So, people are upset because several things are "missing" from the latest iPhone. People are criticizing that they did not add any "innovative" features such as a better camera, video conferencing, iChat capabilities, etc.
Well if you pay close attention, you'll realize that Apple also released something called the App Store, which most certainly will be able to fill in the gaps for all of these issues. In my opinion, Apple is being smart. After their relationship with AT&T has seemingly gone through some rough patches in the last six months (with AT&T "leaking" certain information, and trying to control the decision making for the iPhone), I'm sure Apple has decided to show them that they're the one calling the shots anyway.
First lets focus on one of the most important things of the new iPhone: the price cut.The price cut prevents Apple from getting a percentage of the revenue from the data and voice plans controlled by AT&T. Well, by introducing the App Store, Apple sneakily finds a way to get around this. The way the App Store works, people develop different applications for the phone, and designate a price to it (ranging from free to whatever they would like to charge), and sell it through Apple. Developers get 70% of revenue while Apple gets 30%. Wouldn't it be nice if someone developed something like...an application for the iPhone that ran like iChat and sold it through the App Store? By leaving it open to third party applications, Apple will certainly be receiving a share of the revenue from applications that will be using AT&T's data plan anyway. My point is that Apple would much rather allow other people to "develop" an application similar to iChat so that they could get some sort of compensation, rather than developing an integrated version for the iPhone and getting absolutely 0 compensation for it.
In terms of video conferencing, I think that Apple is just being somewhat logical. If you could video conference through your iPhone, that would mean you would need a camera in the front so you could see the other person. That would mean you would probably need a camera in the back as well for taking pictures so you could actually look at the picture you are taking. That would mean...you would have two cameras in one phone. That's a lot of cameras in one phone and it sounds very cramped. Today, video conferencing doesn't seem to be really taking off, especially when really the only people you would be able to video conference with would be other iPhone users and people with iChat. Until they develop iChat for windows, and other phones would have video conferencing capabilities, I don't think that will be something that will be showing up in the iPhone anytime soon. Plus think about it. How often would you really use it? Yeah, I like to video chat every once in a while, but it's through my computer. Phones are meant to reach you when you're unreachable through anything else. If you're online, sure you could video chat. But if you're out having dinner, driving, walking down a busy street, or even out in some crowded place, do you really want to focus on your phone during a phone call? You would most certainly be more prone to running into people or getting into a car crash if that were to happen. I think until they really really really get it right, video conferencing will be hard to put into a phone.
What it comes down to, is that Apple is really trying to focus on the affordability and availability in the 70 countries they are planning on releasing it. Regarding other applications that people expected and were disappointed when they weren't presented, just wait because that's what updates are for. Like I said, you can't expect them to release everything at once because that would just make expectations to go that much higher than before, and soon they would run out of innovation. They're playing hard to get, and you just have to be a little patient. Come Christmas time and January, they may be and probably will be releasing a 32GB iPhone. And between now and then, people shouldn't be disappointed with the types of applications that they will be releasing.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
What's Missing From the New iPhone and Why
Release of iPhone3G
With the release of the new iPhone, a lot of people seemed to be more disappointed than impressed. Why? Well, many expected Jobs to launch several new features that would have been revolutionary in the mobile phone industry. Along with 3G and the GPS features that were released, many expected Jobs to announce video conferencing capabilities, better camera, picture messaging, MMS, and a 32GB model. At the end of the day, Jobs released the expectations: 3G, GPS, lower price ($199 for 8GB...compared to the original price of $599 of the first model). What people were upset about was really the fact that this may have been one of the few times Jobs failed to go above and beyond people's expectations. But to tell you the truth, at the end of the day, he released one of the most innovating pieces of technology on the latest network capabilities. He can't just blow his load right away. The main points of the release of this new phone are the affordable price, 3G capabilities, and the fact that the iPhone will be released in 70 countries by the end of the year, compared to the current 6 that support it now.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
3G iPhone Commercial
If you don't know much about the Apple Store on 59th and 5th avenue in NYC, then you should know that it is open 24/7. Except for today. As I was taking a nice stroll today, I walked by the Apple store and noticed something unusual about it. I noticed that there seemed to be a line outside of the front door, several Apple employees wearing their brightly colored shirts, a good amount of security detail surrounding the building, and more importantly very expensive equipment clearly meant for shooting some sort of production. Upon closer inspection, I noticed no customers were inside of the store, and people were being turned down from entering the store. I couldn't help but ask one of the individuals involved in the detail around the store (it doesn't matter whether they were the security detail or an apple employee for the sake of keeping their identity as ambiguous as possible) what exactly was going on. "Oh the store is closed...they're shooting the new commercial for the new iPhone". Frankly their blunt and honest answer somewhat surprised me, as Apple has remained very covert over their entire operation. People kept carrying very expensive equipment into the Apple store, and the security detail began to set up a "rope barrier" around the perimeter of the store, about 10 feet away from the building, far enough away so that no one could get a glimpse of what was inside. This was at about 5 in the afternoon. I happened to walk by a little more recently this evening at about 10 p.m. and it looked like they were starting to store and shut down some of the equipment that had been placed outside the store. However, they still had a food stand and many more lights turned on inside the store. I decided to pry a little more from a different angle and approached one of the individuals involved in the detail again. When I asked when the new phone would come out, I received a very long-winded and very practiced response concerning their shortage in supply, their periodic but ambiguous deliveries of iPhone supplies, and the common "I don't know, they don't tell us anything". Good, because I had an ace in my sleeve (if you read my previous post on the 3G iPhone you'll see that many events seem to equal a 3G iPhone launch on June 15th), as I already knew that it was a commercial for the new iPhone. "So when does this commercial for the new iPhone come out". Here, they answered a very sincere, "I don't know," as they sounded almost a little disappointed, before they quickly realized what they had divulged clearly caught off guard, and they quickly tried to cover their tracks by saying, "I mean, we're not even sure if it's even for that...ya know". Well, there you have it, in my opinion, they wouldn't be shooting a commercial now for a product they are planning to launch months from now. It seems very clear that they will be releasing this new iPhone within the next 3 weeks.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
3G iPhone
Given the nature of college life and how busy and lazy we become towards the end of a semester, we've taken a very long hiatus from writing any sort of posts on here. Granted we don't really have that big of an audience so, really, was it that big of a deal? Anyway, we're trying to get this site back up and running, mostly to entertain ourselves now that we really have nothing else to do. The last few weeks I've spent a good amount of time researching this new iPhone coming out. All you really need to know is this: Apple is planning on coming out with it's second version of the iPhone, one that is 3G capable. What does this mean you ask? Well, it means that AT&T is setting up a more powerful network for 3G devices, like the new iPhone, so that when they are using the internet, instead of browsing at speeds comparable to dial-up, they'll be using something closer to a WiFi broadband network. So now that you know what the product is, now you need to know when it'll be coming out. Well rumor had it that it was going to be released in January of 2008. That didn't happen. Rumors then proceeded on to talking about a release by the end of 2008. But, it seems as though it should be sooner than that. AT&T has reportedly aimed at completing a 3G mobile broadband network by the end of June. With the supply of iPhones coming to a screeching halt the last few weeks, it seems all but obvious that Apple is making room for its newest addition to the iPhone family. There's also been a few signs that hint to the arrival of this new phone. According to Import Genius, a website that tracks shipments of goods entering the U.S., Apple has been importing a very large amount of "electric computers" into the country the last couple of months. This is the data that the site presents, and it is actually very interesting how they've managed to deter any attention they may have attracted had they labeled the shipments under "iPhone". Additionally, on a visit to an AT&T kiosk at the local mall, I learned today that AT&T employees have been discouraged from taking any sort of vacation between the days of June 15th and July 21st. Coincidentally, Apple's Developer's Conference runs from June 9th to the 13th.