Re: Myth #1.
Jobs says in the keynote, and the network protocols engineer at the MacWorld booth for the iPhone confirmed to me yesterday that a 3G device is coming.
With Cingular, that means HSPDA, which in my experience is very, very fast. It should be more well rolled out by the time Apple introduces it. The engineer also said the lack of rollout was a big issue.
What about Myth #0?
i.e., It will fail because it doesn't buy direct from the iTS.
If anyone doesn't 'get' the Apple iPhone should watch Steve's part of the Keynote address demonstrating the iPhone's features.
One word: absolutely amazing!!! (OK, that's 2 words)
I would have disagree with your piece on one item, Daniel. I think there is room for, at least a $399 iPhone with some lesser feature set would sell like crazy. It would fit into the slot between the $349 iPod Video and the $499 iPhone.
I personally don't really need a cellphone with a camera, or even an iPod for that matter. What I would like is a phone that "just works" in the typical Apple tradition. If there was a 2GB model, even sans camera, at a more affordable price point, I would buy at least 2 of them without thinking - even if they wait a year after the first models are released.
Other than that, there is no doubt in my mind that the iPhone is going to turn the whole cell phone business upside down.
Reports indicate a closed system which might indicate difficulty for developers to do anything.
Regarding integrated battery. recently it was reported that FBI was able to record a mobsters conversation via his cellphone. Some place they ask you to remove the battery due to security.
Funny. I was beginning to think that I was the only one to make similar obervations (Except for Myth 7, that one escaped me). I've already had 2 "discussions" with people I know about such mundane things as the name, or batteries, or Apple's choice of Cingular as service provider. Blah blah blah. None of this matters.
When I tell them that I will let them check out my iPhone (or whatever it's called) when I buy it in June, I get these blank stares, and I can see their mouths move but no words come out, and I instantly know that they want one too. Deep down they know their current phone/browser/email thingie is suddenly obsolete. Change can hard to deal with.
The marketing implications of this blows me away. I think it's brilliant.
Great article! Keep up the good work!
"In contrast, after a couple years of Palm Treo 650 ownership, I can report that the only reason I've pulled the battery is to recover from frequent crashes or when fiddling with unnecessarily complex firmware updates."
Priceless. Same can be said for my 650.
I love all the hand wringing about the battery not being user replaceable. Every cell phone I've owned and used over the last ten years have all had user replaceable batteries. The only problem being that in order to replace the batteries I would have to almost completely disassemble the phone! (And yes, I have taken the battery out; not for a charge replacement, but find out the model number for my phone - which, for some bizarre reason, is only printed on the back of the phone, under the battery inside the phone!?!)
Having enough battery power has never been a problem for me personally in all that time, but since the iPhone (wouldn't "apple symbol"Phone make more sense?) uses a standard iPod dock connector, there already extra external battery packs available.
I'm old enough and been around long enough not to be a blind, Mac fanboy; but Steve Jobs is absolutely right on this one, before the iPhone, every cell phone ever made is an absolute nightmare to use. Period.
I do hope you continue with the iPhone mythos. There are still so many more out there.
Alas, Myth Three is no myth.
Being tied to Cingular is literally a deal breaker for me. My home, and everywhere in a hundred mile radius is in their "partnered" area. Which, by Cingular's definition, excessive use therein will result in additional charges and/or contract termination.
Sadly, no iPhone for possible me. 
Yo, Daniel!
Thanks for another Dan Elan "no crap, just the facts" serving, this time covering what is bound to become the next FUD campaign against an Apple Inc (sic!) product.
Keep up the good work, dude!
"When a phone is unlocked it loses its privileges on a provider's data network. An unlocked phone can make GSM calls and send basic SMS. No MMS, no Internet, no iTS. Apple would either have to reverse engineer a method to gain access to the data network (unlikely as most data networks require SSL-level security to access) or it would have to offer something different."
While I appreciate your thoughts, I can't say I agree with your reasoning on some of the myths:
"Myth Three: The iPhone should be sold unlocked, not tied to Cingular service".
Unlocked GSM phones can be easily configured for data (GPRS/EDGE), MMS, and other services (e.g. email). There are absolutely no technical reasons why an unlocked GSM phone would be restricted to only voice calls and SMS.
While the GPRS/MMS/Email configuration is not super-easy for your average Joe, there are ways of automating it through OTA (over-the-air) solutions. Apple could easily offer a way of configuring unlocked iPhones for its customers either through its web site, or through the carriers themselves - who would stand to gain from increased data usage.
True, integration with Cingular enables random-access visual voice mail, but for that feature alone I would never give up ability to choose my own carrier (or agreement terms).
"Myth Four: The iPhone software is a closed model, therefore the sky is falling."
First of all, BREW is a Qualcomm standard (which happens to make CDMA chips used in phones sold by Verizon).
Secondly, while iPods are meant to do a couple of things (and do them right) I certainly do not feel that my phone/PDA should be limited in the same way, especially when its capable of doing much more. Imagine if your home computer used the "closed model". Sure, that may save you from the "junkware", but at what cost? What if I want to add an SSH or a GPS client on my iPhone? What would be my options? Beg Apple?
Apple representatives at the Macworld Expo today could not even confirm whether iPhone would support J2ME.
Since we will be definitely paying for hardware/OS on the device, why would not Apple let us be creative with it? You could not argue that this is like the game console market where the consoles are sold at the loss, so the manufacturers control all the channels. At $600 + Cingular subsidies (if there are any), Apple will definitely be making money on these phones, so why be greedy and keep control to itself?
"Myth Six: Cisco owns the iPhone name, which presents an impossible conundrum of epic proportions."
Cisco sued Apple over the iPhone name today. They probably think that they have a case.
"Myth Seven: Apple will need to port iLife 07 to Windows in order to have a photo viewer for PC users."
Apple could certainly allow iTunes on Windows to sync with some of the popular photo applications in order to allow users to take full advantage of their devices. How is that done today with video/photo-capable iPods? I use a mac, so I would not know.
"Myth Eight: An integrated battery is a significant problem for users"
Being able to use a spare battery on a phone is much more important than on an iPod - i.e., phones are more essential to people than the music players. I am sure that Apple had their reasons (allow for simpler/nicer design), but this can be a big deal to some people. And if you
Halo scan's interface is weird 
"Enter" posts the comment! So, here we go again.
I'd like to comment regarding this: "When a phone is unlocked it loses its privileges on a provider's data network. An unlocked phone can make GSM calls and send basic SMS. No MMS, no Internet, no iTS."
Here in Latvia many GSM phones, almost half, are unlocked ones. I can use any of them on any network just by changing the SIM card, and enjoy FULL scope of services (MMS, internet, operator's private WAP services, etc.) There are no technical problems with unlocked phones. There possibly are problems artificially imposed by cellular operators in US. I read about their methods and feel like in a horror film.
I always enjoy your articles, and even this the: Ten Myths of the Apple iPhone
But the bashing and rude comments made this article just regular blog dust, it's informative, enjoyable, and well written, but also rude wich dissapoints me. You are better than this Daniel.
Anyone unglued about the name of this product is seriously logic impaired. It doesn't even matter in the slightest.
Frankly, Mr. Beschizza, it is obvious why you write for aesthetic obsessive magazines rather than engineer actual products. But thanks for continuing the bothersome tradition of repeating the complaints of yesterday’s wags.
This has become the top battle cry of Microsoft slaves.
Hey Palm: don't let the door hit you on the way out!
So you will only be able to install software previously approved by Apple and sold via iTunes.
Does that make any sense?
If it does, why doesn't Apple use the same model for Mac computers?
Yes...! Dan again quashes all the silly, ill-thought out 'auto-response' objections to iPhone and why it will 'fail'.
As with iPod in 2001, there were many naysayers, yet it has been crowned ever since, and despite many attempts, never successfully copied.
So it will be with iPhone.
I would agree with most points, but would like to argue specifically with Myth 4.
I loved my Palm back in the day because there was tons of 3rd party software for it (all of which I found was very stable).
I think the problems that you complain about with "look at the state of development for Palm and WinCE before recommending a similar mess for Apple." can be put down the fact that both those OS's are, on a technical level, horrible.
Would you say that OS X for desktop/laptops has been hampered by shareware developers? I would look forward to OS X shareware for an iPhone.
(Also can you not refer to anybody who thinks the iPhone isn't 100% perfect to panic mongers?)
For a device that only a handful of people have actually handled, everyone seems amazingly certain that the battery is not removeable/replaceable. Has anyone actualy confirmed this? It's not spelled out on the Tech Specs page.
The bottom of the rear panel is black, where the rest of the rear shell is metal. Is it possible that the black strip is a removable door?
I don't know either, I'm just askin'...
It would appear that Steve Jobs had the VIPS at the Stevenote to basically show that Apple could give the cell phone industry "the finger" with multi-touch technology, even though the device shown is a prototype and won't get out from behind the glass display cases until after the FCC gives approval and Leopard is released and the unit is renamed.
And once released with whatever name it will finally have on it (Cisco court issues), can folsk afford the high monthly bandwidth-based phone bills for POTS connectivity?
I call this kind of Apple-based presentation "Vaporvoid" instead of calling it vaporware.
"When a phone is unlocked it loses its privileges on a provider's data network. An unlocked phone can make GSM calls and send basic SMS. No MMS, no Internet, no iTS. Apple would either have to reverse engineer a method to gain access to the data network (unlikely as most data networks require SSL-level security to access) or it would have to offer something different."
This definitely ain't so in Europe, and I find it hard to believe to be the case even in the U.S.
I've only had unlocked phones for the last few years, including smartphones. Connecting to any data or MMS service was just the matter of filling in maybe four data fields with some info I found on the carrier's website.
If a carrier supports my phone, it can also make available configuration files that it can send over SMS that does all of this automatically.
In Europe, there are national carriers. Even big multinationals like T-Mobile or Vodafone have separate national subsidiaries that hardly talk to each other. I live in Luxembourg, butgo back to Hungary for the holidays very often, and I just swap my SIM cards.
This is the only way I'd have it, as would people who spend time in two or more countries. Note that the EU has 27 member states, and Apple would need to pick a carrier in each 27 if it wanted a similar model. I fear Apple will be negotiating these deals well into 2008 in that case.
I'm deeply disappointed by the single-carrier model, as are probably just about all Europeans.
Dan, great stuff, as usual. I'd love it if you would do podcasts, but not if it takes time away from your journalism.
Offering one piece of counterpoint, I don't agree that "phoneless" models don't make sense. In fact, arent' we looking at the new Mac Mobile platform? One definition of a Mac is anything that runs OS X, yes?
I can see the new rub and tickle GUI appear on iPod and iBook revisions in next few years. It makes sense to me that once folks are conditioned to the form and functions of a tablet GUI, Apple will offer an array of products with different feature sets, as it does now with iPods and iBooks. Let's call them all Macs.
* Mac Nano includes the current iPod feature set.
* Mac Notes includes the current MacBooks feature set.
* Mac Next includes the iPhone feature set.
* And Mac Nexus is the new Apple game unit.
Excellent article. People are already whining about a product that until it gets FCC approval DOES NOT EXIST!
I would think that Apple at some time in the future will release a touch screen ipod only. They will do that after they work out the 1st gen bugs probably close to the end of the year.
An unlocked phone would be a headache, since a lot of the cool features like visual voice mail would not work on other carriers or even Cingular since they probably have a special setting on the sim to let the network know what features you have paid for. This is important since Apple will be adding more widgets and other stuff soon.
You are dead on with myth four. Anybody who has ever had a smartphone and loaded 3rd party apps on it has had it lock up one time or another. Palm used to blame all the quirkiness of the Treo 600 on third party apps (until I busted them). Apple is right not to do this. It doesn't mean that there won't be any third party apps since I'm sure Apple would allow certain ones that have passed their QC tests to be uploaded, but that's speculation.
The battery and screen are going to be problems for whiners. They will complain that they can't get enough talk time on their phones but forget to mention that they spent most of the day at work watching "The Office" on their phone, left their charger (or dock) at home and now they can't make a phone call, awwwww. Plus they are going to be mad since they left their keys in their pocket and stuffed their phone there and forgot about it until the screen is nice and scratched. Damned Apple! It's all their fault.
Thanks for pulling their heads out. Let's hope they can keep them out this time.
I really like the way you write your analysis, always trying to guess what would be competitive for apple, and explaining the various choices of the brand.
Yet, I wonder if you sometimes criticize the company... Indeed, in your articles, everything Cupertino does is what they should have do! You should sometimes temper your opinion and accept the fact that the products are not perfect.
For example, the fact that both products announced at the Macworld are still "vaporware" could have been underlined. same thing about the Cingular issue : Unlocked phones DO send MMS very well, and there is no doubt every data network providers would have allow the Iphone to do so.
last but not least, the "price issue" doesn't convince me at all in your article : I really doubt about Apple's capacity to make the iphone a mass producted device. Who is the target? People who bought an ipod? The price seems too high for them, isn't it? People who use "smartphone"? It is a niche market. Professionals? Then Iphone should include professional software to be interesting. Young (fortunate) and mac addicted people... does that make you 10 millions buyers?
Well, you see, a lot can be said.. Try to be more realistic in future. Good job, anyway. You're still one of the most interesting mac'editorialists.
Bye
Awesome analysis!!!
Well done Daniel. iPhone is going to see hate like the iPod, NDS and Wii combined, and in the end see ~ the same level of success.
These aren't 'Myths', they are very, very valid points that are going to keep people like me and the mass market in general from touching this phone.
Poorly though-out would be a greate way to describle the Treo 650. The phone parts of it seem just tacked-on, and actually detract from the thing's usefulness as a Palm Pilot (though it is better integrated than the StarTAC Clip-On Organizer I had on old phone). The media player features, based on RealPlayer, are just plain lame (TCPMP helps some, in that it at least will play video, but it introduces other problems). Verizon wants more for xtra-slow internet access on my phone than I'm paying them for mid-grade DSL. I really, really, really wanted to like the Treo, but it's like a runner who falls on his face ten paces short of the finish line every time he runs a race.
If Cingular finally fixes some of its service issues around where I live, I'll be giving the iPhone a chance...it's not likely to be any worse than what I've got.
re: scratches
Yeah, I've got a Treo 650 and I keep it in a separate pocket from my keys and coins and stuff too. Its screen only has two scratches, from the two times that I accidentally forgot and put it in the same pocket as other things.
Those two scratches are frikkin' annoying too.
Dean Hall says that an unlocked phone can't do anything with data on a provider's network.
I've got a Sony Ericsson W710i--unlocked--that says otherwise. I bought it unlocked, then got a T-Mobile SIM to add it to our family plan and paid for the T-Mobile "Total Internet" service.
Internet? Got it; there's an IMAP client, a web browser, and an RSS reader built in, and a Google Maps downloadable client that works fine. Special features? The "TrackID" song identification tool doesn't have any trouble connecting to its server. I can even tether it to my laptop or my PDA over Bluetooth, and use it to get portable Internet service on those. It's EDGE, so it's not the fastest thing in the world, but it's faster than dialup.
It's certainly unlocked, too; I took it to London, popped a Virgin Mobile SIM into it, and off I went. I didn't do any data transfers while there, but I have no reason to think I couldn't have.
Now, there are special features that require the phone and the network to be more closely coupled. Visual voicemail is the most obvious one, but a simpler example is that my phone can't use the T-Mobile "MyFaves" plans (which apparently require some kind of support in the phone). But it's definitely untrue to say that an unlocked phone can't do anything more than phone calls and SMS.
Heck, Palm sells unlocked GSM Treos; don't you think someone would have noticed by now if they were completely useless at data?
The comment from the guy at Motorola is completely bogus. An unlocked phone *can* be used on another network and can get MMS, internet, etc. I have done this all the time, e.g take a phone that was originally on Orange, unlocked it, and ran it on the t-mobile network. That is a simple matter of provisioning and paying for the service. iTS would also probably work if it is designed to work across the internet.
The big feature that wouldn't work is visual voice mail, although vendors have been working on that for a while so their may be some standards in that area.
Regarding your debunking of Myth Four: This just plain doesn't make sense. You could say that PCs too should be closed-platform. Certainly, if nobody was allowed to develop software for Windows and OSX, the devices that run them might be more stable and secure, with fewer junkware programs. It would also certainly lock out those developers who are not trying to sell a product but "merely subsist[ing]."
But time and again, innovation in technology has been driven by outsiders, often small outsiders who are merely trying to subsist by offering something better. A closed model for the iPhone is certainly not the end of the world, and certainly many consumers who just don't know any better will still embrace such a platform. But this is not in the best interests of consumers, and the people who are complaining about this problem are rightly trying to point this out.
Your comments about the closed platform of the iPhone don't hold water.
Jobs made a big deal of pointing out that the phone runs OSX, has the Cocoa API, and "desktop-class application software," and then we find out that we can't touch the thing.
In your proprietary software world, maybe this is great, but it means that the power of this tiny little UNIX device is entirely CLOSED OFF to the legions of Mac fans out there RIGHT NOW who would otherwise be salivating at the opportunity to have Skype, IM, and ssh (not to mention NetHack) right on their OSX-powered iPhone. With a closed software platform, none of this is possible, and all of that potential is needlessly wasted.
Apple could have chosen to be the producer of THE must-have handheld platform, capable of running the entire galaxy of POSIX-compliant software out there with minimal effort, as well as OSX software with some UI redesign and a recompile, but instead they chose to make a very pretty, very powerful toy.
cool article...i liked your insights
I just visited a brick & mortar Cingular store to discuss the iPhone. The sales rep made an interesting point: The iPhone is not a "smartphone" because it does not offer 3rd party applications. Therefore, instead of requiring a $60-$80/month data plan, the phone should work with a regular < $40/month calling plan. When I asked about the email and web browser, he didn't see any problem with those, since even non-smart phones can run Opera. This provides an interesting argument in favor of Apple's closed software model - it allows Cingular to offer cheaper plans to Apple iPhone customers than to other smartphone customers. Of course, all this is speculation until we have the final information, but it is well-informed speculation coming from a Cingular sales rep.
I find every point reasonably presented. Only unclear for me yet is how will I use this product residing in Central European country - so far it is very US bound.
Clear and compelling smackdown of some myths. Thanks.
deadly accurate logic as always, Dan. I wish I could connect the dots as well as you do!
Fabulous piece on the iPhone and the coming green-with-envy mediocrities. i have been a mac user for 20 years, and i have been reading mac-related articles in magazines, then the web, for that long… so i just want to say that your articles at roughlydrafted are the most intelligent, simple, lucid ones that i ever came across. As a plus, your layout bears the same qualities, so if you call that "roughly drafted", don't draft them any more! Thank you. (No, i'm not his mom.)
As usual, well done. However, I do not accept your statements regarding Myth #1.
I do not believe a device that costs $600 plus a full featured contract from Cingular is a mass market product yet. The feature set is clearly aimed at destroying the current smartphone market, where phones go for $250-400 and users expect to pay $150/month for service. At that point $600 is just a drop in the bucket to get a better phone. Unfortunately time is also money and having to suffer with slow downloads when EVDO is an option for others makes the iPhone look less than cutting EDGE.
As a tiny mobile internet device for grabbing information from WiFi hotspots it's terrific, but the only way to get one is to sign up for a cell phone plan you may not want. Without the Cingular subsidy the iPhone might cost the $900 you said was too much and would be awfully close to the price of the much more capable MacBook.
"It is true that the iPhone isn't cheap, but it's also not expensive when compared to similar phones, which... aren't yet available."
They absolutely are. And they're a lot cheaper.
I can go out right now and get a PPC-6700 for $299.99 with activation, the only downside is it's not compatible with iTunes... I'd have to spend about an extra five minutes burning my songs to a CD and ripping them again before I could play them on the Windows Media Player in the machine.
I've already been down this route myself, and gone back to a PalmOS PDA and a cheap "free" cellphone.
And if the iPhone costs any more to make than the PPC6700 I'd be astonished. This is like Microsoft coming out with the Zune... and charging $500 for it.
"Panic mongers who think that the iPhone needs to be a hobbyist development tool should take a good look at the state of development for Palm and WinCE before recommending a similar mess for Apple."
I've had both kinds of devices, and they've got a huge variety of very good applications... particularly PalmOS, which had a free hobbyist development system three years before Microsoft woke up and provided one.
"Ever use an existing phone's web browser?"
Yep. Pocket Internet Explorer is an excellent browser, in some ways better than the desktop version of IE simply because it's got a better security model. Pocket IE is *the* killer application for the Pocket PC... it's what convinced me to try switching to the platform, and it's not what made me switch back to Palm.
As for the "intuitive" touch screen... there's no substitute for tactile feedback. Buttons, that is. Good nobby ones: the phones with flat barely detectable buttons are already bad enough. And that's for people who already know how to use buttons.
Daniel,
I've become addicted to your witty and insightful articles. Laughed out loud at the Palm CEO put-down (Myth 10) and found myself compelled to make a donation. Great stuff.
Warwick
I agree with most of these Myth-busters.
One point that has almost been picked up on though is the US-centric product launch. This is classic Apple, but surely they must know the real market is Europe and Asia? Why wait for a year or two before addressing it?
I think it's this:
1. Europe and Asia simply wouldn't tolerate a 3G "smartphone", and this issue certainly WOULD stiffle adoption. The US is a backwater in mobile comms, from having crummy 2G coverage to a practically non-existant 3G service outside of major cities. You'll see figures like 99% population coverage on 3G in Europe and Asia. Edge hasn't really been rolled out there at all. I'd hate to have to use GPRS, which is awful even just for IMAP mail, 3G is just about usable. This is part of the experience that Apple holds so dear - I believe this is why no Europe/Asia launch at this time. There are no 3G chipsets that don't drain battery like heck. Thankfully WiFi will give us another option - in Europe many cities have 50% coverage, albeit paid.
2. 3G implies a camera on the FRONT of the phone, so video calls can be placed. I think video calls are next to useless, but to be considered 3G this is a requisite.
3. The camera on the back is poor. 2M pixels? Let's start with 3 or 5M pixels. Having said that, my current Nokia N80 has a 3M pixel camera which is about as good as my old VGA quality RAZR, so pixels perhaps aren't a good measurement of quality. If this is a good 2M camera - fine.
4. Tying to a single provider? Difficult one to judge, but I'll bet they do the same in Europe and Asia. That's fine if the likely candidates get the contract, who wants Vodafone (aka Verizon), Orange (France Telecom) or T-Mobile, who either cripple, significantly alter firmware to replace standard menus with their, albeit free usually, network based menus. No thanks.
I predict Telefonica across Europe where it has a presence, and in the UK this means O2.
5. It's very hand-oriented. Hands free dialing with voice is handy when on the road. Driving with a mobile in many countries is illegal, so we have to wear bluetooth headsets. Thankfully we have the forthcoming Apple version, and the lovely Jawbone, this feature MUST be a software upgrade. Let's hope so.
6. Finally, the thing is too BIG. I used to have a horrible XDA (Windows PDA/Phone) which I never took out when leaving the house, expect on business, because it wouldn't fit into my pocket. Now my jeans might be too tight, but the iPhone is just as wide and tall, although thinner. It needs to shrink in width and height, and then we can afford some weight.
Pocket Internet Explorer? Tactile feedback? Free hobbyist development system? A huge amount of applications? What a load of bollocks. Look at the iPhone feature set. Each is designed to be useful from the very start. The last thing this gadget needs is an ecosystem to allow anybody with Xcode and no life to fuck it up with a myriad of craplets aimed at a tiny fraction of geeks who stay up extra late every night to make sure they've packed their shiny tricorder with every piece of crap they can find.
You know what is coming next too, news stories about some mental pygmy cracking the case and booting LINUX on it. Why? Because they can? Because they found a way? More likely they haven't taken a long hard look in the mirror at themselves lately, if ever. And why is that even news worthy?
Problems with price? Some pundits just love throwing price around as though its the only reason they buy anything at all. If your purchasing decisions are purely motivated by price then its people like you that have firmly embraced mediocrity as a standard and not just in technology. Have some pride in your environment and demand the best and be willing to pay for it. Try new things instead of grasping onto the old and refusing to let go. If you're too poor to spend big bucks on the latest gear then don't, you most likely don't need it anyway because being poor has its own set of problems. Problems that can't be solved with a Palm Treo or an iMac. There's no point keeping up with the Joneses if they are a pack of drooling rednecks in propeller hats.
The whole smartphone / PDA market is proof that you will never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator and the sooner it slips off into the night the better. Now if all the morons who bought one and rant about it to their friends and on bulletin boards were to disappear with them... a man can dream.
If you have defend your purchase by quoting statistics and comparing feature sets or benchmarks you are exactly the kind of rube that makes tech companies think they can get away with releasing useless crap, charging a premium and letting the user base hunt down all the bugs for them. Genius if you're a tech company, fucking clown-shoes if you buy into them. Shame on you.
What is worse is that people defend them. Punters like Peter da Silva who couldn't sleep until he wrote 3 times on the compelling topic of why his choices are the best thing since sliced cheese and other such shit heels who actively take the time to write useless opinions and reviews and argue every point without seeing the whole picture. They take the time to show statistics and argue semantics and quote the many important reasons why they chose this or that platform. Who gives a fuck? Then all the FUD and bullshit just spews forth onto the net where its swallowed wholesale as truth and fact and then debated over, repeated ad nauseam, used as a reason to take sides, start flame wars and generally just waste a lot of tim
Part 2
time and resources. Is having an Avatar, a stupid handle and an account on a forum with the most posts and a quote from Star Trek as a sig really that great? You know what would be great? If you threw your latest gadget in the bin and got off your fat arse and did something good for your local community.
The Internet was a much nicer place before the Blog. You actually had to know how to at least write a markup language and design a web site before you could prove to the rest of the world what a knob-end you really are. Only the most determined and obnoxious managed to hack their way in. Now all you have to know is how to fill in some text fields and all of a sudden you are a published author. Get enough of a following among a mentally challenged crowd of some sort and you're considered an expert. Never mind that your opinions are worthless and your expertise or lack of is precisely the reason that you have too much time on your hands in the first place.
But here's the good news. The blogosphere will retain a copy of all this retarded ranting for future generations to laugh at. Brain dead analysts will leave proof of their dismal track record of divining the state and impact of technology and the apologists and ball lickers who suck on the teat of bumbling tech giants like Microsoft will never be able to take back what they unleashed upon the web. Now that you hit the Send button you've shown yourselves as the tools that you are and given enough time you may well wish you never hit upon the brilliant idea of publishing your stupidity. If you just kept your opinions to yourself you might have fooled somebody into thinking they were dealing with someone of adequate intelligence, providing you don't wear a pocket protector and secretly wish you could wear your propeller hat every day. As it stands the only people who fall for and even enjoy the majority of Blog diarrhea are those even more stupid and uninformed then those who wrote that shite in the first place. Congratulations dick wads, and you forgot to charge them any money. Oh that's right you can't put a price on worthless opinions, at least not on a Blog. If you did you would quickly discover just how valuable your opinions really are and if everybody started charging for their content, the Net would be a different ball game. I wonder how many of the comments here would be written if Daniel charged you a buck to fill in this form with your crapola.
I don't know why Daniel Eran allows this feedback system to exist on his otherwise fine site. Maybe he's counting on the unwashed IT crowd to provide him with living proof that stupidity, lies, faith in corporate press hype and a total lack of taste and manners are the driving force behind the majority of the Netizens out there.
For fucks sake, its 2007, the planet is totally wired and instead of communicating and learning and helping one another overcome the hurdles that humanity still faces, people are butchering a
Microsoft has had Visual Voicemail at least since 2003 in Outlook/Exchange. Don't give Apple all the credit for this.
[Hi Jeff, You do realize that the iPhone is a mobile phone, right?
Exchange didn't invent the idea of presenting audio voicemails in an email type listing, so it's curious you'd feel compelled to point that out. Even worse, if Microsoft was aware of the feature, why didn't it bother to integrate it into its WinCE/Windows Mobile efforts at some point in the last decade of smartphone development?
So no, Microsoft doesn't get credit for Apple releasing something new and different, just because you can invent some bizarre, convoluted rational for pooh-poohing everything Apple does. - Dan]
Sosa:
"Being able to use a spare battery on a phone is much more important than on an iPod - i.e., phones are more essential to people than the music players. I am sure that Apple had their reasons (allow for simpler/nicer design), but this can be a big deal to some people. And if you"
Since the iPhone is dock compatible with the iPod, the external battery extenders already on the market should work. This is only a requirement for a minority of users.
Sweet heavens, thanks for this myth-busting article. If I have to hear about the iPod's battery problems ONE MORE TIME my cranium is gonna crack.
I have a first generation iPod. The damn battery lasted 4 years. I replaced it with a better one for pocket change and now it lasts for 20 hours. WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP!!!
Honestly, what kind of reporting/tech quagmire has evolved that these voices feel _compelled_ to speculate, at great length, on the failure of a product that hasn't been released yet? Do I have to pull out the old headlines about the failure of the iPod? The coming collapse of Apple?
You want to complain about something complain about all the cell phones out there now. Design complacency and incompetence; lazy engineering. Status quo. BAH.
RE: Myth #6
All in all great observations, except for myth 6. I'm no lawyer but IMHO, it's not a myth and if anyone thinks it's Cisco that's somehow off base (regardless of what many want or perceive), think again.
Personally, I don't think it matters just like you said. Apple can call it something else - and it will likely have to. Unless some "share the love" moment occurs....
You missed a point in Myth Three, about how people say it should be unlocked:
As an unlocked phone, without a carrier agreement, it would cost about $300 more!
People are already howling that it's going to cost too much--they conveniently forget that most smartphones all cost an arm and a leg when first introduced: The Nokia 9000 was $800 minimum, the Sony-Ericsson P800 was $700, the Treo 600 was $480, the Treo 700p was $500, etc. Even Moto's RAZR was $500 ($800 w/o contract) to start! And those all had a dinky amount of RAM compared to an iPhone. The iPhone has the same amount of RAM as an iPod nano, which would set you back $200 on its own for 4GB.
These are things you should have pointed out in Myth Two: Price, and tied Myth Two and Myth Three together more.
Wow Mike D, I wish I could I could rant in way that made as much sense as you. You're right of course, but, we're just goofin' with a frickin' iPhone (or whatever). Breathe. Okay now.
That said, I can't read these posts any more, I have to go outside an walk my dog, get some fresh air, say "hi" to the neighbors.... oh, and muse about these posts!
Great work Daniel!
You're a cogent writer with a relaxed style that is easy to understand without being wordy. I enjoy your point of view.
Cheers!
You quoted a Motorola engineer that:
"When a phone is unlocked it loses its privileges on a provider's data network. An unlocked phone can make GSM calls and send basic SMS. No MMS, no Internet..."
I've been on T-Mobile since 1999. I am still using the original GSM SIM card from when I first signed up with them. From 2002-2005 I had true mobile Internet connectivity through an _unlocked_ European-spec Ericsson R520m I purchased in eBay (for about $80!), using it for SMS and as a GPRS modem for my Palm Tungsten T via bluetooth (for web browsing and Earthlink email). What's funny is even back then I was already using a bluetooth hands-free (Jabra 200) and could already voice-dial through it.
I traded that combo for an _unlocked_ GSM Treo 650 the day it was released and have been browsing the web, using Earthlink email and (recently) synching with Exchange since then. I have been sending and receiving both SMS and MMS messages to friends in other countries. I am also using my Treo as an EDGE modem for my notebook via PdaNet + bluetooth. BTW, all of these functions worked flawlessly while I was travelling in Europe and Asia last year -- and I was roaming on the networks of other GSM providers.
Please do more research before parroting the self-interested opinions of others. Your opinions now hold so much less weight.
זיון is a Hebrew vulgarity, not a Hebrew profanity.
Myth Six: "However, the iPhone name isn't associated with Cisco's Linksys products, its associated with Apple."
This is complete arrogance on how trademarks work. Apple have sold NO iPhones. It announced it without the right to use the name.
Cisco has a right to claim the use of it. It could also request an injunction and have all existing Apple iPhones be destroyed.
[- Thanks for injecting some humor. Injunctions stop sales, they do not destroy inventories, but that was funny to hear you say - Dan]
Cisco has used the iPhone name in its products.
[for a few weeks in the last 7 years of sitting on it. - Dan]
Apple has sued plenty of people for violating the iPod trademark even for products that only use the "Pod" portion of the name. Apple never used variations of the word "Pod" like Podcast in its products. Apple only used a variation of "iXXX".
[The point of trademarks is to create protected brands. I could not make an SUV named the "Xcolade," becuase GM would sue me. But I could make ice cream named Escolade and GM couldn't do anything about it.
Apple is saying there is no market confusion between its mobile computer and Cisco's Linksys WiFi landline phone set. That's debatable. I would prefer Apple just call it whatever they want, because the iPhone name really isn't that clever anyway.
In any case, Cisco's sitting on the name unused for 7 years, combined with the company's failure to stop anyone from using it before, gives Cisco little leverage in shaking down Apple for cash. The fact that Apple also owns the name in various markets, and is widely associated with it, further hurt's Cisco's chances of ever getting any money from Apple.
What's most puzzling is why you are so bent about the issue. You sound seriously afraid of this thing. If you don't like it, or hate Apple, you should at least appreciate that it will push other vendors to do better. It really just sounds like you are embarrassed and jealous that Apple has made WinCE, Palm and other vendors look like ineffectual idiots.
Life is too short to be bitter about other's successes. - Dan]
In reference to Myth 10, Palm's Lifedrive incorporates many of iphones's
ideas (320 by 480 screen, browser, wifi, bluetooth, etc) - unfortunately, when Palm developed it, 4 gig of solid state memory was too expensive to use, so they used a real hard drive, making it slow and bulky.
If Palm had continued to refine the Lifedrive design (in the Palm V tradition) and added phone functionality, it might be where the iphone is today.
"[- Thanks for injecting some humor. Injunctions stop sales, they do not destroy inventories, but that was funny to hear you say - Dan]" If you read my line carefully, the "AND" is used in that sentence. I didn't try to define injunction as destroying inventories. If a company received an injunction, it can also request all existing inventories using that trademark be destroyed. SOLD equipment could be recalled and destroyed as well.
[I said it's funny because it's ridiculous. As if Apple would destroy ~$800 pieces of hardware because of a brand name that DOES NOT APPEAR ON THE PHONE. But yes, you're only anonymously "concerned about IP violations" and I'm and lunatic raving fan... right.]
Cisco did not ask for more cash. If you read the news accounts. They were close to an agreement on allowing Apple to share the name with Cisco and permitting Cisco products to work with Apple's phone, but Apple did not sign the agreement and pressed ahead with using the iPhone name.
It's funny how you now started to attribute my comments to my personal feeling about Apple's products. That's furthest from the truth. I give Apple full credit for it's product. I just can't understand why it chose to violate someone else's trademark.
Apple certainly does not take any violations of its trademarks as "silly" despite the fact that you won't ever confuse a gPod with iPod.
[Cisco was only "close to an agreement with Apple" in its PR stunt. You should exercise more critical thought when reading PR.
I don't understand why you are laying down for Cisco, because the company is just as lame as Microsoft. They make fine hardware, but their software is all beholden to IE, even just for simple browser tools.
Cisco and Linksys brands both refuse to support open standards, and Cisco's own VoIP software is all tied to proprietary crap. I know, I've rolled it out for the last half decade. - Dan]
Finally someone who can see past the negative garbage people are throwing at this. Great article. Good on Steve for having the guts to get something like this going.
As a dedicated mac user this will change my life...sad....but none-the-less true.
I sent this as an email to the author, but I'll post it here for everyone to mull over, I think it was just an oversight on the part of the Mot engineer:
I take issue with the text your engineer friend sent that was:
"An unlocked phone can make GSM calls and send basic SMS. No MMS, no Internet, no iTS."
I use an "unlocked" GSM phone that I've moved through 3 GSM providers so far, and with it I can do MMS, WAP and Full browsing and even tether it to my laptop. Indeed, I loose no functionality from it being unlocked and it's that way for every GSM phone that fully support the GSM specification. Understandable the cool voicemail features would require the network to have support for them because they way the iPhone executes it is nonstandard, but apart from that there is no issue. As long as there is a facility on the phone to change certain settings (the MMS gateway for example) you can make it work on any GSM supporting network.
I fully understand Apple/Cingular's choice to lock the phone to Cingular because that's nothing new. This "subsidy lock" as they call it is so the cell carrier can sell the phone at a deeply discounted cost knowing they will recoup the loss by having you as a customer for X years, but apart from Cingualr supporting iPhone specific extensions to it's network there is no benefit to consumers to have a locked phone (aside from the discount, natch).
Check it out when it is released in Europe. The concept of a contract for cell service is generally unheard of there and actually illegal in certain parts of the EU so the phone will have to operate unlocked there.
"Having an extra battery to swap in makes sense on a laptop, but does not make sense for a phone, particularly one that has standard external battery packs that can be used via its dock connector."
In completely disagree with this logic because,
1) a battery pack is normally a more complex (and larger) device than a battery and as such costs more compared to a "plain" battery, and,
2) operating a phone with a battery pack attached reduces its operability (it uses up a connector and space) and makes the device clumsy to operate and aesthetically unpleasing.
(Lugging around a spare (internal) battery doesn't take up much space, and when you need it, the old one takes its place in turn.)
I bought a Lamesys router and won't make that mistake ever again.
Just because Cisco bought out the company doesn't mean that Lamesys is Cisco.
I only got through Myth 3 before my fact meter went off. You really need to fact check. Existing phones that are Cingular "exclusive", primarily the HTC products are not only easily unlocked, but retain all rights and services on the respective carrier networks. Same thing with Nokias... I'm sure your other info is 110% accurate, but this is not only wrong, but easily verified as wrong.
Also, your myth one statement, check the sales figures for the Xbox 360... not only did they sell the most out of the three consoles during the holiday period, they've also sold phenomenally well... you can verify that with data figures found on gamasutra.com, which is a game development industry site.
Also, don't deride writers for print publications... you may disagree with them, but they're established, and have access to more resources than you do. Anyone that had an ipod mini would agree with the intergrated battery being an issue... I had two minis, and both died. Same with a regular ipod I had, and I'm praying that my nano doesn't... but hey, at least it's not a Zen or a Zune or a buFFoon or whatever, right?
thanks for logical and clear argumentation.
IMHO, the price of the iGenitalia will be less of an issue once HD capacity goes up to 16 GB and beyond.
Great point about visual voice mail and no action by Palm and others on it for years - retrospective simplicity must be killing them now.
Thanks for the nice article. This is one of the few articles I have read about iPhone that are actually smart and knowledgeable at the same time.
Thanks.
These aren't "Myths", they're factual reasons not to buy an iPhone.
Three are deal-breakers in Europe and Asia:
- no 3G
- no removable battery
- no unlocked, SIM-less version.
Does Daniel know the difference between a fact and a point of view?
In other words, Daniel can write 100,000 of elegant rebuttal on why each of these three points "doesn't matter", but UNTIL EACH ONE IS FIXED, this phone is a turkey.
Bzzzt. Thanks for playing!
[Well short sell Apple stock then, and get rich! But first, remember that half of Apple's revenues come from the US, and that Apple probably knows that Europe and Asia represent very different markets.
The iPhone would sell even if it only offered WiFi support - it's a freaking amazing compact computer that is the Newton-of-the-future that people have been begging Apple to do.
I think it's absolutely absurd that so many people are basically LIVID about this product, as if it eats babies or something. Do a simple comparision between this and Windows Mobile phones, and it is simply embarrasing for Microsoft. Throw in the Treos, and more laughter continues. This is a strong product that will change the industry.
If you want to throw rotten eggs at me for being interested in it, maybe you should at least wait until it comes out, when you can start using sales figures to beat me up. Until then, all the hate mail seems excessive. This isn't a Zune. - Dan ]
you're not quite on the mark with myth 2. most people don't want to spend $300 on a walkman, but apple obliterated the walkman market with the ipod. however their sales shot through the roof when they finally sold units for $50-$150.
the same factor (cost) is true for cellphones. most people get cellphones for free or for some low price if they tie into a 1-2 year contract. in addition to apple sticking people with 2 year contracts, the $500-$600 price of the iphone is too high. had apple hit a $200-$300 price point, there would be better adoption.
and ipod features? fuggedaboutit. not a single person i know wants a phone that's also an ipod. 8gb is too small for my music collection -- which is hovering around 150gb right now -- besides apple already has much better form factors for smaller, cheaper (easier to replace) ipod devices that are more in tuned with people who want to carry their music around with them.
i say apple should hit the market with a $300 iphone with a 1 year contract (dammit) -- 4gb should be fine -- and yes, use this cheap model to get lots of adopters then use their itunes store power to sell them songs and ringtones. plenty of profit in that.
I like the idea... but remember... smartphones make their money on business users. Not geeks, not the average teenager or housewife. Not so the iPod where the average human is the sweet-spot. So for business users... High speed is a damned nice to have if not a must.
But how about 2 simple things... the ability to dial and answer the phone with a single hand. the Multi-Gesture interface is damned good and the next revolution in PDA interface... but for a business phone? The first time someone is standing ont he subway holding on with one hand and can't answer it because the gesture takes one to hold and the other hand to make the gesture... the resulting gesture is likely to throw the thing across the room.
[Are you kidding? Ever used a Treo with one hand? A Blackberry? A WinCE phone? While you might need two hands to zoom in an crop a photo (something that you can't do at all on a Treo, etc), it appears that the iPhone would be quite easy to tap through most functions using one hand, just as one can with an iPod.
The iPhone uses big, clear buttons on a large screen, not odd little buttons with unclear markings or a deeply nestled Start menu that demands a stylus, or a clunky pull out keyboard that demands faux-typing skills - Dan]
Interesting reading! Thank you.
1) May I syggest multiple-gesture products pre-existed the iPhone (seems that assets have been sold to Samsung; Nokia, etc.) See (French only):
http://www.01net.com/article/249517.html
http://svmlecarnet.vnunet.fr/
svm...to_un_pda_.html
I dont know if the iPhone interface is the Jackito interface. if you're interested in finding out, you should contact Arnaud de la Fouchardičre.
2) Myth four: I do agree, and I do not.
Yes, a phone should work as intended in any circumstance.
Yes, closed software model will help.
...but...
First; a device should be customizable to enable that particular strong affective link that makes Apple products so special. Whatever kind of software or software-like-customization is available. Ok, the iPod is not that kind of product. Know what ? I'm not sure Apple's brand and Apple's customers loyalty will be strenghtened a lot by the iPod.
Second, If I can run a widget on a web page (thank's Safari) I should be able to keep this kind of software somewhere in a safer place than a simple cache.
What looks great after reading your myth collection is that there's a before and an after the iPhone (unless we're both in Mr Jobs reality distortion field), both at Apple and for the mobile phone industry.
In a word: the first 30 years were just the beginning! (someone should have said this )
JM
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