Apple iPhone will succeed despite late, defensive move

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 16 January 2007 08:11

Your IT - Mobility

The third reason is that “the iPhone is a defensive product”. Apple say they have been working on the iPhone for years now. It’s clearly something that Steve Jobs had already well advanced by the time he launched the 2nd-gen nano, the 2nd-gen Shuffle, and the 5.5G iPod Video at 30Gb and 80Gb capacities. Yet he knew the iPhone wasn’t ready, and the market still wanted iPods.

The market still wants iPods even today – iPods haven’t magically been removed from stores because the iPhone is on the way. But the iPhone clearly wasn’t hatched 6 months ago, but has been painstakingly worked on for years. People who’ve used it say the text input software seems to magically know what you were wanting to type. The phone’s multi-tap interface, its address book, call conferencing features and SMS text messaging system are all seamlessly integrated.

Yes, we’ve seen elements of these things on devices like the Palm Treo, but have you ever seen a device that does digital media, telephony, web browsing and other basic computing functions so well before? Not even computers are this easy to use. I take one look at the iPhone, and on the face of it, looks like something that my mother could learn to use in minutes. Few of today’s digital devices inspire that kind of ‘ease-of-use’ confidence, even though many of us refuse to read the manual and then turn to it in frustration later on.

The iPhone is not a defensive product. It’s not even an evolution. It’s clearly a revolution in the ultra portable digital communications and digital media device category. It’s the only device I’ve seen that truly looks like it was designed in the 21st century.

Can you say that about the PSP? Any digital camera? Regular cell phones? Laptop computers? Remote controls? Just about everything looks like an update of something from the 20th century.

But the iPhone is demonstrably different. It’s the thinnest gadget, and while it doesn’t have 3G in its initial version, Steve Jobs clearly said during the keynote that 3G models were coming. Faster, slimmer, bigger capacity devices are obviously on the roadmap.

I’m definitely no apologist for Apple, as I marvel at their brilliant decisions, and wonder about others. But to so comprehensively write off the iPhone as a failure-to-be just doesn’t wash with the reasons supplied.

When Steve Jobs claims that the iPhone is 5 years ahead of the competition, I only need take a look at what I’ve seen the iPhone do, to my vast experience with the world’s best digital devices over the last decade, and I know that Steve Jobs is right.

Now that the iPhone has been unleashed onto the world, the only question, besides whether or not Apple can speed up iPhone delivery worldwide, is how long their 5 year lead will last, for the competition will not sit still especially now that they know about Apple’s plans. The iPhone 2 must already be on the drawing board, ready to be released with 3G and other functions, just as the competition shows off their new features to compete with the original iPhone.

Far from being a failure, the iPhone looks to be an incredible success with benefits for all as the paradigm that is the current day smartphone starts an irreversible shift onto an entirely new level from all mobile phone manufacturers. Owning a mobile phone will become a totally different experience, with you actually using – and wanting to use – all of the extra features your smartphone offers – instead of just using it as a phone and nothing else.