The New iPhone, Apple’s Pride and Joy
Apple’s stock soared 40% due to the iPhone’s hype, and according to several sources online, Apple’s new iPhone sold well over $300 million+ profit during its weekend launch. Many individuals crowded outside the AT&T store fronts and Apple’s retail stores to get a piece of the action this weekend, some even slept outside to make sure they received one. Apple and AT&T sold close to 700,000 iPhones at the close of business on Sunday resulting in half of Apple’s retail stores on the West Coast to sell out of the popular smart phones on the first day, citing analyst Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research in San Francisco. Microsoft CEO Ballmer should have been pretty upset at the turn out after laughing at Apple, Inc. for jumping into the smart phone industry (see it here).
“Five hundred dollars fully subsidized with a plan, I said that’s the most expensive phone in the world, and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard which makes it not a very good email machine”, was Ballmer’s response to the Apple’s iPhone. Well, if I may correct Ballmer, if he would have actually paid attention to the keynote presentation of the iPhone, he would have clearly seen that it does have a very convenient digital keyboard which can be brought up on demand for email, chat, and for its other additional features.
I remember buying the Blackberry and my RAZR phones with a pretty high price tag without complaint, so why would I hesitate to purchase a phone that has more to offer. Business individuals need the best and they will cough up the cash if it performs, so sorry Ballmer, but I believe many business oriented individuals will be looking forward to getting their hands on this phone.
The iPhone has great on board features right out of the box, so if you’re looking for an in depth review on the iphone and its features, I suggest checking out the post over at Macworld. They provide a pretty informative overview of the iPhone’s services and features. Also check out AT&T’s iPhone page for more technical information and pre-purchasing questions, here.
Yeah sure, the iPhone is not perfect, but keep in mind that this is Apple’s first attempt into the phone industry, just imagine what will Apple’s future phones will be like as they continue to develop off of this first version.
Jul 6th 2007
I have always kept the opinion that any phone, regardless of what it does; just isn’t worth 500 dollars.
You have to take Ballmer’s remarks with a grain of salt. I do think that there are certain aspects of the IPhone which will become the standard (such as the full internet browser) - But a lot of the other features don’t really apply to businessmen. The phone itself is marketed towards everyone, as opposed to Blackberries or Treo’s which seem to be geared towards business customers.
I think Ballmer had a point about the keyboard — Apple’s IPhone comes with an onscreen keyboard; and video I have seen of it in use, doesn’t look as easy to use as a physical keyboard. It’s hard for me to imagine someone being able to use two thumbs to type fairly quickly on the apple onscreen keyboard; mostly due to the fact that it’s a touchscreen. I guess I really won’t know for sure until I actually use one, but from what I’ve seen; the onscreen keyboard makes for better use when used sparingly. I don’t know how well you’d do sending numerous emails from the IPhone, and how fast you’d actually be able to type on one of those.
Personally, I’d rather not sacrifice screen space to use a keyboard; but then again I use a phone thats about 5 years old, and I have never used the internet on any cell phone.
I think Apple strategically decides to get involved in certain areas of technology, after a lot of the hardwork has been done by other companies. Granted, this is a great way of doing business when it comes to not spending on research and development, and making money; but nonetheless it isn’t like they’ve come out with this phone 5 years ago.
Watch and see how phones will be changing dramatically over the next year or two, and not because of Apple’s IPhone, but because the technology has reached a point where its possible to do these next generation things that weren’t possible before. If anything maybe Apple has stimulated the phone market a bit more then it was.
Jul 9th 2007
I agree that Apple has put their grain of sand into the technology area when it comes to phones, and the data plans that AT&T is offering with the iPhone is great because it has unlimited internet usage (as opposed to the data plans that come with other phones such as the blackberries or the razr that offer internet by kb), but I disagree about the keyboard comment. Apple’s iPhone keyboard is a “smart” keyboard, meaning that it is intuitive, and the more you type, regardless of whether you missed a letter or two, it will “sense” what you are trying to type and correct it for you. Now I’m sure it will take some getting used to, especially if you have already perfected the 2 thumb approach on phones like the Blackberry, but with all the other features it has, it’s totally worth it.
Regarding the price….I paid around 500 bucks for my Blackberry when it came out, and my husband’s Razr was about the same, so Ballmer’s “500 bucks, wow that’s alot of money” bullshit answer is stupid, and that whole load of “it won’t appeal to business people” , what? Business people don’t check their e-mails? Or listen to music? Or have no need for a little GPS?
I can’t wait till next year when Ballmer is giving a statement about the new phone his company will be launching…with much of the same features, and at roughly the same price, let’s see what tune he sings then.
Jul 9th 2007
Nice points made there.
Jul 9th 2007
^5 Alex you rock, dude!
I dropped in just to let ya know that I’m here and that this blog of yours finally got famed. I’m expecting many more to appreciate ya, too, kiddo.
Jul 11th 2007
Any phone that is technologically advanced and “hot off the press” is going to sell for big bucks. They would be incredibly stupid not to sell the IPhone for 500-600 dollars, because with the demand so high, people just stop thinking about the price after a while. It’s expensive, but still not TOO expensive (for those rationalizing anyways). Look at what happened with the Playstation 3.
I personally think; aesthetically, it’s a nice looking phone. While it doesn’t support some of the next-gen features I would have assumed it would have (3G, GPS, A2DP) - It makes me feel that they didn’t follow through all the way for that price. It’s like designing a beautiful & powerful car, but leaving out the power windows and locks. Spending 600 bucks should at least let you use wireless headphones, don’t you think?
The lack of games and your own ringtones, gives me that familiar feeling that Apple is lining up to sell this stuff over the net and rake in more cash. They’ve been doing it already with the IPOD, im sure the sale of small phone games and ringtones will be a nice addition to the Apple Music Store.
$500 Blackberry
If you go to any cell phone companies store and buy a phone separate from signing up for a plan, they will be ridiculously overpriced. I just went into Sprint recently to see about getting a newer phone and without the bonus they give you for contract renewal or initial sign-up, you’re looking at spending anywhere from 150 - 600 bucks on a phone. I believe the cell companies just overcharge for phones to get people to sign-up for contracts and renewals so they can get the $150 credit / free phone deal in exchange for the 1 - 2 year binding contract with them. Also, anyone who just ends up buying a phone by itself, to avoid the contract issues; gets screwed by paying a high premium on the phone. It’s easy to assume you spending 500 on the Blackberry, especially if you didn’t setup a contract or renew when you bought it.
I would advise anyone interested in acquiring an IPhone to do a lot of research on the features that are and aren’t included. It really might be worth waiting another 7 months for the next model coming out, perhaps it will include some of the stuff missing now, both hardware and software wise.