iPhone the 21st Century Edsel

Scott in SoCal <[email protected]> wrote:

> And the iPhone purchasers bought the iPhone knowing that it was locked
> down to Apple software and locked down to AT&T cellular service. But
> these people are happy because they got to replace their separate cell
> phone and their separate iPod with a single device that combines the
> functionality of both. It's a physical form factor issue.

yes, but most knew (that cared) Apple would provide a robust SDK for the
iPhone in time. Looks like we should see it in a few weeks to next
couple of months... the iPhone's massive popularity will wipe out
WinMobile, RIMM, Palm, Sysmbian within 36 months.

It would be very hard to compete against Apple's software skills at this
point for any phone company. They simply don't have the resources since
they have never been software developers, much less have the large
developer base like Apple has.

http://developer.apple.com/iphone/

http://www.apple.com/webapps/

learn google gears for a primer:

http://gears.google.com/

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"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <[email protected]> wrote:

> No, apparently many of them thought that the lockdown was defeatable.
>
> Regardless, time will tell. Once they've gone beyond having the first
> one on the block, once something else comes along that's newer, we'll
> see how many people stay with iPhone.

Well, the iPhone will have the lead for at least 17 years by the 200
patents alone. Things like Multi-Touch can't be copied, nor can the thin
form factor, iPod, full web browser, the ability to type easily on a
screen, etc. Cell companies just don't have the ability to move up to
that level.

> The cell phone crowd overall is a finicky one.

Yes, because they've never really had any clear choices. Now the iPhone
wins every review by a wide margin. Yes, Apple needs to add GPS, voice
dialing, etc but you must save something for a Version 2.0 model.

Scott in SoCal <[email protected]> wrote:

> Different strokes for different folks. Clearly the iPhone has the
> right mix of features at the right price point for hundreds of
> thousands of people. It's pretty hard to call that "flawed."

correct, this PC Advisor review sums it up nicely.

the definitive review:

Verdict
If you want to love this much-hyped gadget, you'll find plenty to go
ga-ga over. The Apple iPhone's revolutionary multitouch navigation
system really is intuitive and fun. The endless expanse of display alone
is nothing short of mesmerising, with beautiful bright colors and crisp
resolution. It's a great handheld video player, a decent music player
and camera; its browser, while not as versatile as the one on your
notebook, is still impressive. Plus, it works just fine as a mobile
phone.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/i...?reviewid=1005

Then the same "PC" centric group, slammed the Nokia N95 in comparison to
the iPhone.

The results
In terms of usability, the iPhone blew away its two competitors. Its
overall score in the usability tests was 4.6. The HTC Touch was a
distant second with a mark of 3.4, while the Nokia N95 scored just 3.2.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=11025

Looks like Nokia will quickly become the next DeLL.

-

Oxford wrote:
> Cell companies just don't have the ability to move up to
> that level.

More likely the cellphone companies don't have a user base that requires
that level of features.

DTC <no_spam@move_along_folks.foob> wrote:

> Oxford wrote:
> > Cell companies just don't have the ability to move up to
> > that level.
>
> More likely the cellphone companies don't have a user base that requires
> that level of features.

point well taken.

i forget that even Windows users aren't near the skill level of Mac
users... then when you get into the realm of people that can only
"talk", but don't know how to be productive, you lower your base by
several magnitudes.

but by lowering that threshold, you get into a wider space of the 6.5
billion customer base... so it's up to Apple to dumb down the iPhone to
attract even more "people".

-

Oxford <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:


>
> but by lowering that threshold, you get into a wider space of the 6.5
> billion customer base... so it's up to Apple to dumb down the iPhone
> to attract even more "people".
>
> -
>

They can't possibly dumb it down any more than they did for the Apple
folks.