Here Comes iPhone Nano, But Not In the US 177
jehovajerieh writes to us in the time-honored tradition of rampant Apple speculation, pointing to an article over on IBTimes suggesting that while the iPhone Nano may be on the way, the US might not be the first to experience this gadget bliss. "Despite limited information in the supplier channels and typical secrecy with new Apple products, insiders have confirmed that the iPhone nano is not yet in the testing labs at AT&T, Marshal says, leading him to believe that the launch will most likely be with a non-US carrier. 'Obviously, the best-case scenario here would be a China launch (~600mil+ wireless subscribers total in the country), but we have no definitive knowledge of this and are working on identifying the [locale] of launch and other pertinent details,' he said."
Big Eyecatching Caption to attrract eyeballs (Score:5, Interesting)
If Apple did release the Nanophone elsewhere then it would be the first time they'd done a product launch that excluded USA.
Of course it would not be surprising if competitors are pushing the concept to create demand which they can fill with a "me too" product. "Me too" that is, except that the original does not exist. Various Chinese companies make a bundle out of "me toos", so this strategy could appeal there.
Could be a legal shuffle, yes? (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe the specific, full sized iPhone is the only product that that Apple is required to carry through AT&T for 5 years?
Maybe the release of the iPhone Nano would open the door for another wireless vendor to handle that product.
Just thinking out loud.
Economic Downturn (Score:3, Interesting)
The article speculates that an iPhone nano may be in the works due to economic downturn (although I fail to see where the great savings lie, and how such a device would be in the works just scant months after the big crash...) but if Apple comes out with it, it still doesn't address the reason I won't buy an iPhone: lock-in.
It's been said millions of times already, but I would like to point out the prepaid market is currently booming. I'd rather spend $500 on the iPhone upfront, get an unlimited monthly data plan cheap ($30 or less) and not have a monthly talk plan - just prepay that part as I need it.
I don't see how a slight change in hardware will change AT&T's rates which is what hurts long term more than the cost of the phone itself. I believe Apple wants to address the lowend of the market (which is does with it's iPods, although imo the shuffle is a poor attempt without any lcd/oled at all), I just don't see it being effective.
Right now, I can go out and buy a prepaid phone for $10. It has a decent color lcd screen, actually, and probably is better/as good as a Razr in many respects (which is piss poor at anything but being a phone out of the box). Coupled with an iPod Touch - it can do about 75% of the iPhone. I won't pretend it is as good as the iPhone unless you're near wifi access at the moment.
But still, when I look at the iPod Touch vs iPhone, I feel like I'm paying through the nose for a gps and phone chipsets added on because of ATT and adding models won't change that component.
*(Everyone is different. ATT's plans are decent for already heavy callers, but I'm not one and there are many other people who just want mobile internet+ipod and don't care about the phone component to the point of thinning the wallet).
Re:Hmm... (Score:4, Interesting)
Alternate explaination: A US carrier other than AT&T. Perhaps T-Mobile.
Re:could make sense (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, China, don't make me laugh! Why would they launch there? The market for them isn't that big!
Re:Smaller? (Score:4, Interesting)
Email can do everything MMS can. Clearly it is the phones that do MMS but not email that are broken.
Re:Big Eyecatching Caption to attrract eyeballs (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually Apple has released products that never sold in the US. Of course this was in the evil Performa times. PowerMac 8200, Black 5400,Color Classic II.
Re:Smaller? (Score:3, Interesting)
Can you email pictures to all 98.5% of worlds population that doesn't have iPhones? If 98,5% of devices does something in a certain way, it is not broken, it may be inefficient or silly, but it is the standard. Doing something else makes you non-compatible, and for a communications device, that means useless.
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Interesting)
There's no reason to assume that an iPhone nano will run *any* third-party apps at all. Think of it as an iPod nano with an integrated phone and it almost makes sense. There's no need for an sophisticated OS or third-party apps then. Just a small iPod with a phone, that's it. Nothing wrong with that idea either.
Re:It's all about the API (Score:4, Interesting)
Interface Builder lets you choose to specify offsets from either side for both axes (top/bottom for Y and left/right for X). Further it lets you defined resize behaviors. The only apps that will be bitten by a change in screen dimensions are those from developers who didn't bother to learn what those controls do and assumed that the screen size will just never change.
Re:Smaller? (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes, if they have an email address, which generally has nothing to do with what kind of phone they have.
Any other questions?
Re:"Huge, heavy brick?" (Score:3, Interesting)
You do realize we live in a 3 dimensional world, don't you? There are two other dimensions to consider in addition to width. And here is a hint - the other two dimensions are larger than the average cell phone size.
Re:Why build an iPhone Nano? (Score:3, Interesting)
Except for the users who are only Apple users AFTER they got their iPod and iPhone and loved them. There are lots of those.
Counterfeit (Score:1, Interesting)
If it appears in China first, it's counterfeit.
Apple's trademarks are:
- Non-removable battery
- Non-removable storage
- Single SIM card on iPhones
- Proprietary connector on phone/iPod side.
Counterfeits have:
-Removable batteries
-Removable storage
-Dual SIM
-Usually triband-GSM instead of QuadbandGSM+UMTS
-mini-usb connectors
-Poor performace, poor battery life
-Hacked copies of software on the phone, could be iPhone OS, could be Hacked Symbian, could be Hacked Windows Mobile
-Invalid or stolen IMEI number
And this is information acquired from people who work in the mobile phone industry. Terrorists are fond of the Chinese counterfeits because they can't be traced. (They all have the same IMEI number apparently.)
Article Data Seriously Misconstrued! (Score:3, Interesting)
The whole basis for this "speculation" (the mobile device world already seems to have moved on from this rumor) was a mock-up of a rubber skin for an iPhone nano device from a chinese supplier that makes rubber device skins.
Likely due to all the knock-off companies in China making knock-off devices, one probably has a mini iPhone knockoff in the works.
It was all over engadget, et al, like a month ago. (and this is /. so naturally i'm too lazy to go dig up links)