Three big announcements today in Steve Job’s keynote address at Macworld: Apple TV (formerly iTV) which was announced last year will go on sale next month; Apple has definitely moved beyond computers, so it’s changing it’s name to just Apple, Inc.; and the long anticipated iPhone.
UPDATE: Here’s Apple’s iPhone website.
Steve Jobs just dropped a bombshell on the audience attending his Macworld Keynote Address. Jobs at first announced the product as three separate products; a widescreen video iPod, a phone, and a mobile internet communicator. This was exciting enough, but I’m sure I’m not the only person who was a bit disappointed to think about carrying three devices. According to Laurie who is listening to the feed from the expo floor, the crowd went absolutely wild at this announcement.
The iPhone will use a revolutionary interface called MultiTouch, first seen in Apple patent filings over a year ago. The iPhone will run OS X, and be capable of running desktop-class applications.
The Nitty Gritty:
* Single front button.
* 3.5 inch widescreen display featuring the highest pixel density ever shipped in a portable device.
* 2 megapixel camera.
* iPod dock.
* Proximity sensor which switches between modes and screen orientation based on how a user holds it.
* 11.6 mm thick.
* Syncs with iTunes
* GSM/EDGE
* Wifi
* Bluetooth
* Cinglar only.
* Visual voicemail – shows a list of your voicemails like you see a list of emails.
* Error correcting on-screen keyboard.
* Gestural interface
* Mail.
* Safari.
* Google Maps.
* Widgets.
* Switches seamlessly between EDGE and WiFi.
* Free Yahoo! IMAP email to all iPhone customs.
* GPS
* 5 hour video battery life.
* 16 hour audio battery life.The 4GB costs $499 and the 8GB $599 (includes a 2 year contract). It is shipping in June.
I see this as PDA from Apple or at least a PDA with storage capability (like the Palm Life Drive or whatever it was) and cellphone capability. The screen is 3.5 inches (just like a PDA) and it is running on OS X. There have been very few PDAs in the past that where running on a Linux variant OS so this is really nothing new. I’m sure the display looks beautiful, and it better, taking into account that it is using the lastest display technologies and manufacturing capabilities. Most people have a cellphone and a PDA (or a smartphone) that works just fine. At least they work just fine for the $500 to $600 that Jobs wants you to give up for this new iPhone.
I second the idea for a widescreen/touchscreen iPod without a cellphone. I would definitely buy one of those as long as the specs where comparable to other personal media players (i.e. Archos 604, etc.).
The name change was necessary – Apple has always been more of a peripheral products and/or consumer electronics manufacturer than a computer company since the iPod took off. Some people won’t like that statement but it is the truth. From Job’s point of view – Apple is making money hand-over-fist, do you think I really care which market segment my company is pigeonholed into? For the right amount of money I know I wouldn’t care.
The iPhone is neat and very slick looking but, contrary to the MacFaithful and Jobs, not groundbreaking.
My ears are still ringing after the massive squealing produced by orgasming Apple fanbois.
I think smartphones are about where mp3 players were when the ipod entered the market. Theres lots of them and some pretty good ones; but in total they’re still a small market. If the iphone can do to this market what the ipod did to the mp3 player market, that would be groundbreaking. It would lead to mobile applications we haven’t thought of yet and provide enough of a mobile data market to force the carriers to bring prices down and push performance up. No, the device isn’t ground-breaking; but its effect could be.
I wish there was a cell phone that you could use to make phone calls. That would be cool.
Bruce IV wrote:
“And one thing – maybe I’m just a bit ignorant, but what’s so revolutionary about their “multitouch” screen – isn’t this just a standard touchscreen?”
A normal touchscreen can only read one finger press at a time. If you touch a normal touch screen with two fingers, it will either ignore one of the fingers or press a spot in the middle of the the two fingers.
The multitouch screen can read multiple finger presses at the same time. For example, to zoom in on an image you could touch your thumb and forefinger to the screen and slowly spread them to zoom.
Steve S.
Love the phone, hate the carrier. Data shouldn’t cost $50+. Sprint does it unlimited for $15. No reason the other couldn’t do the same.
OhForTheLoveOf wrote:
“I wish there was a cell phone that you could use to make phone calls. That would be cool. ”
Thats just crazy talk!
Steve S
Kinda surprised about the negative response.
I think it’s cool but I am curious to see how that mutlti touch is different from other touch screens.
I am also surprised that there is iPhone without the Phone part (ie the real video iPod)
meh
You still cant replace the battery, what is wrong with you people? I’m a tech, I need to be able to replace my OWN battery. I will NEVER buy a device that I cant replace the battery. Got it JOBS?
I love this thing, super neat interface and finally everything I need in one stylish package. The GPS sounds awesome as does the touchscreen.
I wonder if it will have a miniSD slot for added storage….now that would be cooool.
~chewy
looks like #30 is a mac luvr
and its totally a snobby device
EVERYBODY is missing the point. In his speech, Jobs indicated that over 200 patents were created in developing this device. There are a lot of cool interface innovations, but the overall concept is simply a OS-based PDA with phone hardware tossed in, and it’s more expensive than most people will be willing or able to pay.
It’s a concept piece designed to show the marketplace that Apple’s innovation is headed into old, dusty technology, so other companies beware. And, by getting there first, they will own the patents (a very profitable market by itself) in some of the key tech everyone else will have to use.
Everyone else won’t necessarily be competing against Apple directly because probably not many will buy one at that price point. But they will have to compete against the concept, paying Apple royalties to license the tech required by the public who have seen what they now want, but at a lower price. Then when competitors do appear, Apple, after wringing out the bugs, improved production, etc can drop the price to what the public can afford. After all, why buy the competition when you can buy a trendy Apple. Then it’s the iPod all over again.
In short, Apple will drive the market and make money no matter what happens. BTW, wouldn’t it be cool to have all those touchscreen features on a peripheral (or even built into a monitor) for your computer? Wonder when that will be out…
Just watched the keynote from Apple.com. Have to say that the Iphone doesn’t look too revolutionary. Maybe its just me but it sorta reminds me of the old 02 XDA Xda IIi except slimmer and with the apple logo in the back.
Can’t wait to see how the battery life in “real life” works out.
Have you people been living in a tree? Almost everything in the list has been available for a couple of years and as others have mentioned it doesn’t have GPS. The only things that are tough to get right now are the 8 GB of space but I’m sure that SD capacities will make up for that soon and the multi-touch display which I see as making it tougher to use rather than easier.
For those that questioned, soft keyboards work great. Generally, those people that have PDA/Phones like myself use a headset for almost all calls and dialing is as easy as with dedicated keys.
To be honest, the phone size sucks. I had a PDA/Phone combo that was about 3.5” wide. I found it to be uncomfortably bulky in my pocket. I have a smaller PDA/Phone now (T-Mobile’s MDA) and at about 2.5” wide it is much nicer to carry.
By the way, whatever happened to the Palm OS? I guess Apple decided to deliver the final death nail to that OS.
My mistake on the size. I just looked up the size and it is exactly the same size as my MDA but a tad thinner.
#50 – Let me guess, when the new BMW’s came out, you probably cried “Hey everyone, everything the BMW does has been around for years! Look, my Toyota can get me there just as well as the BMW!”
While some people just want to get to their destination, others actually enjoy getting to their destination. Get it?
It’s the same with phones and with computers. For those who rely upon communications as an important part of their daily routine, it’s not just making the call that counts… it’s the user experience offered by the device itself.
I think it’s a great looking device, but I really couln’t care less about any of the smart phone features. Now, if they could put the basic phone capabilities and the touch screen into an 8 GB nano and offer it for about $350, then I might think very seriously about buying one.
#47 – I’m not a Mac lover. In fact, I don’t own any Apple products….not even one of them $80 iPods. I build my own computers because I’m basically poor and just a step away from the mattress-on-the-floor scenario I painted.
I’m just sick of the cynicism. Some of you people can’t wait to bash Apple. No matter WHAT they come out with, the same people will bash it. It’s almost comical in the predictability. Some of you are exactly like the Apple “fanbois” you claim to be better than….only you’re the Bizzaro World, exact opposites of them. Get over it, it’s just a phone. Why is it that everything that Apple does is always met with either absolute love, or absolute hate?
quote: Comment by Jeff — 1/9/2007 @ 10:51 pm
——————————————————————————————–
#50 – Let me guess, when the new BMW’s came out, you probably cried “Hey everyone, everything the BMW does has been around for years! Look, my Toyota can get me there just as well as the BMW!”
While some people just want to get to their destination, others actually enjoy getting to their destination. Get it?
It’s the same with phones and with computers. For those who rely upon communications as an important part of their daily routine, it’s not just making the call that counts… it’s the user experience offered by the device itself.
——————————————————————————————–
enquote
very neat and nicely put. you are right man! hahah!
The iPhone uses babies blood as a power source.
Someone over /. commented on “I want my cellphone to be a cellphone, if I want a camera, I have my Nikon with me…etc..” and he said
“Why the f*** people want HAMMER! I could just use this STONE that I picked up for free”
You guys focus on the lamest arguements. I thought #46 made the most sense.
Well, what was Wall Street’s reaction?
Apple up 8%
RIM down 8%
Palm down 6%
I think it’s obvious what the market is for this phone. Investors use smartphones like the Blackberry and Treo, so this reaction is a direct vote from the users.
Those of you saying “I’m not going to buy this!” don’t see the point: this phone’s not for you.
Apple is only aiming at 1% market share by 2008.
They are obviously aiming for the wealthy 1%. They might as well gold plate the phone for as much as it will cost over a 2 year period to operate with full features.
I don’t agree with 100% of the decisions that Apple has made on this device. The battery, Cingular, the price (at this time but it will drop), and maybe the 4g/8g storage although i don’t see the millions of nano users complaining.
But I think Apple has nailed it in all other aspects. Based on a real, extensible O/S, direct integration with real computers, carry 1 device instead of two or more if i WANT carry my multimedia and phone around with me all day, a real browser, MAP e-mail, etc.
This is a REAL tablet PC with a cell phone addition.. Would you pay $500/600 for full featured tablet PC? I think many people that are in that market would.
Personally, I hate lugging my laptop everywhere I go. This would be a great addition to my daily computing needs without the bulk of lugging a laptop.
What does the iPhone do that is actually new?
As far as I can tell, the iPhone does 1 truly new and wonderful thing – it ends the era of the stylus on pda/smartphone devises. Good for you apple, that is an important achievement and I am glad you chose to showcase it on this test product foray into the cell phone world.
Test product? Absolutely. The iPhone as Jobs described it to us is not all that useful a piece of equipment. And here’s a few reasons why:
1. It is a phone bigger than a 5th generation iPod. That’s really not small by cell phone standards, it’s actually pretty big.
2. It is a widescreen ipod! YAY! Oh wait, hold on there hoss the largest storage capacity available is 8 gigs. What good is a widescreen video viewer that stores a mere 8 gigs I ask you?
3. The device can handle only 5 hours of talk or video time. So, if you go on a trip and watch a 2 hour movie, your cell is half done till you charge again – and that is assuming a best case battery scenario which we all know is NEVER the case. In reality 3 hours of video will probably rob you of the ability to make necessary phonecalls.
4. It’s only for use on Cingular’s network. I don’t know how it is where all of you are from, but last time I checked Cingular really didn’t have a network in most of the North East. They kind’ve pretend that they do so people buy their service, but step 10 feet outside a major metropolitan area or enter a building and…. oops, no network!
Now, don’t get me wrong – Apple has herded together a number of the high points of other phones under one sleek touch sensitive roof.
1. They have effectively offered hope to those of us waiting for a cell phone business model not based on ring tone sales and price gouging for us to transfer our digital phone pictures to our computer. Sounds like we transfer all of that to our computer via blue tooth thanks to good old uncle apple. This has been available on other phones, but Apple can probably make it stick better.
2. They have apparently realized that a GPS in a cell phone isn’t all that much more useful than Google Maps in a cell phone. Why? Because you use your cell phone in civilization, not in the depths of the great northen forest. When you’re in civilization, odds are you have street names, addresses, landmarks, etc! In town google maps is about as good as a GPS.
3. Email on a cell phone, nothing special here except a somewhat doubtful touch sensitive finger keyboard.
4. MP3 player in a cell phone…. Yeah, ok I guess. I never wanted this – it seems kind’ve foolish and Apple did not deliver on the separate MP3 player and Cell Phone batteries that Kevin Rose predicted. If I have a cell phone, I’m going to use it for cell phone things. I have an ipod, which I will use for ipod things. Different batteries for different tasks = less worry about getting stranded without a phone. Also mp3 in a phone has been done before in much smaller form factors.
5. 2 megapixel camera? Eh, I wish they left this out and made the phone a bit smaller or at least cheaper.
6. Wifi, calendar functionality, pda type programs, blah blah blah it’s all been done before. Only difference is you don’t need that awful stylus anymore.
iPhone is a test product. A first foray and a springboard to make an actually useful product. Make no mistake, Apple will burst forth with something wonderful from all this, but that wonderful product is not the iPhone.
I think people are missing the point with the iPhone. It’s not what’s new, it’s how it works and how it is integrated.
Apple didn’t invent the MP3 player, they perfected it. It’s the same with the iPhone. By the time we are looking at the 2nd Gen iPhone, RIM, Motorola, Nokia, LG and the rest will be duplicating the Apple design.
People said the Apple Click Wheel wouldn’t work… People said the GUI wouldn’t work… People said the mouse was useless…
Remove the DRM shit apple.inc
#64 doesn’t get it, while #65 does.
If you find yourself agreeing with #64, consider yourself a checkers player in a chess world.