8degrees of vaughan rowsell

I Phone on an iPhone

January 16, 2007 at 7:10 am In stuff I like, No Comments

I predicted the announcement of the iPhone would be prior to Christmas, and I was kind of right, just got the company wrong.
http://www.cio.com/blog_view.html?CID=2754

But the REAL announcement was less than a month behind with Apple announcing their iPhone. Its using the same name as Cisco’s phone on the pretense that Apples is a cellphone and Cisco’s is an IP phone that can only be used on a private IP network. Whether or not this is enough of a difference not to conflict and talk on who has the rights to the name has sent the press worldwide into a spin. However Steve and co over at Apple are not fools and this has been a fantastic piece of media coverage for both Cisco and Apple, the kind of coverage you can’t buy. Apple and Cisco will sort it out.

Some responces to the release of the iPhone have been mixed and everyone seems to have a barrow to push when it comes to this new device. I am not surprised to detect anti-Apple sentiment in your more traditional PC/Windows media arenas, knocking such a revolutionary new thing and coming up with expert opinion on why it wont fly. For example PC Mag unsurprisingly is bagging it.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2081108,00.asp

Is that is probably because it is PC Mag. In his review Sascha Segan has already predicted the iPhone’s failure because of the cost of this “ultimate high end” device and the fact that Apple have an exclusive contract with Cingular. The power of brand and the force of consumerism seems to be lost on PC Mag. Just like the iPod has become the human perifieral of choice, it is a short leap to take the iPhone there. It is after all the iPod reborn, which is another point missed by most. This is the video-phone-camera-internet iPod – it’s just called iPhone now. So considering the iPod owns over 60% of the portable music device market and Apple now have an upgrade path to a new device, that is a huge captive audience.

Secondly by all looks the iPhone is revolutionary in it’s approach to user interface and features. I have been frustrated with phone OSs since the advent of the color lcd screen in phones. Apple do interfaces better than anyone, and I am thrilled at the market debue of the multi-touch screen. I have seen functional demos of this screen last year which were just absolutely amazing.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6379146923853181774

The mouse is dead, long live the mouse. I am pleased that someone has finally realised that making calls is only a small part of being a phone and the OS is the key to it’s success. This all hinges on the openness of the Mini OSX used, however Java and Flash are no brainers and from what I understand the developer tools are fairly comprehensive for custom apps. I am excited to see what widgets will pop up with interesting uses of the multi-touch interface.
I do agree with some of the criticism floating around on the link to Cinglular is an interesting alliance considering it will restrict the market audience somewhat, however Cinglular is the largest cellular network in the US. It is GSM based which is essential for moving the iPhone into the global market. The rest of the world uses GSM networks because they are just better (don’t ask). The iPhone does demonstrate some features that would rely on what appear to be new features of their network developed by Cingular. Primarily the visual voicemail. This I am guessing this is an internet app that looks into your cellular voicemail box over IP and presents them as audio files tagged with dates, sender and so on. I would be interested to know who owns the IP on this feature, I am guessing Cingular, but that said voice mail over IP has been around for 10 years or more. I know this because I developed and demonstrated the first implementation of IP voicemail for a carrier here in NZ 7 years ago (they didn’t think it would fly).

What will be interesting here in NZ is the Yahoo7 partnership with Telecom. Telecom is non-GSM so will not be able to use the iPhone on it’s network so the push mail on Yahoo will probably rendered useless. It will also be interesting to see how Vodafone react.
Generally things I like about the phone:

Google Maps – Finally someone is being sensible out there in the mobile arena and have finally integrated maps on the the phone (not via a web page). It looks as tho the google maps app is a stand alone app native for the iPhone, and this would suggest that Google Earth will not be too far away for the iPhone, in fact I predict its release shortly after the official release of the iPhone to market in July.

Widgets – Although I have not been an avid user of desktop widgets on OS X (hitting F12 is too hard for me and my hot corners are all used up) I admit I can see where Apple are going with the concept. Write your own applet on the iPhone as easy as abc.

The Scroller that everyone is wetting their pants about. Nice. However expect more cool things from the interface using multi-touch.

Form factor – Small, okay what else do you want to know. It is sexy too but that is a given really considering its and Apple.

Now the things I don’t like:

No user facing camera – No video calling on this puppy without having to turn the screen away from you it would seem. This will disappoint Vodafone.

No 3G – Yet! But don’t count it out just yet, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t go 3.5G.

No GPS – A built in GPS and compass would turn the iPhone into the ultimate mobile tool, with integrated Google Maps showing you what is available wherever you go. In the demo Jobs had to enter a location name to search, as opposed to the phone knowing where it was. I predict its coming, bumped perhaps to get the price tag down on launch.

All in all I am down-right excited about this new toy. It’s a shame I will have to wait at least a year to get my hands on one tho, but it will be worth the wait.