Saabira Chaudhuri of Fast Company believes iPhone doesn’t have the chutzpah to capture the same success achieved by its cousin, the iPod.
The iPod set an impossibly high bar, one that the iPhone will not match or even come close to. But the new device could still be very successful, particularly in the long term. By combining a phone, a music player and an Internet device all in one, while coupling them with the most user friendly interface it could conceive of, Apple aims to embody one of the most fundamental ideals that underlies modern day consumerism: convenience.
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That zany analyst Shaw Wu (woo woo) from American Tech Research speculates that Apple is developing a low-cost mass market iPhone for the RAZR crowd, or so he says. Mr. Wu (can I call you Mr. Wu?) is basing his reasoning on Apple’s iPod strategy which began with the introduction of pricey high end models, eventually branching off into an assortment of models in different price tiers.
In other news, researchers have discovered the sky is blue. Video at 11:00.
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A poll conducted by research firm M:Metrics in May concluded that nearly 19 Million (queue Dr. Evil voice) cell phone users here in the land of the free are willing to shell out $599 for an iPhone - and intend to do so on June 29. If this survey translates into reality, Verizon and Sprint may see a huge defection among their subscriber base as customers migrate to AT&T in order to get an iPhone.
I don’t put much faith behind polls, but I do believe that all the iPhone haters out there are going to be left with egg on their face as June 29+ will reveal some rather interesting surprises.
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Om Malik sees iPhone having a coercive effect on Nokia’s product strategy. The Finnish phone maker is now rethinking its decision to focus almost solely on non-touch screen devices, and plans to optimize future versions of its Symbian OS on touch interaction.
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The press release published today by Apple sent the company stock price trending upwards more than $3 a share. Frightening how even the most trivial news can effect stocks. In other news, I sat on my car keys this morning, sending me upwards more than three feet in the air. Sadly this had no effect on my portfolio.
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Red Ferret has posted ten criticisms of touch displays that users may strongly dislike about iPhone as well. Now, I am a long time PDA veteran and have used mobile devices for as many years as there are points in this article. And I can say that most of these criticism are rather frivolous or exaggerated. Point 4 is particularly nitpickish. Is it really a shortcoming that you can’t carry your car keys in the same pocket with your phone? Uh, not if you also consider it a shortcoming that you can’t drive your car in the same lane with oncoming traffic.
Anyway, feel free to read through the ten points and draw your own conclusions.
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AT&T stores will close at 4:30 PM on June 29th and reopen again at 6 PM, with all sorts of new iPhone regalia and doodads all over the place. Stores will stay open late; there’s no official word on how late but the Boy Genius report heard midnight. There is no word yet on what will be done at Apple stores.
Ok, so now more details are emerging on Apple and AT&T’s luanch plans. Pay attention, because this is a bit on the strange side. Apparently AT&T stores will be closing around 4:30. Customers will actually be kicked out of stores at that time (that’s no joke). Why, you ask? Because Apple has tightly managed initial iPhone fulfillment to stores so that shipments will arrive at AT&T Wireless stores between 4:30pm and 6:00opm. After 6:00pm the stores will reopen and will stay open unusually late (as late as midnight) to cope with iPhone demand. How bout that?
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In all the cling and clatter of iPhone hype, we overlooked the other piece of iPhone hardware that required FCC approval. Well today, iPhone’s companion BT headset jumped through the FCC’s hoops and is now cleared for manufacturing. One step closer to D-Day.
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Analysts are projecting iPhone growth will add at least 1 Million new subscribers to AT&T by Q4 ‘07, with an additional 3.5 Million added by late next year. Amazing that a phone could spark such growth!
In a report to clients on Thursday, equity research analyst Mike McCormack said his latest model has the inaugural Apple handset contributing 915,000 new subscribers to AT&T’s wireless network during the second half of this year, with an additional 3.5 million likely to follow in 2008.
McCormack’s latest calculations represent an approximate 17 percent increase to his previous estimate of 5.4 million new subscribers in 2007, and a 76 percent increase to his 2008 estimate of 4.6 million newcomers. The iPhone should also help curb AT&T’s churn (or loss of subscribers) during the same time frames, the analyst said.
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