Apple iPhone

[Cotterik]

I'm guessing the iphone will come out at about £400 so i really dont think its going to be a common appearance for a while. Although the concept, being inevitable as such, is still a brilliant one. I often have my pockets full with my phone and mp3 player so a GOOD combination would be great. Hopefully apple have cracked it because i dont think anyone else has.

[Matra et Alpine]

the BIG problem when combining phoe with anything - mp3 or PDA - is it can end up that when you need PHONE power there's none left as yhou've just listened to 4 hours of music or a film or the internet.
Bad news when it happens and you HAVE to make a call
So then you (*I*) end up carrying an external battery pack for those critical times .... and the end result is it's easier to have a small mp3/vid player like the Sansa as it's smaller/lighter than the external power pack and the phone is always available

Unless Apple change their attitude about h/w sales then they will NOT be offering the incentives to operators to discount the phone on contracts.

[Lagonda]

It's a bit early to comment on the iPhone to be honest. If you ask me Apple didn't want to unveil this thing today. But, they had to because of all the hype surrounding it and to please the stockholders.
The real feature set is still very vague.

Problems I'm seeing with the iPhone at this point:
Will you be able to develop software for the mobile OSX ?
No UMTS but EDGE, wtf Apple what are you thinking ? Some fanboys are defending this by saying that WiFi fills in the need for UMTS. Sure, maybe in Utopia were we have free WiFi everywhere.
Visual Voicemail needs network upgrade --> Will cell providers outside of Cingular be willing to add this feature to their network just for the iPhone ? Highly doubt it. Unless more phones in the coming months start to support this.
This thing basically NEEDS an unlimited data plan (and UMTS!!), which is either VERY expensive or unavailable.
Pull email is expensive and Push even more so.
The fact that they state a "5 hour" operating time and no stand by time worries me. A lot. Battery WILL suck if you look at the iPod battery history and use it as a precedent.
No word on MMS and EMS/Long SMS... Horrible for the european market if it doesn't support that.
No tactile feedack since there are no buttons.. You can't blind type an SMS.
That said: quad band is a good thing and the interface,as always, looks awesome. It's a bit big for me and 135g is just too much for a cell phone.

As of now this machine caters to a VERY small audience: business users who can offord no limit data plans and somehow have no interest in UMTS. Do they even exist ?
Teens can't afford this thing. They could maybe afford the machine itself but not the extra services required to use it at it's full potential...

IMHO. Apple should've released a "light", less advanced, version along with it. To cater to the non business users.

Outside of the awesome interface I'm not impressed. And it will not be as successfull as the iPod.

[adrenaline]

The fact that they state a "5 hour" operating time and no stand by time worries me. A lot. Battery WILL suck if you look at the iPod battery history and use it as a precedent.

Outside of the awesome interface I'm not impressed. And it will not be as successfull as the iPod.

The "5 hour" operating time is video. Music will get you 16 hours.

I love this thing. But for the price, it should have 3G, which it doesn't.

But apart from that, it brings alot of innovation. Such as an accelerometer that recognises if you are using it in portait or landscape mode. And another sensor that can tell if you are holding it to your ear, disabling the touch sensors to avoid accidental inputs. And yet another sensor, that adjusts the screen brightness according to the lighting conditions.

Something I'm not sure on though is the Ipod. Are they upgrading it soon or is this it? Because at max 8 gig, this shouldn't be the iPod replacement. So where is my 6G Ipod??!

You Americans get it in June, where as I'll probably have to wait until next year

[Lagonda]

The 5h is talk time + video + web browsing (probably over EDGE and not over WiFi).

The 6G iPod will come, be patient. Chances are that it will have the full touch screen interface.

But the iPhone can't convince me. I'm may be the biggest Apple fan on this board but also the first to see their shortcomings. As it stands now, with the info we got, the iPhone has too many shortcomings too be highly succesfull. The iPod didn't have as many shortcomings initially.

But of course this may al change when they finally release it and give us all the specs.

Now that I think about it. June may be on time for WWDC. Maybe they will tell us how to develop for the new platform at WWDC ?

[Street_Dreamer]

i hate Apple, but it must be said i really do like that phone...

[cmcpokey]

this phone is not for me... i dont much care for the mp3 player, cant really listen to it that many times in the day. and it does not have a real pda function which has become the primary aspect i use my phone for. i currently have a palm treo 650, and that does everything i want. it can be an mp3 player if i wanted it to. i do have media player on it, but i never use it.

if they could just bring in a palm style interface, and put a real keyboard on it, then it would be good. not right now though.

[Matra et Alpine]

if they could just bring in a palm style interface, and put a real keyboard on it, then it would be good. not right now though.

Does the foldable Palm keyboard work with the Treo ?
Even better/sexier are the laser virtual keyboards

Espemsive at $100 tho

[IWantAnAudiRS6]

That's awesome. It would feel would drumming the desktop to type though

[Esperante]

I smell a lawsuit. Cisco systems already uses the name 'iPhone.'

[Lagonda]

They have a deal with Cisco for that.

[kingofthering]

Great. Another toy for rich, preppy, show-off kids to play with.

[Cotterik]

I smell a lawsuit. Cisco systems already uses the name 'iPhone.'

see here for that issue

[Zytek_Fan]

Great. Another toy for rich, preppy, show-off kids to play with.

So true...

[Zytek_Fan]

And here is the lawsuit!

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Cisco Systems Inc. said Wednesday it is suing Apple Inc. in federal court over Apple's use of Cisco's registered iPhone trademark for its new handheld device.

Cisco has owned the trademark on the name "iPhone" since 2000, when it acquired InfoGear Technology Corp., which originally registered the name.

And three weeks ago, Cisco's Linksys division put the trademark to use, releasing an Internet-enabled phone called "iPhone" that uses the increasingly popular Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

On Tuesday, Apple unveiled the iPhone, its "game-changing" touch- screen-controlled cell phone device that plays music, surfs the Web and delivers voicemail and e-mail.

"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," said Mark Chandler, Cisco senior vice president and general counsel, in a statement. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."

Cisco is seeking injunctive relief to prevent Apple from copying Cisco's iPhone trademark.

"Today's iPhone is not tomorrow's iPhone. The potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone and PC is limitless, which is why it is so important for us to protect our brand," Chandler added.