“The iPhone is running an optimized, but full version of OS X that weighs in at ‘considerably less’ than half a GB, according to Apple vice president of worldwide iPod marketing Greg Joswiak,” Karen Haslam reports for Macworld UK.
Haslam reports, “Joswiak confirmed that the operating system sits in the flash memory of the device and that Apple will ‘provide updates to the operating system like we do today.'”
Haslam reports, “Joswiak claimed that the reduced size of the operating system was a result of expertise of the team at Apple, rather than cutting out functionality or removing core technologies. ‘Remember that OS X on a Mac features a lot of applications that we don’t have to ship on the iPhone,’ he added.”
Full article here.
Related articles:
Apple iPhone tops Amazon’s bestselling electronics list in Germany – January 13, 2007
BusinessWeek explores ‘the real genius of Apple’s iPhone’ – January 12, 2007
Wired News: Steve Jobs’ iPhone shows the future – January 12, 2007
Cringely: Apple iPhone will suddenly go 3G, gain features, and be renamed ‘Apple Phone’ – January 12, 2007
Apple’s Phil Schiller gives CBS News hands-on tour of iPhone – January 12, 2007
20 unanswered questions about Apple’s iPhone – January 11, 2007
Report: iPhone could be upgraded to 3G with software update if Apple wishes – January 11, 2007
Report: Rogers Communications to offer Apple iPhone in Canada – January 11, 2007
David Pogue: hands on preview of Apple’s iPhone, ‘gorgeous and so packed with possibilities’ – January 11, 2007
PC Magazine hands-on test of Apple iPhone: multi-touch UI ‘takes the breath away’ – January 11, 2007
Mossberg’s initial take on Apple iPhone: ‘radical and gorgeous’ with ‘brilliant new user interface’ – January 11, 2007
NewsWeek’s Levy interviews Apple CEO Steve Jobs about iPhone – January 11, 2007
Why Apple’s iPhone doesn’t do high-speed mobile phone networks (yet) – January 11, 2007
RealMoney: Apple just blew up the whole damn mobile-phone supply chain with its new iPhone – January 11, 2007
ZDNet: Hands on with Apple’s iPhone: ‘elegant, ravishing, simple, sleek; impeccable & intuitive UI’ – January 11, 2007
Apple iPhone FUD campaign begins – January 10, 2007
Nine ways Apple changed the face of consumer electronics yesterday – January 10, 2007
Analysts and investors applaud arrival of Apple iPhone – January 10, 2007
Top 10 things to love and top 10 things to hate about the Apple iPhone – January 10, 2007
How Apple kept the iPhone top secret for 30 months – January 10, 2007
Hands-on with Apple’s iPhone – January 10, 2007
The only thing really wrong with Apple’s iPhone is its name – January 09, 2007
Is Apple building ‘The Device?’ [revisited] – January 09, 2007
Analyst Bajarin: Apple’s iPhone and Apple TV are industry game changers – January 09, 2007
Time: ‘iPhone could crush cell phone market pitilessly beneath the weight of its own superiority’ – January 09, 2007
Analyst: Apple iPhone should be given its own category – ‘brilliantphone’ – January 09, 2007
Cingular to use Synchronoss Technologies’ platform for Apple iPhone – 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
Dvorak on Apple iPhone: ‘I think Apple can do wrong and I think this is it’ – January 13, 2007
USA Today writer: Apple iPhone is an ‘ordinary, average product’ at heart – January 12, 2007
FUD Alert: Analyst – I am pretty skeptical Apple’s iPhone can succeed – January 11, 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
Magic word: million. Apple will sell multiple million of the iPhone
‘Remember that OS X on a Mac features a lot of applications that we don’t have to ship on the iPhone,’ he added.” … For all the retarded people out there…
“Remember that OS X on a Mac features a lot of applications that we don’t have to ship on the iPhone” …..
but a user might be able to download some of those they want … they sky’s the limit with this.
Sucks though that we can’t write our own programs for it 🙁
I hope that it atleast runs java apps.
Is that half a gig using the 4 or 8 GBs of storage, or is there an extra allocation, perhaps 1GB of “ROM” that the user cannot touch except when running Apple-supplied updates?
Sucks though that we can’t write our own programs for it 🙁
—
for example, viruses..
hmmm on a phone full of address book contacts.. i wonder how that would work
I would imagine it lives on the main flash drive as it would make the most sense for a lot of reasons. As capacities increase it will become less and less an issue, but if it were on its own drive then you would be stuck with whatever limitation you started with. If anything I can see it being an hidden, allocated partition of the main drive.
@ mike
“for example, viruses..
hmmm on a phone full of address book contacts.. i wonder how that would work”
Yeah, damn good point.
Can you imagine a beowulf cluster of these?
(sorry, somebody had to say it)
What? The iPhone only runs OS X!!
That my friends is illegal … why I should be able to run any operation system I want on the iPHone …
You guys are limiting My CHOICE! ….
Beware .. beware all possible buyers of this phone … you won’t be able to run Windoze on it and its got the iTunes thingy that restricts CHOICE too!!!
That’s it .. I’m suing because Apple is so restrictive and is handcuffing me to one platform …
It’s all about CHOICE … you hear me … CHOICE!
Apple will limit you to their lousy products if you choose this phone … don’t get sucked in ..
Please ! If we all get together … we can destroy Apple and all it stands for …
Are you with me … or the terrorist non choice Apple monopoly …. Huhhhhh?
I’d be willing to bet that we will be able to write apps for it, starting with widgets.
If it is a full blown version of OS X, it won’t take long to figure out how to get your own stuff running.
I’m surprised that Apple wouldn’t want this.
That’s a major selling point for the phone to me.
I want:
Terminal
VNC
WiFi scanner
etc.
I want to be able to connect over the internet with the phone to my desktop in my home office to get or store files or even synch up.
I just don’t want to pay $1500 to do it.
“Sucks though that we can’t write our own programs for it :”(
Yeah, you know everyone I know comes home from work at night and, right after dinner, spends the evening writing software for their mobile phones…
I hope Apple would allow access to a user’s multimedia and data files store on his computer(s), AppleTV and on the iDisk. What if you have EyeTV? Shouldn’t it be a natural to allow you to control your own virtual tv content and stream it to the phone? Maybe Apple could do something similar to location free or Orb.
“Sucks though that we can’t write our own programs for it”
This strikes me as being the same as DRM for iTunes. Apple doesn’t want it, but the carrier thinks it needs it just like the Record labels think they need DRM.
For the price, I hope Apple will plan on having MacOSX and iPod games ported over. Also does the fact that the iPhone has MacOSX mean that it will have the same printing capabilities and Bonjour as the computers have?
“Shouldn’t it be a natural to allow you to control your own virtual tv content and stream it to the phone?”
Umm…. It’s a widescreen VIDEO iPod that syncs with iTunes! That’s just one of the things it does out of the box.
Everyone I know works their ass off in their spare time installing Linux on everything they can.
None of them will buy a locked Apple phone that uses only OS X.
Stupid bastards.
“Everyone I know works their ass off in their spare time installing Linux on everything they can.”
Obviously we travel in different circles. Please tell us about “everyone” who spends their spare time installing Linux..
I would suggest getting a life.
I guarantee that a major sticking point that Apple had to face was the desire of Cingular and other vendors to lock down the phone. For instance, carriers charge $2.50 for a ring tone while Apple only charges $0.99 for an entire song. The carriers don’t want a flexible phone if they can’t charge fees for every extra function.
I’m guessing that with all of the developers that will be clamoring to get their apps on the phone, Apple will be in a position to sort through everything and the most compelling and innovative apps would be granted approval to warrant the Apple treatment. In the long run, this maybe the best move for MacOSX on the grander scheme of things. There maybe a trickle down effect from this ushering in a slew of applications that if not allowed for the phone would be converted for the computers. On consoles, each game must go through this type of arrangement to receive the stamp of approval from the console’s creator. I would guess that their will be some free apps just as there is always free content on iTunes. Just as there were some built-in games with the iPod. Just a thought.
Chris, I’m aware of that, but you may be somewhere where it would be nicer to stream the live tv content coming into your computer at home or maybe you just want to tap into the iSight built in your computer to see your wife while you are across the world but you aren’t able to pull out your laptop just to do that. She could be in front of the computer at home and she calls you through skype, why wouldn’t you want to be able to see her even though she can’t see you? At least the video could be streamed to you while you are talking to her since this can multitask.
Remember it only has 8GB so you are not going to want to try to put all of the content that you have on your iMac at home on the iPhone, so if it was able to stream some of that content, you aren’t limited to 8GB of content, you should be able to see anything that you have available on your home network and have it stream through.
@Big Al
Maybe you can help with this one. I’m trying to get Totem to work on my Fedora Core 6 install on my 5 year old Dell laptop. Problem is I need some depencies fulfilled before I can complete the totem install which doesn’t seem to take. I had to modify the kernel to get the wireless working and since then I can’t get the sound to work, but that’s another story—or is it related? Anyway, I’m getting errors after the ‘make install’ command for the wincodecs32 dependencies. What’s up?
Thanks in advance. Any assistance is appreciated.
You’re right. Linux RULES!
If the multitouch interfaced was pioneered by Jefferson Hann at NYU, how can it be held as an exclusive for one company and one device? For the sake of technological advancement shouldn’t it be allowed to be licensed to other companies the way that the mouse was? This seems like a natural for other input devices. How does that work? How do technical advances spread?
Correction: Jefferson Han
hmmm, 2 questions come to mind. First, what major service can you get rid of for the iPhone? Quictime? Quartz? Networking Services? Nope. Sounds more like they’ve become very adept at optimizing the code over the years.
And second, is the 500 MB part of the flash ROM they advertise, or is it located somewhere else? If it’s in the main ROM chip, that kinda sucks, esp. on the 4GB model.
With WiFi and Bonjour, it would seem that Apple would already have the potential for “The Social” – /Microsoft talk/ if the iPhone allows one to chat and listen to or watch content that is allowed to be shared (more like auditioned when in range) the way that other MacOSX devices can.
I think the iPhone will morph into the carry-on computer model of the future. There already are bluetooth foldable keyboards and headsets with large virtual displays. Jobs even was using a video adapter to get the output out to a projector. Why not just create a “sandbox” where 3rd party apps could run in computer mode as in san cellular. This would allow innovation and as apps get approved by Apple Cingular, they are upgraded to full iPhone cellular status.
One week after the Iphone is released 3rd party programs will run on it whether Apple wants them to or not, Apple had better put together a Dev Kit or the hackers will hack.
@ PC guy
don´t forget that apple is now big enougth to do want he wants so if windows mobile can be restritive apple can be restritive too.And the OS thing is equal for both so its not illegal,its normal.
“I hope that it atleast runs java apps.”
WHY? Please name at least 1 killer app that’s only available in Java…
[crickets chirp]
That’s what I thought. In fact, has anyone ever used a Java app that was as good as, or better than, a normal “native” app in C++ or Objective-C or whatever?
I bet the only reason you want it to run Java is so you can say “oooh, lookey, it has Java.” Well guess what, Apple designs features on the basis of usefulness and necessity, not “buzzword compliance.”
This mentality is why we have all this crap spewing out of people’s mouths about how the iPhone will fail because, oh nos, it doesn’t have “3G” and “Java” and “Microsoft Windows Live Internet Plug-n-Play Home Media Server Edition Protocol 2009” and all kinds of other unnecessary “specs.”
3rd Party Apps?
Write web-based apps, and it’ll run for iPhone.
Problem solved.
Hopefully it will run any widget the user throws at it. WebClip seems “cut out” for the iPhone!
Haslam reports, “Joswiak confirmed that the operating system sits in the flash memory of the device and that Apple will ‘provide updates to the operating system like we do today.'”
There. It’s written at the top of the page. Does anyone actually read these articles.
I wonder if it will have a mini BootCamp, like maybe SockHop…
eon…
Exactly as I said a few days ago.
It’s only a matter of time before Apple has access to an SoC processor that is powerful enough to run multiple OS threads, especially when combined with more flash RAM. That processor may not even be a Samsung processor (as is believed to exist in 1G iPhone), given that Apple have probably already done all the hard yards in making the OS portable.
I’d lay good money on a future (say two years) version being able to run a completely separate “virtualised” OS instance for non-certified applications with links only to the shared Wi-Fi network interface.
Of course, my theory was shot down by people who wanted to equate such behaviour with Microsoft’s alleged use of “private” application programming interfaces which is utter tosh.
Does any one know …… Will the iPhone be based on an Intel CPU ? That will be key on whether we can easily write programs for the iPhone… or port our Mac OSX programs to it…. although I would expect we won’t be able to easily port any programs that would require kernel extensions – such as Parallels (not that you would probably want to do that anyways with only 4 or 8 Gigs of storage).
I would assume that OSX will be installed on its own flash rom chip – separate from the 4 or 8 gig – and there are plenty of things in the OSX on our Macs that increase the size of it… and won’t be needed on the iPhone… Rosetta is the big one that first comes to mind… but then there are also a whole bunch of network pieces that exist in the Mac’s OSX that won’t be needed…. things like the http server and samba…. I can easily say that most people’s Macs are filled with OS level stuff that they will never use…. our Mac ‘workstations’ are full of enough stuff to easily make them servers.
Watch the reported market shares of both OS X and Safari skyrocket in less than six months time from the realease of the iPhone.
Apple will probably allow 3rd party apps on the iPhone, but they will have to approve it and allow sales via iTMS. All updates, syncs, and installs occur via iTunes anyway.
Apple wants to control the whole widget.
@Big Al and Little Al,
Do you guys wear glasses and pocket protectors???? lol
iphone insane, imagine running skype? calls around the world…
cool……
The real secret behind the iPhone is its subtle tap into the business market…the halo effect will be tremendous in a few years like the iPod has had on the Mac. People won’t open their minds, so Apple opened their minds for them. We are going to see two million Macs sold soon per quarter and it will hit 3mil as quick as iTunes went from 1 to 2 billion songs.
We forget just how easily the iPhone can be upgraded and expanded softwarewise. With 80211n wifi, I think iChat on the iPhone really is possible.
Apple has to leave room to substantially upgrade this thing at least once a year, so more cool apps and processor and flash ram upgrades and better video will follow.
The excuse of “I just want to carry around one device” has gone in the pile along with all the other busted myths. The price point if bought separately is substantially higher, but I do think a 20gig needs to happen.
PC Guy,
OK I know you were being sarcastic, but a point has to be made.
Microsoft gives you all the choice you want, as long as you choose Windows and Office (and no competitive third-party apps that conveniently “break” under MS’s cozy setup).
Here’s to the humor of watching MS shoehorn Vista into a cell phone…
Nah, they could never do it. It’d have to be fully re-Frankensteined, involving thousands of coders, years of delays, some God-awful paragraph-long name, and eight different final versions. Only the $499 Enterprise Master Pro Elite install would give useful functionality.
You choose your way, we’ll choose ours.
“Apple will probably allow 3rd party apps on the iPhone, but they will have to approve it and allow sales via iTMS. All updates, syncs, and installs occur via iTunes anyway.
Apple wants to control the whole widget.”
Thank you!
Add an iPhone section to the iTS, and all of a sudden developers are making money off this thing around the clock, without shipping a physical product.. without having several different marketing campaigns to ‘advertise iPhone apps’
And of course, iTS can facilitate free apps and variable pricing (a no-brainer for software)
Either on iTS or on Apples website like the Widgets
Boom
So it’s like an iPod nano, only with less storage thanks to Mac OS X. How revolutionary!
Good job, Nick. You even got the spelling all right. Good for you.
@ Little Al –
Hilarious and so true. I decided to install one of the free linux distributions to use my old pc as a video conversion workhorse – after a week of reading geekboards and learning goofy terminal commands, I finally asked myself why I was wasting my time. Even Windows seems advanced compared to that mishmash.
Motorola employees are funny! Read the article and the comments. Oh boy, they really have no clue how beaten they are. =)
“• Touch screens have been around for a long time. I wonder how practical users will find this on a “phone”. There is a huge difference in the usability between a portable media player that you can put in a pretty case and carry on your hip versus a mobile phone that you constantly take in and out of your pocket or purse, hold up to your face, drop on the floor many times in the course of a day! Smudges, scratches and breakage are big issues. Let us hope we don’t have to spend more money and carry special cleaning lotion and buff cloth as accessories! “
Oh Padmasree, talking to your customers like they’re 8 years old is awfully telling.
“• There is nothing revolutionary or disruptive about any of the technologies.”
My god, how many times have I hear that about a product that Apple was just about to sell a gazillion of? Your customers are not impressed with your ‘technologies’. They want a phone that works. They do not care about your strategic partnerships.
“• Is 4GB or 8GB of embedded memory necessary on a mobile, especially when you can have a cheaper option with an expansion slot that allows the consumer to add the memory and pay for it separately if they need it?”
It is now painfully obvious that you have never owned an iPod.
“• Lastly, when you have billions of devices – is a closed, proprietary system the right strategy? What happens to the operator’s differentiation with branded services? Is this signaling a sea change in the service provider’s mark on the UI?”
1 yes.
2 they close up shop because they suck.
3 you bet your sweet patootie it is.
At least there is some sense in the peanut gallery…
“With Apple’s fusion of its very intuitive desktop and iPod interfaces, it stands to be a revolutionary product. What disruptive technologies did Motorola’s shining star the RAZR have? Does “thin-and-wide” count? It is plain to see, this phone will be a hit.”
Padmasree Warrior always seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. She’s also the front runner to take Ed Zander’s place as Motorola CEO whenever the need arises (barring an early leave to head another company, which is a strong possibility, should she find dissatisfaction with her future at Moto).
That said, it’s very disappointing that she’d create such FUD. As chief technology officer, she should be able to see the positive aspects and recognize that Multi-touch is not your average touchscreen but rather something consumers have never experienced. You cannot judge it on the pretext of the dated technology that comprises the touchscreen market of today.
I suppose she had to stretch for the truth seeing as Apple has become the enemy overnight. I can forgive her. The iPhone, afterall, poses no greater threat to any manufacturer right now than Motorola.
To: Big Al
Get some new friends, non-geeks. Might help.
“3rd Party Apps?
Write web-based apps, and it’ll run for iPhone.
Problem solved.”
Good answer. But these guys don’t wanna solve the problem. They just want to whine.
They sell the Apple iPhone at Amazon.de at 899€ for the 4G version and 999€ for the 8G version. Both unlocked.
8G version is number one seller at its category.
There is a price quaranteen if the price is lower the customer gets it att that price.
Does any one know …… Will the iPhone be based on an Intel CPU ?
No. It runs on this:
http://securebar.secure-tunnel.com/cgi-bin/nph-freebar.cgi/110110A/http/blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2007/01/11/oh_the_irony_the_iphone_arm_marvell_and_freescale.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture
TT: “I wonder if it will have a mini BootCamp, like maybe SockHop (?)”
Close. It’s called BootiesSleepover with special S’mores and Ghost Stories widgets. Scary tales of the Zune specter are built-in.
Is the creator of Scooby-Doo now a g-g-g-ghost?
Chrissy: “Can you imagine a beowulf cluster of these?”
I would rather be a coyote.
A good program that’s Java-only? Try jedit. What good would that do running on an iPhone? Nothing, but there’s good stuff done in Java is the point.
Unsquirted
No, he’s not a ghost, just a guy with a sheet over him…
Hey! There is a Fart Button ad on here. If I push it, will I end up in the next county?
“3rd Party Apps?
Write web-based apps, and it’ll run for iPhone.
Problem solved.”
That’s exactly it. It should be obvious, but the better this is at running little web based apps, the less the need for installed ones.
I’m hoping Apple eventually allows 3rd party apps. I’m working on a tricorder UI right now. I think a lot of folks will want to analyze air samples, scan for lifeforms, and detect dangerous radiation levels with their iPhone.
“I’m working on a tricorder UI right now. I think a lot of folks will want to analyze air samples, scan for lifeforms, and detect dangerous radiation levels with their iPhone.”
For safety’s sake, just make sure that whoever tests your tricorder is not wearing a red shirt.
TT: “If I push it, will I end up in the next county?”
Not if you’re using DHCP.
Yeah ok, not doubt, the iPhone needs refinements, welcome to the world of computing. All of that being said, Apple is going to sell a gazillion of these things. You can go to the bank on the fact that people who don’t even have Cingular as a provider option are going to buy this thing cause its a fully functional PDA with a real web browser that acutally connects to the real web, not some proprietary web thing just for cell phones. Yes folks, you don’t even need cell service to use all of the other functions on this device, its an 802.11 wireless networking device – HELLO?
I am hoping that Apple will come out with a scaled down I phone. Something like a nano is when compared to the regular Ipod that does music and video and photos etc. etc. or even something ‘shufflesque’- simple functional and uncomplicated. Sell it unlocked so it the user can use with any service, and sell it the same Nano price point of $150.00 I’ve looke at a lot of phones and the all have the most annoying user interface and screen scrolling. I think Apple can do better.
Not everyone needs GPS, Email, Web serfing, a camera, Ipod all in one device. I mean the point is to uncomplicate things, rather than multi-task them at least in phone.
For The Multi-tasking device,I would rather see a full service wireless mac book mini laptop with a servicable screen of say size of an actual hardback book (but way thinner) for say $399.00. With 10-20 gb flash memory drives on the horizion this would be the only device that most of us would need for portable laptop use. Email, web searches, online banking, reservations and googlemaps, sending a printout to a wireless printer, logging on to our compter at home etc. etc. Apple would sell millions if they can keep the interface elegant and uncomplicated. No reason why Apple couldn’t do this.
Simple, elegant, functional and with the ‘elan’ that Ives has brought to Apple it would be a huge success.
I bought my first Apple computer (IIC) in 1985, and have never, ever purchased a windows machine, so clearly my biase is with Apple. But I do hope Apple just keeps it Simple. That is why I have been a repeat customer all these years.