iPhone and unlimited data: a winning combination

Stuart Corner
Friday, 04 January 2008 00:26

Your IT - Mobility

That latter combination of the iPhone's huge popularity and ease of use with the ubiquity of Telstra's mobile data service at a competitive price at a competitive price and its large and attractive range of content could see the iPhone grab market share in Australia at a rate that would outstrip even the phenomenal uptake rates it has already achieved in other markets.

However there will be only a limited window of opportunity while mobile operators enjoy the exclusivity of the iPhone UI. According to Ovum, "the iPhone is not a mass-market device. It's for the relatively small number of customers who can afford it. The ultimate winners in the Internet handset market will be those players who can bring enough of what makes the iPhone UI successful into handsets which appeal to, and are affordable by, mainstream users."

Ovum argues that "Apple's track record on taking its technology innovations to the mass market is patchy, at best. And given that the UI is at the heart of the iPhone's appeal, we should note in particular that although Apple's Macintosh PC showed the world how powerful a WIMP (Windows/Icon/Mouse/Pointer) UI could be, that UI was eventually brought to the masses not by Apple, but by Microsoft's Windows."

I remember when Microsoft first tried to emulate Apple's ground-breaking WIMP UI, first introduced on the Lisa then in earnest on the Mac in 1984. It was many years before Windows came even close to matching the Mac (many would argue that it still does not). What gave Windows traction in the market was the large number of manufacturers able to make MS-Dos (and hence Windows) PCs while Apple maintained exclusivity and high prices for its hardware.

There is clearly the opportunity for a repeat of history here with Google's Android and a handful of other open Linux based mobile platforms jostling for widespread acceptance .