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zelmo

macrumors 603
Jul 3, 2004
5,490
1
Mac since 7.5
There are some valid concerns in the article, but the author forgot to mention the one reason that Jobs himself gave for pre-announcing the product - FCC leaks that would have enabled competitors to learn about the phone's capabilities ahead of any official product announcement. There's no way Apple could have pulled off a surprise announcement and still gotten FCC approval to have the device on sale that same day.
 

clevin

macrumors G3
Aug 6, 2006
9,095
1
compare to the points author made, the FCC leak stuff is much less damaging.
 

MisterMe

macrumors G4
Jul 17, 2002
10,709
69
USA
compare to the points author made, the FCC leak stuff is much less damaging.
The author is full of it. I give him one or two points max. One of his silliest is that by announcing the iPhone six months in advance, Apple gives the competition a head start. What he conveniently forgets is that it took Apple years to develop the iPhone. Although, it should not quite as long for copycats to follow, there is simply no way they can do it in six months. Furthermore, they have to reverse engineer the iPhone without violating Apple's patents. Not gonna happen. They could take the iPhone as inspiration and develop something equally or more revolutionary. That one is really not gonna happen. Heck, look at how long the iPod has been around and the copycats have yet to figure that one out.

Mike Elgan also goes on and on about expectations being raised to high. Well, the fact is that the iPhone sells itself. Jobs made a wonderful presentation, to be sure. But browse to the iPhone's web page and oggle. As soon as you see it, a brand new day dawns on a brand new world.

The LG KE850 excuse is laughable. There are three phone families that anyone outside the gearhead community care about. They are Blackberrys, RAZRs, and iPhones. Who the heck cares about LG?!
 

Cooknn

macrumors 68020
Aug 23, 2003
2,111
0
Fort Myers, FL
...and with the phone it will be just as it is with Mac's. The UI will sell 'em. Sure the LG phone does touch - but does it have OS X Mobile? The reason Apple sells so many Mac's IMHO, is because of OS X. The same will probably hold true for their cellular phones - regardless of when they are announced / released.
 

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
1. Jobs made a mistake by announcing the iPhone too early and telling everybody what it can do before it shipped.

2. Consumers will be disappointed when they buy one and find out that it can't do what they thought they could do with the iPhone.

If you can reconcile these two concepts, please let me know. For now, I can't make any sense of the reasoning, and consequently, can make little sense of the article.
 

Dont Hurt Me

macrumors 603
Dec 21, 2002
6,055
6
Yahooville S.C.
Problem being is its not going to take current cell phone makers years to develope a product, they have products out now that do work. All they have to do is change a few things to make it more "iphone like". I find it strange that Apple would announce it in public 6 months ahead of time. It also looks like Apple is having problems with carriers in all 50 states while the other guys have been making deals for a long time. They have phones working today, Apple doesnt.

I myself think the FCC leaking was a better way but then without the iphone what would Apple have to show off? A Tv device that was allready announced isnt much but with no new computers to talk about apple would have disappointed big time and we just saw the stock sink even with nice numbers. I think it was for show to keep the stock propped up because its overvalued.
 

Cooknn

macrumors 68020
Aug 23, 2003
2,111
0
Fort Myers, FL
All they have to do is change a few things to make it more "iphone like".
Without our UI they're not going to be able to compete for the iPhone target demo. Believe it or not I don't think it's business users at all. There are a lot of upper middle class parents out there who hook their kids up with the latest iPod's, etc. My 16 year old is already jones'n for an iPhone and he'll get one for his birthday - which just happens to fall on May 30. He's already with Cingular so I guess I'm lucky there. Anyways point being, I think the iPod generation is going to be all over this phone.
 

Chinashaw

macrumors member
Aug 18, 2005
69
0
Things to think about why the iPhone is not quite as revolutionary

1. No 3G support - Outside the USA, this phone does not even support 2.5G, it is closer to 1.5G.

2. Unable to use Bluetooth for synching. Got to use a cable? Whats with that?

3. a 2M camera. Even my grandmothers old Nokia is 2M, you can get between 2-6m as standard. So nothing new there

4. 4gb or 8gb hd on the phone. Nokia N91 has that

5. Pretty poor battery life. Same as every other damn phone out there.

6. No vibration option. What's with that. Almost as annoyingly Apple as their ridiculous single mouse button. Possibly the single most aggravating thing they have ever done. :p

7.

7. As for the comment that no one cares about any phone apart from a crackberry, Razr, iphone. How ignorant can you get, the largest mobile phone companies (and so the most popular phones) are Nokia, LG, Sony E, Motorola . Wait only 1 of those phones comes from Motorola. Check out the global mobile market and see what phones are the biggest. You might also want to look into the fact that the US lags behind even Europe in their mobile phone use and technology. Ironic given that qualcom is a US company.

So from a features point of view it is a pretty damn ordinary phone with nothing particularly special.

But now I have slagged it. The UI looks awesome and the twist and shake input is cool. So I want one. I won't though buy it until they actually improve the phone specs, I want a phone as much as I want a pretty toy. Which might account for why I still have not bought a Crackberry.

you might also want to check out the Nokia N95.

Quad band
240 * 320 pixels (better than the iPhone)
5Mpixel camera
3G, WiFi
Full Bluetooth functionality
Built in GPS
220 hour battery life
6.5 hours talktime

As far as phones go it's pretty damn good.
 

dendar

macrumors newbie
Jan 19, 2007
2
0
visual voicemail could be even better

..if it had the service they were talking about on techcrunch this week.....spinvox....you get eh actual text
 

clevin

macrumors G3
Aug 6, 2006
9,095
1
The author is full of it. I give him one or two points max. One of his silliest is that by announcing the iPhone six months in advance, Apple gives the competition a head start. What he conveniently forgets is that it took Apple years to develop the iPhone. Although, it should not quite as long for copycats to follow, there is simply no way they can do it in six months. Furthermore, they have to reverse engineer the iPhone without violating Apple's patents. Not gonna happen. They could take the iPhone as inspiration and develop something equally or more revolutionary. That one is really not gonna happen. Heck, look at how long the iPod has been around and the copycats have yet to figure that one out.

Mike Elgan also goes on and on about expectations being raised to high. Well, the fact is that the iPhone sells itself. Jobs made a wonderful presentation, to be sure. But browse to the iPhone's web page and oggle. As soon as you see it, a brand new day dawns on a brand new world.

The LG KE850 excuse is laughable. There are three phone families that anyone outside the gearhead community care about. They are Blackberrys, RAZRs, and iPhones. Who the heck cares about LG?!

i agree with u on the first point, it takes more than 6 month to do the work

expectation too high? u bet, i think when ppl finally get the phone, the negative will surface, right now, many fans regard that phone as a minimi mac, which is obviously gonna disappoint them.

LG, they are good, their product has good point, u agree or not, i do think they will be in the head-2-head competition with iPhone in Europe, maybe even Asia. Phone+PDA+multimediaplayer, they are the closest one for the info available now. Yeah, eventually more detail might show they are different, but how much do u know to make u think LG Prada is "laughable" and not significant?

and I think its childish to think ppl care about iPhone with same attitude as blackberrys and RAZRs, u just can't compare a vaporware with market established machine, no matter how confidant u are.

the market of smartphone isn't that big, majority cellphone market is still occupied by cheap, simply function phones, iphone's competitor will be mostly smartphones, in that sense, u might be right to compare them, but, after all, as a product has not been tested by the market, u are way too confidant about the iPhone.
 

patrick0brien

macrumors 68040
Oct 24, 2002
3,246
9
The West Loop
I have a general issue in even speaking about the "iPhone" when it technically doesn't exist yet.

Knowing Mr. Jobs, he told the world only enough to act as a 'bone' to the industry. As we all know, Mr. Jobs is a master of "Watch the Monkey" and has the anti-Apple crowd in a tizzy arguing about features that may or may not exist on the real version.

Personally, I hold my judgment until reality, and take the opinion of others on the "iPhone" with a grain of "not released yet".

It's not worth my energies.
 

Killyp

macrumors 68040
Jun 14, 2006
3,859
7
....
you might also want to check out the Nokia N95.

Quad band
240 * 320 pixels (better than the iPhone)
5Mpixel camera
3G, WiFi
Full Bluetooth functionality
Built in GPS
220 hour battery life
6.5 hours talktime

As far as phones go it's pretty damn good.

If that's the way you see things, then you won't understand the concept of the iPhone. Never mind... :rolleyes:
 

iW00t

macrumors 68040
Nov 7, 2006
3,286
0
Defenders of Apple Guild
Apple should have taken their own dog food and acted like a true Justin Long in this case.

1) FCC will leak details of your device? No worries, attach a NDA to your application!
2) FCC refuses to sign it? Then refuse to seek FCC certification and sell product anyway!
3) FCC takes seeks legal injunction against sale? Legal injunctions are just mere pieces of paper!
4) Court fines Apple for violating FCC regulations? Refuse to pay fines until FCC approves said device!

They certainly did this to Cisco over their trademark, so why not do it to a government agency. Imagine the ads: "The govt doesn't want you to own this, get the Apple iPhone today!", "Totally illeeegal! Phone"

Acting within the confines of the law are for pencil pushing fat pudgy PeeCees :rolleyes:
 

ogee

macrumors 6502
Nov 8, 2006
417
0
Earth.
I think the article pulls up a lot of valid points.

Personally I wont buy the iPhone. The specs are just too low, and no bluetooth is a big problem. I use my phone manly in the car with my hands free set which is bluetooth only. The local laws require a car kit, hand use of a phone is illegal.

My current phone contract is with a 3G (UMTS) provider. I could go back to 2G if I had to, so that doesn't bother me. I dont like the fixed battery. In my office I have top have my phones ringer off. Vibration is a requirement.

An OS X based phone looks good, shame no 3rd party programs are allowed. The front end interface is cool.

Maybe iPhone G3 will be better. I hope. Otherwise the Nokia version out in May should be good ! :eek: :D
 

panoz7

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2005
904
1
Raleigh, NC
no bluetooth is a big problem.

It has bluetooth... you just can't use it for syncing with iTunes. Didn't you see that cool bluetooth headset in the keynote?

In my office I have top have my phones ringer off. Vibration is a requirement.

Unless I've missed something Apple hasn't said that the vibration feature is missing... they just haven't said that it does have it. Omitting to mention a feature is not proof that such a feature doesn't exist. Give it some time and see what apple says about it.

shame no 3rd party programs are allowed.

I have a feeling this will change by the time you can buy one. Look at the recent reaction to the $4.99 apple was going to charge for the N updater. The reaction was negative and apple has since lowered the price to $1.99. Apple seems to be very interested in customer reaction. The lack of 3rd party applications hasn't gone over well and I suspect that they will have to adjust that by the time the phone is available.
 

Mammoth

macrumors 6502a
Nov 29, 2005
938
0
Canada
3. a 2M camera. Even my grandmothers old Nokia is 2M, you can get between 2-6m as standard. So nothing new there


6. No vibration option. What's with that. Almost as annoyingly Apple as their ridiculous single mouse button. Possibly the single most aggravating thing they have ever done. :p
3. Here in Canada 2MP is quite good and the K790 is 'revolutionary.' :rolleyes:

6. Okay that's a serious issue for me. I'm not allowed to have my cellphone on me during class but I just keep it on vibrate so nobody knows. Unless I use silent which isn't great, I'll have to hold off on the iPhone until 2G.
 

Cooknn

macrumors 68020
Aug 23, 2003
2,111
0
Fort Myers, FL
6. No vibration option. What's with that. Almost as annoyingly Apple as their ridiculous single mouse button. Possibly the single most aggravating thing they have ever done. :p
Where do you hear that there would be no vibration? I haven't read it anywhere.

It will be difficult though, for the iPhone to be as nice as my BlackBerry Pearl with regards to ring options. It has about a dozen. Ring, Vibrate + Ring, Ring Only, Vibrate Only, Silent, Calls Only (no e-mail notification) which is great for when you're sleeping, and more. You can also select sound or vibrate for any type of incoming communication including e-mail (it does push IMAP and picks up POP3 as well). Oh, and it can also tell if it's holstered or not so you can set it on vibrate when it's in the holster and ring when it's not.

But - it doesn't touch the iPhone for useability (based on what we've seen) or the pure beauty of the UI. That being said, I'll have a real hard time making the switch if I can't get at least some of the options that I already have...
 

Chinashaw

macrumors member
Aug 18, 2005
69
0
Ok......

First off, my errors ( :mad: )

- Screen resolution.... Sorry misread all of that

- Vibration - not sure if this is wrong or not but very happy to be wrong

The other side

" that's the way you see things, then you won't understand the concept of the iPhone. Never mind...
Exactly.

The iPhone is for simplicity & power at the same time."

-- Not sure what I am missing here, I am guessing that Steve Jobs is wanting to diversfy Apply out of the PC business into the whole consumer digital convergence market. That he wants to deliver a market beating phone that can deliver at least a portion of the results to Apple that the iPod did for them. That he wants to deliver a product that is as good, cool and revolutionary (which this phone is still not really) as the iPod was when launched.

-- As for the simple, powerful OS. Symbian (the latest version is Series 60) is a simple, light, powerful OS that powers a number of the top end phones. So no really awesome news there.

Sorry to hear about the N95 being so much over there. Here the price plans are still not out but reckon we will see it much cheaper.

Don't get me wrong, the Iphone looks awesome, it's just not as awesome as I wanted it to be (expected, hoped given how creative Apple are). Call me spoiled?

And in a way I also find it sad. I mean why can't they refresh the MacBook, the design has been around now for years, would be good to see something newer and different. Then there is the OS. The new version seems to be little more than an upgrade (Before you flame me back, the new functions look very good but the look and feel is the same old/same old.) If MSoft can revolutionise their OS, then surely the best OS designers around could do something similar?

And on that note, it's time to read the article that kicked this post off and does anyone have any idea when Leopard is due to be released? :confused:
 

Macmadant

macrumors 6502a
Jun 4, 2005
851
0
Things to think about why the iPhone is not quite as revolutionary

1. No 3G support - Outside the USA, this phone does not even support 2.5G, it is closer to 1.5G.

2. Unable to use Bluetooth for synching. Got to use a cable? Whats with that?

3. a 2M camera. Even my grandmothers old Nokia is 2M, you can get between 2-6m as standard. So nothing new there

4. 4gb or 8gb hd on the phone. Nokia N91 has that

5. Pretty poor battery life. Same as every other damn phone out there.

6. No vibration option. What's with that. Almost as annoyingly Apple as their ridiculous single mouse button. Possibly the single most aggravating thing they have ever done. :p

7.

7. As for the comment that no one cares about any phone apart from a crackberry, Razr, iphone. How ignorant can you get, the largest mobile phone companies (and so the most popular phones) are Nokia, LG, Sony E, Motorola . Wait only 1 of those phones comes from Motorola. Check out the global mobile market and see what phones are the biggest. You might also want to look into the fact that the US lags behind even Europe in their mobile phone use and technology. Ironic given that qualcom is a US company.

So from a features point of view it is a pretty damn ordinary phone with nothing particularly special.

But now I have slagged it. The UI looks awesome and the twist and shake input is cool. So I want one. I won't though buy it until they actually improve the phone specs, I want a phone as much as I want a pretty toy. Which might account for why I still have not bought a Crackberry.

you might also want to check out the Nokia N95.

Quad band
240 * 320 pixels (better than the iPhone)
5Mpixel camera
3G, WiFi
Full Bluetooth functionality
Built in GPS
220 hour battery life
6.5 hours talktime

As far as phones go it's pretty damn good.
Reading about the iphone i didn't think it was that good then watched the keynote and got took in by the reality distortion field, now i love it, also i've never really liked nokia, and i think it's got a market, even if it is just apple fanboys like me and most people round here
 
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