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January 11, 2007
Dear Apple
The iPhone is fantastic. Amazing, unreal, better than even than the hyperbolic rapture it has induced would suggest.
But here is what I really really really want. Less.
The iPhone without the phone bit - wifi, bluetooth, mac os x, the whole box and dice. C'mon phones are so 20th C. If I really need to talk, I can skype (or hey, start your own voip service as part of dotmac, with voice mail boxes, and "real" numbers in so any one can call in - just do a license deal with skype even! $5 a month - if the life of a phone is 24 months, that's 25% of the price of the phone, at surely fantastic margins, for every phone sold. Then how about throw in a $10 a month pass to so much TV, or so many films. OK Ok, just gimme the inoPhone and I'll quit with the stupid suggestions).
And with ubiquitous wifi coming soon to almost every civilized city on earth (well, at least san francisco, where what 25% of your user base is anyway ;-) GSM, 3G, whatever - waste of time money and effort.
So, to recap - give me an ultraportable communicator - like a mylo but wth your ipoddie goodness - no need to wait for FCC approval, I reckon you'd sell 8 bazillion in a fortnight - easy.
Yours sincerely,
john allsopp
tags iPhone
January 11, 2007 | Permalink
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Comments
I'm ready for the iPhone Nano!
Posted by: Virginia | Jan 11, 2007 10:59:51 AM
I tend to agree. And it would mean you're not locked in to some expensive contract for 2 years.
Posted by: Dan | Jan 11, 2007 2:34:01 PM
IMHO, iPhone comes with what we need, but what we also need is to stop carriers in Australia screwing customers with per kb GPRS charges.
Posted by: Serdar Kilic | Jan 11, 2007 10:26:03 PM
Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I think Mark Pesce's take on this is closer to the mark.
iPhone is a step closer to the communicator we want.
In the meantime, I still need a phone, not least to communicate with paying clients to whom Skype is a bafflement.
Posted by: Ricky | Jan 11, 2007 11:54:05 PM
Ricky,
with anumber in, people need never know about skype - theyj ust call as if you are on the POTS, and it gets to yuo via the magic of VOIP, more or less for free both sides, wherever you are in the World (as soon as you are on a wifi network)
Here's what Jobs said in his keynote
We've had some revolutionary products. And we're going to do it again with the iPhone in 2007. There's an old Wayne Gretsky quote, 'I skate to where the puck is going to be.'"
"We've always tried to do that at Apple, and we always will"
To me, where the puck is going to be (maybe not in 6 months, when this gets released, but for a good sized chunk of people in the western world in the near term) is wifi (802.11g and probably n) every where, for little or no cost.
Maybe that's just too far off for them.
j
Posted by: john Allsopp | Jan 12, 2007 10:50:08 AM
I am unconvinced about the iPhone on a few fronts - from an Australian perspective I think it MAY struggle based on a number of things.
a) it is the most expensive phone in the US market, let's face it, Australians are tight-a's and are unlikely to pay a premium for a phone when they already have an iPod, and can play MP3s through their current phone. The camera is 2 mega pixel (my Nokia is 3.2) - by its local 2008 release (in itself problematic) this will be at best the industry norm (more than likely it will be spec'd up by then).
b) A very clever colleague of mine (25 years telco experience, and very clever engineer) has likened the "smart phone" to the VCR circa 1995. I can recall the introduction of G-Code, and various ways of making it "easier" to record tv programs. What actually happened - people inserted a tape, put it on long play and went out for the night. The vast majority of folk use a mobile phone purely for calling, SMS, and maybe about 5% of the additional features (e.g. I have a top end Nokia, I take the odd photo, and that is about it). Phones are set for a simplification revolution - look sexy, and be easy to use for very basic functions - after all I have an iPod for music, and a computer to do work stuff on.
c) Personally, (and this is purely personal) I hate brand zealotry - day to day I deal with (for example) Cisco biggots, anything Cisco must be the best - which is proven time and time again to not be the case (they do some excellent stuff mind you - but not everything they do is flawless). Similarly you get Microsoft zealots, Linux Zealots, anti-Microsoft Zealots, Open-source Zealots and of course Apple zealots (of course zealotry can be seen outside the tech arena, cars, motorbikes, Sci-fi etc. I believe the iPhone (or whatever it will be renamed) will be a gadget cherished by the Apple Zealot, but not embraced by the mass market.
Posted by: Andy | Jan 12, 2007 2:28:45 PM
