The Game Changing Ramifications of Apple's iPhone
|
|
Apple
Well just to damp your enthusiasm, here are a couple of reported weaknesses of the iPhone:
- You don't have 3G. You'll use WiFi instead to get broadband.
- You can't expandable the memory. You can't insert flash memory cards.
- The battery isn't removable.
- There isn't any Microsoft Exchange or Office support.
- You can't download songs directly from the iTunes store. You have to use your computer to do that.
- You can't sync iPhone with a computer over WiFi.
- It doesn't have GPS for location based services.
- Typing is difficult since there's no tactile feedback
- You can't use it without signing up for cellular service.
- You won't be able to extend the functionality of their phone like a Smart Phone.
- You can't get it until it ships in June.
- It will cost you $499 (the 4Gb version) or $599 for the 8Gb version on a two years contract with Cingular.
There you have it, a reality check. So with this in mind let's take a second look at its publicized feature list:
- 3.5-inch 480x320 touchscreen
- 4Gb or 8Gb of storage
- Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP
- WiFi (with automatic engagement if it detects a WiFi signal in the area)
- Quad-Band GSM with EDGE
- 2 Megapixel Camera
- Built on a specialized OS X version
- Safari as the web browser
- Google Maps and iTunes
- POP3 and IMAP support with a special IMAP push with Yahoo sponsorship
Clearly now, the iPhone isn't the last statement in mobile phones. Most of the features I have on my current phone today (see: "The Prefect Mobile Web Gadget. Every thing is closely comparable even suprisingly down to the resolution where Nokia's e70 has 352x416 pixels. Also note, Nokia's browser is also based on the same core as Safari. So just based on my experience with similar kinds of widescreen devices I wouldn't think that the iPhone feature list is out of the ordinary.
Time magazine however has an excellent behind the scenes piece on the genesis of the iPhone. On reading this, you get some better insight on why iPhone is in fact different. First of all, there is the use of OSX:
OS X, so the phone could handle real, non-toy applications like Web browsers and e-mail clients.
My experience with s60 and the applications that tend to be deployed on it is less than thrilling. A solid operating system environment is essential. Not that I'm saying that s60 is unstable. What bugs me most about today's current mobile devices is the simple lack of working memory. The s60 web browser is quite good at rendering most web sites, unfortunately it continues to fail because of lack of memory. Would the iPhone have similar memory deficiencies in its quest to cut cost? No one has yet to discover the amount of working memory on the iPhone.
However, what appears to be game changing is these series of quotes from the Time magazine piece:
Now pick it up and make a call. A big friendly icon appears on that huge screen. Say a second call comes in while you're talking. Another icon appears. Tap that second icon and you switch to the second call. Tap the big “merge calls” icon and you've got a three-way conference call. Pleasantly simple.
Another example: voicemail. Until now you've had to grope through your v-mail by ear, blindly, like an eyeless cave-creature. On the iPhone you see all your messages laid out visually, onscreen, labeled by caller. If you want to hear one, you touch it. Done. Now try a text message: Instead of jumbling them all together in your in-box, iPhone arranges your texts by recipient, as threaded conversations made of little jewel-like bubbles.
To enable such technology requires integration with Cingular's network. Granted that you can provide the conference calling capabilities through phone emulation, you however can't display voice messages on the screen without some integration with the operators voice mail system. The point however is that our interaction with the voice features of a phone are antiquated and any incremental attempt at enhancements on both the handset and the network can go a long way! (update: Dean Bubley has some remarks on the political ramifications of this effort)
Once consumers get used to this there would be no going back. Enhanced call control would become a minimal require and consumers will demand that slow moving operators incorporate such functionality in their networks. But Apple goes beyond more usable voice control interfaces, it attempts to incorporate that AJAX feel on to a phone:
when you swipe your finger across the screen to unlock the iPhone, you’re not just accessing a system of nested menus, you're entering a tiny universe, where data exist as bouncy, gemlike, animated objects that behave according to consistent rules of virtual physics. Because there's no intermediary input device—like a mouse or a keyboard—there's a powerful illusion that you're physically handling data with your fingers. You can pinch an image with two fingers and make it smaller.
That is, the user interaction innovations that lead to services like flickr are moving quickly into the mobile handset. This could be the beginning of Mobile 2.0.
Finally, although many may miss this, what's most interesting is how Cingular consented to allow the iPhone to include WiFi support. American operators are adamant not to include WiFi on their phone offerings for fear that it could cut into its future 3G revenue potential. It turns out Apple will have none of it and is bold enough to ignore 3G feature all together. One can't say the same for Nokia that had to cripple its e61 mobile and release a e62 without the WiFi support.
I have a mobile phone with WiFi capability (i.e. e70) and I must tell you how convenient a feature it is. Photos and Movies that I record on the mobile are uploaded instantly. One doesn't need to buy a VoIP WiFI phone when one's cellular can do the job just as well. Accessing one's own content (i.e. music, photos, video, documents) using services like Orb and Soonr becomes a painless process.
We can imagine today how this works using internet tablets like Nokia 's 770 and n800. In fact, Nokia's internet tablet is conceptually identical to the iPhone, that is, it doesn't carry apps like a contact list or a calendar (the browser is based on the same core technology). Features one would associate with a PDA or a Smart Phone. Unfortunately Nokia Internet Tablets aren't ubiquitous. Now imagine a world with iPhone almost everywhere, a phone with an interface that's completely maleable. That my friend is a picture of the beginnings of Mobile 2.0.
