Apple introduces iPhone

Engadget ^ | Jan 9, 2007 | Chris Ziegler

[Jeff Head]

My Dell XPS 600 has 6 cooling fans...but they are EXTREMELY quiet, and it has a 650 watt power supply. I am only running one 7900 GS now, and power and cooling have been no problem. When I add the second, we shall see...but I do not expect any problem as the chassis was designed for SLI operation.

[Pukin Dog]

Wish I could say mine is quiet too, but it aint. I have the SuperAlien case with 8 fans, and it sounds like a vacuum cleaner. But, my stuff stays cool. I am considering water cooling, but I would have to raise my geek status.

[Jeff Head]

I got my Dell XPS 600 off their outlet store just a few weeks after the Dell 700 came out. Got a dual core 3.0 Ghz, 2 Gb RAM system, with the 7900 GS, Raid 0 320 Gb HDD (2 160 Gb drives), etc. (just the box mind you) for just under $700. Then bought a 20" Wide Screen display from the Outlet too for just under $300. Paid less than a thousand for a system that three months earlier would have cost me $2400 direct from Dell, and being refurbished, it came with a standard Dell warranty.

It was the wife's Christmas present to old grandpa here.

My biggest issue with this new iPhone is simply to wait until it is available on Verizon because we have such good coverage here...and that will probably allow me to get it cheaper too since it will have been out a while...but I definitiely do want one.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

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.

However, the market Apple was supposed to be trying for, according to analysts, was the cell-phone market. This device is physically too big to make a huge dent there. Once again, it will succeed as the new iPod and mini-tablet, but that isn't the same market.

[Pukin Dog]

I've got an Athlon 64x2 4400, 2GB RAM. 20" Viewsonic monitor. Paid almost $2K for the system, bought in parts from Newegg.

I am also going to wait for Verizon to get the iPhone before I get one. But that think is quite nice out the door.

[finnman69]

http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/09/technology/apple_jobs/index.htm?postversion=2007010917
Cingular, a unit of AT&T (up $0.13 to $33.94, Charts), will be Apple's sole U.S. partner. It's an exclusive multiyear agreement, which means no other carrier will be able to sell the iPhone through 2009.

[ReignOfError]

However, the market Apple was supposed to be trying for, according to analysts, was the cell-phone market.

Those analysts are idiots. I can walk into any Sprint store and get a new phone, if I just want a phone, for free. That is not the competition for a $600 device.

This device is physically too big to make a huge dent there. Once again, it will succeed as the new iPod and mini-tablet, but that isn't the same market.

The fact that you're missing is that the right product doesn't take the market; it makes the market. The iPhone is a cell phone like the iPod was a Walkman or the light bulb was a candle or the Model T was a horse. Apple is competing for the cell phone market like Ford competed with blacksmiths and Edison competed with chandlers.

Your gripe about the size of the gadget is like complaining that a Model T weighs more than a horse, and gee, Molly, that means we'll have to pave the roads and beef up the bridges.

There were other MP3 players before the iPod, but the iPod didn't just outsell them; it outsold them all combined by a factor of hundreds. It created a new market for something people didn't know they needed until they saw it.

I think the iPhone will do for PDA/smartphones what the iPod did for digital music players. Not by showing folks how to better do what they're already doing, which is pretty nifty in itself, but by showing folks how to easily do things they hadn't thought of with a mobile device before.

And if you're looking for a tiny phone, get a bluetooth headset. Or handset. You can use that while the iPhone stays on your belt or in your pocket, briefcase or backpack.

And just to tack on, not apropos to your comments, the Zune is now about as relevant as teats on a boar hog.

[ReignOfError]

Someone must make some sort of mini flat folding keyboard to match with this.
Darn, I just gave away another good idea.

It has Bluetooth, so there are probably scores of folding keyboards for PDAs and cell phones that will already work. Look for scores more in the next half-year before the iPhone actually ships.

[ReignOfError]

Well, this device does have WiFi capability, so a lot of VoIP possibilities open up and never mind the overpriced cellular services - if I use this as a phone, it'll be after a Skype client is ported to it.

You read my mind. I use Sprint, and I've found very, very few dark spots in their coverage. Unfortunately, I live in one of them. If I could do WiFi VOIP at home and in the office, over Skype or Vonage or whomever, wireless elsewhere, all ringing to the same phone, I don't think I'd ever need a landline again.

[ReignOfError]

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).

That would jibe with Apple's iPod strategy. Offer a world-killer device for top-dollar, and grab the early-adopters. Then expand your way down the product line a little at a time, each with a little lower price and a feature set to match. The iPod went original, mini, nano, shuffle. I'd expect the iPhone to follow a similar path.

[SamAdams76]

I'm amazed that Apple (and Cingular) were able to keep this project such a secret that up until this morning, even the most "plugged-in" pundits never saw it coming.

In my opinion, this is a revolutionary product that will turn the cell phone industry upside down. It is basically a merging of iPod, PDA and cell phone.

We all saw how cool the first iPod was in 2001 but nobody saw the tidal wave coming. It took about three years to get the iPod juggernaut rolling. Now five years (and five generations of iPod later), that first iPod looks as clunky as that old VCR player in your closet that you haven't used since 1997.

One can only imagine how future generations of this product are going to evolve. Already, it appears that Apple has a polished mega-selling product on their hands. And it's priced to sell NOW.

Let's just hope they can build factories fast enough to produce them.

[HAL9000]

Early access to Keynote video - http://stream.qtv.apple.com/events/jan/j47d52oo/m_8848125_650_ref.mov

[Vermonter]

Thanks for that link. Apple's keynote link is swamped right now.

[Vermonter]

That link appears overwhelmed now too.

[Swordmaker]

Introducing The iPhone! PING

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Terpfen]

I'm amazed that Apple (and Cingular) were able to keep this project such a secret that up until this morning, even the most "plugged-in" pundits never saw it coming.

Don't be. The Wall Street Journal reported last night that the iPhone would be debuted today, and it would be carried via Cingular.

The WSJ also broke the news on Apple's transition to Intel the day before Jobs announced it at MacWorld 2006.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Those analysts are idiots. I can walk into any Sprint store and get a new phone, if I just want a phone, for free. That is not the competition for a $600 device.

You're mistaking small for cheap. The trend among high-end 3G cellular phones is small. Convenience, not price, is the driver.

Your gripe about the size of the gadget is like complaining that a Model T weighs more than a horse, and gee, Molly, that means we'll have to pave the roads and beef up the bridges.

It's not a gripe, just a projection that this device will not make the in-roads into the mobile communications market that Apple wanted due to the size. As for defining a new market - well, maybe. But there's a reason 15 and 17 inch laptops sell - people want the screen real estate even in mobile devices. Similarly, there's a reason why devices such as this have never really taken off (I own one and will soon own the iPhone as well) - they're too big to be convenient as phones, too small to be useful as mobile computers.

[MSM Hater]

In the demo he entered the address in the Google search window. The map was pulled from Google Maps through the WIFI port internet connection. The phone itself hasn't been FCC approved which is why you can't buy it yet.

[Golden Eagle]

I have a Treo, and I like it a lot...But...It's no exaggeration to say that Apple is redefining what a pocket-sized device can do.

I like my Treo 650 a lot too, it may not match the hardware of the iPhone but it has tons and tons of available Palm software apps, and I can even remote control desktop computers using the MobileTS terminal server software. I also get Fox News on MobiTV too, wonder if the iPhone will carry Fox News?

[Golden Eagle]

I'm amazed that Apple (and Cingular) were able to keep this project such a secret that up until this morning, even the most "plugged-in" pundits never saw it coming...it appears that Apple has a polished mega-selling product on their hands.

It is extremely impressive, to keep the lid on such a finely finished product you know they were dying to show off. Whether however that translates to market dominance remains to be seen, there are many well established products already in place, with widescale distribution points.