iPhone
To me, again to ME, the iPhone just reinforces my long held view that Apple makes the best tech / electronic toys in the world. Honestly, iPods are great but they are toys not machines of productions, and the sub 2% Apple computer market share is really the same way now - more about a statement and innovation then day to day production. The great thing is that both Apple’s players and computers make the market innovate and that is good. Now back to the the iPhone, it is innovative design wise, it has some cool features, but it leaves a lot of the expected features of a top end smart phone / PDA off - SMS text, email / Outlook connectivity, full keyboard, etc.
Yes, it is cool and yes it is a iPod to boot, but at the end of the day it is far more toy and gadget then it is high end connectivity hardware. For $500+ dollars I would think I would have a desire to dump my Cingular 8125, I don’t. My 8125 surf’s the “real” web, it admittedly it is slow but the newer model 8525 is pretty quick, it connects to my email, syncs with my Outlook, plays my MP3’s, records video, has camera (with a light), has a full keyboard, has a good sized screen (just a bit smaller then the iPhone), works in both portrait and landscape modes, and even has a micro SD expansion slot. I got mine for right at $250 and added a $20 2GB microSD card. Sure it is not a flashy and it is a bit thicker, but it does everything I need, does it well, and really does everything the iPhone does but just does not have the sexiness of the iPhone. There are Treo’s, Blackberry’s, and others out there that are the same way and that have the same features.
Bottomline, I think / know Apple has a marketplace statement here. In a year IF sales are still brisk, then you can say Apple has a marketplace winner too. If lines around stores at launch equaled marketplace success though the PS3 would be the king of all consoles at this point, it is not. My point is let’s give the iPhone a bit of time before declaring it the king of all cell phones.
It is cool, it is easy to use, and it has some cool new features. Once again Apple has delivered a COOL product to a BORING market. There were MP3 players before the iPod, but they were rare then - low market / sales - and boring. Once the iPod hit it was the standard and the market leader. The cell phone market and manufacturers are a different though. Here there are already some STRONG competitors out there and they are innovative too. I think you can expect a new round of phone models with similar features to the iPhone very soon. Another big difference between phones and MP3 players is that the competitors in this market already have market share and loyal users.
