cnn.com has an interesting article on How Apple kept its iPhone secrets.

It might be an idea just to quote a few key points of the article. I suspect FT gets into legal hot water when you go beyond quoting and attributing.....

nevermind

Plus Side-
Welldone Apple UI

MinusSide-
Miserable Battery life
No 3G
No WiFi Sync
Not open OS

All in all, sounds like a stinker. Was the Zune development team double dipping?

Interesting article from PC World:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2082059,00.asp

Highlights:

• People who unlock phones are "bad people"
• No third-party apps, maybe Apple will sell you some

This article suggests that Cingular was the only U.S. network that was willing to work with Apple on the iPhone (given Apple's list of criteria). But in doing so, Apple had to give in to Cingular's demands.

Cingular sucks.

It would seem Apple cant sell it unlocked based on the deal with Cingular. And that would imply that even in Europe or Asia they cant sell it that way - other wise those would just find thier way home really quickly.

So look forward to some awful Vodaphone- bloated iPhones this December I guess.....

Glenn Lurie, Cingular's president of national distribution was the one who said that.

How sad.

i am not a standard user. i have a lot apps runnin and syncing etc. , using wifi, 3G , skype, msn, icq, etc etc. at one time.

wm5 might be enough for people who only check emails and their calender, i am doing much more and for this symbian seems to be more stable.

i have skype runnin on 4 machines , so i wont miss any call , any message any time 24hours, i have 7 sipaccounts runnin on my p990.

but after seing how slim the apple is, i would love to see that thing with 3G...

after seing the video i am sure that the reason why they didnt put 3G into that phone was, that the slim factor was more important to them.
if it is so slim, an battary pack for that would only power such kind of device for 10hours if it was 3G.

dp

Oh, I'm not using Cingular Premier discount for the phone, thats for sure out of the question based on what was said in the reports I read. Even if it was full price and knowing there will be a 3G version coming out soon, I'm still gonna get it... a used iPhone will still make a good xmas gift in December for someone. hehe

How deeply underwhelming.

The UI looks nice, though the control mechanism reminds me a little of the ones certain other MP3 manufacturers came up with, as an alternative to the iPod's scroll wheel. Scroll through your music with your fingertips - what, like the Creative Zen? No secret that touchscreens are expensive though - and frequently a real pain when you're keeping the phone in your pocket. And the idea of data entry on that touchscreen... ugh. Not to mention that amount of money and no 3G. And it's closed - what on earth?!

It reminds me of the Ericsson R380 in terms of my reaction, to be frank. Though at least that had a real keypad...

All I gotta say is, you gotta see it.
I was able to get to macworld yesterday, and check it out. They had a couple on the floor at the time, and were doing a live demo for about an hour.

Forget about the phone, the UI and interface is simply a revolution. If this were just a computing product, it would be a game changer as far as customer interface with the device goes. As is so typical with apple, it just works. They make the difficult or cumbersome, simple, easy and intuitive to do.

Imagine the first time you saw AJAX or some of the web 2.0 applications, it made the interaction and interface with the web that much easier, simple and intuitive. That is JUST what apple has done with the iphone. Simple and just what you want.

The screen, is gorgeous. I have an ipaq hx4700 that I STILL use for GPS and slinging, and that is a beautiful VGA screen. THIS screen from the iphone is better. I would almost buy it just for that.

It truly IS the best ipod out there. Not the smallest, not the most capacious, but the UI is amazing. If you have been watching the keynote and seeing videos, you are not seeing 85% of what this device can do.

Email, is the best I have seen on any portable device, short of a complete laptop, mac or pc. Web use, browsing, is the best on any portable, short of a laptop. that is JUST what I was hoping for, since I tend to do a lot of browsing out in the field with the 4700, and a treo 700wx. It works, but it ain't great. This, would be a GREAT replacement for that.

I went in to this, thinking and planning on being unwhelmed. It got me! I was surprised that it did as much as it does, and as WELL as it supposedly does. I don't think they are going to be able to pull back from that. The UI is truly amazing, but then again that is what Steve thinks too - and he would know.

There are, of course the downsides pointed out by all.
no replaceable battery (well, probably as much as any ipod)
no 3g. this could be a deal killer, but I think I could make it work what with the nature of wifi, and availability.
have to rely on apple of apps. For what it does, I could handle this. I have to find a way to do gps though, maybe they will enable something to allow a BT GPS to feed data to the google maps app.

Whew, I just gotta find a way to bite the bullet, and pay ATT for their pricey plans and data.

You might want to actually watch the demo of the phone in action to see how the touchscreen really works. There's a little more to it than just flicking the finger. With this device the software senses how fast you move your finger and for what distance to determine how quickly to scroll, for example.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this is the first model. Consider the first iPod for a moment. A lot of concepts were introduced, but only very fundamental execution of those concepts was presented in the first generation. Apple is very keen at recognizing that people need to absorb things in small doses in order to really appreciate it -- and, of course, it takes a while to develop the bigger stuff. Here we saw a few examples of Multitouch, only a few. Pinch, flick, etc. Clearly, though, if/when they want to, there is a ton of other possibilities in how gesture-style input could be used to extend the functionality.

Regarding touch screens and pockets, if you watch the keynote this issue is addressed. The screen lock and can be unlocked easily by flicking one's finger across a specific portion of the screen. The iPhone knows the difference between a thigh and a finger, and it will only accept input on the designated strip of screen. Inadvertant movements are ignored.

I think there are some valid comments on this thread, but a lot of stuff is coming up because of inaccurate assumptions about the product and about how Apple works in launching new products.

Apple mentioned in the keynote that they'd be happy picking up 1% of mobile phone marketshare to start. This is not an unusual way for them to go about launching a product. Apple starts slow, tests the waters, watches the response, and then tweaks. Rinse and repeat. We're seeing that here. They're starting out with one carrier. GSM/EDGE only for now (but with a mention that a phone for Japan, which will presumably be 3G, is coming in 2008). A select number of applications. A select set of multitouch gestures. etc. Apple wants to make sure that whatever they put into this first model is good. They want to find the balance between performance and battery life. They want to find the sweet spot in the feature set.

Sure, they could throw in the kitchen sink, but they know that's not the way to have a successful product long-term. The Newton was probably one lesson in that (and Steve HATES the Newton). Only features that are solid will make the cut.

They don't get it right 100% of the time... there will be some apps or features that don't work as hoped, but the demand placed on each developer is for it to be right 100% of the time. The requirement for each is to put out the best product. In reality, launching any new product will be a series of compromises, but the reason so much does work so well and so consistently with Apple products is that each person and each group is working under the requirement to put out the best, down to the tiny details. Only Steve decides on where to make a compromise.

One of the stories told around campus was about Steve interviewing someone for a position. He asked the person, "Are you the best?" The candidate wasn't sure how to respond. If he said yes, the typical person would assume they were cocky and not want to hire him. If he said no, then that doesn't look good either. So he hesitated and tried to dance around the answer. He started out saying something like "I wouldn't say I'm the best..." Steve cut him off and told him he was wasting his time and he needed to leave. Then Steve walked out of the room. He only wants the best. The only answer is yes, and the candidate has to mean it sincerely and certainly. Why should he want anyone or anything that is not the best? At first it may seem arrogant or maybe harsh to have an attitude like that. But the more one considers it the more one thinks, "who can blame him?" So what's the point? It's what leads to the quality in each aspect of a product. At least, that's the baseline. It also shows how Apple is not a typical company. This isn't the attitude in most places, and it shows in the products they put out. This, in turn, shows in the way consumers use the products and even in the demands they have for them. So this is where I'm coming from when someone says, "oh, so and so company has that type of feature already." My response, "yeah, but not like this." And that's where the difference really lies. A certain feature may be similar, but one way is rudimentary, and one way is powerful.

Fair enough, it's a cross between the Creative Zen and my laptop's touch pad...

I've watched it, and went back to watch it again. Yes, it looks a little more intuitive in places than a lot of phone UIs I've used, but then the compromises are real as well. The idea of Multi-Touch is nice, certainly - the 'pinch' is pretty cool. But, phone UI is about more than navigation. I personally think one-handed use of a phone is always, always underestimated. Faster than a plastic keypad, Steve? Riiiight...

I think what's left me underwhelmed is the fact that so much of what was shown off has already been done. Google Maps? Works perfectly well on my two year old 7610. HTML email? Rendered by 'proper' web-browsers on phones for ages. Proximity sensor and ambient light sensor? My Nokia 7650 had both. Real web browser? It doesn't look particularly better than Nokia's current effort - apart from the pinch.

Unlike the MP3 player market, it's not like everyone else is playing catch-up here, though, and Apple won't have the luxury of time to stay ahead of the curve. Not to mention that PC connectivity is much, much less important to most phone owners than most MP3 player owners. There are phones outperforming the iPhone in many, many different areas already. Of course the iPhone will have an impact, especially if parts of the UI prove successful (as they probably will - although this is FAR from a mass-market phone). And in my opinion, the "5 years ahead" comment about the software sounds utterly ridiculous.

No offence, but I've heard this problem 'solved' plenty of times and you'll excuse me if I don't quite believe it yet...

10 million phones a year? That's about 12% of the world smartphone market. Or about, what, 30% of current iPod sales? Is this really starting small?

I respect Apple for making some damn good products. The iPod was revolutionary. The iPhone has some amazing touches and will shake up the UI designers at the major phone makers (and thank goodness for that). But I'm still deeply, deeply disappointed.

By the way, do Americans really not use the phone books in their mobile phones? And where was multimedia messaging?

Interestingly enough, Andrew Orlowski seems to be saying the screen isn't as nice as the new Nokia internet terminal's. And that in a piece titled "Why I want the iPhone to succeed".