising agencies to work with – good luck with all that.
D. Lastly, you are just using Apple’s iPhone name in an attempt to ride the PR wave and get some free play for a me-too device – whenever it might show up.
If Sun and Samsung develop something that is “better” than the iPhone, Apple will just leapfrog it.
Everyone is talking. No one has delivered. I love how they say it will be an iPhone “killer” before they have a product. Shut up and get to work! Let us know when you have the “killer” instead of talking about it. No “me too” product is going to kill the iPhone or the iPod or iTunes for that matter. They call it a “killer” to get publicity plain and simple.
“surpass Apple’s iPhone in functionality”
If this is their goal, they’ve already failed. I’m amazed how many people just don’t get it.
They all can come out with a copy of the iPhone, but one thing they can’t copy is the cool factor “Apple”
All of these companies just don’t get it. People are not clamoring for a phone that jam packs every feature you can think of into a small package. They are looking for something that works well and is easy to use. My 4 year old cell phone does most of what the iPhone does (except movies), but I NEVER use any of the scheduling or calendaring features because the UI is HORRIBLE! This is the difference that Apple brings to the table. They make those features accessible, easy to use, and fun. No other phone does that…none. The iPhone is a pleasure to use, and its fun! Every other cell phone I have owned was awful and a pain in the ass the use. Until they nail down the user interface and user experience NOTHING will kill the iPhone. Thankfully for Apple, no other company seems to know how to do that.
TrevX
@Jake
“apple actually license many of Sun’s OS elements.”
So what. — Solaris is itself a variant of BSD with a lot of AT&T;Unix SVR4 thrown in for good measure. My 16 year old daughter could care less about any of that. She likes the iPhone because it is “the coolest thing ever”.
I’ll hold my AAPL stock. SUNW hasn’t done anything cool in years.
Isn’t every new device an iPhone killer?
Why the hell is this news? Should not everyone try and compete with the leader? Is that not competition?
I welcome it – sincerely. When the competition is hot that means I get better products at better prices.
no competition is not good for anyone.
However, Apple marches to the beat of their own drum and don’t seem to need the comp to innovate and improve. The competition does help bring the price down though.
A Java bases phone…..i find that hard to believe..seems like a huge step back.
why do they have to keep making a “killer”?
I just don’t get it.
All they will ever do is copy half-ass.
What? Samsung aren’t teaming up with Microsoft?!
“why do they have to keep making a ‘killer’?”
Because a “maimer” just pisses them off. Finish the job or go home.
P.S. “All they will ever do is copy half-ass”
I disagree. They’re all ass.
“MDN –Sun has patents on touch remember two years ago before the iphone was announced”
Apple didn’t develop the iPhone the day before they announced it.
Three years dude. Amazing to me how people can’t seem to understand product development lead cycles.
Look at Project Looking Glass,
Apple has never done truely ground-breaking stuff. What Apple has always done was take a good idea and refine it.
If it bleeds…we can kill it…..
@ justified
The article does say “that would surpass Apple’s iPhone”
Close enough for me.
Sun’s sole contribution will be to supply the Java Runtime Environment… whose sole contribution will be to update itself 3 times a day and make the cursor spin interminably at all other times.
They’ll call it the WaitPhone. It’ll be cool… really!!
Good Luck, Sunsung! Or is it Swansong? Never mind.
Difference between Steve and Scott is Scott shoots his mouth of and Steve keeps mum. Which has proven to be the best policy?
Java is dead.
MDN – You are as bad Dvorak, getting all the Apple fanboys fired up to increase the hits on this site.
My 7100i crackberry is java-based and it is dog slow! Scrolling around on the tiny web pages is so painful.
The stupid Nextel network gives me 56k dialup speeds downloading web pages, google maps data, whatever. I’d love to have the “slow” speeds that AT&T;’s EDGE gives the iPhone.
I can’t imagine trying to use a JAVA based phone. Why not drive around and find an old pay phone – it would be faster.
10 to 1 this phone never sees the light of day, at least not with Sun involved.
macPinche & hagar 57:
Both very funny. Thanks guys.
Steve called Java a “ball and chain”…certainly he has done the research. Is this announcement
what has tanked Apple and Blackberry stock today??…can’t seem to figure it out.
I for one hope that Sun and Samsung get is right and build a successful phone. Apple could use some real competition. Competition is what drives innovation.
Sun is a pretty cool company with an innovative history, and in my opinion, Samsung produces many high quality products. I can’t wait to see what they come up with. If it’s less than $300, I’ll buy one.
whatever happened to the javaphone that was announced last year?
“I’ll hold my AAPL stock. SUNW hasn’t done anything cool in years.”
@ totalMac
Whatever. Ever heard of ZFS? Ever heard of Looking Glass? I see a lot of more Sun servers out there than Apple servers.
You’ve got to love it….iPhone killer, iPod killer, iMac killer.. Doesn’t it feel great to be at the top?
GO Apple GO
Seriously good luck to them but if they are aiming to be better than the present iphone in one to two years time they will need all that luck and more I’m afraid as they have no idea what the target will actually be by then. To be honest the track record of java ‘anything’ hardly fills me with fear and sadly there are far more likely ‘java killers’ out there than iphone killers.
Whether this actually gets off the ground or not however the one thing it does show is Samsung’s total disolution with microsoft’s chances of developing the means to kill it.
FTA:
“McNealy said on Tuesday in Seoul that the companies were working on a “Java phone” that would surpass Apple’s iPhone in functionality and cost less, the mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo reported,” AP reports.
Gasp! Amazing, isn’t it? “Functionality,” yeah, that’s the ticket – NOT! These bozos are blind to the fact that usability and the user experience are the reason Apple is succeeding in one market after another. It is wonderful to have such stupid competitors. What is it in the making of corporate executives that makes them so blind to the obvious?
If this is real,
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/apple-touchscreen-phone-circa-1983
Apple shall prevail in any lawsuit I would imagine.
And if patents were done etc.
Whatever, very nice Apple.
Funny how it’s gonna take TWO companies to merge on an idea and development to ‘kill’ the iPhone.
http://pbzone.com/2007/05/28/iphone-touch-screen-like-nothing-youve-ever-used/
So quite possibly the gPhone is the iPhone?
gPhone was to be a Google Phone.
Samsung provides a lot to Apple. Hmmmmm is this legal?
iPhone.
So far it takes 3 companies to have Apples Phone do wonders.
Google, AT&T;, Apple.
Who else is involved with this iPhone Plan.
Once discovered things will rocket again.
KILL ALL THE FUTURE IPHONE CONSUMERS…
IT’S A LOT EASIER!!!!
Competition is good… Bring it on so we consumers can benefit.
@Jeff
Your argument is totally out of context. One could just as easily say there are a lot more Apple desktops than Sun desktops. But, its not germane to Jake’s point about cross-licensing technology.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate ZFS and Looking Glass too. However, Sun has not yet been able to leverage them for better market share.
JAVA Market Cap = $21,000,564,900
AAPL Market Cap = $141,081,859,430
Competition is good. Apple could use some.
The problem with most of the competition out there is they don’t get it. They’re looking at their product development the wrong way. So many companies want to create an iProduct killer. Making this the focus dooms them to failure. Instead of focusing on beating someone, focus on creating a truly useful product. Figure what real people really want, put it in a package people will really use, and stand behind it. This is how a company can successfully compete with the likes of Apple.
More power to anyone who can duplicate the functionality of the iPhone. The pity is that it took Apple to show the way.
The cell companies and phone companies have been so enamored with their own smoke they for get that their customers have brains. So when consumer’s vote with their wallet’s everyone is shocked!
If this gets them moving, that’s great! Maybe they won’t end up like Detroit automakers if they put some real effort into a product…
Here we go again.
Anyone remember the iPod?
remember folks…Sun is not the enemy, they are not a monopoly, they are merely trying to compete fairly, like Apple is, good for them…Microsoft is the abusive monopoly bullying others, trying to force feed their “standards” and products and DRM and license fees upon everyone everywhere.
Interesting how Sun emphasizes “functionality”. There are already several other quite functional, if not more functional, cell phones than the iPhone but it is orders of magnitude better than any of them in terms of usability and design–both very important facets of a product that most companies don’t seem to understand.
1500BC – “Let my people go!”
1215 – The king is not above the law.
1776 – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”
1885 – “Suffrage is the pivotal right.”
1963 – “I have a dream…”
1987 – “Tear down this wall!”
2007 – “Set the iPhone free!!!”
Q: What do you think of Jobs?
A: He’s a great guy. I’ve been dealing with Steve a lot. I think my prior comments fit: He is all about the customer, the customer experience, making sure that what customers get meets expectations. That’s what my mesh has been.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003724582_brier28.html
It’s amazing that a product that’s only been in the market for 3 months needs to be “killed.”
> that would surpass Apple’s iPhone in functionality and cost less
As proven by the iPod over many years, it’s not about how many functions it has or about cost; it’s about elegance and usability. Unfortunately for Apple’s competition, when it comes to iPhone, Apple has the competition beat in every way, including pure functionality and cost.
The iPhone’s success is because Apple spent a great deal of time and energy finding out what a cell phone customer wants and needs with their device and then tried to meet that expectation. It’s as simple as that.
If Samsung and Sun Microsystems can do the same at meeting their customers expectations, then there’s enough room in the marketplace for their device and the iPhone. Remember, Steve Jobs said that he’s only going after 1% of the mobile phone market.
“Spokespersons for Sun in South Korea and the US report that they have fastened a bottle opener to a colour copy of Monet’s ‘Garden Path’. With this increased functionality and projected lower price than Monet’s original painting, Sun is planning on selling a ‘Monet Killer’ later this year.” AP reports.
Claude Monet could not be reached for comment.