Apple iPhone

[Huggo]

You know it's funny, I remember hearing the same Mac-bashing comments when the iPod first came out. "Oh fuck Steve Jobs. Fuck Apple. This shit fails. No one will ever buy this."

Oh shi-

[Po]

People will buy it because it's apple and it looks snazzy.
People at work who never talk about gadgets and things were talking about it yesterday.. it is these kind of people who will buy it for the cool factor.
I really can't wait to see how bad it scratches, fingerprints, etc. Should be funny.

[netz]

iPhone:

No expandable memory.
No removable battery.
No Exchange or Office support.
No 3G.
No software support.
No WiFi support

=

No Thanks.


It's a shame, it looked good on paper. Looks like they are marketing iPhone towards young people (13~18) and dont care about anyone that works at a real job or demand anything from a smartphone or PDA.

iPhone = iPod + phone with no features.

EDGE is acceptable as a halfass stopgap until a much more reasonable high-speed data standard is created for GSM networks, and it does actually qualify as 3G depending on the implementation. Everyone knows North American cellular service sucks, so I'm guessing Apple kinda got stuck between a rock and a hard place with that choice. Maybe they couldn't make a deal with Verizon Wireless or Sprint work, otherwise you'd have a true 3G phone since EVDO > EDGE (2.5Mbps to mobile devices instead of 384Kbps).

You, however, did nail the target market, which needs almost none of the features you describe as useful to you. It's hard to make an aesthetically pleasing product when it needs to have a mini-keyboard bolted onto it.

[Raineh]

You know it's funny, I remember hearing the same Mac-bashing comments when the iPod first came out. "Oh fuck Steve Jobs. Fuck Apple. This shit fails. No one will ever buy this."
Oh shi-

Yeah its funny, I remember hearing people talking up how good the
Motorola-Apple ROKR would be as it was made (partly) with apple and has Itunes

OHSNAP WHERE IS IT NOW?

So do you have one?
No, no one does.. because it sucks and shows even with a established phone manufacturer they don't understand the market and and dont offer anything new apart from the brand itself

failfailfail

[Bethany]

iPhone:

No expandable memory.
No removable battery.
No Exchange or Office support.
No 3G.
No software support.
No WiFi support

=

No Thanks.


It's a shame, it looked good on paper. Looks like they are marketing iPhone towards young people (13~18) and dont care about anyone that works at a real job or demand anything from a smartphone or PDA.

iPhone = iPod + phone with no features.

No expandable memory
With all due respect to analyst Michael Gartenberg from Jupiter Research, there was no official announcement on that. He is just going by current specs given, specs mind you that are prelim, & not a full list of features we will see at the roll out of the iPhone in June. Even if there is no expandable memory whatever there will be more than enough to run a full desktop OSX, which is more demanding than anything currently in use on cell phones or smart phones, so there is no real need to expand.

No removable battery
Yes, normal cell phones have that, but this isn't a normal cell phone. If millions of people have gotten used to not having a removable battery on their iPods, people can get used to it too on the iPhone.

No Exchange or Office support.
Again, Michael Gartenberg is going by the very few details that are known at this time. There has been no official word from Apple.

No 3G
3G for those who don't know, means Third Generation Technology in reference to Mobile Phone standards. It's currently being implemented in Europe and Asia.

As for bringing it to the US: "The most obvious cost associated with 3G is its implementation investment. Since 3G is fundamentally different from existing 2G technologies, an entirely new network will have to be constructed in the United States. Many telecommunications firms will be hesitant to take on such an investment, considering that they’ve yet to recoup any significant percentage of their investment in 2G networks. Furthermore, because of their substantial investment in 2G technology, many of those firms are heavily indebted, making it difficult for them to finance this new technology. These expenses have primarily been in the form of spectrum licensing fees, which frequently run into the billions of dollars. In Europe alone, where 3G is developing much quicker, firms have already invested in excess of $126 Billion. Costs in the U.S. are expected to be even higher, since licenses are sold based on the highest bid, there is stronger political support for 3G development in Europe, and their existing 2G technology is much easier to convert than the U.S.’ is."

iPhone uses Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900) which is more than fine. Of course, there is no reason for 3G to not be included in a 2nd or 3rd generation iPhone when it makes sense to do so.

No software support
AGAIN speculation based on preliminary information. iPhone runs OSX. Saying it will have no software support is completely naive at the least and completely reckless at the most. iPhone is not a cell phone or a smart phone. It's going to be in a class of its own. Like Steve Jobs said in his keynote. The cell phone market is 950 million cell phones. If they get 1% of that they'll be happy.

No WiFi support
That's a bit misleading.... For Wireless data transfer iPhone does have Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0 built in. Now, Michael Gartenberg says there is no over the air iTunes Store downloads or WiFi syncing to your host machine. Yet again... this isn't confirmed. Nothing official from Apple so people should take a wait and see approach.

"It's a shame, it looked good on paper. Looks like they are marketing iPhone towards young people (13~18) and dont care about anyone that works at a real job or demand anything from a smartphone or PDA.

iPhone = iPod + phone with no features."

SephirothYuyX, did you watch the keynote? Steve Jobs sure as hell is a master of spin. He can sell ice to an eskimo. But that doesn't mean Apple's products are bad. They are different. They are outside of the norm. iPhone isn't being marketed towards 13-18 year olds. It's marketed towards anyone who wants something different.

I think there are going to be people who buy the iPhone for it's iPod features. Hell, just as a stand alone iPod it's the next evolution in iPod. But people are going to buy it because it's more than an iPod. People should watch the keynote if they haven't already. At least watch the iPhone portion. See the phone in action. See all it's features in use. It's so much more than a clumsy cell phone. It's more than a PDA or smart phone. It's an iPhone and in a catagory all it's own.

Am I going to buy it? Yes, but for numerous reasons. Our contract will be up this summer with our current phone service, and I personally would buy it alone for it's iPod functions.

I just wish people wouldn't bash something without finding out all there is to know. Even if you hate Apple, you have to admit, they're doing something right judging by their success.

[Isiolia]

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/the- ... martphone/

Only if Apple allows it; no thanks.

So far the only actual Apple info I've seen is that it runs OSX and as a result can run full-fledged applications rather than the stripped down versions most portables would run.

While I have no delusions regarding Apple and their limitations on most products, I'd say to wait until it actually comes out to see how it works. Not like PalmOS or Windows Mobile based devices don't have standard loaders to work through too.

It has the potential to be very flexible, and part of that is that it has the potential to be changed or expanded according to demand.

I think it'll be a success either way, since there are pros and cons of having it more closed. The more locked down it is, the less people can screw it up.

[SephYuyX]

I think there are going to be people who buy the iPhone for it's iPod features. Hell, just as a stand alone iPod it's the next evolution in iPod.

As youve said, people will buy it if they want an iPod with phone features, its an upgrade for them.

But for people who have experienced PDAs and smartphones and work for a business, wont step down to an iPhone.

Being an OSX phone, I highly doubt there will be support for office/exchange, and that pretty much kills any marketing strategy for any business person.

[Maguspk]

I iphone will succeed not because it's so "innovative" or "new" but because of two things

It looks pretty
It has "toy-like features" a youthful customer base will enjoy

This is the same reason the ipod sold so well. With the success of the ipod apple was able to continuously make them better and now they're very popular as far as mp3 players go, and they really put apple on the map most people didn't even know apple made shit really.

The iphone will probably work the same way, it will start small but since people like the way it looks and enjoy it's unique functionality they will buy them and apple will continue to fine tune them to continue to be competitive and superior as other companies try to move in on the cellphone/pda market. It's smart really, they come out before everything is in place just so they can get an early foothold in the market.

[Tyche]

any 13-18 year old who can afford to dump $600 on a fucking cell phone had a much much better childhood than i had.

[Bethany]

any 13-18 year old who can afford to dump $600 on a fucking cell phone had a much much better childhood than i had.

Me too

P.S. We have insight cable & broadband too Tyche. They have been such a nice change of pace to deal with as far as customer service goes.. Having had Comcast before them.. the change was night and day.

[CaptainObvious]

Ooops!


SAN FRANCISCO - Cisco Systems sued Apple Inc. in federal court Wednesday, saying the computer maker's new iPhone violates its trademark.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, came just a day after Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple iPhone in dramatic fashion at a trade show in San Francisco.

But even while Jobs was trumpeting the product during his keynote address to Apple faithful, the matter of the product's naming had not been resolved behind the scenes between two of the biggest names in Silicon Valley.

San Jose-based Cisco, the world's largest network-equipment maker, has owned the trademark on the name "iPhone" since 2000, when it acquired InfoGear Technology Corp., which originally registered the name.

And three weeks ago, Cisco's Linksys division put the trademark to use, releasing an Internet phone called "iPhone" that uses the increasingly popular Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

But on Tuesday, Jobs unveiled Apple's own iPhone, a "game-changing" touch-screen-controlled cell phone device that plays music, surfs the Web and delivers voicemail and e-mail.

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said she could not immediately comment on the lawsuit.

Cisco said Tuesday it had been negotiating for several years with Apple over a licensing agreement, but that Apple lawyers had not signed and returned the final contract.

"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," said Mark Chandler, Cisco senior vice president and general counsel, in a statement. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."

Cisco is seeking injunctive relief to prevent Apple from copying Cisco's iPhone trademark.

"Today's iPhone is not tomorrow's iPhone. The potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone and PC is limitless, which is why it is so important for us to protect our brand," Chandler added.

[archibaldcrane]

Damnit Capt. Obvious, you beat me.

Anyway, link to his story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070110/ap_ ... co_apple_8

[Kriz]

Cisco heard all the rumors and realized something named completely because they knew it'd pull the press that an Apple product does.

While they may be in the clear, I think Cisco is trying to fleece consumers and Apple this way.

Apple even owns iphone.org. With the iPhone not shipping until June, they are trying to stop Apple now.

Blegh. Apple will prevail, they have the clout. And I feel that Cisco was squatting on the name just for this...

[archibaldcrane]

Cisco heard all the rumors and realized something named completely because they knew it'd pull the press that an Apple product does.

While they may be in the clear, I think Cisco is trying to fleece consumers and Apple this way.

Apple even owns iphone.org. With the iPhone not shipping until June, they are trying to stop Apple now.

Blegh. Apple will prevail, they have the clout. And I feel that Cisco was squatting on the name just for this...

From the article: "And three weeks ago, Cisco's Linksys division put the trademark to use, releasing an Internet phone called "iPhone" that uses the increasingly popular Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP."

They aren't just squatting on the name, they're using it, and they've owned the trademark since 2000. Just because Apple is "fancy" and popular with consumers, doesn't mean that Cisco Systems isn't a huge juggernaut of a company itself.

[Isiolia]

I think there are going to be people who buy the iPhone for it's iPod features. Hell, just as a stand alone iPod it's the next evolution in iPod.

As youve said, people will buy it if they want an iPod with phone features, its an upgrade for them.

But for people who have experienced PDAs and smartphones and work for a business, wont step down to an iPhone.

Being an OSX phone, I highly doubt there will be support for office/exchange, and that pretty much kills any marketing strategy for any business person.

There's office for OSX already, and Exchange will probably be little trouble provided someone other than MS writes the client. Entourage kinda sucks, but it's there. Evolution is also available on the platform.

OSX is BSD UNIX at heart. It's all a matter of how open it is for additional software, since the OS itself is capable of whatever you'd realistically want to do. With the option to use a good amount of industry standard, free software likely with just a recompile for whatever CPU is in the thing.

I have a number of users who use smartphones/PDA based phones. The majority of them don't scratch the surface of what you could really do with them. They're happy to check their email on the go, to have their contacts synched, etc. Really most reminisce about how simple things used to be when they get one.

Simplicity is good for a great many people.

[Kriz]

Cisco heard all the rumors and realized something named completely because they knew it'd pull the press that an Apple product does.

While they may be in the clear, I think Cisco is trying to fleece consumers and Apple this way.

Apple even owns iphone.org. With the iPhone not shipping until June, they are trying to stop Apple now.

Blegh. Apple will prevail, they have the clout. And I feel that Cisco was squatting on the name just for this...

From the article: "And three weeks ago, Cisco's Linksys division put the trademark to use, releasing an Internet phone called "iPhone" that uses the increasingly popular Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP."

They aren't just squatting on the name, they're using it, and they've owned the trademark since 2000. Just because Apple is "fancy" and popular with consumers, doesn't mean that Cisco Systems isn't a huge juggernaut of a company itself.

Cisco's new iPhone is purely an attempt to take the halo effect from Apple's i-product naming system.

The fact that Cisco bought a company and acquired, in 2000, the rights to iPhone (made in 1997, ever heard of it before?), yet for a decade did not do anything with the name/product, seems to me like they had no plans.

Then, for almost 6 months the rumors of an Apple iPhone were immenent. While Cisco has done no real wrong, it's a move to steal eyes.

[Bethany]

Cisco heard all the rumors and realized something named completely because they knew it'd pull the press that an Apple product does.

While they may be in the clear, I think Cisco is trying to fleece consumers and Apple this way.

Apple even owns iphone.org. With the iPhone not shipping until June, they are trying to stop Apple now.

Blegh. Apple will prevail, they have the clout. And I feel that Cisco was squatting on the name just for this...

From the article: "And three weeks ago, Cisco's Linksys division put the trademark to use, releasing an Internet phone called "iPhone" that uses the increasingly popular Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP."

They aren't just squatting on the name, they're using it, and they've owned the trademark since 2000. Just because Apple is "fancy" and popular with consumers, doesn't mean that Cisco Systems isn't a huge juggernaut of a company itself.

"Cisco said Tuesday it had been negotiating for several years with Apple over a licensing agreement, but that Apple lawyers had not signed and returned the final contract.

"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," said Mark Chandler, Cisco senior vice president and general counsel, in a statement. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."

Cisco never registered iPhone. InfoGear Technology Corp., are the ones who originally registered the name & then was later bought in 2000 by Cisco.

Additionally, in my opinion they have been squatting on the name ever since because they've admittedly been approached by Apple for "years" trying to work something out with the name. At least since 2003 after the runaway success of iPod, Apple has been toying around with the idea of a phone for four years.

Cisco knew all along if they were really in negotiations with Apple that Apple was going to be unveiling the iPhone soon, yet Cisco was working in good faith with them to work something out with Apple using the name?.... Right.. and that's why Cisco released their iPhone thing just a couple weeks ago. If that's what they call good faith negotiation then I'd hate to see their bad faith.

In the end, all this is just a ploy by Cisco to get more money out of Apple. They had their lawyers ready with the paperwork, just waiting for the keynote to happen and for Apple to reveal the product & name, and then cue Cisco running to the courts crying foul.

Kinda sad but oh well. In the end Apple will most likely get the use of the name, albeit paying much more than anticipated. Cisco will rename their Voip thing something else. The world will go on.. Reminds me of the quote... “Avarice, the spur of industry” -- David Hume

[Vinen]

Treo > Iphone

[Sadler]

Cisco heard all the rumors and realized something named completely because they knew it'd pull the press that an Apple product does.

While they may be in the clear, I think Cisco is trying to fleece consumers and Apple this way.

Apple even owns iphone.org. With the iPhone not shipping until June, they are trying to stop Apple now.

Blegh. Apple will prevail, they have the clout. And I feel that Cisco was squatting on the name just for this...

From the article: "And three weeks ago, Cisco's Linksys division put the trademark to use, releasing an Internet phone called "iPhone" that uses the increasingly popular Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP."

They aren't just squatting on the name, they're using it, and they've owned the trademark since 2000. Just because Apple is "fancy" and popular with consumers, doesn't mean that Cisco Systems isn't a huge juggernaut of a company itself.

"Cisco said Tuesday it had been negotiating for several years with Apple over a licensing agreement, but that Apple lawyers had not signed and returned the final contract.

"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," said Mark Chandler, Cisco senior vice president and general counsel, in a statement. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."

Cisco never registered iPhone. InfoGear Technology Corp., are the ones who originally registered the name & then was later bought in 2000 by Cisco.

Additionally, in my opinion they have been squatting on the name ever since because they've admittedly been approached by Apple for "years" trying to work something out with the name. At least since 2003 after the runaway success of iPod, Apple has been toying around with the idea of a phone for four years.

Cisco knew all along if they were really in negotiations with Apple that Apple was going to be unveiling the iPhone soon, yet Cisco was working in good faith with them to work something out with Apple using the name?.... Right.. and that's why Cisco released their iPhone thing just a couple weeks ago. If that's what they call good faith negotiation then I'd hate to see their bad faith.

In the end, all this is just a ploy by Cisco to get more money out of Apple. They had their lawyers ready with the paperwork, just waiting for the keynote to happen and for Apple to reveal the product & name, and then cue Cisco running to the courts crying foul.

Kinda sad but oh well. In the end Apple will most likely get the use of the name, albeit paying much more than anticipated. Cisco will rename their Voip thing something else. The world will go on.. Reminds me of the quote... “Avarice, the spur of industry” -- David Hume

I don't think you quite understand how big the Voice over IP market has become.... iP-hone iPhone or whatever you wanna look at it is the "best" name they could of used for there up and coming market.

Saying they sat on that name when they released info on the future of IP hardware and there future brand over 2 years ago makes me laugh.

[Bethany]

"I don't think you quite understand how big the Voice over IP market has become.... iP-hone iPhone or whatever you wanna look at it is the "best" name they could of used for there up and coming market."

I'm sorry if you felt I made light of Voip, or didn't understand the gravity of their market share. I know personally all to well about Voip if for no other reason than I like many others have been bombarded with the likes of the Vonage "wooo hoo woo hoo hoo" commercials.

Joi Phone, Sunrocket, Vonage, and Packet 8 all are growing leaps and bounds, but with those leaps have come growing pains. Namely people are happy with their cheaper phone service but find some of the shortcomings hard to deal with. A big percentage of Voip users still have a land service provider too. Citing their lack of a full support being that Voip is dependant on their ISP connection and if the power or ISP goes out, so does their phone.

Anyways, the name iPhone does fit Voip, but the whole point is Apple has been trying to work something out with them on the name for at least four years. Anything they've done on their own with their own Voip Product is fine. But if they have been negotiating with Apple in good faith for Apple to possibly get the name from them and the papwerwork was all but signed, they shouldn't have released their product with the name, or led Apple to believe the name was going to be cleared to use.

Apple should have waited to announce the name tied to the product, but if they were under the belief the name would be theirs then they probably thought they did have the right. Only Apple and Cisco know for sure.

"Saying they sat on that name when they released info on the future of IP hardware and there future brand over 2 years ago makes me laugh."

I didn't mean to imply they had the name but nothing to put it with. They have of course been working on a product. Again, the point is, they are a company. A company which has a goal to make money just like any other. What better way to make money than up their asking price by crying foul that Apple is using their name illegally and if they really want it they need to fully pay for it. Cisco can call their product anything. So can Apple, but only Apple wants to call it iPhone because of the name recognition and "i" product association.

Oh well, I guess you can laugh at any of this. Cisco is going to be laughing too when they take their bigger check they will be getting when the dust settles and Apple gets their way & the name.

I kinda hope Apple doesn't get the name. They should call their new phone iKeitai. It's from the Japanese keitai denwa 携帯電話 (Portable Telephone). /sigh... Apple will be laughing last though I think. What Apple wants, Apple gets, even the name of their company.. lol. :wink: