Inside Apple's iPhone 164
DECS writes "Despite CNET's wild claims, Roughly Drafted is reporting that Apple's market position and recent performance show the company has the ability, capacity, and interest in shaking up the mobile phone industry. Something that service providers, manufacturers, and consumers desperately need."
Yay (Score:5, Funny)
Cell providers are the problem, not the phone (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is cell providers who make most phones ones that force you to pay ridiculous fees for things that you should be able to get for free (like ringtones, backgrounds, etc). This is the reason why apply had problems with the iPhone the first time around, because the cell companies wanted to charge people for being able to transfer songs to their phones.
For me VOIP on a PDA is the way to go. Works great with with my wireless broadband, or wi-fi hot-spots if they are around. Not the most reliable setup for incoming calls, but having a $10/month pager solves that problem.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Graft a simple phone to a fully-featured iPod (or PDA which handles music just as well as an iPod) and you've captured my dollars.
Graft a simple MP3 player on a phone, and I wont bother. I'm way better off toting around my iPod and RAZR together.
Re:Cell providers are the problem, not the phone (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
A 3G N series phone would be great, but I do not know when one will ever become available.
Re:Cell providers are the problem, not the phone (Score:4, Insightful)
I had that in 1994 when I bought my Motorola Flip Phone. Fantastic UI, 10 or so digit LED display. 1-0 numbered buttons, a Send and an End key. It let me make and receive telephone calls where ever I was.
Perfectly simple UI, dial and send. All the features I wanted, placed calls. I already have a PDA, my PDA plays MP3s. I already have a digital camera. I don't want or need GPS in my phone; if I wanted a GPS receiver, I'd buy one.
I want a phone that works well as a phone, and nothing else. I want a phone that I won't lose if while it's on my desk I happen to place a piece of paper over it. I want a phone that won't detonate on impact if I happen to drop it onto the cement sidewalk. I want a phone that won't get scratched up by me putting it into and taking it out of my pocket.
It seems to me that we've spent the last 13 years solving "problems" that didn't exist.
LK
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Perfectly simple UI, dial and send. All the features I wanted, placed calls. I already have a PDA, my PDA plays MP3s. I already have a digital camera. I don't want or need GPS in my phone; if I wanted a GPS receiver, I'd buy one.
But when you get a phone that "has every feature (one) could ever want" then the UI becomes very important. I don't want a PDA, I want a phone with better calendar and contact features, for example.
I want a phone that works well as a phone, and nothing else.
Well, I'm pretty happy with that. But the GGP post was talking about a phone with every feature imaginable, and a great UI. I don't think that's going to happen any time soon. I get around this problem mostly by using my computer as the interface for entering data, via bluetooth. But I'd still like to see a b
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Have the screen not respond to touches unless a button on the side is held down or put into an "active" position, and then the UI can be whatever works best for the feature you're using at the time. Even let the user drag and drop elements of the interface as they like, or make up their own widgets to add.
Re: (Score:2)
Many people use their phones while driving, because we all know how hard it is to hold that conversation until later. If given touch-screens, you can bet drivers will happily take their eyes off the road to dial, with predicable traffic results.
The Darwin awards will be happy.
Re:Cell providers are the problem, not the phone (Score:4, Informative)
No camera, no games, no color screen... But it has great reception, nice UI, a battery that lasts a week, and is small enough to fit my pocket (but not small enough to get lost easily)
Re: (Score:1)
That phone is old news now, but Palm OS is a great UI, and it had every feature that I could reasonably want. Every feature I could want would include playing doom3 on it and and be able to emulate a full PC, but I can't expect that from a phone.
It could however act as a dumb terminal, interface with my multimeter, control winamp, have a map of my city with gps, give me a good book to read while waiting in line, act a
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Cell providers are the problem, not the phone (Score:5, Informative)
Around here at Brazil I'm able to upload and download photos/ringtones to my mobile using the provided data-cable, no fees attached. Also there are tons of phones with IR or Bluetooth conectivity, you can use both to transfer data to these phones. Not to mention the new phones that have expandable memory using SDCards and MemorySticks...
So, the only people that pays for things like picture downloading and ringtones here are the ones that don't know better, that is, most of them
Re: (Score:2)
Re: US thing, maybe, but still the providers (Score:2, Informative)
For instance, Cingular took the hardware that performs the WiFi functions out of their HTC based 2125 phone while T-Mobile leaves it active in their version of the same HTC based phone. Verizon has a long history of disabling DUN in its phones, both bluetooth and datacable.
sometimes it is the phones though, for many phones you need special software to be able to transfer pictures and ringtones, so you still have to pay to get them there either way.
Re: (Score:2)
It's the Provider (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I have been a Claro customer for 3 years now, used to own a Siemens MC60 and didn't use it as a GPRS modem only because the darned thing refused to keep the connection alive under Linux. Now I own a Sony-Ericsson z530i, and I can even browse it's filesystem using irda/OBEX on KDE.
Re: (Score:1)
BUAAG (But You Are A Geek!). Most consumers do not want to dink with their phone to answer/make a call. The cell phone market is about fashionability (I make up words). Look at apple's success with the iPod, to paraphrase some magazine article I read a while ago, even if you are decked o
Re: (Score:2)
It might be good from a user's perspective as it makes switching from one phone to another pretty easy. Some phones have slightly different UI to support spe
Re: (Score:2)
It does cost $2.99 for ringtones, but you can connect the phone to any computer with bluetooth and transfer ringtones that way, too.
Re: (Score:2)
Form, not Function (Score:2, Insightful)
Why doesn't the iPod publish audio specs? Because it under performs compared to every other player in the market. How does a minor upgrade in processors constitute a 37% increase in speed?
Expect the iMobile (not iPhone, remember) to be expensive, poorly integrated with service providers (or an MVNO) and a mediocre phone / mediocre mp3 player.
But it'll have HYPE, and so it'll sell. That iPod you just bought your kids for Christmas will be old hat, and the new i
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Form, not Function (Score:4, Interesting)
Notice that the iPod sells as well as it does without published audio specifications. It is not an audiophile device. In fact, I think at the moment there is no such thing as an MP3 player that would meet the requirements of a discriminating audiophile, and for the vast majority of available content, this is irrelevant.
Just about any MP3 player with a decent pair of aftermarket headphones is going to deliver a "good enough" experience for most listeners. The differentiating factor is how the device looks and feels, how easy it is to use the player's interface, how easy it is to load content on the device, and how intrusive the required copy-protection restrictions are.
The combination of the iPod line of players and the iTunes software is "good enough" for a large number of people.
As far as phones go-- poorly integrated with carriers? Yes, please. I prefer unlocked GSM phones so I can choose my own provider whenever and wherever I am. As far as the bad, misleading and restrictive things that tech companies can do to you, Apple doesn't hold a candle to just about any cellular operator in the world.
Mediocre player? Depends on how you mean mediocre. The device, if it exists, will likely be as mediocre a player as the iPod itself is. You can take that however you like.
However, if, from the perspective of interface design, the first iteration Apple phone is anywhere near as good, compared to other phones, as the iPod is to other MP3 players, then I see no reason why the device couldn't be at least as good as the best Symbian based phones, and a good deal better than just about anything Motorola has produced in the past ten years-- including all-hype, no-function phones like the RAZR and, the ill-fated ROKR.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
If it's a GSM phone, it'll suffer the same poor audio quality, low data speeds, and structural penetration issues that all 900mHz phones suffer from. If it's a CDMA phone it'll HAVE to be sold through Verizon or Sprint directly, since
Re: (Score:1)
Actually.. there are about 10 times a
Re:Form, not Function (Score:4, Insightful)
That entire paragraph was written with the kind of blissful ignorance that discounts the idea that form can be powerful. The parent seems to think that if something is cool, it _can't_ be powerful - that the two concepts are mutually exclusive.
What prevents cool from being powerful? Nothing.
Check out Mac OS X Server. It is quite plainly "cool" and it is demonstrably as powerful or more so than competing products.
XServe RAID - extremely competitive on price, powerful, and very "cool" - the fit and finish of this product far surpass anything else in the space. The management software is very flexible and powerful.
The click wheel and hierarchical interface of the iPod are two more examples. How much could you do with four poles and a clicker? You can provide users with a way to navigate music and build a playlist without even looking at the device - if you're Apple.
The built-in handle and kid-proof shell of the teardrop iMacs is another example.
Form can quite easily be demonstrated as power. I think you're too wrapped up in the idea that something has to have myriad dialog boxes, option sub-menus and configurators to be "powerful".
Re: (Score:2)
Do they even have a one percent share? Aren't these just check off products so Apple can say they offer a server and a raid device. I suppose that apple fanatic sites might buy them, but they are a pretty limited product line... nothing bigger or smaller... and you're stuck with their relatively limited product innovation--whar have done they lately?
Re: (Score:2)
How does percentage market share have anything whatsoever to do with power? By your reasoning, cheap Chevys or Skodas would be the most powerful cars on the road instead of the Koenigsegg or Pagani Zonda. You weren't just grasping at straws with that statement, you missed the straws altogether.
Re: (Score:2)
Not everyone is solely interested in running benchmarks.
Re: (Score:2)
To specifically address your front side bus complaint... what other "form" decision might have an effect on an apparent heat problem? iMacs are designed for the hom
Re:Form, not Function (Score:4, Funny)
True. Gold is very heavy, and carrying it around is a pain. Plus it's easy to get the electrons flowing the wrong way down your cables when you're unplugging them and replugging them all the time. Not to mention oxygen gets in every time you unplug.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Form, not Function (Score:4, Insightful)
Not trying to be difficult, but what does that mean? I mean, granted, I don't listen to music on great headphones or anything, but every CD player or mp3 player I've tried has sounded fine to me. And why would they need to release the specs? Can't people just test it themselves?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
However, since most MP3 player users use lossy compression, the default headphones (if they haven't stepped on them yet) or else a FM transmitter for their car, aren't trained to hear subtle nuances, and listen to music that's been electronically squash
Re: (Score:2)
I think because most people don't understand "audio specs." Fact is that, for most, it doesn't matter as long as it sounds roughly equivalent to a CD on, say, a typical car stereo. I can tell the difference between the sound an iPod Shuffle and the sound a Nano makes, but I attribute it to a lack of an equalizer. Both sound at least CD quality to me. For the convenience (size and integration with my Mac), I can deal with the sound a Shuffle makes. If you can't
Re: (Score:2)
Oh no! Does that mean that I am not hearing the full 64kbps audio wonder of my podcasts? Or, the audiophile delight that is the mp3 format?
Re: (Score:1)
Except.... (Score:5, Informative)
It wont be called iPhone because Cisco/Linksys has already released one [linksys.com] and owns the trademark for iPhone. The Canadian trademark is controlled by Comwave, I believe (someone linked to them defending the trademark against Apple in another article but I can't find it now).
MacPhone perhaps? That seems to be more in line with some of their recent naming conventions as well.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Can Apple do it? Probably not. While Apple is often around at technological emergence, if someone else doesn't show them the way, it
Affordable? (Score:1, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Shaking up? (Score:2, Insightful)
If not, all they're doing is releasing a new phone. Hella cool or not, it's still just going to be a new phone.
LK
Re: (Score:2)
In any case Apple is not about cheap. Easyjet founder Stelio tried cheap airtime as an MVNO and failed - just shit down.
Apple know people ( some people ) pay for good quality and good service.
But yes maybe it is just a new phone. We will wait and see.
RAZR v3i (iTunes) (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
--jeffk++
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I bought a 1 gig micro SD card - loaded it up, and found a really annoying trait. During part of my morning commute, I hop on the PATH train into Manhattan. When playing music, the Razr picks up every bit of RF - (think conductor's announcements, doors opening/closing, train sparking as it moves across switches in the tracks), and STOPS PLAYING!
At first I though it might be the MP3's I had
Re: (Score:2)
I've long waited for a mobile phone with a great interf
The real problem with cell phones... (Score:3, Insightful)
For obvious reasons, Apple isn't likely to solve this problem.
Re: (Score:2)
to give an example t-mobile (in the uk) has a tarrif called flext.
They have a service called web and walk which gives fairly substantial net access for £7.50 a month which still wasn't being taken up (why would you with broadband at home).
However what is interesting is daypass a scheme which charges you a small fee per kbyte upto a maximum of £1 a day. I've had data enabled phones for the last 2 years but primarily used wifi to my own connec
Re: (Score:1)
Oh, drat. On the onld web 'n' walk plan (100MB a month) using a none-3G phone skype is not blocked. (but then it is not useful either).
But I guess you could get a proxy for it, then go jump though your home BB connection.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Web'n'walk fair use policy
Subject to coverage. Compatible handset required. Provides unlimited browsing on mobile handsets in the UK. Not applicable to connection via CSD. To ensure a high quality of service for all our customers a fair use policy applies. T-Mobile defines fair use as total UK data (both sent and received) of up to 1GB per month. T-Mobile may contact customers who exceed 1GB of data and ask them to reduce their usage. If data usage is not reduced, notice may be given, after which network protection controls may be applied. Not to be used for other activities (including but not limited to): modem access for computers, internet based video/audio streaming services, peer to peer file sharing, internet based video downloads, internet phone calls and instant messaging. If such use is detected, notice may be given after which network protection controls may be applied. The application of network protection controls will result in a reduced speed of transmission.
It looks like they will give you a warning if they notice you are doing something they think they should make a profit on.
ahem this looks interesting
https://www.openwengo.com/index.php/mp_download_mo bil_pda [openwengo.com]
http://wiki.wengo.com/index.php/WengoPhone_for_PDA _quick_user_guide [wengo.com]
The proxy address is : 213.91.9.210
The domain name server is : voip.wengo.fr
using that directly is liable to get you cut off but would it be difficult to connect via your own network
http://www.bol.ucla.edu/services/vpn/pda/docs/ppc2 003 [ucla.edu]
Want some change? Who does? (Score:1)
shaking up the mobile phone industry. Something that service providers, manufacturers, and consumers desperately need.
Really? It doesn't look like it though. Most people happily live with vendor lock-ins and keep paying ridicuolus fees for what should have been free or affordable (2$ for ringtone while keeping users form uploading their own files? Come on, how much does it cost to show caller ID?, and don't even get me started on data packet rate). Service providers are happy with the status quo because they are in the driver's seats. Perhaps phone manufacturers want some change, but definetely not the services provider
TFA is garbage. (Score:1, Insightful)
Somehow, this is misinterpreted and twisted into the following passage in TFA:
Re: (Score:2)
The article and website isn't a revenue creator, its shared ideas that I've found that I thought were interesting. Yahoo ads bring in less than a couple dollars in a day of high traffic, and only help to cover part of the hosting expense. Amazon and iTS ads don't earn anything unless peopl
That article doesn't say anything new (Score:1)
The cellphone industry is an offshoot of the telco industry, and you'll have to look long and hard to find something more difficult to change. That industry predates the personal computer industry. It benefits from network effects and local near-monopolies, from massive lock-in and from being the gatekeeper to something that people want to do: make phone calls.
Note that I'm not saying that the in
Apple is dangerous (Score:3, Funny)
Be careful, be very careful...
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
RTFA - for the chick (Score:2)
Re:RTFA - for the chick (Score:4, Funny)
If she refuses, she's just a nice looking lesbian.
Re: (Score:1)
It's not called iPhone god damnit (Score:1)
Just because morons are hooked on calling everything Apple does i-this and i-that doesn't make it right or even possible.
It's not iPhone, it's iChat Mobile! (Score:2)
I See the Big picture now :) (Score:1)
Rumor of Google and Apple "secret deal"
+ Rumor of iPhone with Camera features (video recording)
+ Google buys YouTube
+ Apple Relations with Disney
+ Rumor MacOS X for phone
=
Killer App Multi Media Phone.
So Downloading full length movie is not prime time on phones yet.
its just too darn slow. but if Apple makes a deal with Google,
they can build an embedded YouTube plateform to upload and download video.
So think about this:
MacOS X Powered.
Photo Booth with your camera
YouTube In
Appeal to the Ump... (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No, been this way for a long time but maybe not the beginning. The PC software wasn't always at parity with the Mac version, but it is now.
Either way, it sucks to require any app, as opposed to allowing an Apple or PC to administrate it via a browser.
Well - true and not. I've configured many Airport and non-Airport wireless networks. Apple's software makes things go a little faster and easier than most web based tools. I don't know how hard it would be t
Re: (Score:2)
Even a web interface isn't ideal, if it's the *only* interface outside proprietary software. A command line or SNMP management (or preferably both) is pretty essential for an automated network management environment.
Apple's reputation is definitely overhyped (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeh, that's a typical Apple situation.
Alternatively, as in the firmware on the Macbooks, they don't give you control at all...
On the other hand you have their total standards-based OS and open API. They're definitely a mixed lot.
Apple has been integrating the revamped "iSight" into many of its new portables, and iMacs, but the fact that it has been yanked as a standalone product makes it difficult to defend a
Apple has had this on the board for a couple years (Score:3, Informative)
In the description, section 0111
"In one embodiment, the device is or includes functionality for supporting cellular or mobile phone usage. In this embodiment, the device includes processors, transmitters, receivers, and antennas for supporting RF, and more particularly GSM, DCS and/or PCS wireless communications in the range of about 850 to about 1900 MHz."
In the claims, they detail the invention as a handheld computing device that is a cell phone made of a non-plastic material to have better wireless signal reception (claims 1, 6, 7).
Will it be able to make phonecalls? (Score:3, Insightful)
But very few of them do the basics well... i.e. make phone calls. My old Nokia would lose signal. My new Samsung, the vibrate isn't powerful enough, and the ring isn't loud enough.
Oh yeah, but sure, it has a camera phone and will do all these other cool worthless things.
I doubt Apple is entering this market to make a cell phone. They probably just want to make an iPod that can occasionally make phone calls.
Re: (Score:2)
That would put them in fine company with half the "smartphones" out there.
But wait! (Score:2, Funny)
I don't want no Apple Phone, I want a tablet! (Score:2)
Apple PDA, anyone? (Score:2)
Until Stev
My wishlist (Score:2)
2. Bluetooth
3. Addressbook
4. Calendar
5. iSync
6. POP & IMAP email client
7. Web browser
I have been unable to find a satisfactory phone for the American market. A Treo might come close, but its lack of good multitasking is hard to take after having a multitasking phone. Excellent S60 phones exist... (overseas|as prototypes).
I probably am a member of a niche market. The market has no good
Re:I wonder what they'll use DRM-wise. (Score:5, Insightful)
MP3 is itself a proprietary format. And iTunes (and iPod) fully supports MP3. So how can iTunes be crippling the "MP3 industry" when it supports MP3?
Re: (Score:1)
Nope, wrong again. Sounds to me like you Zune and you're in deep denial or something.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Um, Motorola has sold millions of RAZRs so if it is a fad, so is every cell phone out there. But you might be right. Just like cordless telephones, analog TV, VCRs and every other piece of technology that gets replaced by better technology. Goo
Re: (Score:2)
I think I speak for most of us when I say "Huh? The who is doing the what now?"
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Hmmm. Not sure what you call "small" but Apple's sales last year were $14B with profits of over a billion. They may very well hit $20B in sales this year. Nokia had sales of E10B, with profits of just over E1B.