“Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs made a big splash by jumping into the wireless communications business with iPhone, a touch-screen device that plays music, surfs the Internet and delivers voice mail and e-mail differently than any other cell phone,” Rachel Konrad reports for The Associated Press.
Konrad reports, “But it remains to be seen whether the $500 gadget and other products announced Tuesday will allow the company to remain a Wall Street darling and sustain the market dominance enjoyed by iPod, Apple’s iconic digital music player. Some industry veterans wonder whether the phone — despite its slim elegance and wide-screen display — is priced competitively.”
MacDailyNews Take: That’s exactly what they said when the first iPod debuted and we all know how that turned out.
Konrad continues, “‘Prospects for the new device are positive, but it is not a given that Apple can win against a slew of wireless providers, phone manufacturers, and Microsoft, all of whom are similarly motivated to raise their flag on the same territory,’ said James L. McQuivey, a communications technology professor at Boston University.”
MacDailyNews Take: And now BU communications technology students know whose class to avoid – unless they’re interested in studying uninformed, delusional thinking firsthand. Microsoft et al. got run over by the Apple steamroller yet again today – that’s not hubris, just simply a statement of fact. One look was all it took. This one’s so easy, even Rob Enderle got it pretty much right.
Konrad continues, “Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Creative Strategies, said the iPhone appears poised to revolutionize the way cell phones are designed and sold. ‘This goes beyond smartphones and should be given its own category called ‘brilliant’ phones,” he said. ‘Cell phones are on track to become the largest platform for digital music playback, and Apple needed to make this move to help defend their iPod franchise as well as extend it beyond a dedicated music environment.'”
“Initial hopes for the iPhone are relatively modest. The company hopes to sell about 10 million units in 2008, or about 1 percent of the market. About 957 million cellular phones were sold in 2006,” Konrad reports. “But the phones are expected to have a “halo effect,” intimidating competitors and polishing Apple’s reputation as a maker of elegant, easy-to-use gizmos that technophiles pine for. It could even boost sales of Apple’s Macintosh computers.”
Konrad reports, “The phones, which will operate exclusively on AT&T Inc.’s Cingular Wireless network, will start shipping in June. A 4-gigabyte iPhone will cost $499, while an 8-gigabyte model will be $599. Cingular would not provide details of its financial arrangement with Apple. Executives said both companies would make and distribute advertisements for the iPhone in the spring.”
Full article here.
Related articles:
Time: ‘iPhone could crush cell phone market pitilessly beneath the weight of its own superiority’ – January 09, 2007
Cingular to use Synchronoss Technologies’ platform for Apple iPhone – January 09, 2007
Is Apple building ‘The Device?’ [revisited] – January 09, 2007
iPhone photos from Apple’s Macworld Expo booth – January 09, 2007
Enderle: Apple’s iPhone is going to do very well – January 09, 2007
Apple debuts iPhone: touchscreen mobile phone + widescreen iPod + Internet communicator – January 09, 2007
The Register’s Ray: Apple ‘iPhone’ will fail – December 26, 2006
Analyst: Apple iPhone economics aren’t that compelling – December 08, 2006
CNET editor Kanellos: ‘Apple iPhone will largely fail’ – December 07, 2006
Palm CEO laughs off Apple ‘iPhone’ threat – November 20, 2006
Interestingly, the 6th month lead time gives a lot of people time to wind up contracts with other cell companies (and save $100 a month to buy one!;-).
I think this is a paradigm shift in PDAs that will shake up the entire market.
Sign me up – this looks awesome!
“And now BU communications technology students know whose class to avoid – unless they’re interested in studying uniformed, delusional thinking firsthand”
When I was doing my MBA in 1999 (at a top tier school), my strategy professor guaranteed that there was no way the Apple would stay in business another 10 years.
I guess that there are 2 years left to see if he was right.
I had wood all day today!
hmmm, this reminds me… I wonder what Palm CEO Ed Colligan is saying _now_…
2006 Nov 20 MDN story: “Palm CEO Laughs Off Apple iPhone Threat”
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/11695/
seems to me that Apple not only “figured it out”, but figured out a better way, in true Apple form
of course there’s no guarantee how it will do in the market, but you gotta love the details of the device itself. now, if only the iPhone hurries up and comes to Canada, I’ll be getting rid of my Treo 650…
4GB for Mac OS X, music, movies, TV shows and photos is not enough by far. 8GB isn’t enough either. They should have gone with a 30GB drive and made the iPhone another 2mm thicker.
Don’t forget to sign up at Cingular and Apple to be notified of availabilty. They (all cell providers, Palm, RIMjob, Microsoft) need to see what kind of demand there is for this product.
How long till iPhone Mini comes out?
4GB for Mac OS X, music, movies, TV shows and photos is not enough by far. 8GB isn’t enough either. They should have gone with a 30GB drive and made the iPhone another 2mm thicke
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Considering that the most robust smartphones currently only offer 2 gb max, Apples 4 and 8gb offerings are welcome.. Surely, you can expect that 2nd gen iPhones will offer 16gb, but it’s currently too expensive.
Even MBA’s know the iPhone is a spectacular product.
That’s how good it is.
Steve…ship it to Canada and sign with Bell or Telus or Rogers. Please please please. I’ll have your baby….(hmmmm being a guy this could pose significant problems)
What will the iPhone Safari browser do to the usage stats of Safari?
Surely, they will increase dramatically. In particular if Apple hits their 10 million target, which would be about over 2 million more Macs than they sold this year.
i want this device but without the GSM phone part. Keep the wifi, bluetooth in it. Keep the widescreen. Add a 100GB hard drive. This baby screams for video with its widescreen and OSX Core technologies. Cut $100-150 off the price and you’ve got me sold on it.
MW: I’m “looking” for a newer ipod.
I have not seen any thing about GPS on iPhone. Since it is a cell phone, I assume it has GPS built-in. Google Map + GPS… When can I expect it to become a portable GPS?
Since it is running OSX, can a third party write an application for it? Bye bye PocketPC and PalmOS.
I agree with “Ipod”. I want it with 100GB hard drive and with or without GSM phone. Then I can use it as a portable tablet PC on the go and when I am near a Mac, connect it to USB and reboot for my personal computing environment. No more laptops to lug around.
Hey, anyone else consider how this is going to affect OS X market share numbers?? If this is indeed the “real” OS X on the iPhone, then it should count as units sold (just like all those cash registers and such that count as Windows machines). If so, OS X market share will be taking a BIG turn upward soon!
And of course Apple’s strategy here is brilliant on so many levels, one of whichg is that all sorts of folks will get to be familiar with OS X on their phones. Then, when they go to purchase their next computer, they’ll look at a Mac and say “ahh, I know how to run one of these!” That’s a Trojan horse if I’ve ever seen one!
Sooo cool.
All the other phone makers will be scrambling for the list of 200+ patents to see what Apple Inc may have missed and where they can compete.
They will find nothing to assist them in coming anywhere close to what Steve just gave the world!
Blown away by their own lack or creativity.
Everyone will want one by the time june rolls around. The time from now till then will give Apple a perfect indicator as too haw many of the little suckers they need to make. Millions+ I expect.
To “s”:
I doubt in that small package they have GPS working. My assumption is that it’s “location aware” via communication with the cell phone towers. Those towers triangulate your position all the time anyway, so it would just take a “talkback” feature for them to relay this informatino to the phone. Course that means that if you’re out of cell phone range, you actually won’t know where you are….
For the 30 gigabyte model, I reckon you’ll have to wait till late ’08.
MW: “served” as in we know who got….
and have we spoken about how this is the death knell for the already also ran zune.
john, i was wondering the same thing. seems like this has to count toward sales of apple computers (the hardware, not the company name!), especially since it is in the same price range of low end dells, hps, et al, and not much less than a mac mini with no extras.
All I see is the Newton done right, minus the wonky handwriting recognition!
Bravo!
$600 is cheap. I would pay $1500 for the thing in a heartbeat. Apple Inc. will sell millions. The stock will go to $300. Get on board folks.
I can safely say this is one of the coolest, if not the coolest thing I have ever seen. The potential for a device like this is staggering imo.
This is the Cube all over. The analysts are having kittens all over it (as well they should) and no one will buy it.
There’s a reason Jobs chose to go with a provider and not sell an unlocked phone. I can’t figure it out, but there has to be a real good reason. Jobs is usually 5 moves ahead of all other human beings, it seems. Have faith.