Update: iPhone Unveiled January 10, 2007
Posted by O.J. in Technology & Gadgets.trackback
One of The Theme’s first posts back in August 2006, was the eventual release of the much anticipated and talked about iPhone .
Well, Apple Inc. has now officially introduced the iPhone to the world. The Apple website now has an iPhone tab giving details on the many features this so-called “revolutionary” phone has to offer.
The photos I posted on my blog were mockups of what many had expected the iPhone to look like. Turns out there were over 10 different Photoshop mockups circulating on the internet. It’s very interesting to see how different the official design of the iPhone is when compared to the previous mockups. You can see images of all the past mockups here.
I don’t expect the iPhone to be released in the Middle East until 3rd quarter 2007. But when it finally does, I’m almost certain that I’ll be in the market for a new phone…
[...] is how only His Jobness Steve can manage to get almost every single gadget-aware adult to go into an “I WANT THAT MOMMY!” fussy-fit less than hours after it was [...]
That is such a cool phone, I NEED one. You don’t even need a stylus, just your fingers….Nokia watch out.
i am saving money for it from now …
i really want one .. it simply does everything
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you gotta check our new podcast episode this week about staring and cutting line in Kuwait at:
http://www.deerachat.wordpress.com
Here’s a quick run-down of incumbent handset makers’ reactions to the launch of Apple’s iPhone:
Samsung: SVP Kim Jeong-han said the iPhone will penetrate the higher end of the handset market, which is where Samsung competes with its BlackJack and Trace. “But still we have an opportunity” since Apple’s promotion of the device “means demand [for such phones] will be created.”
Motorola: “We’re definitely not discouraged,” Motorola spokesman Alan Buddendeck said. “The Razr has been the most popular phone in the world and perhaps in history.”
Nokia: The iPhone “is quite an interesting product but it is lacking a few essential features, such as 3G, which would enable fast data connections,” said multimedia unit head Anssi Vanjoki, whose unit is a direct rival to Apple.
LG: These photos of LG’s KE850 handset may be rebuttal enough. Prada helped design it.
Sony Ericsson: Mum on the iPhone, but teased CES attendees with this photo of an upcoming handset.
Don’t want to be negative, just critical…I found this in an article online:
iPhone’s missing features:
1. Third party support. Apple is making the iPhone a walled garden without allowing third party applications to be installed. Apple claims that it’s for security reasons but I think that they’ll eventually bow to public pressure and release an SDK and allow certain “blessed” applications in. Besides, there’s always the “browser hole.”
2. Browser plug-ins/Flash/Javascript. This is still up in the air, but Apple is staying mum on exactly which plug-ins the “Safari” browser will support. I think that dropping Javascript and/or Flash is a deal-breaker.
3. Carrier choice. Being locked to Cingular with a 2-year contract is a bit of a bummer. What ever happened to it being carrier-free?
4. Phone and data price plans. This worries me a lot. I hope that Cingular doesn’t take advantage of early adopters with crazy-expensive price plans.
5. Removable battery. This is a huge potential problem in emergency situations and when traveling. The only upside is that all iPod 30-pin dock connector accessories will work.
6. 3G. Apple and Cingular opted for EDGE networking in iPhone, which isn’t 3G. I’ve gotten spoiled by Verizon’s EVDO speeds, so EDGE is a big step backward. My understanding is that they didn’t opt for Cingular’s faster HSDPA networking because it would have added too much thickness. iPhone 2 anyone?
7. iChat. One glaring omission in all the iPhone hoopla was iChat. Steve took the time to demo SMS (which looked like iChat) but where was Apple’s venerable chat client?
8. Front facing camera. Although I don’t really care about the 2MP camera on the back of the camera, I was disappointing that there wasn’t a camera on the front. It would be perfect for video chatting (see #7), which although limited by the iPhone’s lack of 3G (see #6), would work great over WiFi.
9. Calendar Data input. Just like on the iPod, the calendar is read-only and must be synced from a Mac. iPhone has a keyboard, why doesn’t Apple make the calendar accept input? Update: In his NYT blog David Pogue notes: “Calendar program isn’t finished yet, but I did see an “add new event” icon on the placeholder graphic.” It appears that Apple is moving toward allowing real data entry into the iPhone (at least in the calendar app.) Let’s hope that they do the same thing for both Address Book and iTunes.
10. Over The Air (OTA) downloads from the iTunes Store. It stands to reason that Apple would want to sell music over the air (why wouldn’t they?) but I’ve heard that it’s a contractual limitation. Apple has to amend their agreements with all of the labels to allows for OTA distribution.
11. Wireless syncing. iPhone can only be synced with a cable and can’t be synced via WiFi or Bluetooth. This is unacceptable. iPhone has three radios and should be able to be synced with all three. WiFi and BT minimally, then OTA to Dot-Mac for bonus points.
12. Office support. The early word is that iPhone won’t be able to open Word and Excel documents (although it will be able to open PDF). I hope that this will change and by launch and iPhone will support iWork ‘07 mobile, which in turn, will open Word and Excel files.
13. Microsoft Exchange support. This is not a big deal for me, but it will be for enterprise customers. Without it, Apple can’t hope to unseat the cult of BlackBerry.
kaz – thnx for the additional info. From your list above, what upsets me most is that Apple opted for EDGE technology rather than 3G. So, this already makes the iPhone outdated from that aspect.
Despite all the missing features, I still wants me an iPhone