I haven’t heard a peep out of Microsoft for quite some time; not really since Mossberg’s D5. Nonetheless, Microsoft is in the news today.
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Engadget got one of the 200 iPhone testers to spill some beans about features of the iPhone, and the tester told Engadget what they thought of it. The important snippets are mostly about the keyboard and text input:
- overall: “disappointing.” The tester had troubles with two-thumb input after trying “a number of days;” the iPhone video up at Apple says “a week and you’ll be fine.” I have no idea who’s right here.
- “It won’t replace a BlackBerry. It’s not good for text input. It’s just not a business product.”
- text correction needs a bigger dictionary for proper names [they don't mention if it finds dictionary proper nouns from the address book, which is important]
- keypresses require strong force and “needs some getting used to”
It would seem that Engadget’s leaker works in the Obvious department, which should help Steve Jobs track him down:
- Apple Bluetooth Headset will be $100+
- page loads are slow on EDGE network
- the screen smudges when you put your fingers on it
The din about the keyboard is really starting to reach full force. There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s going to lose points in reviews because of people not being able to master it out-of-the-box.
Speaking personally, I’m ridiculously excited and nervous about a software keyboard. Less for unused buttons and more for the display is a win in my book, but you still need to be able to use it. If it’s about as fast as T9, I’ll be fine. If I want to write a magnum opus, I’ll use a keyboard. That is to say, a hardware one, not a software one; I have a secret hope that Bluetooth keyboards will someday be available (or that they’ll work out of the box).
&tThird party apps are being “considered.” I’ve been pretty confident that we’ll see 3rd party apps on the iPhone, and I’ll continue to be confident. I more or less expect them to be signed (meaning that they’ll have to be purchase through the iTunes store and wrapped with DRM or some such — I’d be happy to be wrong about this) but I think we’ll see 3rd party apps. Maybe not immediately on launch, but we’ll see it.
Steve is said to be “wrestling with the issue,” which basically means that he knows it’s the right thing to do for the iPhone platform but likely isn’t excited about giving up control. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Apple remains #1 on Businessweek’s top innovative companies list, followed by Google and Toyota. They handily beat out 2nd place Google with twice as many votes, and claim #1 for the 3rd year in a row. Here’s the whole top 50 extravaganza.
Businessweek’s top fifty is determined by a poll of 2500 executives — it’s not a customer poll, or a internet poll, it’s a poll of movers and shakers. This poll isn’t as subject to the usual online poll hijinx. Who knows, though; maybe they admire Apple as #1 because they think Steve Jobs’ paycheck is innovative. Over $600 million! It helps explain the so-called “Apple Tax,” for sure.
At any rate, not just one, but two #1s in one week. Congratulations Apple.
In a recent interview with USA Today, Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft) stated several things, none of which are really news. He promised to not come out with a Zune phone, he made some claims about what a great CEO he was, etc. This quote interested me, though: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.” That’s really interesting. He thinks they’ll see “2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.” Really, really interesting. According to Steve Jobs in his keynote this January, Apple is aiming for 1% of the phone market one year after the iPhone comes out. Pishposh! That’s just 10 million phones! At $500 each that’s just… oh wait. That’s $5 billion. By Ballmer’s own estimates, it’s $15 billion. And this is likely a zero-sum equation — people that get the iPhone probably won’t get a Windows Mobile phone.
Update:Macworld.co.uk seems to assert Microsoft only has about 5.6% of the mobile market. This puts another quote of his in perspective — “Would I trade 96% of the market for 4% of the market?” He doesn’t have 96% of the market, not in this segment anyway. He’s sweating bullets in this market segment.
In other news, he promised to not release a Zune with phone features, stating “It’s not a concept you’ll ever get from us.” I’m not sure I believe him — if Linux phones really have 3 times more market share than Windows Mobile, I’d be surprised if he didn’t have a team on it already.
