How Apple Kept the iPhone Secret 539
An anonymous reader writes "Bogus prototypes, bullying the press, stifling pillow talk — all to keep iPhone under wraps. Fortune's Peter Lewis goes inside one of the year's biggest tech launches. One of the most astonishing things about the new Apple iPhone, introduced yesterday by Steve Jobs at the annual Macworld trade show, is how Apple managed to keep it a secret for nearly two-and-a-half years of development while working with partners like Cingular, Yahoo and Google."
Secret? What secret? (Score:5, Funny)
Agreed (Score:5, Insightful)
They waged a viral campaign so effective that analysts and customers were basically demanding to be given the opportunity to purchase the new product--and they did it so silently that I'll probably get responses arguing that Apple didn't even do a campaign. THAT, to me, is the real story of secret-keeping.
Re:Agreed (Score:5, Insightful)
I do think there is a bit of euphoria right now over the product launch that is likely to subside a bit as June rolls around and people remember that $700 is a hell of a lot of money for a phone, smart or no.
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Re:Agreed (Score:5, Insightful)
Agreed: it's the "doesn't suck" that's key. Apple's iPod wasn't the first portable MP3 player by a long shot, but they created one that was small, stylish, had a good interface, and was actually enjoyable to use (and yes, marketed the hell out of it). Apple took the portable MP3 player to the masses and led a revolution in how we listen to music. They don't deserve all the credit, but in putting out the first non-sucky MP3 player, and in continuing to push the boundaries of the technology, they deserve a heck of a lot of credit.
The question here is, can they do the same thing to phones that they did to music players? Coming off the successes of the iPod, I wouldn't count them out. On the other hand, the iPod is a tough act to follow, and Apple has created a monster wave of hype that they're somehow going to have to live up to. This thing has to be good enough to survive on more than novelty and buzz, it's got to offer real advantages over your cell phone, rather than just being an awkward chimera of phone and iPod.
I think that Apple is clearly heading in the right direction. But being a pioneer is dangerous. Think back on the Newton- it came out not quite ready for prime time, so even after they got the text recognition working better, they had already lost the brief opportunity to capitalize on the device's novelty and buzz, and it never really took off. One or two major snafus in the iPhone and the same thing could happen.
just the beginning (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:just the beginning (Score:4, Insightful)
Remember how people said the iPod was too expensive and had no market when it came out? I think the iPhone may be in the same situation. It certainly has a lot going for it, including integration, design and simplicity. When you consider that there is the $4000 Vertu [vertu.com], that is getting bought by people with deep pockets and those who want to make a statement, I believe there is market enough for a well design, easy to use Smart Phone. This may just be the product to bring the smart phone to the masses.
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Funny by this standard the iPod was more of a boutique product and I think by any standard it was widely adopted. The iPhone is priced a bit higher than the iPods were up until recently. Yes it has less memory but it is an iPod, Smartphone, plays widescreen movies and TV shows, a fully functional web browser, has many PDA functions, has a built in 2 megapixel camera and uses OSX. I'd say it's easily 10X any iPod ever built for a little more
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And I've never before owned a mobile phone, ever. I view them as universally sucking, year after year they add small features, move stuff around, and charge ever larger prices for them, trying to get people to replace them every few months. That's just put me off.
This is mostly true, except for the larger prices. Most places will give you a phone with a contract. If anything most phones are getting cheaper.
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By definition, pretty much all current cellphones on the market are overpriced hunks of junk. I mean, what's the RAZR, except for a form factor that would fit into a Nun's vagina?
Re:Agreed (Score:4, Interesting)
One of my biggest gripes when moving to a Treo 600 (I now own a 650) from a Kyocera 6035 was the fact that it was too easy to smudge the display with a cheek imprint during normal telephone operation. This was because the Kyocera had a GIANT keypad over the display that flipped down for PDA usage (It was, by all standards, a phone first and a PDA second, unlike all of its smartphone predecessors. I consider the Kyo 6035 to be the first good smartphone.) This keypad protected 75% of the screen during normal "phone" usage and transport. The Kyo 7135 was a step forward in screen protection, unfortunately Kyo botched the software on that one.
The iPhone takes that issue and makes it FAR worse - the screen is no longer recessed or protected in any way. It'll get smudged by fingerprints during normal PDA operation, smudged by one's cheek during normal phone operation, easily scratched during transport, and potentially easily scratched during normal usage if you oversleep and have to run to work without shaving.
Apple doesn't seem to have noticed that every attempt at a phone that didn't have tactile buttons for basic phone functionality (i.e. real buttons for actual dialing) has been a massive flop. Telephone users want (in fact NEED) to be able to "dial blind". This is why my Kyo 6035's giant dialing buttons (it wasn't a thumbboard, it just had the basic phone keys) had a little raised bump on the 5 key, as did my Treo 600 and current 650. As slick as Apple's UI is, they have no way of replicating such a simple and critical feature as the ability to locate a "home" key on your device's interface for "no-look" dialing.
What next, after 50 years of being taught that proper typists don't look at their keyboards, is Steve going to try to replace Mac keyboards with an on-screen gimmick? That is effectively what he is trying to do with the iPhone.
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And no need. The iPhone has one button, lower front/middle, called the 'Home' button. Punch it...say the name you want and wait for the other party to come online - no answer? You will have the option to SMS, email or IM that same number.
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That's a bunch of bullshit and you know it. Or at least you should. No one has delivered a smartphone that is a joy to use. It looks like the Apple phone will be just that. Every smartphone to date has been a fucking atrocity.
Re:Agreed (Score:5, Insightful)
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When apple shows us a demo and claims they're going to give us what they showed us, they then generally proceed to actually give us what they showed us. I believe that the iPhone will do what they said it would because of Apple's history. Do I think it will be flawless? No, also based on Apple's history. Nonetheless I believe it will deliver on the explicit promises.
Re:Agreed (Score:4, Insightful)
That's the parent's whole point! Nobody should care about the iPhone. It doesn't do anything that hasn't already been done by the likes of Motorola, Samsung, Nokia and a dozen other companies, including Apple itself.
Since when has Apple ever been about doing things that others cannot? The iPod doesn't have any functionality that other mp3 players don't have, Macs don't have any real hardware that your average PC doesn't have already... The secret sauce for Apple is usability and fashion/style. They took bland, boring mp3 players, and made it cool to use and wear. They took clunky laptops and made it sleek and sexy. They are doing the exact same to cell phones. Technically there is nothing the iPhone does that the vast majority of smartphones cannot - but the iPhone looks slick, it looks like it'll be a joy to use, and it'll be cool as hell to have it.
Which, in the end is exactly where they want to be. Why sell bargain-basement hardware for low margins when you can hook the self-proclaimed elite that are willing to pay a premium for ease of use and cool bling factor?
We don't know whether it sucks or not yet... (Score:3, Insightful)
I can think of lots of reasons why it may not be very good as a phone, or as a media player, and I'm sure plenty of other people can, but not too many people seem to be doing other than raving about it. One exception was the Register, with a couple of recent "emperor has no clothes" articles (which drove lots of
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I don't think any of Apple's marketing would be sucessful if the products didn't impress people, year in and year out.
I also don't think any other company could market in the way Apple does today, because it takes a formidable track record to get people as hyped up as they are
Now, this doesn't mean the iPhone won't flop. That price tag is pretty ambitious. But I've noticed so
Re:Secret? What secret? (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't that what brute-force password attacks are about? One cannot claim that hackers knew one's secret password only because they were able to discover that a password existed and then were able to gain it by brute-force attack.
I think it can be classified as having been an unqualified bona-fide industrial secret to the extent they were able to keep the details about the device at large from the press and the public and even their competitors.
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Therefore it can be asseted as a secret. If one guesses enough one is apt to guess right. Isn't that what brute-force password attacks are about?
A password hacked through brute force is still a password hacked, isn't it? It's not like you can say "sure, they did access all our data and steal our designs, but they did it with a brute force hack so really it's all still secret." The difference isn't that everyone was just guessing (e.g. a brute force attack) it's that there wa
Re:Secret? What secret? (Score:5, Insightful)
And one of the year's biggest tech launches? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's January 10th. Obviously this is going to be the year's biggest tech launch to date. Talk about hyperbole. Talk to me in November and then we can talk year's biggest tech launches.
Re:And one of the year's biggest tech launches? (Score:4, Funny)
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Duke Nukem Forever (hey, don't blame me for being an optimist!)
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And this is different than buying any other phone in the US how?
Sure it is expensive...it is new tech...pretty cool tech at that. I mean, how much is the top of the line iPod? Add some $$ to that for phone and internet tool...not that much more really.
But, c'mon, everyone quit bitching about a 2 year contract, etc. That's the way you normally buy a new phone. If you wanted the Samsung Blade wh
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I'd say they did pretty good.
How to keep somthing seceret. (Score:4, Insightful)
Step 2) dont deny it exists.
Thats about it realy.
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Leaks happen.
Stew
Re:How to keep something seceret. (Score:5, Funny)
You don't even know IF my company exists, not to speak of WHAT we're going to produce.
I'm just gonna scrummage around in my closet for my old turtleneck and then watch out!
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I can top that with a pronoun change. I don't even know if my company exists, let alone what we're producing.
It would be even funnier to me if it weren't actually true.
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Secret? (Score:3, Informative)
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I remember seeing ALOT of those features on MacRumours, and I don't even look at the site (just lots of links to them and people talkign about it).
The one that realyl stuck in my head was the widescreen video iPod with a touch based controll (dubed the "iPod Video" instead of "iPod With Video")
yah, it was "secret" but every one knew everything about it.
Admitdely I have to wonder if this is Art Inspiring reality. Do the Mac Devs check through MacRumors regularly to see what people want?
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Not all that's secret (Score:5, Insightful)
- What processor?
- How much "system" RAM in the thing?
- Can users install their own software? Rumor is that you cannot - you have to buy it from Apple or Cingular.
- What bluetooth profiles are available?
- Can I get shell?
I have a feeling that this is not going to be a geek's toy.
jh
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Wanna bet? Its a matter of time, before it gets hacked. This is too good a device to just leave it alone. Heck I'd even learn objective-C if I had to.
MOD PARENT UP (Score:3, Interesting)
if (parent) {
SDComment *this = [parent createReplyWithTitle:@"MOD PARENT UP"];
[parent moderateUp];
if (this) {
[this autorelease];
}
}
/* Not sure if I'm making fun or not
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- What processor?
- How much "system" RAM in the thing?
Previous Conspiracy Theory [slashdot.org]
Re:Not all that's secret (Score:5, Insightful)
I think what Apple has here is a "digital life manager" first that is incidentally also a cellphone. They will absolutely not miss the market of people who want to open a goddamn shell on their phone.
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Hey, fanboy - I never said that it wouldn't sell, nor did I claim that my questions were important to the vast majority of potential buyers. They're not. I just pointed out that details that most Slashdot readers would be interested in are not available, that's all. Your response it totally irrelevant.
Oh, and if I can't put apps on it, I don't want it, no matter how elegant and well-designed it is.
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Re:Not all that's secret (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, these are of course Japanese phones, and Japanese phones are for some reason much more advanced than western phones.
While you're at it, why not show off NTT's full FOMA lineup? Here: http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/product/foma/ [nttdocomo.co.jp]
Almost all of these have better raw specs than the iPhone, with higher res screens and cameras, expandable memory, user-installable apps, 3D graphics and more. You'll also notice that the Japanese have almost universally shunned any form factor other than the clamshell... just as we have. That's going to be a big problem for the iPhone in terms of attracting mainstream users (in the United States). The iPhone's problem is that it's attempting to redefine a market that's already been defined through market forces; it's not like we've never had candy bar style phones here before, and it's not like we haven't had touch screens. They just don't sell as well as clamshells, and phones with buttons.
Back to NTT, though... what's the one thing all of these have that the iPhone doesn't? 3G support (which is old hat in Japan at this point). Another big minus for the iPhone. It's not like Cingular doesn't have 3G phones here either - I've got one myself. So this is another big negative - how are you expected to actually make use of all of the iPhone's internet features on a 2G network?
On the one hand, it doesn't serve much purpose to compare the iPhone to Japanese phones, which are almost universally more advanced than ours (funny thing is NTT does sell the Moto Razr, but it's like at the bottom of their lineup of already bottom-rung 2G non-FOMA phones, and I didn't see a single one last time I was there). On the other, I do think it's worth pointing out that the iPhone is really not as advanced as some people seem to think it is. And I also think it's interesting (and telling) that even a place like Japan, which has embraced Apple's design ethos and which places so much importance on industrial design, continues down the clamshell/button road even in their ultra-high end stuff. There are reasons for this. Apple should have taken a lesson.
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If you read through the keynote, you can see that their goal is to take 1% of the phone market (USA, IIRC). Clearly they have no designs on this thing selling as well as clamshells, and it can be a big success wi
Re:Not all that's secret (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, but not in Europe, no.
While I personally prefer clamshell style phones, in Europe candy-bar is either king or head-to-head (around 17/28 offers on Spanish Vodafone-subsidized consumer phones are clamshell http://tienda.vodafone.es/do/catalogo/moviles/tod
Do not underestimate the phone market, it is HUGE, and there are many massive markets besides the US and Japan, Europe is no small fry (GSM / GPRS is truly universal in Europe and it was spearheaded here). On the other hand, UMTS and beyond is yet to gain a significant foothold in the mass-market consumer phone european market, no matter where the markedroids would like UMTS (and others) to be, it is nowhere as ubiquitous as GPRS/GSM.
3G is still to become what it's meant to become, no true killer-apps, no user critical-mass, expensive provider fees, expensive provider fees perception, sub-par network coverage (heck, my GPRS phone sound quality and coverage runs rings around my CIO's 3G exec phone), FUD about the VoIP and other data services, etc.
Don't discount other markets in the phone business, don't discount legacy, don't discount 2G, don't discount 2.5G...
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Probably not. Which is so self-destructively stupid of Apple. I signed up on their developer network within minutes of seeing this thing, and was ready to plop down a few grand for a top-of-the-line Macbook to learn development on OS X until I read that reps at the show were saying that it wasn't going to support third-party software. As much as this device is going to sell, it will have zero presence in enterprise markets, and serious people will n
Re:Not all that's secret (Score:5, Interesting)
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If features and extensibility were the key to consumer adoption and sales success, then iPod would have failed. You clearly do not understand the fact that success for Apple in the phone market it is not about supporting feature x that 1 in 5000 users would care about, it's about focusing on the totality of the offering and making sure it "just works"
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Yeah, but a cell phone company is going to be selling this.
Since when have you know a phone company not to be full of thieving motherfuckers who will cripple hardware (without labeling it as such and denying that it is crippled) so that they can sell an overpriced, poor quality service to you like $1 to send a 320x200 "picture mail?"
I'm not trying to troll or anything, just take a look at any cell phone provider out there.
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You've obviously never actually looked at the Mac software market. Even a quick glance at VersionTracker will show thousands of apps not developed by Apple, nor developed under contract with Apple.
Re:Not all that's secret (Score:5, Insightful)
Can users install their own software? Rumor is that you cannot - you have to buy it from Apple or Cingular.
There hasn't been any real information on this, but I've heard people complaining that it will be sold "as is", and that you won't be able to get new software on it at all. While nothing has really been said about it, it seems ridiculous to me. Jobs made a big deal of the idea that it's running OSX with support for Cocoa and Core Animation and such. He made a point of saying that the screen would allow people to think of new, clever interfaces and be able to add things that are unforeseen at the time the device is sold. These statements don't make a lot of sense unless they intend to encourage third-party development.
My guess is that the version of Xcode distributed with Leopard will have support for making iPhone applications and widgets. I suppose it's possible that Apple and Cingular would try to control installation, but it doesn't seem realistic. First, it would discourage 3rd party development. Second, these things tend to get hacked, and Apple knows it. The only reason to do it would be if Cingular insisted, but Cingular might just be happy to be gaining so many data-plan subscribers.
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As a point in fact, we don't know that it's not an Intel chip (unless you know something I don't). Jobs highlighted that it ran OSX as part of his speech that it runs "desktop-level applications", not because of eye candy. They made a point of having "widgets" that seem to be pretty much identical to those "widgets" that run on the desktop. Even if it isn't an Intel chip, Xcode already allows you to compile for different archictures (universal binaries), so I'm not sure why it couldn't handle making apps
Re:Not all that's secret (Score:5, Insightful)
It's worth remembering that Xcode already has cross-platform compilation built in via gcc, and that likely the APIs used for user-level applications will be Objective-C, which shields programmers from a lot of low-level stuff. ObjC's message-passing even insulates developers from things like function-call ABIs to a large extent. Don't forget that OS X is based on NeXTStep & OpenStep, which (just like the PPC/Intel 'universal binaries') were able to recompile/bundle applications to run on multiple processors. Unless you're doing something fairly close-to-the-metal, writing apps via the Cocoa framework (and probably a separate ObjC iPhone framework) will likely mean that compilation is just a couple of clicks away -- and it'll build an Intel/PPC version for local debugging, and an (ARM? PPC? etc?) for deployment/final testing.
As for the differing UI, it's not all that difficult to change an app to match that -- after all, we're talking about a somewhat slimmed-down device -- because it would use the same standard high-level view, control, and layout code. While something like Delicious Library might have some potential for an iPhone application, it wouldn't look exactly the same, because the current UI for it has been designed -- by the app's developers -- according to a larger available screen. For something with a small screen, it could be tweaked to have each view appear in sequence, like the iPod menus & the iPhone mail application: List of libraries, contents of library (even with the cover browser UI), and select an item to view details. But being Objective-C, it likely wouldn't need a vast deal of changes beyond that; the code for each view might well be exactly the same. Certainly the item information view probably needn't change, nor the library list. The cover/shelf view might need tweaking to optimize it for smaller displays -- then again even that might not be necessary.
Then again, we may be restricted to HTML/Javascript 'widgets' -- who knows?
-Q
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Re:Not all that's secret (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Not all that's secret (Score:5, Funny)
Operator: "911 - what is the nature of your emergency"
Duds: "I'm starving to death; send over a pizza!"
Operator: "You again!!"
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How sad... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not sure any job is worth this, let alone producing a gadget.
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Oh. Ow. Words that hurt.
But seriously. Microsoft may be like that in some parts today - and why the hell not, it's a giant sloth-like beast with 50K fulltime employees and probably nearly that many contractors. However, there are quite a few areas where Microsoft (that's a "big" M on there for you, my Mac-loving friend) does innovate and create cool new software. And the reality (I can tell you from experience) is that it's often much mor
Secret or not... (Score:3)
A full fledged PC OS on a PDA, the phone part is nice too...
If they make those things for Sprint, I'd get one.
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I'd say it's potential downfall is the size - it's got a larger footprint than most full-size PDA phones. The HTC TyTN is 4mm smaller in both height and width, though it is thicker.
I'd have preferred the iPhone nano - something I can swap my SIM into wh
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Forgot about Cisco? (Score:2, Interesting)
Have Cisco and Apple settled their talks over the trademark usage?
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Am i the only person surprised (Score:2, Interesting)
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IO!
Okay it has a touch screen. How do I put in peoples contacts, how do I SMS? If it is a smart phone where is the keyboard?
Is it going to do voice input?
Or handwriting?
The Treo and Blackberry have keyboards this doesn't I think there is more to this yet to come.
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The iPhone seamlessly integrates with corporate exchange systems? Nope. Does it last for a week on one charge of the battery? Nope. A decent keyboard to type on with tactile feedback? Nope.
I was supporting a corporate Blackberry roll-out, and the management absolutely loved the devices (7230, 7290 models), they did exactly what they wanted - make calls (for the few that had that enabled), and keep on their e-mail without having to connect to a wifi hotspot. And
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Everyone knew, but nobody knew... (Score:5, Interesting)
After checking the feature set on Apple's web site, mark me down for at least two of those things.
My Treo looks positively anemic in comparison. It is enough to overcome my disgust for Cingular too.
I dont think anyone outside of Apple anticipated just how well recieved that phone would be.
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You sure are eager. Apple does have a history of being better than average at UI design, but I'm not going to believe the iPhone UI works until I try it: Apple isn't the first company to think about a stylus-less touch screen, it's just that others have decided it doesn't work... We'll see if Apple proves them wrong.
I'm a big fan of mobile internet, so I was eager to find out the specs of the phone. Sadly the f
you have no idea if it'll rock or suck (Score:5, Interesting)
After checking the feature set on Apple's web site, mark me down for at least two of those things.
You want it because all you saw was what Apple wanted you to see. You have no idea how it'll actually perform as a phone in ways that matter. I don't care how sexy it animates the UI if it's a shitty phone.
All the fervor is akin to GM showing off a new sexy looking car, and people wanting it, having no idea if it'll actually be a good car or not.
You won't know any of this until Apple gives units to users (or maybe SOME journalists who aren't too distracted by "OOOO, NEW SHINY APPLE TOY". You're an absolute fool if you "pre-order" this thing.
Hence no FCC approval (Score:5, Insightful)
That's why iPhone doesn't have approval (though I bet it already passes certification - they just haven't filed yet) - the instant it's filed, it's public information, and Apple hates that. (Especially since a lot of collateral gets filed - internal photos, external photos, user manuals, lab reports, etc).
Honestly, until now, I really didn't find anything that made me want a new cellphone (the one I have is great, but it's coming up in the years), so I wouldn't know what to get when it died. Guess I do now. It's pricey, but I paid more for my current smartphone...
And given how difficult it is to do a cellphone (very - carriers are very picky - if the color of the button is wrong... or if it has certain features like call timers or byte counters...), I wouldn't see Apple as being able to get one in since it has no experience. (I expected it to be some super-hyped rumor that someone started and everyone ran with it after being upset at how crappy their current phone was, or some half-assed thing as is typical reaction.). But I suppose GSM carriers are less strict than CDMA ones since you don't strictly need carrier approval to sell a GSM handset (just replace the SIM card).
Year's biggest tech launches? (Score:2)
A year is quite long for technology advances and we are just at the very beginnings!
Well, iPhone is actually another cell phone.
It's by Apple, it has touch screen, plays MP3s and videos etc. etc.
Nonetheless is yet another cell phone [wikipedia.org], a 20+ years old technology and dozens of cell phones can do the same things as the iPhone does!
I'd rather say that Vanu [vanu.com]'s (claims for) new radio technology could be more interesting.
Let's wait some more weeks before talijg ab
Actually, It's quite simple... (Score:3, Funny)
Yet Another Phone (or PDA), huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
At $500 a pop it may be Sony-ing it's way out of its target market too.
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Most importantly, related to your
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For a start it runs OS/X. It's got no buttons - just a hi-res 3.5" color display with a multi-touch touch-screen interface (responds to multiple touch points simulataneously - see the video to see how this is used).
I'm a jaded 25+yr veteran programmer who hates cell phones, but even I may consider buying one of these! It's just way too cool.
I'm not getting one (Score:5, Funny)
Nokia 9300 Anyone? (Score:5, Interesting)
I've got ssh and rdp clients for admin work, mp3 player, removable flash media, email, sms, good back-up restore functionality and works in linux too. There's even an OSS gui toolkit on sourceforge.
No, it didn't come from the Jobs Reality Distortion Field, but it allows me to have a life when I'm on weekend support rotation.
FYI, it's available now.
Something else of interest here.... (Score:5, Interesting)
So how long till they announce HD based widescreen iPods.
Andy
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Re:Not Kept For Very Long (Score:4, Informative)
Looks like that wasn't an option this time. If you read the TFA it says:
In the end, Apple decided to reveal the iPhone several months ahead of its official June launch because it could not keep the secret any more. Apple has to file with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the permits needed to operate the iPhone, and once those public filings are made, Apple has no control over the release of that information. So, Jobs said, he made the decision to have Apple tell the world about its new phone, rather than the FCC.
Re:Not Kept For Very Long (Score:4, Funny)
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from the F*ing article...
In the end, Apple decided to reveal the iPhone several months ahead of its official June launch because it could not keep the secret any more. Apple has to file with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the permits needed to operate the iPhone, and once those public filings are made, Apple has no control over the release of that information. So, Jobs said, he made the decision to have Apple tell the world about its n
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Re:Seriously. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Also, as a former Rio owner I felt the interface was clunky. Not hard to use, just clunky and bland.