Apple introduces iPhone

Engadget ^ | Jan 9, 2007 | Chris Ziegler

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Capping literally years of speculation on perhaps the most intensely followed unconfirmed product in Apple's history -- and that's saying a lot -- the iPhone has been announced today in collaboration with Cingular. Yeah, we said it: "iPhone," the name the entire free world had all but unanimously christened it from the time it'd been nothing more than a twinkle in Stevie J's eye (comments, Cisco?). Sweet, glorious specs of the 11.6 millimeter device (that's frickin' thin, by the way) include a 3.5-inch wide touchscreen display with multi-touch support, 2 megapixel cam, 8 GB of storage, Bluetooth with EDR, WiFi, and quadband GSM radio with EDGE -- and amazingly, it somehow runs OS X.

[ReignOfError]

Nice. Whoever does Apple's CSS work knows the company's history. Of course, the kind of company that Apple is, it's a decent bet that every employee is also a fan.

I don't use view source much these days. Now I feel like I'll have to check sites for Easter Eggs, like, say, "class='hemi'" on the Chrysler site.

[Aquinasfan]

This is going to be bigger than the introduction of the Macintosh. Apple has vertically integrated the music business, and this device should make them one of the biggest phone hardware and service providers in the years to come.

[Aquinasfan]

But as a phone? Too big

What are the dimensions? A 3.5" diagonal screen isn't that big. If the battery life is half of what they claim, this thing is going to conquer the world.

[af_vet_rr]

This is going to be bigger than the introduction of the Macintosh. Apple has vertically integrated the music business, and this device should make them one of the biggest phone hardware and service providers in the years to come.

The funny thing is - Nokia, Palm, Sony, HTC, LG, etc., all could have done this phone before now. Instead we have this mish-mash of interfaces, that take way too many keystrokes to do what most people want. As well, the web experience is not too hot on even dedicated smartphones (the HTC Wizard, aka Cingular 8xxx series).

There is no reason why a company could not have worked on a phone like this, and provided a good, fast, easy to use user interface before now, except for a lack of vision.

Like somebody said on another forum, most phones these days are designed by engineers. The iPhone is designed by designers - people who have actually studied how phones are used, what people want, etc. The Apple engineers then had to make it work, and they did. Just like the iPod.

[Petronski]

Too big? Are you a dwarf?

[ReignOfError]

Anyone know where to find what 3rd party applications would work with the iPhone?

Way to soon to say. The scuttlebutt -- apparently confirmed, but just apparently -- is that Apple created an embedded (i.e. streamlined) version of OS X for this, and has slick developer tools for folks to port apps over, so I wouldn't expect it to take long for the announcements to start rolling in.

Dashboard widgets will work from jump, assuming they fit n the screen, no recoding required.

In particular, I'm interested in finding out whether Palm software and FileMaker Pro would work with it. IOW, I would be interested in it if it would duplicate what I do now on my Palm PDA as well as provide phone/internet/e-mail.

FileMaker -- an Apple product -- will almost certainly have an iPhone version. At worst, it has WiFi, so you can administer databases if there's a Mac in the room. Palm OS apps, I would imagine not, though I would guess that a lot of developers will port their apps over. I suspect that this little gizmo will blow the PDA/smartphone market wide open the way the iPod did the MP3 player market.

I like my Treo -- I liked it better before I saw this -- and I'd like some sort of emulation layer that would let me run my Palm OS apps, at least until they're ported over or someone writes an equivalent. But then, I also want a pony.

Thing is, we're still six months away from the iPhone being in most folks' hands. That's a lot of time for developers to port their apps over, and any PDA developer who didn't put that at the top if his to-do list today is insane and not to be trusted.

[Petronski]

"$299 shipped in February" is the Apple TV.

[freekitty]

I thought I saw $599.00. Too much; but is probably a great product. Always thought they got sold short.

[UlmoLordOfWaters]

class="hemi" ha!

That phone is a thing of beauty.

The UI is simple and stunning. I can't wait to get my hands on one.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Too big? Are you a dwarf?

No, just a guy used to cell phones much smaller than this. Everyone else is used to cell phones much smaller than this as well, which is why I don't think it will succeed as a phone.

[ReignOfError]

What are the dimensions?

Width: 2.4"
Height: 4.5"
Depth: 0.46"

Eventually, we might see a drive-based version, like the iPod, but flash memory requires less power and space. The iPods can (just barely) support a hard drive, but adding a radio transceiver is another big power drain, so a drive-based phone would have to involve a lot of compromises in size and battery life. At least until the tech catches up.

If the battery life is half of what they claim, this thing is going to conquer the world.

I think so. I have a Treo, and I like it a lot. But hold its sort-of Web browser up against the iPhone, and it's pretty small potatoes. It's no exaggeration to say that Apple is redefining what a pocket-sized device can do.

The biggest difference between the iPod and the iPhone isgoing to be the shape of the market. The iPod revolutionized the market for digital music players, which was then in its infancy. Mobile phones and PDAs are more mature markets, with entrenched players like Nokia and Motorola, so that'll be tougher to crack.

[af_vet_rr]

Everyone else is used to cell phones much smaller than this as well, which is why I don't think it will succeed as a phone.

I would agree except it's not just a phone. It's an iPod, which millions and millions of people already have and enjoy. It's got wireless internet access with a great interface (if you've used the internet on cell phones before now, you'd know that most don't do a very good job). Finally, it's a very good communications tool. As somebody who has relied on various devices (Blackberrys, Treos, etc.) over the years, this is a godsend. The SMS is incredible.

Just like Nintendo Wii managed to break the mold and pull in non-gamers, I think this will pull in customers who weren't using Smartphones before now, as well as existing Smartphone customers (including Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and Symbian users).

[tubebender]

APPL up 7.37.....

[Mr. Jeeves]

I would agree except it's not just a phone.

It's the first real convergence device, and it just rendered the cell phone obsolete.

[af_vet_rr]

It's the first real convergence device, and it just rendered the cell phone obsolete.

Absolutely.

The funny thing to me is, we've seen this coming for years. Even many of the cheap phones we have these days have some kind of MP3 capabilities. I've got PDAs that go back several years, that had much of this functionality - I stopped carrying them though, because I found myself lugging a phone and a dedicated PDA around.

As more and more places started offering Wifi, companies like Sony and Nokia began offering mainstream "internet tablets" (call them whatever you want - internet access devices, etc.).

Definitely this is a convergence device. I would not be surprised to see cheaper/smaller subsets of the iPhone at some point in the future as well (remember, the original iPods were big size-wise, and expensive).

[af_vet_rr]

Is this considered the Newton II :-)

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I would agree except it's not just a phone. It's an iPod, which millions and millions of people already have and enjoy. It's got wireless internet access with a great interface (if you've used the internet on cell phones before now, you'd know that most don't do a very good job). Finally, it's a very good communications tool. As somebody who has relied on various devices (Blackberrys, Treos, etc.) over the years, this is a godsend. The SMS is incredible.

I agree - this is a mini-tablet, next-generation iPod and PDA. It will succeed on those terms, but I don't believe it'll give Apple the kind of penetration in the mobile phone market that some people have projected. Many, if not most, cell-phone users favor small size over lots and lots of features.

[af_vet_rr]

I agree - this is a mini-tablet, next-generation iPod and PDA. It will succeed on those terms, but I don't believe it'll give Apple the kind of penetration in the mobile phone market that some people have projected. Many, if not most, cell-phone users favor small size over lots and lots of features.

Like I said above - the iPod started out big and bulky and expensive (albeit not as big and bulky as some players). There were several smaller MP3 players out there on the market when Apple entered it. However, Apple provided some things that nobody else was providing (a good interface and lots of storage) and later on, after they had the first adapters raving about the iPod, as well as subsidizing future iPods, they came out with smaller ones that allowed them to take over the market.

I think the same thing is happening here. I fully expect some kind of slimmed down version of this in the future, or possibly looking at two-three years down the road, what costs us $499 and $599 now could very well cost us $199 then.

[ReignOfError]

No, just a guy used to cell phones much smaller than this. Everyone else is used to cell phones much smaller than this as well, which is why I don't think it will succeed as a phone.

If all you're looking for is "a phone," you're not the target audience for the iPhone. There will always be some little commodity phone a cell provider is dying to give away for nothing. Size, schmize; no one whose last name isn't "Hilton" pays five hundred bucks just to have a phone.

On the other hand, if you were toting a phone, a PDA and an iPod, and can now have all in one, working together in ways never possible before, and maybe even leave the laptop behind for stuff you do every day, this would be pretty exciting.

[brwnsuga]

I have an iMac (which is nice) and I just saw the apple 24in HDTV display OMG! I want that for next Christmas, Santa and I SWEAR I've been good!