“In a frank TV interview which has not been put to air yet Sony boss Sir Howard Stringer… [was] asked about Apple’s iPhone,” David Richards reports for Smarthouse.
Richards reports, Stringer said, “‘The good news is that Steve Jobs spotted a trend that we’ve seen. The phone is a convergence device, between music and a phone. We are all building variations on the same theme. We have sold plenty of Walkman phones [from Sony Ericsson], especially in Europe.’
Richards reports, “While Stringer is pleased with Sony’s cellular phone progress, ‘I would never sit up here and say I’m not worried about Steve Jobs. I wouldn’t bet against Steve.'”
Full article, in which Stringer also talks about Apple’s iPod, Blu-ray vs. HD DVD, and more, here.
The lack of FUD in Stringer’s comments is refreshing (as opposed to the video below), but nobody really has anything close to being as integrated and powerful as Apple’s OS X-based, multi-touch iPhone.
This is how something acts when it knows it has absolutely nothing with which to compete:
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Yeah he bettet talk nice about Jobs, after all Apple supports Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray is by far the most important technology for Sony. It finally gives them a standard after having failed with Beta-Max and Memory Sticks and all the other stuff that never caught on..
It is nice to see an executive who is willing to admit that he has competition instead of sitting there and blowing hot air.
Now if June would just come a little faster!
“nobody really has anything close to being as integrated and powerful as Apple’s OS X-based, multi-touch iPhone.”
And what will I do with that incredibly roomy 8 GB of space on my $600 iPhone? True, I can load and play TWO whole movies.
Sorry, but a “convergent” device must do everything well to justify a premium price. The _concept_ of the iPhone and the over-the-top cool interface blows everything out of the water, but Joe and Mary Cell Phone User are going to need a real reason to buy the thing. They JUST DON’T CARE that it runs an OS that cannot be equaled anywhere. The guy wandering into Cingular wanting to know “what’s a SIM card” just does not have the technological savvy to distinguish what is good and bad in a cell phone/smartphone/internet device. You tell that guy he has to pay $40 for the cell plan and another $40 for the data plan, and he walks over to the black RAZR ’cause “that’s one cool phone, dood.”
Of course, the people who read and post here are going to buy the thing. We’re techno-geeks. We own six cell phones. We install Linux because it’s fun. We triple boot a Mac Mini because we can (and we know what “triple boot” means). But none of that translates into the zillions of phones the MDN thinks Apple will sell. The iPhone is the Cube of 2007. It wins every award there is, it gets every good review it can, and no one will buy it.
Dump the cell phone bits and throw a 60 GB HD in the iPhone, and THAT is your gajillion unit seller.
Companies who use FUD probably realize they don’t have technology to compete, while companies who pay respect their competitors probably are confident they have technology, which allow them to remain competitive.
“And what will I do with that incredibly roomy 8 GB of space on my $600 iPhone? True, I can load and play TWO whole movies.”
What has the world come to when people complain that they can only carry and watch TWO whole movies on their phone?
Caruso,
Uhm, given the “in-use” battery-life of 5 hours, you don’t have the time to see more than “TWO whole movies”.
And, if you use an iPod, you would know that when you charge and sync with your computer, you can re-load your iPod. If you use podcasts, you can set it to choose the most recent and unheard podcasts. Presumably if you transfer movies, you can set it for something similar. Unless you’re kindergarten age, you’re not likely to watch the same movie over 40x or so.
I triple boot my iPod.
I really should refresh the OS.
Two things…
One…
Not trying to be a jerk, but when I boil a movie down to put on my Mac Mini, it is rare when it ends up over 1 GB, usually around 700 MB. And that quality should be more than adequate for a screen the size of an iPhone’s.
I figure you could easily get four movies on the 8 GB model and still have room for a goodly stash of music.
Two…
“While Stringer is pleased with Sony’s cellular phone progress, ‘I would never sit up here and say I’m not worried about Steve Jobs. I wouldn’t bet against Steve.'”
That is how you answer a question about a competitor. Compare that to Gates’ whiny-bitch response to the question about Apple ads.
we know what “triple boot” means
It has three feet, two of them left, and we have to pay twice as much at the shoe store because no one will sell you a single shoe for that extra left foot.
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Steve Jobs understands he has to predict, then leap past the competition just as they release a copycat product.
I realize the iPhone is an iPod, but it was never touted as a movie viewer. It’s a phone, a music player, and an internet device. I think 8GB is more than adequate for those functions.
Besides, nobody’s running around town watching movies on their phones and likely will not with the iPhone.
Movies are really not the point with the iPhone.
Name one other phone at any price that holds 8 GB of memory. Also since when has any phones success been tied to playing movies?
It won’t play two full movies so it must suck and won’t sell. What a stupid thought!
I’m not a techno-geek but will buy two of these phones the day it comes out!
MW: likely ( your likely an idiot and a troll)
Yeah, who has the time while away from home to watch a movie anyway?
I am out there doing things, don’t have time for entertainment.
In any case, I am more interested in the idea of a handheld computer that uses OSX in some form.
When it’s actually out there, people will begin to realize all the things they can do with it. They probably can’t imagine them now, but they will.
It’s like before Tiger. I thought I would have no particular use for Spotlight, and I really did not care about Widgets. Now that I have them, I can’t imagine how I got along without them before.
Justified…and Caruso,
Watch the keynote phone introduction again
This is a phone that will be used by Salespeople, mobile professionals, early adopters, people with the cash for cool, and a herd of wannabes. Is that ten million? EASY… THEN the 2nd Gen phone comes out…it’s 3G, It has 20 to 30 gigs of storage, and has even more widgets, and apps. Will THAT sell 10 million more? EASY.
Steve SHOWED it playing Pirates of the Carribean (which if memory serves…is a MOVIE)…and EVERY day…when I choose to I recharge my 5G ipod, changing out the media, updating movies, tv shows, music, contacts and photos. The iPhone will do the same only it will do it far better. Right now…when I take my ipod to a friends house I take the video cables in a little box and play movies from my iPod on their TV. The higher res movies the iPhone supports will play on big screen monitors.
The iPhone is going to have a couple more surprises when it actually debuts and watch for the 3G, larger capacity version to happen within the year following.
There sure is a lot of hype about this phone and Apple is a pretty smart company with Jobs in charge. It makes me wonder if Apple has another trick up its sleeve regarding battery life or maybe offering the phone without a contract because there are just too many negatives that Job’s would have seen a long time ago. For instance the 5 hour battery life that is non user replaceable reminds me exactly of the horror my 3G ipod was when its battery finally crapped out.
I agree that the iphone is not a movie viewing device. Anyone that has ever tried to watch a full length wide screen movie on a device smaller than that of even the smallest portable dvd player (non-laptop) is full of shit when they say that they will be watching full movies. I think a lot of people have it slightly reversed. The point is to put on television shows, youtube videos, home movies etc not full length movies, and this is reiterated by the limited storage space. The trend now is mobile tv and apple has brought mobile television with more class and options than any new verizon “broadband tv” phone. The main difference is Apple made it essentially free.
Monkey Boy’s voice is whiney, the pitch goes up and down like his about to cry.
Tortured syntax: “The good news is that Steve Jobs spotted a trend that we’ve seen.”
What he really was thinking: The bad news is that Steve Jobs has spotted the trend and is planning to eat our lunch.
@Caruso
Most other smart phones top out at 2GB of storage. Sure it would be nice to have 60GB of storage, but can you imagine the howls of indignaiton if the iPhone were priced at $700 to pay for that 60GB hd?
Also keep in mind that Apple’s best selling ipods are the 4 and 8 GB nanos.
Personally, I think it’s a fair tradeoff to sacrafice battery life and size for capacity. I am not a road warrior.. I come home every day and I can sync my ipod with the stuff I want every day.
As for the price.. well. Sure it’s not cheap.. but it’s really not that expensive either. If you are in the market for a high end phone, the voice and data plan are going to be the bulk of your expense no matter what phone you buy. If you don’t need or want all the whiz bang features.. then you buy a razr. It’s really that simple.
I have heard rumors of a version of this “platform” as would be just a pda type handheld computer, and that is actually what I want and what I was talking about in an earlier post.
I would prefer to have that and keep using my Nokia cell. When I am out in the field, I use a bluetooth headset, so would be hands-free to use the “super iPod” (sorry, bad name) as a handheld that I could refer to while on a phone call.
That makes more sense to me than having a dual purpose iPhone that I have to hold up to my ear to listen to my caller, then take away from my ear to look up something on OSX function of the phone, then back again, etc.
OK for those who want to do it that way, and I might buy one for that use…..but definitely would buy as a small handheld without the phone function.
What Apple has been as a company and should continue in the future.
Sell both and do what they do well: allow us to use computers as we need to use them, not as Windows permits us to do if it chooses.
As a 1.0 device, the iPhone is quite stunning. You know other companies are filling their collective pants. When iPod was introduced, it was sharp, but no where as polished as its become– Apple was still trying to hit its stride. Now, everything they make has a fit and finish that just far exceeds everyone else’s stuff. iPhone is going to be huge, I’d bet. In time, this will be the type of thing everyone will carry. Multi-functional, sleek, personal, business, pleasure. I just wish I had more cash to buy stock.
Hmmm, I think that most of you are barking up the wrong tree. Sure it will play music, maybe movies, but consider this:
Take your iPhone with Google maps and add gps and I see one of those car direction /map machines that run $ 500 by them selves. I can see being in any city in the world and being able to pull up a map that shows me where I am, where I am going and the images (down to the individual car level) of what everything looks like as I get there (big buildings roads, etc.)
OK now we have a :
music player,
web surfer,
game playing,
text editing / reading machine
voice mail,
and oh yes, its a cell phone that can switch to free calls if its near a wireless site so no heavy charges for phone use.
PS, I think someone will come up with a folding keyboard assembly that will make the iPhone a mini computer/ world connection machine. Add the eyeglass screen viewers (already being sold) and you have one of the most flexible machines in the world.
Just my two cents worth.
ne
I am on my 11th Palm Treo 700p replacement
I have also had the Blackberry 8703e
Both of these phones are just awful when you consider the both the beauty of the iPhone and the exquisite care and love Apple has put into the design logic of this device.
Buying this phone is compelling.
At last, I face the fact that I have no alternative but to buy the iPhone as there really just is nothing else. NOTHING.
I hate Cigular but when you consider there is nothing but darkness. The iPhone is the only light at the end of the tunnel.
There is no competition period. Apple once again, RULES
Caruso, with Apple’s latest baseline low-complexity codec, a full-length movie uses just over 1GB of space. So you’ll be able to fit at least a half-dozen on there at 640×480!
Caruso said: “And what will I do with that incredibly roomy 8 GB of space on my $600 iPhone? True, I can load and play TWO whole movies.”
If you can’t compress and put 3 two hour movies in a gigabyte then you are missing something. That would be about 24 movies in 8GB.
You should work for M$, the bloat people.
@caruso
“”The guy wandering into Cingular wanting to know “what’s a SIM card” just does not have the technological savvy to distinguish what is good and bad in a cell phone/smartphone/internet device.
no but he knows what looks really cool. and after he gets it because he has to have that cool, he learns and then he really “gets it.” then hes proud that he can learn and evolve –something he may have forgotten as a desktop MS user and slave to current cellcos– and can improve himself… in several ways. he respects himself, improves his standing, hes a winner.
mdn magic word: respect yourself.