The iPhone reality distortion field
I was much more excited about the iPhone yesterday than I am today. Why? Cause reality is setting in. This thing is not as good as it seems. Paul Kedrosky has the details. He forgot a few things (he lists five):
6) Battery is only two hours up to five hours and is not replaceable (if you play video). UPDATE: sorry for getting that wrong, but tons of people, including some Mac journalists told me it’d only get two hours in video playback mode. Watch a video and your battery is dead. Now your cell phone is dead too. So, you won’t want to watch a video on a plane flight with this thing like you would with your iPod.
7) It’s Cingular only and GSM. That automatically keeps more than half of Americans from considering this and for the rest of the world? They are laughing about the iPhone now.
8) The camera sucks. It’s a 2megapixel device without flash, without zoom. Nokia’s newest cameras blow this one away.
9) No GPS. For a $600 device that really, really, really sucks.
More later. In the BlogHaus last night there were a few “pro Apple folks” who were REALLY disappointed with this. They also pointed out that if you need to text, or email, or blog from your phone that using a touch screen will be very unsatisfactory compared with a Blackberry or a Treo.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:33 am
iPhone looks very promising however I find it strange that people are raving about its input interface without ever using it. I believe the single most important feature of a phone is its input interface and thats one of the main reasons the likes of Nokia, RIM are so good. I seriously don’t like the idea of using your finger to control navigation. This is not something very new. Anyone who used a stylus most often then not have used their hands when their stylus has gone missing. Its impossibly hard to click the correct button for those with large fingers. Apple has claimed its so smart that it can detect false touches, however that remains to be seen since no one outside Apple has got to use it. If this input interface doesn’t work then I surely think this will severly affect the uptake of the new phone which looks good in rest of the features.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:36 am
The battery is definitely a big issue, and a massive problem. Until batteries improve, I don’t think we’re going to see the mainstrea using cellfones to watch video.
Although the phone is locked to Cingular and GSM, this isn’t a massive problem. Unlocking phones isn’t hard, and I don’t think the iPhone will be any different. Being a GSM device, it’ll work in Europe too which has a huge celluar phone market. Won’t work in Japan though, but they’re already doing way cooler stuff.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:42 am
After living in Japan and using no more than 10 different mobile phones while there, there is no doubt in my mind that the flip phone/clam style phones are the best choice (IMHO). For me there is nothing worse than carrying a big chuck of phone in you pocket.
I hope Apple will come out with a iPod Nano phone or something more sensible…
January 10th, 2007 at 11:49 am
[...] have noticed some major downfalls with the iPhone, like http://scobleizer.com/2007/01/10/the-iphone-reality-distortion-field/. The low battery life makes no sense, the whole point of a cell phone is so you can use it to make [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Apple endevor to anything new is usually full of hype then disapointment. I own a Ipod and it does great things for me, however the main reason I got it was to watch and listen during long flights. My battery life is 1 hour after 6 months of use. The service to get it fix is taking it’s time.
These new gadets from Apple are great in concept but short on functions.
By that I mean, we (as a collective group of geeks) are used to a certain level of functionality, anytime a new gadget promises more but takes away from the basics is actually going backwards.
Guy
January 10th, 2007 at 11:55 am
This device is widescreen, but it’s obviously not designed well fo video.
2hr battery + 4GB storage = great for low quality mp3s
I guess it’s better than the ROKR.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Oh and theres six months to the launch - Where will the market be in June 07?
(It’s not so much the iPhone. Give Jobs a tea cup and he can talk it up such that you want to marry it :-))
January 10th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
And yet they will still probably move 10m units. It’s like the iPod: No FM radio! It sucks! I can’t live without my FM radio feature! CREATIVE already makes three players just like this and THEY have FM radio!
Apple is betting that GPS doesn’t matter. Battery life doesn’t matter. GSM doesn’t matter. User Interface matters. Seriously, how many people go out and spend their own money on a smartphone or a Blackberry?
January 10th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Hey dudes, some times the oldfashioned guys in ole europe have all the fun with the chicks :-)
http://www.myqtek.com/europe/products/s200.aspx
and to make you much more envy - enjoy the specifications
http://www.myqtek.com/europe/products/s200/specifications.aspx
Want to type fast (eg Dave’s mobile blog) - a foldable Bluetooth Keyboard might be usefull
http://global.level1.com/products2.php?Id=796
works with all SIMs even prepaid cards
January 10th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Speaking of distortion field, have you noticed that Channel 9 is linked over at techmeme in the discussion about how Vista is screwing game developers?
See the actual link : it’s a post with one comment.
Hmmm…
Whatever (techmeme) sponsorship buys you.
Shame on Gabe on that one.
And shame on the Redmond lunatics, obviously.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Well, Apple has time to change and enhance their iPhone, perhaps to churn out half a dozen varieties like they did the iPod and Macs. But I tend to agree that chances are good the product will flop. On the other hand, the design will influence the market for years to come.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Stephane: Gabe needs to pay his rent. You got a good way for him to do that?
January 10th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
For some post-revolution perspective, check out this thread at MacRumors that started right after the initial iPod launch (found via xckd).
I’ve had the same phone since 2003. It’s a piece of s**t. Black and white (err, green and black), no camera, can’t send text messages, can’t really do anything. I’ve been checking out new phones lately. I want something with a basic camera. I want messaging. I want to be able to check bloglines and my email from it. I’d like to be able to write blog posts and email pics from it. I wanted to get it soon, but I’ll tell you what:
I’m willing to wait until the summer to see how this thing stacks up now. My only big hesitation is that if I get the 1st gen one, a better one will be out in 6 months.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I’m curious where you got this:
The iPhone specs indicate something completely different:
Granted that may not be the best battery life around, but it way above your two hours number.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Actually, the fact that it’s GSM means that if you have accessibility to the sim card, then you can change it out for any other carrier. Being such, that means that it does support most of Europe since Ericsson is actually the biggest infrastructure builder in the world and happens to be a GSM vendor.
The biggest issue will be Asia where there’s smaller GSM carriers, but mainly they’re CDMA/SCDMA.
North America’s biggest carrier is still Cingular so it’s not too surprising why they launched there.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
“Gabe needs to pay his rent. You got a good way for him to do that?”
I guess having an ad block has nothing to do with screwing algorithms so that sponsors are given gratuitous links. Those ad blocks don’t decrease the value of the service. But gratuitous links in the main conversations do.
Also, it will be of interest to follow whether Microsoft buys their way in the “conversation” (or lack of) for another month. That’d be ridiculous and quite telling for a company that should instead be talked about by others.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
OK, this is going to go down just like the CmdrTaco post about the original iPod: “No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.”
You have no freaking clue. The signifigance of this device goes far, far beyond battery life or whether it’s 3G or not.
Oh, and BTW you earlier claimed all the products you had predicted earlier this year were released at some point. Where is the Apple tablet Scoble?
You, just like your former employer, has little clue how to make great technology for regular everyday consumers. Oh and BTW, it looks most of Wall Street disagrees with you.
Idiot.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
You know - what really amazes me, is that even after seeing the demo of the iPhone, so many people still don’t get it.
More on my blog entry, “It’s The Gestures, Stupid” @
http://www.psynixis.com/blog/2007/01/10/iphone-analysis-its-the-gestures-stupid/
Pretty shocking. Of course, the iPhone isn’t perfect. But do you think Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft/HTC are going pick up the ball and run with it from here? I doubt it. As someone said to me today, if these guys “got it”, they’d have already done what Apple just did with the iPhone.
If Apple fixes the mistakes they’ve made with iPhone, they’re going to make one almighty dent in this market.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
What I want is the iPhone minus the phone - i.e., the next gen iPod with the full screen etc.
My phone, with it’s archaic fixed button interface, strangely enough does allow me to make phone calls and it doesn’t need to be recharged every night.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Oh and BTW, not having a blog sure hurt Apple this go round, didn’t it.
You don’t hold yourself accountable for the crap that you consistently spew. It’s lame. You continue to lose credibility.
Look at Gartenberg’s comment that it’s unfair to compare Macworld and CES! You did that very thing last year.. and oh by the way, you came on the afternoon of the very last day while people were packing up their booths.
You have zero credibility outside of Microsoft technologies. All this blog is a vehicle that companies use to reach people. You have little insight anymore now that you don’t have access to Microsoft.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
The only public information — the keynote slides — say that the device gets 5 hours of battery life playing video. If you directly contradict this Apple-provided information, shouldn’t there be, you know, proof?
January 10th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Apparently Apple required extensions to the GSM network’s services — things like the ability to show on the phone who voicemails are from are not standard. That’s why it’s locked in to Cingular, because nobody would commit to adding services unless they got a benefit in return, in this case exclusivity.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Hey Scoble, do you have anything to backup your 2 hour battery life claim? I’m thinking you must have access to a prototype or something, because the official word is 5 hours for playing video.
Also, I’m trying to track down confirmation that the iPhone will be a closed system. That just doesn’t make sense. As far as I know Apple hasn’t addressed that issue, so everything we’re hearing right now is just speculation.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
> It’s Cingular only and GSM. That automatically
> keeps more than half of Americans from considering
> this and for the rest of the world? They are
> laughing about the iPhone now
I don’t understand this comment about GSM and the rest of the world. GSM is by far and away the most predominant cell phone standard in the world, the last statistic I saw said something like over 80% of all cell phone subscribers in the world use GSM. As for America, the USA is the 4th largest single-country market of GSM subscribers, behind China, Russia and India (where GSM phones apparently outsell bicycles!).
Are you seriously suggesting that Apple should have picked one of the other cell phone technologies for their iPhone? Why on earth would they have done that?
January 10th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Mujibur@17.. what’s up with name calling? :P
January 10th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
I suspect that Apple will still manage to sell a few million of these to the “buy two of anything with an Apple logo on it” crowd, and a couple million more people will buy one as a fashion accessory. Beyond that, it becomes a bit of a harder sell…
January 10th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I’ve been having lots of IMs and emails with folks who are going through the same sense of let down and raising the same sorts of questions about iPhone gotchas.
No tactile feedback, battery life, singular, a Steve-perfect closed environment not open to third-party apps, protection for the screen, yada-yada the blogosphere is swimming in them.
But I’m still jonesing for it. Or at least I want to touch one.
The other thing to bear in mind is that with the work Steve showed yesterday, Apple has kicked open a doorway to a very rich treasure room.
The U-I work and much of the HW and SW development can apply to a whole range of devices: a real video iPod with a hard drive and a bigger battery… a tablet computer… touch-screen control panels for home automation. A really cool universal remote for your home theatre.
Work on gesture rich U-I has been going on for a long time in a lot of places. Apple may be at the head of the parade to commercialize it, regardless of how the first iPhone fares.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
I don’t understand: why Steve Jobs claims that WITHOUT TACTILE FEEDBACK typing on touch screen will be better than in phones with QWERTY keyboard? This is white lie. Number one lie of iPhone.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Paul’s list is valid, especially the part of tactile feel of the buttons. Sure my Treo 650 isn’t nearly as sexy. But sexy wears off in a few days and productivity and ease of use are what I care about long term. Smart Phones are already too complex for many people. The iPhone must do more than my current phone and be easier to use. If it only does one of those, it’s not for me regardless of price or carrier. I’ll wait to pass judgment until I can play with one. But right now it seems like Jobs told me about a lot of stuff I can do with the iPhone but I’m not sure any of it makes my life any easier. Photos and video are cool but take a backseat to phone and email/SMS.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Robert, yesterday I posted some concerns about calendar sharing with an iPhone:
http://tinyurl.com/v3h8p
Scott Mace
January 10th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
What’s going on here? Read the features list right: battery life is FIVE hours. And 8 Gigs are a lot of storage since more storage would result in a much bigger device. in europe very few are using utms so gsm is the right choice. give them a chance - it’s great device!
January 10th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Nothing beats this quote from APC.com:
“Do I want one of these? You bet! Is it one of the most technologically advanced phones on the market? Absolutely. Do we live in a perfect world? Of course not. Do I wish Apple had reconsidered a few aspects of the iPhone to make it even better? Yep.”
That pretty much sums it up. Scoble, I will make my first comment on your blog in June with my new iPhone.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Matthias, how many devices get anywhere ner the stated battery time? That is the theoretical limit and I’m sure it’s calcualted in a non real usage way, i.e. w/all radios off etc…
If it get 60% the battery life claimed, I’ll be shocked.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
The deal killer for me is the lack of a removable battery. I.e. the inability to carry a spare battery to swap in when you run down the primary battery.
If one is a heavy user of the multimedia or internet functionality of the device the option to be able to swap batteries is a requirement.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Re point (7) - Cingular only might seem like it keeps the rest of the world away - but that’s just a carrier choice.
Now if this device had been CDMA only that would truly have kept the rest of the world away. Instead of facing ‘just’ a problem of production ramp-up and carrier negotiations Apple would have also needed to design, test and ‘fit’ an entirely new radio module into the device.
Palm is perhaps the only other smartphone vendor out there to have tried it, and frankly I don’t think it’s worked out so well for them.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
The question on my mind isn’t “what did Apple get wrong?”… my question is “How do they get it so right, every time?”… I think a lot of it has to do with the Steve Jobs factor - the aggressive, “we don’t take no for an answer” attitude, that seems to be missing from the “team and consensus building” that appears more common at places like Microsoft.
I did a post the other day on this very topic… http://www.thealexblog.com/2007/01/09/iphone-vision-and-making-a-difference/
January 10th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Forest. Trees.
BTW, you totally got the battery life wrong.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I was thinking about the smudging you would make to the screen with your fingers.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
The other carries such as LG, HTC, NOKIA…do get …apple is not the only innovator..checkout the following links:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/15/the-lg-ke850-touchable-chocolate/
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/10/08/nokias-aeon-full-surface-screen-cellphone-concept/
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/benqsiemens-black-box-concept-phone-204284.php
January 10th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
No 3rd party development? That sucks hardcore (at least for me). One of my favorite things to show people when I have VS.Net running is the PocketPC/SmartPhone emulator for developing software. Nice thing about being a developer is that if I want a tool that doesn’t exist, I make one, and trust me when I say you can do some really cool things when you start thinking of little conveniences that can be thrown together in a few hours. And the more people who have that ability means that more people who don’t code can benefit from them as well (contrast with Xbox/XNA Express)
January 10th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
It’s pants - it’s just a PocketPC with a better interface and lower spec radio, though the UI and the fanboy following will likely be enough to sell quite a few. My teenage sons have had pocket pcs for 2+ years giving them a phone, music player (now with stereo bluetooth), note taker, games machine, internet access, etc all in one.
However, that just means that Microsoft should be ashamed that it’s had all this for 2+ years but but didn’t pitch to consumers (just focusing on business) - though it’s likely that price had something to do with that.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Scoble, i see your heart is still a bit on MSFT side… Overall the phone is an amazing upgrade to existing handset technologies, specially in terms of software; sometimes i wonder how phone vendors are so conservative about new features…
The battery issue is def a problem, maybe the biggest one, they could have made the battery replaceable so you can always carry a backup, or keep a separate batteries for multimedia apps.
GPS would be nice, but it would make the cell a lot bigger…
Nokia cells have good features but they are always bulky devices, It is a major issue the size of this iPhone and together with the design i predict this phone will be a huge success all around the world, Why did the V3 RZR succeed? because of its crappy VGA camera? no! because of its nice design and looks.
Anyways, who knows what will happen until June.. it they released it today i´ll def buy one, but 6 months its a long time in tech…
Scoble, keep the good job, im starting to think about blogging because of you…
January 10th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
As has been pointed out, the rated battery life is 5 hours for video. And let’s face it, video is not a mobile device feature that most people use on a regular basis anyway.
“They are laughing about the iPhone now.”
What are you on about? You mean they’re laughing because it’s on Cingular? That’s in the US only, and I expect Apple will partner with T-Mobile or 3 in Europe. Or they’re laughing because it won’t come out until Q4 2007 in Europe? No one is going to catch up with Apple’s UI innovations by then.
Portable devices are an engineering compromise and of course you can come up with a list of features which it doesn’t have. If it had 3G, GPS, a 5-megapixel camera then the battery life might really be the two hours you seem to imagine it is.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Mujibur — The CmdTaco reference is exactly what I thought of when I read this post. “No gps. Less megapixels than a Nokia. Lame.”
January 10th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Also Kedrosky’s list is pretty silly.
You can’t use it while it’s in your pocket? Oh no!
It’s exclusive to one carrier - this applies to many smartphone launches in the US and beyond.
It’s “vaporware” - ie Jobs announced it before the FCC testing process leaked it. Presumably when a vendor like Nokia pre-announces its handsets (which it always does) they are all vaporware too. Does he think there’s a serious chance that it’s not going to come out, which is what the term implies? At worst Jobs announced a quarter earlier than usual.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
[...] he makes me [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Amazing that people are coming up with lists of negatives when not a single one I’ve read (in the blogsphere) has even touched the thing. Seems the MSM and analysts that did get a chance to fondle are pretty much positive/enthusiastic. And, they are reaching the minds of real people, not just geeks and bloggers.
Reality check…Walk into your local VFW/Legion and they’ve all heard of the iPhone already today. Ask them about blogs and you’ll get a blank stare.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Battery life is five hours ONLY in audio!!!
If you play a video, the battery life goes down to two hours. At least that’s what I’ve been told.
Oh, I’ll buy one too. Why? Because I am a gadget freak and want to be the first one on the block to have one.
But, I thought I was an outlier and that no one should listen to people like me who just buy things because Steve Jobs made them.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Robert,
The battery life on the Blackjack sucks too. Infact it sucks enough that Samsung ships the unit with two batteries. However even then I can’t live without mine, just because it makes my life easy.
I think the killer app on iPhone other than the phone itself is safari integration. More than videos, I want the ability to browse the web and if I can get decent battery life there, I’ll be happy. But again that is a personal preference. Still video watching would be an occasional thing
GPS - With 3G and Google maps, do you really need GPS receiver built into the phone. iPhone is not 3G yet but I am sure by 08 it will be and around that time 3G networks will be fast enough to stream map data live on the phone… with 16GB flash memory caching map data won’t be an issue and you can always track location of a phone by using signal strength information from cellphone towers etc…
Cingular + GSM to begin with might not be a bad start - remember Moto Razr, it was exclusive to one carrier when it started out. Now it is everywhere.
Remember this is just V1 and apple already has a strong foundation. The possibilities are endless for a whole new line of phones. The important thing to note here is that Apple has a headstart over everyone else.
Remember iPod in an icon… It is the cool thing to have. For most teenagers and early 20s iPhone will do that too.
Also the Asian market is huge. In the Indian market unlike the US a phone is a status symbol and it is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. In India people don’t shy away from spending $400 - $450 on phones every year and this market is growing. For these people this is their primary computer and iPhone does a better job at being a primary computer than other phone out there. Just imagine with a docking station this thing could be hooked up to a large screen display and regular keyboards etc… In India that would be a huge success.
Is iPhone for the enterprise and the business user though - perhaps not but there is a possibility that apple has one in the wraps for the enterprise too. Something that syncs with Outlook, activesync etc and has all the tools business people need. Also with OSX there are lots of exsisting apple shops that could easily build applications for iPhones or port exsisting applications to iPhone
January 10th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
When I was in Europe everyone was buying 3G phones. That’s innovative. Can this phone do it? No.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Reality Distortion Field, indeed.
Jesus. Actually, Jobs bends it, distorts it… this is more like cracking, smashing, completely denying or excluding reality.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Does anybody know if the iPhone’s camera will be able to take videos, or just pictures.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
“Battery life is five hours ONLY in audio!!!”
Uh? According to the published specs:
Battery
Up to 5 hoursTalk / Video / Browsing
Up to 16 hoursAudio playback
January 10th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
“They are laughing about the iPhone now.”
Unfortunately for them, their investors aren’t.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Robert,
Battery life in audio is 16 hrs. Battery life in video/phone is 5 hrs. Please see the official specs again. Standby is unknown, though one can logically deduce that it must exceed 16 hrs by a large margin.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Partly, Apple targets its products to people who value design over technical performance and feature set. To slightly exaggerate, those people want devices which resonate with their shiny new kitchens or earrings.
Another target for Apple is the KISS people. Those want simple, easy-to-use things, with minimum of technical jargon.
So, I predict that iPhone will find its audience from the people above.
And Nokia and others will take notice and instill good bits of iPhone into their products - very rapidly.
It is a mystery why Apple broke the news this early. Why are they showing their cards now; what advantage they are now getting?
January 10th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
how much is MSFT paying you for these anti apple articles
January 10th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
“In the BlogHaus last night there were a few “pro Apple folks” who were REALLY disappointed with this. They also pointed out that if you need to text, or email, or blog from your phone that using a touch screen will be very unsatisfactory compared with a Blackberry or a Treo.”
Who cares? The point of the iPhone is that it’s a staus symbol. It’s a status symbol to show how both “rich” and “hip” you are. Functionality isn’t the issue here.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Has ANYONE been able to confirm Scoble’s unattributed comment about battery life? Or are we just going let him get away with that like he speaks from a position of authority?
January 10th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Battery life is 16 hours in audio. 5 hours in video/talk. Haven’t seen any numbers on standby.
How hard is this information to come by. Sheesh.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I think you are right on Robert, the iPhone is not all what it’s cracked up to be. One thing to realize…all of the Apple Zombies will buy it just because they have had the iPhone marketing carrot dangled in front of them for so long now
They hear Apple and they salivate and you will see all the MacBook, iPod toting people with their new sucky iPhones. Just my opinion.
Giving credit to where credit is due, Steve Jobs has done a masterful job of people wanting Apple. Granted, their products are very good but even a mediocre one will sell well.
-Rob
January 10th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
“When I was in Europe everyone was buying 3G phones. That’s innovative. Can this phone do it? No.”
Uhh, dumb, dumb, dumb… Clearly there can be supply issues and their are definitely carrier relationship issues to be dealt with, but why would Apple delay Europe and Asia launches? Let’s see: the U.S. is a mix of CDMA/EVDO (with both Verizon and Sprint being the most controlling of their data services) and GSM/EDGE with the migration to GSM/HSDPA incomplete (UMTS is a non-starter, more or less being bypassed in the states because of our lagging the market)… Europe is essentially GSM/HSDPA now or will be by June… Japan and Korea are CDMA. Moreover, in all markets, the world over WiMax may bypass any of these standards as a 3.5/4G standard.
The iPhone already has 4 antennaes in it: GSM/EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth. Is it supposed to have NINE?!: GSM/EDGE, CDMA/EVDO, GSM/UMTS/HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth.
Or should they (1) launch from the dominant world standard and the most advanced, most available “high speed” data service of their PARTNER — Cingular, Edge, (2)build off that standard and add HSDPA when they enter Europe, and (3) build a CDMA phone when they enter the Japanese market?
I’d go with the second strategy and its unlikely that its any other way: based on what is supported/available in Europe, Japan, and Korea.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
“Has ANYONE been able to confirm Scoble’s unattributed comment about battery life?”
LazY, it’s been confirmed he pulled it out of his ass and made it up. 5 hours, the same as most Blackberries.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Robert - in this case I think you’re casting your own reality distortion field. The device doesn’t yet exist and I’m quite certain you’ve not yet touched one. There are three of them in existence - according to Jobs. Three. The product is 6 months out. Except for things we know can’t change (like adding tactile feedback), everything else is open.
Regarding GSM vs, say, Verizon or Springs 3G… keep in mind that most of the world is GSM. Apple wants to target as large an audience as possible - not just half of North America and parts of Asia. Though, he’s already noted that future radio options will come. Also, I’ve been using a Blackberry (various models, recently the Pearl) on GSM and, frankly, it’s fine. Great in fact. Rarely do I even think about slow downloads. Certainly for text email, GSM and EDGE are quite good. And, most of us spend a fair amount of time either in our home and office - where we’re likely to have WiFi. So, if that’s true, the iPhone has better than 3G speeds most of the time. I’ve tried using MobilePC phones in mixed WiFi/EDGE environments and found the experience horrible. Apple has a good track record of making WiFi painless, so I’m hopeful this phone will be very different from others before it.
Regarding the camera… I just don’t get it. I realize I may be in the minority, but using my cell phone camera for anything other than capturing Bigfoot or the Lochness seems close to pointless. They all, basically, suck. And pixel count means nothing. It’s the lens. So, whether it’s 1, 2 or 5 Mpixels, it’s going to pale in comparison to your average point & click or DSLR. Still, give the iPhone a chance. In June if the camera still sucks, say so - but back it up by having tried it and publishing examples.
The only thing I regret over the last two days is not buying more AAPL.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
So Apple Inc. should have made it CDMA, just for you Americans and the rest of the world which is GSM can go to hell?
January 10th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
It’s starting to sink in that this thing costs as much as a 60GB Playstation 3.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
It says clearly here in the tech specs section that the iPhone has five hours of battery life for Talk/video/browsing and it has 16 hours of battery life for audio playback.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html
This “two hour only” spec seems to be purely rumor at this point.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Nice: can you give us a URL for battery life? I am going off of what people are telling me here at CES. I will correct my post.
MRK: no, not saying that. The rest of the world is going 3G very quickly. That’s what a bleeding edge phone should have. Particularly one that costs $600.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Some notes on my own enthusiasm for the iPhone:
If I don’t wind up buying an Apple product, I surely will be buying something that the iPhone makes possible because of its critical redesign of the whole smartphone/pda concept.
The iPhone is going to make voicemail usable. Indexed vm is a great idea.
It will be the successor to ALP/Palm as those guys insist on committing a long, public suicide. Palm OS 4 is as black-belt a productivity/communications tool on a small phone as I could currently wish for.
I want Notes, Contacts, Calendar, To Dos and email in my pocket. I want them to sync reliably with my Mac. Am using a great flip phone, Samsung i500, that had no successor in this country. (Mexico and China got the i550).
The iPhone means that by the time I am ready to change phones I will have a well designed tool. Yes, I am looking for a more “Nano” solution than a bulky brick. No Treo in my jeans pocket, maaan! But probably no iPhone v.1 either.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
[...] Update: Robert Scoble isn’t all that impressed. [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
You cant teather it to your laptop to get broadband Internet access on the go (the biggest reason I use a 3G phone) and no video phone.
Worthless to me.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
You have to compare this to M$ based PDAs, and imho it blows these devices big time.
It actually has a design.
It’s got huge storage space.
It’s got a huge display.
It’s got a serious OS underneath.
Tiny battery? Well I wonder how at all it’s possible to fit that much hardware into such small a device. It’s a very small device.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
[...] day later I’m also feeling less impressed by the iPhone. It’s a beautiful device, and will surely sell [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
[...] Kedrosky and Robert Scoble speculate are pointing out some facts about Apple’s cellular phone, iPhone. I think that [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
“Nice: can you give us a URL for battery life? I am going off of what people are telling me here at CES.”
Why? Firstly, are you unaware that Apple has a web site? That there are trustworthy sources out there that have had experience with it/interaction with Apple? Why are you just going off innuendo and rumors from people at CES and not doing some real research? It would take you about 5 seconds to find the battery life at the web site, or more easily you could have actually watched the presentation where it was stated.
Why the hell should we trust or care about your opinions if you are just making them up based on crap out of your ass?
January 10th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
“You have to compare this to M$ based PDAs, and imho it blows these devices big time.”
I would say the MS devices blow the iPhone… oh, sorry, you probably meant to have “away” in there. I agree.
January 10th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
[...] Another post from Robert Scoble that drive people crazy. Now it is iPhone. Well, another reason why I think that [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
seems to me that the author of this blog has a serious and definitive BIAS against Apple products-
sad that he can not embrace all companies that at least try to be forward thinking-
why do i read his rants against apple??
I guess no more for me-
sad cause i really thought this guy was smart-
see ya
January 10th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
3G support will be included…Cingular and Apple are working on this as we speak. A touchscreen completely changes the game in this space. I think basically everyone who see’s it goes into shock. One, a shock where they say wow thats just too much. Or shock that theyre Palm stock dropped 20%. Either way, 200 patents means a lot of royalties. Expect Apple to be VERY aggressive in this area just as they were with iPod. And this is just a V1 product. A friend of mine who got the first looks at Motorola’s lineup for the end of 2007 said it just doesnt compare. Not even close.
January 10th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
At this rate we’ll be calling it “Newton 2.0″ by 2008….
January 10th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
“Nice: can you give us a URL for battery life? I am going off of what people are telling me here at CES. I will correct my post.”
http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html
While you’re there, be sure to look at the Quicktime demos. They give a clear view of the UI in action and shows how muti-touch works using white circles that represent your fingers.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/ipod/
Very impressive.
January 10th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Hugh, saw your hate-filled cartoon… pathetic. Would you like to wager on the success of Newton 2.0?
(It has already added almost 12 billion and trimmed a few billion from it’s competitors market cap in two days. Just because Scoble and his buddies that decided to make up features since they are at the lame conference decided to talk it down doesn’t mean much. I can point out past successful predictions of Scoble: PMCs beating iPod, iTablet, etc…
January 10th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Hey Guys,
I just had a great idea. It came to me over the last couple of months as I’ve read all the speculations and prognostications about how this product sucks, would flop and doesn’t deliver.
These assumptions all made long before the product has shipped or has been handled by any of these prognosticators.
I’m reminded of all the failure predictions of a 5g mp3 player introduced in 2001 at a retail price of $399.
The predictions were all the same. Too expensive. Doesn’t have an FM tuner, not compatible with Windows, yada yada yada!
80 million units later, with every potential manufacturer clamoring for what crumbs of market share possible to scrape up, another product is released. The prognosticators having, not learned any lesson, stick their collective necks out on the block again.
Anyway, the idea I mentioned earlier is, I’m going to collect these predictions and speculations over the course of next year and have a regular quotefest by next years Macworld\CES show.
I’m not speaking only of Apple products here, I’ll be including any manufacturers product that get pre-judgement treatment from all the “experts”, bloggers and responders.
We’ll all have a great laugh pointing out the the foot in mouth predictions.
I suppose the point is…Let the product ship. Give it try. Damn, are we so full of ourselve that we can see into the future.
January 10th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Darryl: I will buy one. I’m sure it’ll be a huge success no matter what anyway. Steve Jobs got EVERYONE to talk about it. There isn’t a single person I’ve met that doesn’t already have an opinion on it.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
[...] once you get past the design, what is really new about the phone. As Robert says, there’s always a reality distortion field when it comes to Apple announcements. The [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I don’t know about you americans, but text-messaging is big in Europe. Even if Apples new and patentet screencontroles work as Steve J says, they’re going to grease up.
While both camera and battery suck bigtime on the iPhone (nobody in their right mind will deny this), there real issue in my opinion is in the software.
I’ve owned 10+ smartphones over the past two years, and I always find, that Symbian OS-based devices (like Nokia) are far superior in speed, userbility etc. than Windows Mobile-software. In my opinion this is because of experience. The only thing Windows Mobile is good at, is syncing with Windows (… it is a big issue though).
I’m looking forward to seeing how well - or poor - Apples implementation of BSD on the cellphone will do. Betting it will be as poor as the first editions of Windows Mobile - but hopefully it won’t.
And by the way: If you have to get into the big markedshares, you have to go corporate… Can’t imagine the iPhone doing that.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
However, I am very disappointed in Apple’s decision to make the iPhone a closed system. The potential for third-party applications would be incredible. If you’re an Apple Developer, like myself, who would love to write apps that run on the iPhone, file a bug report to let Apple know how you feel!
Lack of HSUPA / UMTS in the first generation is unfortunate, but I can live without it. A camera flash & GPS would have been icing on the cake.
Still, the core features are compelling enough that I’m buying one when they are released.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Why would you publicly print what people are telling you at CES instead of checking the facts first at apple.com? Oh right, it’s a blog, no standards necessary. And bloggers wonder why they’re not considered journalists . . .
January 10th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
@ John Bauer… As Scoble says: it’s the destortion field… :-)
January 10th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
[...] – not 15 mins after I posted this Robert Scoble posted an entry from CES about his concerns on the iPhone – I beat a proper geek! WOOOOOO and he agrees with [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Getting everyone to “talk about it” is what Steve Jobs does. It’s what he’s done for the past 30 years. Being surprised is like expecting MS to ship a product when promised.
Reality Distortion Field aside. Anything this guy introduces, he has a way of making it seem like the best thing since sliced bread. but the market always determines whether it will succeed or not. That goes for any product, not just those introduced by The Steve.
My point is still the same. Determinations made about a products performance or quality of it’s implementations before it ships is just,… I don’t know… Kinda…STOOPID!!!
They’ve made clear that this thing will not ship for 6 months. Who knows what will happen in that time. Hell, it may not even be called an iPhone by then.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
[...] The Macalope’s not sure why he’s bothering with this, but Robert Scoble links favorable to a list of supposed items that are wrong with the iPhone and then adds his own items. [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
“GPS - With 3G and Google maps, do you really need GPS receiver built into the phone [...] iPhone is not 3G yet but [...] with 16GB flash memory caching map data won’t be an issue [...] you can always track location of a phone by using signal strength information from cellphone towers.”
I’m sorry, dear sir, but never has such a short quote harboured such myriad logical fallacies! 3G? 16GB flash RAM? Where did you pick up those preposterous specifications — from Apple’s site, peradventure?
As for the comment about tracking the phone’s location, I suppose it’s simply a matter “dry-ungulating” the phone’s exact coordinates with the help of… ehh, nearby link towers? Heah.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Josh (52) the iPhone does NOT have video recording capabilities. This was ** confirmed ** to me by an Apple PR/industry relations executive.
The lack of video recording is ridiculous.
I write about the wireless imaging capabilities of the iPhone in my camera phone weblog:
http://www.cameraphonereport.com/2007/01/apple_iphone_mi.html
January 10th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
[...] for the people complaining that the iPhone is too expensive or doesn’t have 3G or has a crappy camera, I don’t think it matters. The original iPod had flaws too but it solved a device conundrum [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
John: my blog is not a news article and hasn’t been fact checked. Thank you for being an astute reader.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
[...] Scoble put up his take on the iPhone. He complains about no GPS, cingular-only and no replaceable battery. I’m with him on the cingular thing (especially EDGE only), but I can live without GPS. External battery packs are all over the place for the ipod and that kind of solution is fine with me. That being said, I can see why someone who relies on those two features would be put off. Paul’s comments all have merit, too. [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Let’s see, a “technical evangelist”, then a “blogger”
for the most part, you haven’t done anything significant with you life
maybe rather than spouting mindless opinions about products you know nothing about you should get a “real job” and try and make something of your life before you tell your grand kids what a waste you were…
January 10th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Quote of the day :-)
They begin to look like malcontents who kvetch about the weather so much that they don’t notice the sun coming out.
http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2002/06/01.html
January 10th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Cisco Suing Apple over iPhone name http://www.komotv.com/news/5148637.html
January 10th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
I recall traveling to Africa a couple years ago with a spare plug-in battery pack to extend the hours on my iPod. For anyone needing longer iPhone hours, I presume there will soon be third party suppliers of such batteries. I don’t see this is being more than a false issue.
January 10th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
While I like that the iPhone will support touchscreen (hope they’re using some smudge-resistant coating), I don’t agree with Jobs’ dissing of the stylus. The reason being my fingers have poor resolution - my fingertip is has about a 30 pixel diameter, and my fingernail will hit an area about 10 pixels wide. For my computer screen, it’d be fine, and for a lot of tablet and iPhone stuff, it’d be fine, but for things like writing out text or selecting small controls, I need a true pointer.
January 10th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Watch a 2-hour video on a phone? Better be a good flick. Wouldn’t you be upset if your TV shrunk to postage-stamp dimensions?
It is very unlikely that I will ever buy an iPhone, but it seems to me that it’s success will depend on how it improves the experience of using a cellphone, not on how well it imitates an iPod running OSX.
January 10th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
This is a blog and you have to quantify/verify comments and I appreciate people sharing what they see and hear since I’m not there.
The Apple site states something completely different regarding battery life. However, you cannot replace the battery on the current device displayed at CES (device is not out to market yet so we will have to wait and see).
No third party applications confirmed? http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/10/apple-vps-confirm-no-3rd-party-iphone-apps/
It may not have GPS but it does have Bluetooth so you could connect to a Bluetooth GPS receiver… BUT you cannot install 3rd party applications. UGH!
I will most likely see this device around the neighborhood but will I see it in the workplace? I doubt it. I need a device and software that can be used at both the workplace and at home.
January 10th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
The British press reports “Cisco is suing Apple Computer for trademark infringement in a federal court, for using the iPhone name.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6250511.stm
I have never seen such a story run and run. Well done Apple (computers), Inc. Now everyone has heard of the iPhone!!
January 10th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Robert, it saddens me to see you go down the same road as a John C. Dvorak. Sure, you might find rising hit counts as the Apple “zealots” respond to these types of posts. But is that a positive way to trumpet the power of blogging? Or do you do a disservice to the medium which you are so proud of helping to build?
When you insist on providing demonstrably false information to help make your points (ie- the 2 hour battery performance), you’re going to get called out. And no amount of labelling your critics with prejorative terms like “zealot” or “fanboy” will make your point stronger. Acknowledge the error with grace under fire, Robert. I’ve seen you do it many times before.
Remember that credibility is like virginity; once lost, you can’t reclaim it.
I know much of your commentaries are shot from the hip, but fact checking is an important ingredient for establishing blogs as a reliable information medium. Please don’t duck the responsibility by saying your post isn’t a “news article and hasn’t been fact checked”. Your status as one of the a-list bloggers should compel a higher standard.
The short of it is your own credibility should require rudimentary fact checking, regardless of whether your blog fits the standard of “commentary” or “news”.
All that said, I write this in the hopes of engaging you constructively. Especially since I’ve been called a jerk by you on one other occasion!
Now as far as the iPhone is concerned, just wait to see what the non-geek public goes for. Remember the T-Mo Sidekick does quite well as a similar device and the iPhone moves the goal posts against that.
January 10th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
What has changed at Scoblizer since the move to PodTech? Nothing. Three quarters of it was Apple bashing, and still is. What is the relationship between PodTech and MS? Are any of the comments posted here from people who aren’t being paid to post negative crap about Apple? Blogging at it’s finest, Robert. Keep up the good black PR work.
January 10th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Okay so just like in our last posting I said I expect the AppleTV to do extremely well and make great market stides in grabbing control of that new arena as the next logical extension of the iPod/iTunes platform I don’t see that happening here. Funny thing is I think this is a much more innovative device that the AppleTV and has much more cool factor. What it doesn’t have is a virgin market, that much of a differention, multi-carrier support, etc. to make it anything more than another really good phone product in a sea of phone products ranging from bad to great. This will definately be one of the cooler devices out thier but it will not appeal to business (I can here all my buddies in operations at different companies drawing a line in the sand about turning Imap on so people can synch their iPhone), due to cost will mostly only come in to play for new or renewing users who can get it at 2 year subsidized service (and then only Cingular customers) and lets not forget the fact that most cell phones have fairly short life spans so this will have an appeal of one, maybe two years max and would have to be replaced by newer models. I think Apple will have a popular phone here but the market share will be much smaller than we will see with AppleTV and it will quickly be faced by cheaper knockoffs that emulate its function amongst the other carriers.
January 10th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Cisco is now suing Apple over the iPhone name.
Whatever you think about desirability of iPhone, you have to admit Jobs has pulled off a PR coup making CES seem trivial.
January 10th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Don’t bash Apple for not doing 3G for the US market, that’s a US carrier problem. Presumably when they offer it in Europe, they’ll need to respond to European market realities, where 3G is far more entrenched.
January 10th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
[...] What is even better, other people agree. [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Hey Robert:
I totally agree that a built-in GPS would have made a significant move forward with that phone. Even with rumors of embedded photo geo-tagging functionality. However, as reported by a bunch of other bloggers, this will be a closed phone. Not ability to install 3rd-party apps. This is looking less interesting as the apple skin is being peeled off.
Thanks - Martin
January 10th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
I agree Jobs has done a PR master pice, he usually does and they should be the envy of the tech world in that regards. I also think the phone will be highly desirable but again unlike the AppleTV it is hitting a satuarted market place in a limited distribution channel. Will probably be a Cingular top seller but not have a market impact in the way that the AppleTV has an opportunity to.
January 10th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Zato: you think I bash Apple? That’s funny, considering I’m typing to you on my Apple MacPro, my wife and son both have MacBookPros and I just bought a MacBookPro and I’m going to get one of these phones and we just played the keynote from MacWorld in the BlogHaus.
I take far more shots at Microsoft, but you don’t notice those.
January 10th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Som: I already corrected my incorrect statement and apologized for making that error. You come and work 22 hours a day and type a blog in a car in between halls and interviews and see how good you do.
IT Guy: OK, I won’t blame Apple for that. But since I’m gonna spend $600 of my own money on this, I will blame them for not letting me do video with the camera. I will blame them for not putting a GPS into such an expensive device. I will blame them for making me bring a separate iPod on international flights cause I can’t charge up two batteries (I want to watch two videos on the way to Switzerland, for instance).
January 10th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Robert, the closest device that I have touched to the iPhone is the PPC-6700. I’m blogging about the diffs as we speak, but people who are making comments about whether or not this is a superior phone/mp3 player/connectivity device have apparently not spent time with Windows Mobile 5.0. The differentiator is, and will be, a UI that is suited toward fingers, and not a stylus.
Think about it. All of the other stuff in the middle, I mean ALL of it (video, 3G, GPS, and so on) can change with little brouhaha, but changing the user interface is a huge deal. Apple got the hardest part, the UI, right. Yes, it would be better to have some kind of tactile feedback, but compared to the WM5 UI I deal with every day (and I thought it was a cool phone until Monday evening), this is like comparing Win95/98 to Vista or OS X.
With tons of rebates, the PPC-6700 is just now coming down into the sub-$300 range. List is $549.
The real question is, “Why would anyone shell out $549 for a Windows device as poorly executed as this?” The answer is: because it was better than the alternatives.
You don’t have to be the fastest deer, just faster than the slowest. The smartphone market sucks so bad… even with the issues you’ve brought up (which are fixable), the iPhone behaves in a manner that is at least five years beyond the other phones.
June will be an interesting month. :D - Tim
January 10th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
“And Nokia and others will take notice and instill good bits of iPhone into their products - very rapidly.”
it’s called a patent.
you are a moron.
January 10th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Just as with the iPod and the fruit colored iMac before it, the “average consumer” isn’t going to care about the acronyms and the code names. If they can make a phone call with it and show people photographs of their pets and look “cool” waving it around that’s all most people are going to care about. Heck the iPod mini and the Nano and even the Shuffle were all blasted for not enough storage or no screen. It all comes down to pricing things about $100 more than they are comfortable, so people stretch to pay that $100 premium just because it’s Apple.
This thing will be huge, even if relatively not many people buy it because practically everybody, from grandmas to teenagers have or want a cellphone. The market for the iPod is small compared to that of cellphones. Apple is going to make a killing on this even if they don’t totally take over the market.
January 10th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
[...] lot of people are skeptical of the significance of the Apple’s iPhone. Like Dave Winer, I think Steve is smarter than folks realize. Most questions raised fall into one [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
[...] I’m not the only one thinking this way. Robert Scoble, Paul Kedrosky and a few others have similar views. Bookmarking:These icons link to social [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Heh…you are wrong as usual. This thing is going to sell in the millions. Have you ever traveled outside the U.S.? Everyone else uses GSM. Duh. hey guess what, they have power on airplanes. Neat huh? Finally your only other comment is that the camera sucks? Puh-lease. No wonder you used to work at Microsoft.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
[...] Scoble is dialing [...]
January 10th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
Now The Apple iPhone Sucks? Please
This is probably the way things work in the tech blogosphere, but I find it kind of strange that the iPhone, a product that many people drooled over and hoped for all of last year, was finally created by Apple in a hugely unique and awesome way (itR…
January 11th, 2007 at 1:49 am
Just heard on the BBC that Cisco is going to sue Apple over the iPhone name. It appears Cisco did not give permission to Apple as everyone seems to assume.
January 11th, 2007 at 1:50 am
[...] AGGIORNAMENTO (11/01/2007): Ecco alcune delle prime autorevoli perplessità dopo l’annuncio, da parte di Paul Kedrosky e Robert Scoble. [...]
January 11th, 2007 at 3:55 am
[...] { January 10, 2007 @ pm 01321u31e pm1o } · { personal, apple } source: 1,2,3 [...]
January 11th, 2007 at 5:51 am
Wow.
Another reason the iPhone will win?
scobleizer isn’t impressed. honestly! Check
print.wordpress.com
January 11th, 2007 at 6:25 am
I have posted a wishlist of ideal cellphone features at the MediaVidea blog.
http://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2007/01/notes-on-ideal-cellphone.html
January 11th, 2007 at 6:25 am
““And Nokia and others will take notice and instill good bits of iPhone into their products - very rapidly.”
it’s called a patent.
you are a moron.”
No, I think u are. You have to be silly to think that other companies like Nokia, HTC, LG and others are going to rollover due to iPhone over hype. This is their bread and butter (especially Nokia). Plus Nokia has been working on their on version of iPhone for years and so have most companies…LG (touchable chocolate) has one almost exactly like iPhone. This is why probably Apple put their phone out so early (6months) another compnay like LG was probably very close to launching there own and taking the luster and revolution out of the iPhone. See the following links:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/15/the-lg-ke850-touchable-chocolate/
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/10/08/nokias-aeon-full-surface-screen-cellphone-concept/
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/benqsiemens-black-box-concept-phone-204284.php
Steve is a liar and exaggerator.
January 11th, 2007 at 6:29 am
Apple is making a consumer electronic device for the average user who don’t care about GPS, EDGE versus whatever, locked/unlocked phones, etc. They are focusing on what people truly want to do with a phone: make calls and check email. All the other stuff is pure fluff…who cares?
People aren’t as feature focus as you think. Compare the Creative Nomad with the iPod. Which has better technology, more features, can be used with more file formats? The Nomad, but iPod has more market share.
January 11th, 2007 at 6:29 am
Do check out my latest reply to this:
http://print.wordpress.com/2007/01/11/response-to-the-5-2-issues-people-have-with-iphone/
The points are all weak, and smack of FUD. BONUS: You repeat yourself and contradict yourself ! Love it!
‘early adopters’ and ‘vaporware’. A Juxtaposition to seal your fate as an alarmist, hysteric.
January 11th, 2007 at 6:31 am
more pics of the phone Apple stole from LG:
http://duggmirror.com/apple/LG_KE850_iPhone/
looks like what iPhone should, especially flash for camera at back of phone. No flash in Apple iPhone.
January 11th, 2007 at 7:06 am
I don’t know all that the iphone will or will not do, but I believe one of the biggest mistakes is to lock into just one phone provider. Cingular advertises the “least dropped call” nonsense, which is total hogwash. In my opinion cigular sucks. As far as the battery life goes, has Apple not learned from the iPod.
If the general public is stupid enough to purchase this device with a non-replaceable battery than, let them drown in their ignorance. If Apple is smart, they would have a dept dedicated to just reading the feedback on the blogs to prevent future fiascos with their produts.
January 11th, 2007 at 7:07 am
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/11/iphone-and-lg-ke850-separated-at-birth
January 11th, 2007 at 7:12 am
[...] Here is a man standing in front of a tree giving the iPhone a bit of a slagging off. [...]
January 11th, 2007 at 8:03 am
The lack of built-in GPS is not a killer. Here in the UK many existing phones use Bluetooth (which the iPhone does have) to link to a Bluetooth GPS receiver. So all that would be requires is for Apple to do a deal to license some maps if they wanted to do this.
January 11th, 2007 at 8:14 am
[...] algunos puntos que marcan Robert Scoble y Paul Kedrosky sobre el [...]
January 11th, 2007 at 8:33 am
it is GSM only? well what do you think it should be? GSM is the global standard in mobile telephone, Apple wants to sell this thing globally and not limit it to the US. And Cingular offers largest GSM user base in the US, so this is a no-brainer.
yes Nokia’s new camera’s blow the iphone’s away, but have you seen the Nokia phone that does so and looked at how big that thing is? come on, that thing is a camcorder not a phone.
GPS will just reduce the battery power and with cell triangulation you get enough location data, and you can always add GPS via bluetooth if you are a hardcore offroader.
the whole thing about Cungular is also nonsense … so Cingular will sell it here in the US, but you will be able to buy the phone unlocked and then you can also use it on T-Mobile — it is a GSM phone afterall.
January 11th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Fair do’s to the Scobelizer. He’s had a crack at the iphone but later admitted that he’s a closet Mac freak and