As a Muslim, the most sacred days in my calendar are Eid-ul-Adha and Eid-ul-Fitr, but a Macworld Stevenote is right there in bronze position.
So it doesn’t have a matter transportation pad, captive singularity fuel cell or time travel UI, but the mythical iPhone is finally with us…so significant, it gets its own tab on the Apple site.
So what can this baby do?
It’s an iPod, it’s a phone and, I guess, it’s a web tablet (I’m trying not to say c*nvergence). Remember all those Apple patent filings? Apple’s squeezed many of them into its iPhone…it’s actually strangely reminiscent of the FIC-GTA001.
The iPhone’s two-megapixel camera, wifi, Bluetooth and quad-band GSM radios are of less interest that the software, UI layer and integration with OS X. Apple’s ability to reimagine the user experience around a bunch of commodity technologies is, I believe, their real strength.
iPhone’s iPod experience remains the same, but adds ‘Coverflow’ visual navigation from iTunes 7 as well as automagically managing volume levels during incoming calls.
The phone itself is really the killer-app and seems to remove some of the pain points of mobile handsets…
- clever call management, using gestures to conference calls together.
- visual selection of voicemails for playback (is this carrier dependent?)
- an iChat-style SMS application with onscreen keyboard.
Notably, the phone UI utilises the same metaphors as the OS X desktop, particularly synchronisation with iPhoto, iTunes and Address Book as well as widgets analagous to Apple’s Dashboard.
As mesmerised as I am by the iPhone, I can’t help thinking that it hasn’t really moved telephony along that much today. I wonder…
- How open is the hardware and software for third-party developers; as open as Dashboard or as closed as iPod?
- Why Apple didn’t include GPS?
- Will developers be able to replace or bypass Apple’s onboard software?
- Why Apple didn’t bypass carriers and go straight to consumers with unlocked phones - maybe they’ll still do that?
- Will we see Skype, GTalk and other VoIP/VoIM services ported to iPhone?
- Can I run Windows Mobile using Parallels (just kidding!)?
- Any possibilities to build crowdsensing applications?
- Can developers get to the basic telephony data and APIs to really reinvent telephony.
- Will Apple address the 10 Things I Want From My Phone and My Cellco.
- If I drop it will it scratch? ;)
- Is the enclosure a fingerprint magnet like the black iPods, or a sweat-repelling metallic sheen like little nano?
- Will I need bigger pockets?
The themes of openness and hackability are the basis of Emerging Telephony, it’s not clear whether Apple has launched some emerged telephony in a shiny box, or really has changed the game enough for carriers to alter their entrenched positions. Now if Apple come along to ETel, we’ll know they’re serious :)
If I was still employed by Orange, I’d be compelled to make an incompatibility metaphor about ‘Apples & Oranges’…but if you’re listening Jobs, I’ll happily take one of the shiny little fellas off your hands :)
Hi,
I just love the specs for this thing. The only concern I see, and highly relevant, is the sync with Windows PCs. I hope it will work. Luckily I'm a new born Mac fan since I was forced to switch last year when I started my new job. I went straight out and bought a Windows mobile device (WM5), and it took at least 6 months until I was able to sync it with my new MacBook Pro.
I think the hope lies in the fact that Microsoft didn't have to make WM Mac compatible. The situation is a bit different with Apple. They know that they have to make it Windows sync compatible.
One of the stunning features on the iPhone is the battery life. 5 hours of talk time! Beat that SonyEricsson or Motorola.
Just sad that it doesn't reach Europe until late 2007...... :-(
Great post! I very much agree with both your praise and appreciation for the device innovations that are extremely impressive, and your dismay that Apple doesn't appear to be developing an open device or establishing any innovative carrier relationships. I just read this post by Tom Evslin that sums it up well:
Apple Fails to Reinvent Telecommunications Industry - Too Bad
http://blog.tomevslin.com/2007/01/apple_fails_to_.html
Still, I'll buy one as soon as I can.
The Skype question is interesting.. wonder if Cingular has say over apps, obviously that'd eat into their cash cow.
GPS chips- think they run about 80 at the low end. Couldn't they do a lot with the enhanced 911 data? That said - it's impressive what they've done with the accelerometer / proximity / ambient light sensors.
I think most of your questions are not relavant for the 80% of people and that's who Apple is selling too. And things like GPS, etc. are best left for version 2.0. This is an incredible 1.0 product. Products are designed for upgrade paths, etc. The future is going to be good it would seem...
I take it back about GPS - having now seen the Google Maps demo, perhaps the web is enough for current locative applications.
As a Windows user myself, I was also worried about sync capabilities - but actually, seeing iPhone's tight integration with OSX is making it easier for me to switch :)
Martin Geddes, one of our ETel speakers, has posted some interesting thoughts about the business end of iPhone at http://www.telepocalypse.net/archives/001052.html - commercially, it may remain quite a niche product, however, it'll be interesting to see if Apple attack lower-end customers with nano/shuffle entry level models too.
Like Bruce, what I really want to see are answers on openness. If anything, Apple's old-school closed model has now made it easier for companies like Trolltech and FIC to attack Apple now that the battle lines are clear.
Interestingly, my 19 year old cousin took one look at the iPhone and said 'it's just too big' - I think *that'll* be the concern of 80% of people...iPhone is lovely, but it's no mass-markety RAZR. BTW, never tell a girl she needs a RAZR ;)
>- Why Apple didn't include GPS?
Why does it need it? Cellphones know where they are from the network anyway, to within a few tens of yards in most metropolitan areas, and that plenty good enough for Google Maps type applications.
>- Will developers be able to replace or bypass Apple's
>onboard software?
Apparently not, but dashboard widgets may provide a caveat to that and there's always web apps.
>Interestingly, my 19 year old cousin took one look at the
>iPhone and said 'it's just too big' -
If you want web browsing, email and visual media with decent readability and usability then what can you do? If you don't, then get a basic phone and apple isn't interested in you. We're long past the days when one phone could appeal to everyone.