Above: The new and eagerly awaited, iPhone was announced in San Francisco on 10/01
So opening MX yesterday and reading the Sydney Morning Herald today, it seems that one can not turn around with out some one discussing Apples latest venture, iPhone. Following in the suit of all things Apple - the name of course includes the "i" making subtle reference to its sibling products and software, the iPod and iTunes.
Above: The iPod advertising posters that are known virtually everywhereSpeaking at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs announced,
"We are going to make history today... Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone... Isn't that cool?"Quote taken from SMH, 11/01/07
Now I have to first establish that I am an Apple whore. I love everything Apple and worship my Apple 15" powerbook and iPod as my daily idols. Sad, yes... but hey I don't think I'm the only one, I just think no one else will openly admit to the disorder... haha, what should we name it? Appleitis? Actually at uni yesterday, a friend said something very true,
"Once you go Mac, you don't go back!"She was of course making reference to recently purchasing an Apple iBook and already loves it. So of course, you understand when Jobs finally confirmed after months of speculation that Apple was indeed producing the iPhone, that I was a little excited.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald (11/01),
"A user can skim through contacts, emails or songs on the touch sensitive screen... when text input is required for SMS, a virtual keyboard pops up and the camera on the back takes two megapixel-sized photos. A web browser and Google's online maps are built in... the unit automatically synchronises with the iTunes software on a computer, backing up music, podcasts, movies, contacts, calendars, photos, noes, web bookmarks and email accounts."
With the phone launching in the US for a price tag of $US499 (according to Cantonrep.com, its no more expensive than any other 'smart phone' that one would purchase currently on the market.
However some critics aren't so sure.
"Still, Neff and others including Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi cautioned iPhone could face a hiccup or two from regulators and from an already crowded field of other "smartphones," most of which cost less than iPhone. Sacconaghi cited what he called the "spectacularly" high price of $499/$599 for a mobile device.Quote taken from Yahoo! News.com
Even so, analysts noted similar objections to the iPod's original price when it was introduced in 2001: $399 for a five-gigabyte model and $499 for a 10-gigabyte model. Since then, the iPod has become the market-leading digital music player, and Jobs said on Tuesday that Apple would sell its 100 millionth iPod this year."
In terms of the stock market, Global investors reportedly dumped large numbers of stocks in several mobile phone developers including BlackBerry maker, Research In Motion LTD (RIM), following Jobs' announcement regarding iPhones yesterday. According to Yahoo! News and Infoworld,
"RIM shares dropped 7.7 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange over fears the iPhone may cause users to turn off their BlackBerries and switch to the new Apple smartphone. Shares in Treo-maker Palm Inc. tumbled 5.7 percent on the Nasdaq."
However, Jack Gold of ComputerWorld Software isn't so keen on Apple's new charge on the telecommunications frontier.
"Frankly, and contrary to the reactions of Apple fans and the stock market, I am pretty skeptical. I don’t think this device will meet the fantastic predictions I have been reading. For starters, while Apple basically established the market for portable music players, the phone market is already established, with a number of major brands. Can Apple remake the phone market in its image? Success is far from guaranteed."
In the article, Gold highlights three main arguments to support his opinion that iPhones might not be successful and describes this in detail. His arguments include:
1. The majority of entertainment phones (combining music, video etc with a mobile phone) has often had several previous flop prototypes.
2. Price is too steep.
3. Who is the target market for this product with such an expensive price tag?
4. Will there be a problem with the iPhone running through the Mac OS system? What about PC's?
5. Will it be constrained to one network? (i.e.: like in the US, rumoured to be singled out with Cingular network)
Gold does raise a few good points, but as the phone has only just been confirmed, I do think its a little quick to jump the gun and insinuate that Apple has not already thought all of this through. I suppose only time will tell how great this new piece of technology really is. But at the moment that may be a while with the slated release for the phones outside of the US and Europe for 2008. Guess some of us might be waiting a little while longer.
2 comments:
Hey i own 2 iPods... and i have had technical difficulties with both! but something draws me to buy more stuff for it and to constantly update it! i thinks it cause its more of a fasion statment than anything else... good job over at the marketing section at iPod headquarters! You definatly fooled me! lol
keep on keeping on chick on the road!
yeah i agree Mike. I think to a degree the success of the iPod in the music technology market is due to the advertising campaigns that were launched. They made you as a consumer feel that if you didn't have one then you weren't "cool". Kind of makes it sound like high school but still true nonetheless, I feel. I think its become so much more than a fashion statement now. Its almost as if wearing a certain type of iPod determines who you are. When you're walking down the street, if you were to see a person carrying an iPod shuffle, it would make you think what they're listening to... why do they have such a small iPod... do they not want all their music?!?! you know? Then you see another person with a video iPod and you wonder what they put on there and how much music they listen to etc etc... almost like you're judging them based upon their iPods. Its bizarre but we do it, sometimes without realising. Thanks for the comment Michael.
Post a Comment