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"Such efforts largely miss the point. Certainly, the beautiful hardware design adds tremendously to the emotional appeal of Apple products. But it's the software that makes the iPhone, the Mac, and the iPod stand out from the pack of wannabes," Wildstrom reports."

...absolutely, they are a software company with a great integrated hardware/software design sensibility;

With the iPhone, you only get the keyboard when you want to type...it goes away leaving precious real estate for other intuitive touch things. Why Blackberry doesn't get that is going to make them spiral downwards.
Nokia was smart to say "We recognize the iPhone as a competitor" Blackberry CEO's need to swallow their pride if they want market share in the future. Innovationwise, let's see what you got, RIM? Your latest one isn't even close. Shareholders, wake up.

The hardware is one of the reasons why the RAZR was such a hit device. It wasn't the typical plasticky, thick phone people were used to.

But the software was just another phone. Nothing new, nothing special, and certainly nothing to make people's lives easier (or their phone experience).

RAZR 2 was little more than an evolutionary hardware design. Bigger screen, 3G capability, and a big "So what?". The software still didn't do anything to make people's lives easier.

The iPhone was just the opposite. It was designed to be a hand held computer first, phone second, but was meant to solve the problems people have with their phones. Multi-touch and the large screen are simple answers to a lack of physical space and how to maximize the use. No other phone company could develop such an idea because they still thought in terms of "where do we put the button to make this work?" instead of "how do we make this work better?"

You want to try reading David Pogue's review of the Samsung Instinct - hilarious feint "praise" alongside damning criticism.

Doesn't Samsung hold itself out as an innovator? Why are the just mimicking the iPhone?

They do see the iPhone as a competitor, they just don't publicly admit that they see the iPhone as a competitor.
Standard US corporate policy.

They are preaching to the choir here. Of course, we all already know "it's the software, stupid".

Perhaps we will see some competition for the iPhone if Google can get its act together with Android. And, I have seen Opera's mobile browser. It's not bad, certainly better than the Windows Mobile browser on my Q. Maybe Opera will offer some competition. Time will tell. In the mean time enjoy your iPhone, touch or whatever you use.

Kudos to BusinessWeek ... they got it right. The beauty of all of Apple's products is the software. iTunes for the iPod, OSX for the Macs and MacOS for the iPhone. Couple the software with some great apps being written by developers, with great hardware and you have a winner.

Simplicity & Elegance .... Apple's signature.

Jun 19, 08 - 11:32 am Comment from: MrMcLargeHuge

@I hate ketchup

Research in Motion is a Canadian company.

Jun 19, 08 - 11:44 am Comment from: ericdano

Still waiting for the Zune Phone. When Microsoft says it has no plans on doing it, you know they DO have plans and are working on it. Classic diversion 101.
Imagine some sort of Frankstein mixture of Windows Mobile and the Zune OS.....woot

...which issues press releases pertinent to the US market.

I stand corrected. MrMcLargeHuge

Or should I call you Blast HardCheese...

I think it will be a very interesting year

Or- Slab Bulkhead,
Dirk Hardpeck,
Crunch Buttsteak,
Bold Bigflank,
Splint Chesthair,
Thick McRunfast

No no no.
The best one is Grissle McThornbody

hahahahahahah

It's not that the competing handset makers don't get it so much as they are unable to deliver. They do not have OS X or an equivalent full-blown, scalable operating system upon which to build, nor do they have the expertise to build one.

OS's are unimaginable difficult to build. When you think about how many person-years are represented in OS X including the years to build Unix + Nextstep + OS X, it is equivalent to having built the Emerald City of OZ.

Handset makers have to essentially begin from scratch as the OS's from which they can build upon are in a current state of development equivalent to the black & white, dust-bowl farm community near Butterfield Kansas in which Dorothy lives.

How long will it take build a Butterfield up to the magnificence of OZ X? A decade?...2 decades?

Add to this the patents, the mature SDK, the applications, the iTunes/iPod franchise, the cloud services, the momentum.

Essentially, the iPhone and it's software are a veritable miracle of design and execution.

So, yes, "It's the software, stupid". But the software cannot be matched by any group of human beings without years and years of intense developement. It just can't be done.

Apple is in an amazing position with the iPhone and the competition is unequivocally screwed.

In truth, there is no competition.

MW- time.

iphone sucks... crashes all the time and the software is not as stupid proof as people think

@...
Sucks to be you. Troll.

that's what i hear. i haven't actually used it.

hey - anyone know how to type capital letters

@... - My iPhone software crashed once in a year, plus I don't see a stream of complaints being written about the iPhone crashing. So I think you are wrong about that.

However, your second point is apparently true as you seem to be having difficulty operating the the iPhone.

MDN, isnt it about time you guys made an iphoneDailyNews section?

Jun 19, 08 - 12:31 pm Comment from: fastmemory

I like Bbbbut's- idea, although I suggest three sections. One for iPhones, one for Steve Jobs' health, and one, which would probably be no longer than two sentences at most, for everything else.

@...
Customer satisfaction in the 90 percentile simply says it all. Reset your iPhone and try again...or did you hack/unlock yours and can't update for fear of a glass
coaster?

The one and only advantage that M$'s big ass table has over the iPhone is simply the fact that you can't drop a big ass table and break it.

Jun 19, 08 - 12:51 pm Comment from: FreddyThePig

At least rebrand this thing the AppleDailyNews

Jun 19, 08 - 01:28 pm Comment from: amyhre

@ Bob's mustard doughnuts

...without throwing your back out first.

Jun 19, 08 - 01:57 pm Comment from: 84 Mac Guy

The morale of this story is:

You can put lipstick on a pig, but you can't teach it to talk.

It's all about software and simple UI. However, in terms of hardware, iPhone is pretty crappy.

It's not software or hardware that make Apple offer superior products, it's both. Arguing otherwise shows how firmly ingrained Bill Gates' sales pitch (that the OS is independent from the hardware) has become.

Jun 19, 08 - 03:26 pm Comment from: FreddyThePig

Trust me, Pigs do talk, not to humans, but we talk buddy! We talk.
Pretty much hate lipstick too.

Even when the writer's seem to get it, they don't get it.

Wildstrom writes;
"... The Instinct shows that Samsung and Sprint have learned a lot, too. It's a handsome product—maybe Samsung's best ever. Its no- button face, ... makes it look like the Apple handset's brother, and it even comes packed in an iPhone-like box. ..."

No, this is not Samsung's "best ever" product.
It's Apple's typical, great product, and it's Samsung's desperate, hollow copy of that product.

The panic is tangible.
That's very good for consumers.

Jun 19, 08 - 04:17 pm Comment from: Denny

As each day-week-month passes Apple moves further ahead of the competition. It would take ,years of a major RD effort on the part of all of these hardware manufacturers to even come close to vertical integration that Apple enjoys.

The fun is just beginning!

Jun 19, 08 - 05:20 pm Comment from: BiZarRo BaLlmEr

BizLaw beat me to it.....The RAZR was/is close to a very good design (ever play a game on it and accidentally hit the disconnect button because it's too close to the circular control pad? stinks)

The software is the worst thing I've come across. They should have been working on that for a new generation of Moto phones.
Too bad, it's really a fairly good design. just needs tweaking.

@Once And For All

I just can't call a 2MP camera phone with crippled bluetooth functionalities superior simply because it has a good UI. It works for most people, sure, then I'll buy a lot of AAPL and you guys can drive up the stock, but I won't use an iPhone because it offered a better UI.