iPhone Faces Uncertain Market

48 hours have passed since Steve Jobs's MacWorld keynote and the reality distortion field is beginning to wear off. Lists of the drawbacks of the announced iPhone are sprouting all over the Net (and there is the occasional defense by true believers). Now narramissic writes, "The iPhone may be poised to take over the high-end cell phone market, but is it a market worth taking? Not if an InStat survey from July is any indication: Of 1,800 consumers surveyed, just 21 had spent more than $400 for a cell phone. Prices for the iPhone, admittedly more of a handheld computer than a cell phone, start at $499 for the 4G-byte version with a required two-year contract with Cingular. So, is Apple pricing it right? Analysts quoted in this article seem to think Apple's going to have a hard time getting the 1% of market share that Jobs called for."

Re:Is it possible...

[the_humeister]

Personally, I refuse to spend that much on something I know will somehow eventually end up in the washing machine and dryer, twice!

I think they'll do it

[Azathfeld]

If anyone knows how to achieve a 1% market share, it's Apple.

iPhone pricing

[cemcnulty]

And before the iPod the most a person had paid for a portable music player for many years was around $50, and usually way less. Which probably explains why the iPod was such a monumental failure. The point is that using devices that have little in common with the iPhone for the purposes of setting the price is pretty useless.

Re:Is it possible...

[dfghjk]

"Remember, nobody was going to spend $300 on an MP3 player named the iPod..."

No, I don't remember that.

"Once non-Slashdot people start seeing the likes of Paris Hilton and Shaq using the iPhone, it will gain traction."

Paris is too dumb to use a phone without a real keypad. Where would she have her swarovski crystals glued on?

The fact is that phones with entirely touchscreen-driven interfaces have failed in the market so far so the iPhone has history against it. There are plenty of phones in the iPhone price range that have succeeded. It's not the money, it's the function that will determine its success.

track record.

[sammy baby]

CmdrTaco on the release of the original iPod: "Lame."

Result: Arguably, Apple's most successful product ever.

CmdrTaco on the new iPhone: "They're going to print money with this thing."

Predicted result: Sell AAPL. Now.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Choice quote from the comments

[pionzypher]

"Sure my Treo 650 isn't nearly as sexy. But sexy wears off in a few days and productivity and ease of use are what I care about long term."

Funny, I said something remarkably similar to my wife just a little while ago.. I write this from the couch.

Re:Apples and oranges

[Trifthen]

It's running a cut-down OSX on it... what do you think? They're not going to list every single little application the thing can run. 30GB? The only reason it's that small is due to the use of flash memory. The whole point of this device is that it's only slightly larger than a Moto SLVR, and is a full PDA running OSX with a touch-screen that nearly covers the full dimensions of the phone itself.

Way smaller than the current equivalent smart-phones, giant screen, and 5 hours of battery life with all of that? That's at least twice the time I get from my RAZR and it does so much more I want to cry. If it weren't Cingular only, I'd punch out my Mom for one of these things. ;)

what about Cisco?

[vm]

I'm hoping that Cisco and Apple settle out of court; Steve Jobs and Cisco CEO John Chambers will duel in a pay-per-view broadcast hip-hop dance competition. Proceeds will go to the One Laptop Per Child association.