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

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 04 June 2007 20:18

Your IT - Mobility

And then there’s the problem of price. The Nokia N95 can already be had for free with a contract in Australia and elsewhere around the world, although that might not be the case in the US. It does everything the iPhone does, and in fact more, combining phone, video phone, full HTML browser, 3G/3.5G HSDPA broadband wireless modem, FM radio, mp3/video player, GPS Map navigation, 5 megapixel camera, DVD-like video recorder and much, much more.

It doesn’t have the iPhone’s smooth control system, but is an evolution of Nokia’s already simple keypad layout and Symbian operating system, culminating in a very smooth Nokia experience all its own. Both phones outdo each other in different ways, with the N95 the iPhone’s best and possibly only true competitor right now, and one costs nothing on contract while the other is US $499 or US $599.

That’s a tough choice for consumers to make, and with the N95 so capable on its own, gives consumers $599 to spend on something else, like gas for the car, a new computer, a PS3, a Wii or some other device.

After all, the iPhone does look to be the ‘ultimate’ phone, mp3 and video player. But if you can get an N95 for free on contract, and either save that $599 or spend it on a PS3 or something else, you’re not going to walk away unhappy.

Of course if you want an iPhone, you’re going to get one, N95 or no. Heck, you might even get both.

The final concern so far for the iPhone is the inevitable problem it will face. Some manufacturing defect that affects only 0.0001% of iPhone owners but has blown up into a global news story with Apple not yet admitting to the problem, as with moo-ing batteries or scratching screens.

Something like that seems to pop up for a small percentage of users like clockwork with every Apple release – what will it be for the iPhone?

Whatever happens, an exciting time in computing and communications history is unfolding, with both the N95 and the iPhone marking a true change in the power of today’s handheld devices, giving us converged devices that offer a range of great features, and offer them well in a handheld device that was truly once the province of science fiction alone.

Who knows what’s next from the myriad of possibilities that exist? Bill Gates joked at his on-stage appearance with Steve Jobs that Apple’s next invention would be the transporter. We’re not quite there yet, but as we remember that the iPhone is only in its first incarnation, we rejoice in the fact that the best is yet to come.