iTWire - As iPhone goes on sale, what problems lie in wait?

As iPhone goes on sale, what problems lie in wait?

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 05 June 2007
Page 1 of 2 The date’s been cast in stone: June 29 is the day the already legendary Apple iPhone goes on sale in the US, but as the date of release draws closer, what problems can Apple expect? Register now to win a Canon EOS 500D If you haven’t already seen the new iPhone ads on US Primetime TV or from Apple’s website, the first thing you notice is just how cool the iPhone interface looks and high incredibly easy it appears to be to use, as easy as when Steve Jobs demonstrated it back at Macworld in January. But despite Apple learning from the 1st-gen screen-scratch nano experience, simple questions remain. How will the iPhone’s screen stand up to coins, keys, being dropped or being handled by the kids? Can you place a transparent plastic protective sheet on the face of the iPhone, or will that interfere with the touch controls? Beyond concerns about the screen itself, the iPhone will be available on June 29. What quantities will the phone be available in? If the PS3, Wii and even Xbox 360 launches are anything to go by, lines will form outside Apple and AT&T stores, as people wait to be one of the very first to score an iPhone on launch day. Just as PS3 and Wii units were stolen from stores before their official launch, iPhones will surely be the target of thieves, causing headaches and the need for extra security patrols around stores in the lead up to launch day. Another question is exclusive carrier relationships. Carriers such as Vodafone have had the power to buy 2G and 3G Sharp phones exclusively for the global Vodafone network, leveraging the power of an order of 50 million units to get the best price from Sharp. By and large this deal worked, but there is no real exclusivity in a Sharp phone. The iPhone is completely different, with an audience in theory much larger than that of the iPod – after all, hundreds of millions more own mobile phones than do Apple iPods. Apple wants to offer its exclusivity to AT&T, which AT&T can then offer to its customers. But the risk that competitors come up with something clever of their own that captures the fickle attention of the mobile phone market, with tastes that vary far more widely than those of mp3 player owners. By the numbers themselves mp3 player owners are in majority iPod users, and this could catch Apple off guard as a different phone becomes the new flavor of the month, unlikely though this would seem with the iPhone unlike anything anyone’s truly ever seen before, and seemingly 5 years ahead of the competition as Jobs has stated. That ‘new flavor’ of the month would come from Apple’s established and very experienced cell phone makers, all of whom have now had inspiration from the Apple iPhone to try and come up with something better. Nokia, Mototola, Samsung, RIM, Palm, Microsoft, LG, Sony Ericsson and others all throwing their money and resources at coming up with a product to compete, by raising their own bar at least as high as that set by Apple, if not higher, creating ever more powerful ‘multimedia computers’ ever more quickly as Moore’s Law works its magic in the cell phone world. So, what about the problem of price - and the Nokia N95? There's also an issue the iPhone will face that we can't even predict, but history tells us will be there - for the conclusion, please read onto page 2 now! << First page < 1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>