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January 14, 2007

My Take on Macworld and the iPhone

On January 9th, Apple announced the iPhone. It has been a few days since then, but being the Apple fan boy that I am, I feel I need to share my thoughts on Apples latest announcements. I think it is actually good that I have waited to write my thoughts down because if you asked me right after the Keynote, I would have said "Give me an iPhone now!!!" Now I'm start to question how great the iPhone actually is.

Before I actually dive into the hot topic of the iPhone, I wanted to comment on a few other things first.
- Apple TV - I don't see what is so great about the Apple TV. It isn't any better than me hooking up my laptop to my TV and using FrontRow. I thought that the "iTV" was going to bring us a real next generation set-top box. I envisioned it doing everything that was announced (cause that is what I can already do with FrontRow) plus DVR, surf the internet, check my mail, chat with people, etc with a bluetooth keyboard. But no, we got front row with Syncing...so you have to wait for your content to be downloaded to be able to watch it. So if I want to watch a movie, I have to buy it on my laptop, then wait for it to sync to the Apple TV and then I can watch it. I dunno about this one...we'll see how long it lasts. It was definitely glossed over during the keynote too and will forever remain in the shadows. I won't buy one...
- I'm going to regret saying any of this because I love Apple, but here it goes - Apple, I love your products and fully believe that you are far better that Microsoft...but stop with the school yard name calling and bragging. I'm also getting a little sick of Apple saying they invented things when they didn't. I'll give them the fact that they usually do things better than everyone else, but there are many things in the iPhone that I have seen before.

Ok, onto the iPhone. I like to talk about a few things.
The good things:
- Multi-touch - I've dreamed of an interface like this for years...I should have patented it myself...I can't wait to play with it in person. I'm a little curious about how good it is at doing exactly what you want. Like actually scrolling and not just selecting something where you started the swipe. Only time will tell.
- Web Browser - Finally! Someone figures out how to make a browser for a mobile device with a small screen. The zooming and widescreen aspect make it great. And the fact that you get javascript and support for AJAX calls make the web on the mobile finally come to life.
- Multitasking! You can be on a call and surf the internet, read mail, do whatever! All at the same time!
- Real Email on a mobile device.
- Google maps - wish it had GPS though
- Auto switching from edge to wifi - this should save people money on data rates hopefully. And just the fact you don't have to look to see if you are in range of a wifi network, then switch to it, that is nice.
- GSM Quad Band - Glad Apple realizes that GSM is the world standard. And quad band is always good. Quad band (and 900 specifically) could mean they are thinking about the rest of the world and possibly unlocked phones at some point.

The Bad:
- Cingular??? This is the main one that makes me mad. Mainly because I'm not a Cingular customer, but that is for a reason. Their plans are expensive (especially their data plans) and I don't think their coverage is any better than TMobile. My other big issue with them choosing ANY provider is WHY? Why do they need backing from any provider? Why can't Apple just sell the phone unlocked from their stores? They would make plenty of money on the phones and they would possibly sell MORE of them because they aren't forcing people to switch from their current providers (or worse are stuck in a contract). I don't see what they need Cingular for at all. If anyone gets what they get from it, let me know. I do see one good thing in that they are already forcing changes in the provider (i.e. Visual Voicemail).
- Price and 2 Year Contract - Ok, I would willingly pay $599 for an iPhone, but a 2 Year contract as well? They are asking a LOT of people now...Especially for someone like me who is completely happy with their current provider and has been for years. This is one of the main reasons I might not get an iPhone...
- No 3G???? - Apple touted the iPhone as "Breakthrough Internet Device", yet they released this internet device on a non-broadband network. Sure they say they are going to upgrade the iPhone when they think 3G is ready, but guess what that means?? You get to buy a NEW iPhone! That's nice of them...
- Camera, no flash - All camera phones now a days have a flash (even if they are crappy). I would have though Apple noticed that...but looks like they didn't.
- NO JAVA??? Ok, maybe I am misunderstanding Steve, here, but in an interview with John Markoff, he says:
"Markoff: “And what are you thinking about Flash and Java?”
Jobs: “Java’s not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It’s this big heavyweight ball and chain.”
He better just be talking about in the browser and not on the desktop. I'm really interested to know if the Cocoa framework on the iPhone supports the Java bindings available on the desktop. Not that it matters...see the next bullet...
- No 3rd party developers - What happened to openness?? I think that Palm would say that they have thrived on the fact that anyone can develop software for their devices. You have a device as powerful as a computer in the palm of your hand, but you can only use it for the things that Apple says they want you to. So if you want to have an application that helps you with your home inspection business for example, you have to carry an iPhone and your trusty Palm device. If I pay $600 for a palm top computer, I want it to do the things I need. So my message to Apple, release a SDK for the iPhone (oh wait...it run OS X right? We already have the SDK...it's called Cocoa...let us use it!). They also stated that the reason they didn't want just anyone throwing apps on your phone is because of stability. But wait, I thought it ran OS X...a modern OS that has memory protection...so even if I write a really buggy app that crashes every 2 seconds, it should effect the rest of the phone right? This is why I NEVER reboot my mac, so why should I have to reboot my phone?
- OS X or not?? I'm quoting a slashdot article on this one because it didn't cross my mind in this respect. If the iPhone IS running OS X (in the darwin aspect), then Apple MUST release the source for the darwin port to the ARM the iPhone is rumored to be running. So which is it apple? OS X or not quite OS X?
- Voice recognition? Voice dialing? Voice memos? - What happened to voice dialing and the like? They released a bluetooth headset as well, so they must be thinking about handsfree, but handsfree is only possible if you don't have to touch your phone. Maybe Apple will add this before the actual release, but no one knows at this point.
- Can you change the battery yourself - Take a guess...it's just like the iPod. If your battery dies, you have to send it to Apple to get a new one. I can see it is that big of a deal with an iPod. So you are without your music for a week. Big whoop. But if you have to send your only cellphone in for a week, what are you supposed to do?? Buy a separate phone as a backup? Will your backup have all the capabilities of your iPhone (contacts, calendar, etc)? Probably not, so all you business people better think twice on that one...
- No GPS - impossible for a device that thin I know, but I can still wish right?

I think that's enough ranting for now. :)

I'd really like to thank David Pogue for being so honest and forthcoming with his information about the iPhone. He is shedding a lot of light on what the iPhone really is. Check out his Blog if you haven't.

There are a ton of articles out there now on the iPhone which I hope Apple is reading, but I really hope they are reading the COMMENTS to all those posts. I hope I'm not off base on all my comments, but I had to share my thoughts on the iPhone while the topic is still hot. Hopefully it changes something (I can wish right?).

Posted by Andrew at January 14, 2007 9:46 PM