“Apple’s new iPhone promises to be 4.7 ounces of awesome,” Brian Caulfield writes for Forbes.
“It will do everything the iPhone does well–surfing the Web, serving up music and movies, and letting you flick through your voicemail messages with a fingertip–only faster and cheaper,” Caulfield writes.
“Yet imperfections still lurk, in spite of Chairman Steve Jobs’ maniacal attention to detail,” Caulfield writes. “Even before its release, there are some niggling issues–some minor, others major–that make the iPhone a mere gadget, just like any other.”
Caulfield’s “Seven iPhone Disappointments” are:
1. Cost. The iPhone (starting at $199) “will cost $160 more over two years than the original iPhone because AT&T put together a pricier data plan for the phone to help it subsidize the up-front cost of the handset.”
MacDailyNews Take: A very minor “disappointment.” Where’s the Forbes article that explains why cheapo Windows PCs actually cost more than Macs in the long run once you figure in antivirus subscriptions, lost time attempting to fix problems, etc.? The lack of such a valuable Forbes article is more disappointing that the fact that Apple has priced the iPhone to appeal to the short-attention-span/instant-gratification mentality that’s so prevalent today. Newsflash for Joe and Jane Six-Pack: “No Payments ‘Till 2012!” still means you have to pay – and more than you would have vs. simply paying full price upfront. It’s only disappointing that Apple has to cater to short-term thinkers. That’s why the iPhone is so “cheap” upfront, but really costs about the same as it always has (really a little bit more because it is 3G capable, after all).
[UPDATE: 7:30pm EDT: In response to Julio Ojeda-Zapata below: People to whom $6.67/mo. matters at all certainly shouldn’t be buying an iPhone.]
2. No Flash.
MacDailyNews Take: As iPhone users from day one, we first thought Caulfield meant flash, as in: brief bright light — for the iPhones’ camera. That ought to tell you exactly how disappointed we are that Apple has spared iPhone the battery draining, bloated Adobe Flash “experience.” We’d rather have a flash for the iPhone’s camera, than Flash for the iPhone.
3. No Replaceable Batteries.
MacDailyNews Take: This one’s been around since the debut of the iPod. It’s almost as bad as the “nobody wants all-in-one computers because the monitor can’t be easily replaced” blather. The market has already proven that replaceable batteries are not a disappointment; at least not enough of one to curtail sales. If replaceable batteries really mattered, Apple would have changed to them in iPod long ago, not started making notebooks with them (MacBook Air). Caulfield writes, “Hardcore road warriors don’t have time to stop and recharge their phones. Instead they carry their batteries with them…” Just Google “external battery for iPhone” and you’ll find Caulfield’s “disappointment” is without merit at least 50 times over. The minority who need external batteries are free to purchase them. Apple’s right not to build them into devices, raising the cost and increasing the thickness for everyone else.
4. Video Recording.
MacDailyNews Take: This one would’ve been Caulfield’s best one yet — If third-party developers hadn’t already enabled video recording for Apple iPhone last year:
Direct link via YouTube here.
5. No Cut-And-Paste.
MacDailyNews Take: This one actually is a disappointment, although we don’t think that’s going to last much longer. It’s already been and being tackled by third-party developers (here’s an example) and we hear that Apple’s working on the official cut/copy/paste, too, for release in an upcoming iPhone software update. At the very least, Apple, can we have Keychain for iPhone?
6. No Multimedia Messaging Service.
MacDailyNews Take: Caulfield’s really getting warmed up now. With this one, we completely agree. Turn on MMS, Apple. We’re tired of crap phone owners sending us images that require us to memorize obscure usernames and passwords (no official cut and paste, yet), navigate to some website and type them in to see their crap phone photo(s). Just enable MMS already, Apple! In the meantime, crap phone owners, just email us the photos instead, okay? Thanks.
7. No Voice Dialing.
MacDailyNews Take: Coming soon! See: Stop tapping and start talking: Nuance unveils speech recognition prototype for Apple iPhone – June 10, 2008.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Eric” for the heads up.]
@ Joe
Oz is Australia. Sorry, should have said panties. Panties, knickers, they’re all the same to me.
Wad is an Australian colloquiallism for…
Well, actually, I’d rather not say…
my biggest disappoint is the plan price increase. i was all set to move in aug — i have $35 sprint plan ($50. with data, i don’t have data now). i was liking the idea of buying the phone and paying $59. now i’m out.
fell sorry for me,… c1?
Who needs copy and paste? I mean if you get an email with the word “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” in it. We Mac users should be smart enough to retype it on our notes from memory!!!
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Hey bizlaw I don’t know when you were with Verizon but with phones that use CDMA you can just use a program called bitpim to sync your pics to your pc or use a data card or send them to yourself in a pic message or e-mail them to yourself. Software with Verizon is by no means a necessity.
All I know is ATT’s signal is horrible in our home in Al and when I went to Ohio my Aunt and Uncle who had ATT had no signal and couldn’t use their phones while I and my family enjoyed plenty of signal. True it will be different everywhere you go, but with Verizon’s signal being so much better and the phones not making speakers buzz like the evil GSM network. I’m sticking with Verizon until Steve Jobs gets smart.
I agree with everything on the list except cost and the replaceable battery issue. What made everyone think that the cost would remain the same when 3G capabilities were added to the iPhone?Does broadband cost the same as dial-up? No! That goes the same for Edge and 3G. The 3G data service is faster therefore its going to cost more. $30 is the same price for 3G on many other AT&T;phones. For many other phones you have to pay an additional monthly fee for GPS service. That’s included in “unlimited data” on the iPhone. If an additional $160 payed over a two year period (or $6.67 a month) is too much extra to pay, then you shouldn’t be buying yourself an iPhone in the first place.
By the way, replaceable batteries are never going to happen unless Apple finds a way to include one without it fattening the iPhone or ruining its external design.
Steve Jobs epitomizes why CEO’s deserve big salaries.
@Kase:
Verizon has been notorious for ‘crippling’ their phones features, and using them as YA leverage point on your wallet. The basic reason why freeware software like ‘bitpim’ exists is because the cellphone companies themselves weren’t interested in providing that to their customers.
And insofar as GSM’s “evil buzz”, well Verizon ‘s CDMA simply does not work in some places outside of the USA … for example, all of Europe. Thus, if you want to take a vacation someplace other than Cancun Mexico (or some other Caribbean spots) and you want a phone, you’re going to have to rent/buy a second one in order to get something that runs on GSM. Verizon used to sell a ‘world phone’, but when I looked into it a few years ago, it was cheaper (and lighter, etc) for me to carry a 2nd phone than their horrible brick.
-hh
Brian Caulfield really hit this nail on the head.
With the exception of saying that 3G service is going to cost more than EDGE, he didn’t mention anything at all that’s less than a year old news.
As a blogger who routinely fills a page with useless crap for free, I find it annoying to read drivel masquerading as analysis from respected news sources.
Mr. MobileMe said:
“Its only in America that consumers want phones at such low prices forcing carriers to make the money back over the life of the plan. In Europe its completely different. People pay $400+ for a phone up front and spend much less over the life of their plan.”
Well, chalk me up as an American who hates subsidies of all kinds (phones, oil companies, airlines, farmers, light rail, etc.) I was expressing my loathing of HAVING to buy a subsidized phone with a contract to the various cell phone reps well before the iPhone came out. I’m not disputing your over-all claim, but not everybody in America is as short-sighted as you are painting.
I read an article the other day where the author made it clear why replaceable batteries were so important for Windows Mobile users. Apparently it is possible to so completely lock up a Windows device that the only way to restore it, is to remove the battery.
Luckily for us, Apple put in a ‘real’ shutdown/restart hardware button so we don’t need to remove the battery in order to restart the iPhone.
But I would like Cut/Copy/Paste
OK, people who are “feature” obsessed are just not thinking right.
If Apple could put in a foo feature but it would drain battery or simply not live up to the level of quality of the rest of the phone’s user experience what should they do?
Just add it because a crappy foo is better than no foo at all?
No, if Apple can’t put in a foo feature that is not up to the standards of the rest of the user experience the only thing they can do is to leave it out until they come up with a better implementation.
That is the difference between anything from Apple and almost all other consumer products.
Even something as obvious as cut and paste. Why be “disappointed” that it wasn’t in there? Obviously Apple understands the importance of cut and paste (since they practically invented it), but they also understand how something as “simple” as cut and paste will affect the entire user experience and so until you get it right… please Apple, leave it out!!
Don’t you ever stop with the Microsoft derangement syndrome? WTF does cheap PCs have to do with a Forbes article about the iPhone? Reading this is like watching mold grow
8. No printing.
How else will one get their airline boarding passes from their iPhone to the hands of the boarding agent?
From what I understand–and I may be wrong–AT&T;will be keeping the “old” iPhone plan. So you can get the old plan on the new phone. Sure, you won’t get 3G speeds, but you’ll probably end up with much better battery life.
The FLASH (Both camera & safari), Video Recording, CUT & Paste, MMS, Battery are ALL LEGITIMATE ISSUES.
Its embarrassing when people inquire about how great the iPhone is and you have to tell them oh, by the way, it can’t do Video Recording or MMS, No the Camera doesn’t have a flash like your blackberry – here stand under the light … oh yea, and that web page won’t load properly b/c the browser doesn’t have the flash plugin.
Then its like … and oh yea, I can’t forward you that SMS text b/c the phone doesn’t do SMS forwarding and it doesn’t have cut and paste… I’ll ask my buddy with the PALM Treo to forward you the SMS text and the MMS message…
It like asking a Hyundai Sante driver to tow my Hummer out of a ditch…. A VERY EMBARRASSING Experience for an iPhone owner!
With the excellent SDK, I expect all the missing features to be suplied via software very soon after release.
15 years of cellphones, laptops and PDAs and never, not once, have I come across anyone who ever carried a spare battery for anything. And I did laptop tech support for the military at one time and currently work for a company that has about 60 cellphones on the go. Again, no one now and no one I have ever met has carried an extra battery for anything.
The “user replaceable battery” complaint is retarded baseless whining. Anyone who thinks this is an issue for anymore than about 8 people is an idiot.
Even if the Iphone had a feature to cure cancer, critics will complain about the product since it may not have a feature to stop Global warming.