“To much fanfare, Apple [on Tuesday] introduced the iPhone — its entry into the mobile communicator market. Upon seeing Steve Jobs’ presentation and getting a good look at the iPhone, my first thought was, ‘Wow, that’s pretty darned neat,’ and that’s without actually touching the thing. Not that I needed to; you can assume that anything coming out of Apple is going to be slick — the interface will be close to flawless and you know it’s going to work well,” Andrew Kantor writes for The USA Today.
“There was plenty of hype, and there will be plenty more — look for a glowing review from the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg any day now. I don’t know that there’s ever been an Apple product he didn’t gush over,” Kantor writes. “But I took a step back from that hype. Yes, Apple often makes great stuff — usually, but not always. Will the iPhone be a market-changer like the iPod, or just another cool contender?”
“…The cellphone market is a lot more mature than the music-player market was when the iPod blew it away. There are already phones with cameras, e-mail applications, Web browsers, and music players. What Apple and Apple fanatics are counting on is that Cupertino’s second entry (let’s not discuss the awful Motorola ROKR) will be so much better than what’s out there that people will be willing to overlook any downsides and shell out $500 or $600 to buy one,” Kantor writes.
Kantor writes, “The iPhone is bound to have an incredible interface; it wouldn’t be an Apple product if it wasn’t designed from the ground up to be easy, fun, and intuitive to use. But that interface is going to have to be a step or two above incredible because the functionality of the iPhone — and more — is already available on other products… “amazing” might not be good enough this time.”
“First of all, to use the iPhone you need to use Apple’s iTunes software, and with it Apple’s FairPlay (ha!) digital rights management scheme. It means dealing with a product that — despite what Mac fanatics say — is fraught with problems,” Kantor writes.
Kantor writes, “At this point it isn’t clear whether anyone but Apple will be allowed to create applications for the iPhone, although it does run OSX. At the start, though, it will only do what Apple allows it to. As with all things Apple, it’s their way or the highway, and right now that doesn’t include supporting Word or Excel files, so business users may want to look elsewhere.”
Kantor writes, “While Cingular might be the largest mobile phone company in the country, it may not be the best… Cingular does have a high-speed data network called BroadbandConnect in about 60 major metropolitan areas. Unfortunately, the iPhone doesn’t support it. That’s right: The iPhone doesn’t do 3G data rates. (Apple is said to be working on a 3G iPhone, but that will be small consolation to people who shell out for version 1.0.)”
“The bottom line for at least this first generation iPhone is that it’s a wonderful interface with great looks wrapped around an average product. Certainly not the high-end equipment you would expect for the price,” Kantor writes.
Full article here.
Only a scribe of Kantor’s caliber, writing for a publication with the stature of USA Today, is able to divine so much about a prototype device such as Apple’s iPhone without even touching it. It’s a truly remarkable talent for which one would assume Kantor is paid an unimaginable sum.
That Kantor can divorce himself from the type of journalists such as The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg is an stunning feat.
It takes a man like Andrew Kantor to concisely explain why Apple’s iPhone is nothing special, since other cell phones on the market already have cameras, email apps, Web browsers, and music players – regardless of the robustness of such features. To ignore that iPhone’s music player is an iPod and what that implies or that iPhone’s Web browser, email client, etc. are full-featured desktop class applications is a surprising talent. To report that Motorola’s ROKR phone was an Apple product is a scoop that only a man like Kantor can break in the pages of an outlet such as USA Today.
In not being wowed by online videos of the Apple iPhone’s user interface, Kantor amazes. Kantor’s ability to tell if a device’s user interface “might not be good enough,” again “without actually touching the thing,” is certainly a special gift granted only to a rare breed.
Who else besides Kantor can report that Apple’s iTunes software is “fraught with problems” without even needing a single example or providing any proof? Only a man with the level of trust that Kantor has earned over the years, of course.
Think about this: Kantor is able to sit in Virginia in January and predict across continent and time exactly which types of files Apple’s iPhone will support in June; even without the iPhone’s software being completed! Only Kantor could, with aplomb, advise that business users may want to look elsewhere. He continually astonishes.
By describing Apple’s iPhone as a device with a “wonderful interface with great looks wrapped around an average product” that’s “certainly not the high-end equipment you would expect for the price,” Andrew Kantor deserves some kind of award. He certainly is special.
Andy loves to hear how special he really is, so tell him: andrew@kantor.com
[UPDATE: 4:47pm ET: Mr. Kantor has responded via his blog: Kantor: ‘Mac fans are nothing if not predictable’ – January 12, 2007]
Related Kantor articles:
Kantor: ‘Mac fans are nothing if not predictable’ – January 12, 2007
USA Today tech writer: Apple’s Boot Camp will get Mac users to switch to Windows – April 14, 2006
USA Today columnist calls Mac users and Apple fans a ‘cult of blind little lemmings’ – September 16, 2005
USA Today: Apple’s iPod nano ‘a beautiful piece of hardware’ – but ‘the competition has caught up’ – September 16, 2005
USA Today writer: Apple’s iTunes Music Store’s ‘restrictive license’ fosters rampant piracy – March 25, 2005
USA Today writer unhappy with MacDailyNews and some Mac users’ emails – October 18, 2004
USA Today writer attempts to downplay Apple’s role in Virginia Tech supercomputer – September 03, 2004
Related iPhone articles:
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
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
For god sakes, it’s a damn phone, a DAMN phone. That’s all it is.
Apple, Apple corp., etc. (whatever you wished to be called these days), is this what you want to become, a lowly cell phone maker? What should we expect next, for you to open up Mall kiosks that simply sell cheesy plastic faceplates for your iPhone?
Get back to damn computers please.
Stan you half-wit, it IS a computer.
pressturbater?
Everytime the media portrays Apple in anything but an all-exalted light, MDN has to chime in with their “MDN Take.” Why is it that there is no MDN take for articles that sing Apple’s praises?
These MDN Takes sound like the whining of fanboys, not the considered rebuttal of a thoughtful analyist (although this particular MDN take is not the worst offender, and actually raises some good points itself.)
Instead of lambasting those who have considered doubts about Apple, why doesn’t MDN try to preserve some journalistic integrity and present them with some semblance of decorum, realizing that Apple is not a perfect company, and that there are concerns people can raise in intelligent discourse?
I have a question:
When Apple(AAPL) will be added to Dow Jones?
I’ve never been this disinterested in Apple’s Macworld keynote.
Apple, please don’t lose sight of the fact that when it comes down to it, people only want a phone to make calls…that’s it. I spend 10+ hours a day working on my workstation. I don’t want to have to spend that same amound starring at a 2″ iPhone to try and get work done.
Yeah, give him the Tool Of The Month award: a 16″ lifelike plaster-of-paris figurine with a screwdriver rammed up its rectum.
MW believe — I believe that would be fitting.
Kantor is a hack when it comes to reporting Apple, having read many of his articles they are filled to the brim with inaccuracies, most recent of which where he declared there were hundreds of Mac viruses.
Flush!
“These MDN Takes sound like the whining of fanboys”
No one’s forcing you to read them. Besides, this IS a Mac fan page.
The iPhone may be a computer in the sense that a Palm Treo is a computer. But it bears little resemblance to a computer with the abilities of a Mac. Macs are Apple’s forte, and there are many who would take pause at Apple’s forays into the music and telecommunications industry. Sure, there is a great potential for profit, but there is also a great potential for distraction and decline in innovation on ‘real computers’. When it comes to dulling the iPhone buzz, Leopard can’t come too soon.
And there’s no reason to call stan a half-wit. He raises a decent point. One you should consider before dismissing with a quasi-answer. Didn’t you read [fanboy-exalted Apple booster] David Pogue’s article on web manners?
That’s a good rhetorical strategy… “no one’s forcing you to be here, so if you have nothing nice to say, leave.” @_@
I read MDN because of it is a Mac news site, not a Mac fan site.
@ stantheman –
Apple (Inc. – btw) hasn’t and won’t lose focus on the “damn computers” – you’re just not seeing the bigger picture…
“No one’s forcing you to read them. Besides, this IS a Mac fan page
Last time I checked, this site was entitled “MacDailyNEWS.” At least try and fake it.
DSK: you summed up my thoughts completely. Perfect. Thank you very much.
I hope that the editors of this good Website have taken it upon themselves not only to provide insightful comments here, but also to share their thoughts with the editors of USA Today. Not only did Kantor fail to do his homework and get his facts right, but the editors are equally at fault for not doing fact-checking of Kantor’s draft as part of the editorial process.
I am becoming increasingly fearful of a powerful media that either deliberately sows lies and uses their influence and persuasion to promote specific agendas, or is bought off by powerful interests to do their bidding. Almost as bad is a media that by sloppy editorial work allow poor journalism to dilute their profession. Either way, this can have a material impact on companies, individuals and the sanctity of the First Amendment.
Yeah, I know. That’s quite a rant. But I have little patience for small-minded hacks like Kantor, and hold editors who don’t set high standards for their reporters in equal disregard.
Now, if you will please excuse me, I’m going to vent my spleen on the editors of USA Today. I hope you will do the same. The only way we can rein in an out-of-control media is to hold it accountable.
It’s hard to believe how blind some people are.
Apple isn’t a lowly cell phone maker. They are designing THE cell phone for the next 10 years, just as they designed THE portable media player for the last 6 and for years to come. If the iPhone is a success, it will have a greater halo effect than the iPod did. Why? Because nearly EVERYONE has a cell phone, and nearly EVERYONE is unhappy with cell phones. That’s why so many people buy a new one every year. They get sucked in with the cool shell, but after they get it, they realize it’s marginally better than the last 3 cell phones they’ve owned. Anyone who buys an iPhone will be blown away that at last, they’ve found a phone that works exactly the way it should. It’s software upgradeability will mean people will not have to buy a new phone to get new features.
Also, more developers will come to the Mac OS X platform for the chance to develop for the iPhone, which will mean more developers supporting Mac OS X. Think of the iPhone as one more trojan horse to get more people to the Mac platform, as the iPod was before it. Anything that makes more people fans of Apple products will be good for the Mac platform in the long run. And just think about potential future Apple mobile computers with some of the technologies they have introduced with the iPhone. Multi-touch colour LCD trackpads on MacBooks anyone?
@ put the MAC back
Are you breaking news? There’s a 2″ iPhone?
In other news, Apple is only going after 1% of the cell phone market. If you want to stay with the 99%, that’s fine with Apple.
Oh, and “Apple’s FairPlay (ha!) digital rights management scheme” is a true example of Fair and Balanced™ journalism.
This product is the trojan horse Macintosh. It’s a new platform that will develop. It has the potential to replace laptops in coming revisions.
Those who want a bigger screen can have a bigger version as MacBooks and iPhones (soon to be called “Apple Phones”) merge into one device.
The smallest version will be dockable with a monitor. Your keyboard and mouse all will work wirelessly with it. It’ll be your portable computer.
I’ll say it again. The platform wars are over, and we won. OS X just began its takeover Tuesday. Even if someone wants to say its a stripped down version, as hardware become more capable, the OS will grow.
Wait and see.
If this had JUST been a wide/touchscreen iPod it would still have been revolutionary! I can’t wait until these features are in the G6 iPods, Killer!!!!
Once I read “Andrew Kantor”, I quit reading. This guy goes in the Enderle/Thurrott/Dvorak category. He’s an anti-Apple hack and not worth reading.
BTW, Kantor is a frikkin’ idiot on this one, (not the first time either!)
This guy is a hit whore. He just baits Mac Users for hits like John Dvorak has admitted doing. He has done it numerous times in the past and as long as it gets him the hits and attention (albeit negative attention) he obviously craves, he will continue to do it. I am not a psychiatrist but I suspect that maybe the only attention his mama would give him was negative attention and that may be where he got in the habit.
In Kantor’s defense, he should only report on published specs and what has officially been announced.
And Kantor is right, the phone does not (currently) support 3g networks and does not support Word or Excel documents. Of course that may change upon release, but I would rather have journalists report on facts rather than speculate.
BTW, I no longer click on the links to these articles because I don’t want them to get inflated hits.
Any publicity is good publicity. So, complaining to USAToday’s editors is worthless. They’re just glad that they’re geting the hits and exposure.
So, stop following the links.