Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone competition

U

ukor

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 3, 2007
21
0
The recent Helio post highlights an interesting point, how will the other cell phone companies respond to the iPhone and how quickly will Apple feel the need to respond back with new features etc.

The cell phone market is extremely competitive with very quick product cycles.

Will Apple be able to wait 6 or 12 months to release new features and models?
 
Just some random thoughts... which could change tomorrow :)

I think Apple isn't about competing on a grand scale. They just want to carve out a steady niche high-end non-subsidized market.

There are too many other phones with more features, that are subsidized as well, to compete on hardware alone.

The effect on the touch UI of other phones has been less than expected / desired. Nobody rushed to bring out their touch-only concept phones. HTC has made a weak effort with their TouchFlo front end. But the majority of UI changes have come from user programmers instead.

Other phones, even touch oriented, continue to include desirable dedicated buttons for comms control, answer/hangup, camera. The iPhone will have to eventually give in and do the same... but I think for the moment Jobs is attempting a repeat of the Mac "you don't need any cursor keys with a mouse" thing.
 
Are the product cycles really that quick? I'm genuinely asking. I see people still buying what is essentially (i.e. for most people/purposes) the same RAZR from 2+ years ago.
 
kdarling said:
The effect on the touch UI of other phones has been less than expected / desired.
Click to expand...

Figures. As soon as I say something like that, somebody shows off another concept phone. This article includes a video of it in a display case.

KDDI Actface phone

The flowing background motion display on this phone is more what I had originally expected from Apple on the iPhone, btw. Something artistic and animated, instead of the boring and all too common matrix of fairly static icons that it actually came with.
 
kdarling said:
Figures. As soon as I say something like that, somebody shows off another concept phone. This article includes a video of it in a display case.

KDDI Actface phone

The flowing background motion display on this phone is more what I had originally expected from Apple on the iPhone, btw. Something artistic and animated, instead of the boring and all too common matrix of fairly static icons that it actually came with.
Click to expand...

wow.. sign me up for one of those.
 
kdarling said:
Something artistic and animated, instead of the boring and all too common matrix of fairly static icons that it actually came with.
Click to expand...

You mean something that will eat your battery alive? I do not want animated icons or backgrounds at te sacrifice of battery life. If I want something more artistic I'll skin my phone.

Someone will write a hack to run an animated background, just like they did with OSX, just like they did in the past with OSX themes. The all you will need to do is run a bunch of transparent icons and life will be good.

I do like that Cocoon though.
 
darngooddesign said:
You mean something that will eat your battery alive? I do not want animated icons or backgrounds at te sacrifice of battery life.
Click to expand...

Spoil sport. Besides, it's too late. iPhone already has useless but fun animations :D

Might as well remove the WiFi, LCD backlight, and speaker while we're into power conservation. :p

Seriously, yes, perhaps something like e-paper (digital ink) for the control panel. No power required once the button display is set.
 
That thing looks like a long Razr with an animated background. To me, that's dull.

No phone compares to the iPhone's "wow" factor to me. All links to so-called comparable phones are freaking laughable so far.
 
I think it will be a very interesting market. Apple has forced the hand of the other big players. We will be the winners of this new competition.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back