“Apple has elevated the iPhone brand again and forestalled rivals’ ability to claim parity,” Larry Dignan writes for SeekingAlpha.
MacDailyNews Take: That’s okay, they’ll just continue to run some more insipid Droid TV commercials with meaningless verbiagedesigned to confuse testosterone overdosed ignoramuses. Seriously, watch this absolute stupidity.
Dignan continues, “Now it wasn’t like the iPhone was becoming a commodity device, but you could see some parity on the horizon… Enter Apple CEO Steve Jobs who was having none of that talk… Jobs had many subtle references that indicated that the iPhone was a Mercedes or BMW and the other rivals had more common sedans.”
“Sure, there are plenty of tech specs to ponder, but Apple is selling a different vibe and a higher calling,” Dignan writes. “Now you can debate forever whether you buy into the Apple zeitgeist, but Jobs accomplished what he had to. Apple is about threading that liberal arts and technology needle and the company just put a little more distance between the big pack trying to hunt down the iPhone.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Mimicking parrots can’t hunt down the king of the jungle; especially one with a five year head start.
@ Funky Chicken
Maybe Apple is taking extra time to edit the parts where the WiFi was not cooperating…
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That’s exactly what they’re doing. It’s a good idea, too. The video will be around for posterity, while peoples’ attitudes and quips will fade. They should present it well. It’s not about the Keynote speech so much as the product.
http://i.engadget.com/2010/06/07/iphone-4-vs-the-smartphone-elite-evo-4g-n8-pre-plus-and-hd2/
@funky chicken .. my thoughts exactly
@jerry t .. the iphone 4’s sex appeal made my 3gs look like a toy today. the 3gs also looked way to much like the original iphone.. it was dated in design, so people were starting to look for “better features”, specially the nerds that “like” android. i’m sure more than 1 evo customer thought they made a mistake by rushing to sprint.
Video chat iPhone to iChat on iMac would be a really cool feature.
@ken1w: Dang, I hadn’t thought of the need to keep the iPod Touch’s cost down. So, three possibilities:
1) iPT uses cheaper case to keep cost down.
2) iPT uses new glass case and price goes up.
3) iPT uses new glass case and Apple keeps the price the same, knowing they’re making boatloads of dough on the iPhone.
Yes, #3 is wishful thinking. But a guy can dream, can’t he?
Here’s something I thought about recently: Apple actually books about $600 in revenue for each iPhone sold (most of it is subsidy from AT&T;). So Apple gets more revenue from an iPhone than from the cheapest iPad. That huge subsidy tells you something about how badly AT&T;wants the iPhone.
The new iPhone is very cool. I’ve been impressed with the last two iPhone updates, but this is the best update. Great design. I personally love the glass on both sides.
You know, it took me a little while to come around to the iPad… which I eventually did. This looks like a home run right of the bat.
@Funky Chicken
With the technical problems they had today, they may be doing some editing before it goes out. Usually, it’s just a transcode with a snip at the front and back.
“Jobs had many subtle references that indicated that the iPhone was a Mercedes or BMW and the other rivals had more common sedans.”
The author obviously hasn’t been to Europe, where they are Taxis. The Leica reference is more like it.
The only iPhone 4 killer is iPhone 5!
Am I the only one who has had the thought cross his mind that you could actually use it as an air hockey puck, what with that flat glass back and stainless steel bumper and all…I mean skate to the puck, right??
Jus’ sayin’
God bless the guy who yelled ‘Verizon’ when El Jobso asked for any suggestions…
Let’s face it… it’s the one feature that both consumers & wall street want in the iPhone! Apple’s stock dropped after the iPhone announcement b/c Wall St was expecting a Verizon announcement which would have been huge…
Even El Jobso’s reaction to the guy who yelled ‘Verizon’ was said almost as an ‘I know, I know’
Wired less Test Man
Apple’s stock did not drop because of the iPhone wasn’t announced for VZ. Nasdaq was down 45.27 and Google down 13.20. About the only one of my stocks that did anything was General Mills: we all have to eat!
What separates facetime on iPhone 4 and evo is the $4.99 a month you have to pay sprint to use it.
@ @jerryt,
First, you don’t have to pay $4.99 to use it. You pay $4.99 if you want the extra features like server storage archiving space to save your recordings, higher than standard resolution recordings, snap and save still photos “while” taking video, video mail service, and group access to the live video stream.
But the basic video chat phone to phone, live web streaming, live sharing to social networks etc. is free…
Plus, even if it did cost $4.99, Sprint would still be about $30 less than AT&T;for unlimited data usage, including visual voicemail and GPS navigation.
So again, if you are already an iPhone user, AT&T;customer or don’t mind switching to AT&T;this is a great upgrade. But if you wouldn’t go to AT&T;for previous models this one isn’t going to tempt you. It’s not that far ahead of what your favorite carrier has.
If this came to my carrier of choice would I get it? In…a…heartbeat. But I wouldn’t switch to a shitty carrier to get it. In my area, my iPhone friends can’t carry on a 5 minute conversation without at “least” one drop…
How are the other phones providers going to do now? Apple seems having such a leap forward…
@JerryT
Is video calling the only new feature on iPhone 4? No? Well, then how is the EVO “awfully close to parity” ?
Nothing groundbreaking? How about 326 pixel density? That sounds pretty new on any device let alone a smartphone.
Video calls on phones are nothing new, we’ve had that ability here in the UK for years. The trouble is video calls over 3G were rubbish. Pic and sound out of sync and the picture was blocky if there was any movement. Needless to say, video calls never really caught on.
Over Wi-Fi however, there should be no sync issues because the Face Time is using h.264 codec, so video calls should be really good.
Otherwise, it is still an impressive offering.
As for competitors, there are none who offer the same or similar iTunes ease of integration and content. Until there is a unified OS between competing devices and an iTunes like ecosystem for the unified OS, everyone else will always be playing catch up. That’s what the so called competitors don’t get.
1) I can’t believe people see the 4.3″ display on those droid phones as a selling point. A big fat phone screams “GEEK” from a mile away; it’s today’s equivalent of the pocket protector.
2) Methinks Apple just cannibalized a bunch of iPad sales. Instead of an iPhone for me and an iPad for my wife, we will probably get two new phones.
3) No one has mentioned AT&T;’s “generous offer” and its implications. By moving up a lot of contract expiration dates, AT&T;will generate a lot of contracts that expire two years from now, EXACTLY when the 5 year exclusivity deal runs out. So either the exclusivity arrangement has changed, Apple and AT&T;have something else up their sleeve, or AT&T;is just stupid and/or desperate. Which is more likely? This would make a lot of sense if a Verizon phone was coming later this year – lock all the fanboys into 2 year AT&T;contracts just before dropping the VZE bomb, but I don’t see any other signs a Verizon phone is coming.
Careful with those metaphors, the parrot is in fact considerably smarter than the Lion by all accounts which tends to suggest that brain size isn’t everything. Probably best if you are going to choose a bird to signify a looser, stick with the sea gull, now they, though extremely varied are all equally dumb.
@spyinthesky
“looser”, isn’t that spelled ‘loser’?!
Unless you meant ‘looser’ as a comparative form of loose, more loose, not taut, etc…
Really should proofread, especially talking about a post regarding dumb birds.
@Now, Now…: “looser” is a l33tspeak corruption.
@lukeskymac ,
No, video calling is not the only new feature. But it is the most discussed.
Other new features like multitasking, HD video recording, HDMI output, front and rear cameras, faster newer processors, high res camera with flash and etc. are all on the EVO too. Hence my “awfully close to parity” comment.
Not to mention that the EVO carrier plan is $30 per month less than iPhone, and that it’s 3G coverage is greater than AT&T;’s, and that the mentioned plan includes unlimited data, visual voicemail, mms and free GPS navigation plus the phone can be a mobile hotspot for up to 8 devices. The EVO is also 4G network ready. And I happen to live in a very strong 4G area.
So to me, there is nothing that would compel one to switch to AT&T;if one was not already prepared to do so. Not even voice and data at the same time. Where I live, my iPhone mates can barely do voice alone for more than 5 minutes at a time, let alone voice and data.
Now the Retina display is a great update. EVO doesn’t have this. It does have a nice display, but not that nice.
I doubt IPTs at current prices will include retina screen.
Camera yes. 960 x 640, no, unless a premium model is introduced.