Will The iPhone Kill The iPod? 338
Edward Sinovian writes "According to Cnet.co.uk, the days of MP3 players, digital cameras and satellite navigation systems are numbered with cell phones about to take center stage. "PDAs have already been crushed by smart phones and the same thing looks to be happening with standalone MP3 players, particularly the smaller flash ones — a theory supported by Apple's recent entry into the world of music phones. If you then take into consideration the convergence of camera, GPS, TV and laptop-like functionality into mobile phones, it raises the question of how long it's going to take before all you need is a mobile phone." With that in mind, do you think that the iPhone will kill the iPod?"
Re:No (Score:3, Informative)
Really, I doubt Apple cares so long as you buy Apple. I also think the story is bunk. There's a lot of downsides to integrating your MP3 player and cell phone. Just to name a few issues, I see:
1) Battery life. Most MP3 playing phones to date have shown an inherent battery life issue when playing music. While not a great example(but valid none the less), my Treo 650P can play Realmedia and MP3's but gets poor battery life when playing either.
2) Size, weight and ease of use. Cell phones, particularly new smart phones are larger than the typical MP3 player or normal cell phones. Nobody wants a giant Treo, Blackberry or iPhone strapped to their arm when they're at the gym or running.
3) Many people listen to music to silence other distractions while doing homework, work work, or play time. The very idea of having your phone in front of you while listening to music is an oxymoron to many people.
It seems everybody (Score:4, Informative)
In several iterations, if the iPhone is sucessful enough, I see a diversification of the product line just like the iPod, with the price coming down.
Re:No (Score:5, Informative)
Uh, the high end Video iPods have an 80GB capacity (as of today), whereas the iPhone goes up to 8GB. The iPhone will eventually replace the high-end Video iPod, but not until flash memory gets cheaper and increases to that sort of capacity. That won't happen any time soon (where "soon" is defined to be in technology terms).
Re:Yes (Score:3, Informative)
Example - I have a little tiny shuffle (2nd gen). I use it extensively at the gym, in the car, and when I'm running or cycling (one ear only, of course).
I have an iPaq, and a cell phone which I carry almost everywhere.
The iPhone (which I'm almost certainly buying) will completely replace both the iPaq and the cell phone. However, I still won't carry it anywhere it might get lost/damaged. The shuffle will continue to be used for those situations, just like it is now.
Yes it will replace it (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Why would it? (Score:4, Informative)
There will be a market for stand-alone MP3 players for a long time, just like you can still buy a Walkman at Walmart. But the combined devices will soon dominate the market. The only thing holding them back is technology. Once they can put a phone, internet appliance, PDA, camera, camcorder, GPS/navigation system, and high-capacity MP3 player into a sleek, light, cheap package, they're going to be everywhere, and will eviscerate the markets for the stand-alone units. Yes, there will be demand for each type of stand-alone unit, but it'll fall precipitously.
The ones that will fall the least are cameras and camcorders, because there are huge constraints on the quality of camera you can pack into anything that small, and there's no technological solution on the horizon. They'll be handy for snapshots, but the significant portion of consumers who like to take nice, clear pictures or video that look at least as good as film from the 50's are going to want a real camera too. Sure, they can cram lots of megapixels into a camera phone sensor, but megapixels != good pixtures. The chip will be so small each pixel division on the sensor can't gather much light, yielding crappy ISO's and grainy pictures. The lens is so small it can't resolve as many megapixels as the sensor, meaning you're just throwing away storage space storing image information that was never clear. The tiny lenses have tiny apertures that don't let through enough light, especially for the tiny, low-ISO chip. And forget about a decent zoom. Some day, maybe they'll be able to put the equivalent of a decent consumer camera, or maybe even a good SLR, into a tiny phone. But barring a total revolution in camera technology, those days area long way off. The crappy cameras in phones will be good enough for some people, but I don't think Canon and Nikon need to worry about them eating into any of their medium to high-end camera lines anytime soon.
Technological constraints apply much less to the other functions these devices will subsume- for most purposes, the MP3 Player, GPS, etc in the phones will be as good as the stand alone devices.
Re:Yes (Score:4, Informative)
No, you can buy a new battery dirt cheap from newertech.com, sonnettech.com, or any other of many iPod replacement battery vendors. They even give you the tools to disassemble the case damage-free. And if anyone can't handle replacing the battery themselves like this (or doesn't have a friend that can do it for them), they deserve to pay big bucks for the service.
Re:Price (Score:4, Informative)
Later on, you 'rang' someone on the shared bus. I still have a wooden hanger with the instructions to "ring 52" printed on it to get the cleaners.
Re:No. Too expensive for something so delicate (Score:3, Informative)
The only thing unlocking your phone is good for is accessing all the built-in features and functionality (camera, MP3 playing, file transfer with USB cable, adding your own ringtones and games, etc.) without having to pay the provider for the privilege. You're still stuck with the same provider.
Try again.