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Information Technology News JP Morgan scotches its iPhone nano prediction
Information Technology News JP Morgan scotches its iPhone nano prediction | JP Morgan scotches its iPhone nano prediction |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Wednesday, 11 July 2007 | |
  
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"A lower end iPhone is inevitable, in our view, but we believe a near-term launch would be unusual and highly risky," the trio stated, describing Chang's prediction as "very interesting". (Do we hear overtones of Sir Humphrey from 'Yes, Prime Minister'?) "We're sticking with our view that 3G is the next iteration", most likely "in the first half of 2008, but an earlier launch is possible and would be encouraging," the analysts added. "We caution that the potential for a low-end, subsidized phone from Apple seems unlikely in the near-term." We still feel that an iPod nano-sized phone would be remarkably small unless Apple comes up with a completely different user interface, and we doubt the design described in the patent application referenced by Chang would do the job. The user interfaces on most phones leave a lot to be desired, and that's one thing Apple does well. Why was the iPod such a success? Its specifications weren't outstanding (apart from Apple's use of a comparatively high capacity hard disk where most manufacturers made do with smaller amounts of flash memory), but the integration of iPod with the iTunes software for Macs and PCs, combined with the simple but effective scroll wheel based interface made it a joy to use. Similarly, the iPhone does little, if anything, that other high-end phones can offer, but it does them with an elegance missing from most devices. Who would bet against Apple doing something similar for the cheaper end of the mobile phone market, just as it introduced the iPod mini, nano and shuffle for those that didn't want (or maybe couldn't afford) a full-size iPod? |
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