iPhone, Apple TV Headline MacWorld Keynote 1619
Steve Jobs kept his audience rapt at the MacWorld keynote today. He rehashed the announcement of the iTV, now called Apple TV, and announced the iPhone, a revolutionary phone/ipod/wrist-computer that had MacWorld attendees sitting on the edge of their seats. Retailing for $499 (4 gig)/$599 (8 gig), it has to be seen to be believed. It uses a touch screen with a new form of input control, runs OSX and many standard applications, and connects to the internet via WiFi. It has a camera, functions as a movie player, a music player, and can send emails and photos in the middle of a phone call. From the Engadget coverage: "'[OSX] let us create desktop class applications and networking, not the crippled stuff you find on most phones, these are real desktop applications.' He's quoting Alan Kay - 'People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.' 'So we're bringing breakthrough software to a mobile device for the first time.'" Seriously, go check this out. They're going to print money with this thing.
Price to high (Score:3, Informative)
It is $ 40 just for the data.
So like you will $60 + month $40 for data $20 + for voice.
WITH Contract (Score:5, Informative)
ARG thats insane. Probably $899 by itself if even available.
Re:June in USA, 2008 in Asia... 2015 in Brazil? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Leopard? (Score:4, Informative)
Name Change (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Leopard? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Battery life? (Score:5, Informative)
Also out: Airport Extreme 802.11n (Score:5, Informative)
CNET confirms it (Score:5, Informative)
10:32--Cisco calls CNET News.com reporter with a statement about Apple's use of the term "iPhone" for its new product. "Given Apple's numerous requests for permission to use Cisco's iPhone trademark over the past several years and our extensive discussions with them recently, it is our belief that with their announcement today, Apple intends to agree to the final document and public statements that were distributed to them last night and that address a few remaining items we expect to receive a signed agreement today."
Tech specs available at apple.com (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Great phone, shitty provider (Score:3, Informative)
Check Apple's website (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Price to high (Score:5, Informative)
why no new mac systems / hardware? (Score:2, Informative)
Where is the duel quad-core macpro?
If apple does not go to quad-core soon dell and others will be able to have better systems for less.
Way no head less mid-rage mac?
This is need to get mac into more homes and business.
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Bigger implications (Score:4, Informative)
If you can buy it without the Cingular/AT&T service from Apple, then it might be worth the cost, since the WiFi/Bluetooth is cool enough and I already have Verizon (along with the entire fam).
5hrs life, tho... gonna be tough if you use it as a cell phone.
Re:Say what? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Leopard? (Score:2, Informative)
"All these features and more are delivered to you in one universal, fully accessible, 64-bit operating system. Coming spring 2007."
Re: Unlimited data price (Score:5, Informative)
Technical Specs (Score:5, Informative)
Screen size 3.5 inches
Screen resolution 320 by 480 at 160 ppi
Input method Multi-touch
Operating system OS X
Storage 4GB or 8GB
GSM Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
Wireless data Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
Camera 2.0 megapixels
Battery * Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing
* Up to 16 hours Audio playback
Dimensions 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
Weight 4.8 ounces / 135 grams
Re:WITH Contract (Score:3, Informative)
don't miss new 802.11n base station (Score:2, Informative)
but check out Apple's new 802.11n base station
(sadly, named the same as the previous one):
http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/ [apple.com]
If you don't have 'N in your present machine,
network it to this little guy for that AppleTV
goodness...
Re:Great phone, shitty provider (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Beatles (Score:2, Informative)
Help! (Gotta put in your own Beatles album art.)
On the bright side, optical discs still boast higher quality than downloads!!
Re:Contracts (Score:5, Informative)
My roommate's general comment: "it's really great, but one of the most difficult things to do with this phone is actually use it as one."
Comment removed (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I DONT want a GSM + Edge phone... (Score:4, Informative)
I thought so too, but then I realized that the iPhone runs Mac OS X, and perhaps the AppleTV thingy also does. I consider that a positive sign.
Re:Wireless, but still less space than a Nomad (Score:3, Informative)
I have driven across the country a few times and had good coverage from T-mobile (sometimes roaming on Cingular and other networks) most of the way. I-70 between Reno and Salt Lake City is a vast dead zone, so if that area matters to you, then maybe someone has a CDMA signal there.
Re:Great phone, shitty provider (Score:3, Informative)
$30 is unreasonable.
Re:Wireless, but still less space than a Nomad (Score:5, Informative)
There are 4 major wireless networks in the USA currently:
Cingular
Verizon Wireless (CDMA)
Sprint/Nextel
T-Mobile
Cingular and T-Mobile do share the same network technology (GSM/GPRS), which might be what you're thinking of.
Re:Say what? (Score:3, Informative)
The price will come down. The exclusive carrier agreement was probably the only way that Apple could get any carrier on board on the terms they wanted. Remember the ROKR? It was crippled because short-sighted carriers demanded ridiculous limitations to the device.
Re:Bigger implications (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Contracts (Score:5, Informative)
Proximity sensors so it turns off the touchscreen when it's close to your ear! I can not tell you how much of a problem that is on the 6800.
Re:Price to high (Score:5, Informative)
When you see Cingular's coverage, in the USA, its clear why Apple went with them:
GSM 1900 [gsmworld.com], GSM 850 [gsmworld.com], 3G 850/1900 [gsmworld.com]
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:...And one more thing? (Score:2, Informative)
I am amazed that not much was said about Macs as computers (Apple TV is a CE device, not a computer.) This is after all Macworld!
In all fairness... (Score:3, Informative)
No reason to disparage Zonk, just because taco turned out to be a clueless twit.
cya,
john
Re:Also out: Airport Extreme 802.11n (Score:5, Informative)
Enjoy.
Re:Also out: Airport Extreme 802.11n (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Contracts (Score:3, Informative)
Which, of course, means that its features get used that much more. I can experiment with ringtones based on my own music library, or actually use it to take pictures that aren't stuck on the phone. I can't do *everything* on it, but most of the important things people want to do to customize their phones are possible out of the box.
So, to me, this iPhone thing isn't surprising at all. Cingular isn't out to nickel/dime people for inherent features, and they're already using GSM (so Apple only has to support one network for the whole world). The only thing I'm skeptical of is the internet features. It's still a f'n expensive phone, though.
Re:Wide Screen (Score:2, Informative)
I would have guessed that more consumers have fancy stereos with optical inputs than have widescreen televisions. I would have expected a mini-Toslink/analog combo (like the airport express) and an "old-fashioned" mini-din providing s-video and component via a cable adaptor.
Maybe buying that standard definition TV 2 years ago was a mistake.
Nokia 800 (Score:4, Informative)
Re: Unlimited data price (Score:2, Informative)
But that's cheap when you shop around. Last I checked, Verizion wanted $79.95 and doesn't have much better coverage.
Re:Wireless, but still less space than a Nomad (Score:3, Informative)
I stand corrected.
D
Re:Wide Screen (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Bigger implications (Score:4, Informative)
"Cingular Wireless, LLC, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is an AT&T subsidiary." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cingular [wikipedia.org]) So ATT is the biggest GSM operator. Thanks for playing.
There are other GSM providers as well: "Edge Wireless LLC is a Mobile phone provider founded in 1999, serving southern Oregon, northern California, southeastern Idaho and Jackson, Wyoming. The company is headquartered in Bend, Oregon, although they provide no coverage or services in that city." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_Wireless [wikipedia.org]) Edge is my provider. They're putting up towers pretty quickly on my coast and they have quite a bit of capacity in the listed markets - that still makes them a niche player of course, I just want to mention them. Since many of the GSM providers in the US (if not all of them) cooperate, it's unimportant which of them are large players. For the purposes of deciding what is useful, only the total mass must be considered.
Alltel themselves provides significant GSM capacity, and the size of their network is defined by coverage, not their number of customers: "When Alltel acquired Western Wireless in 2005, it also gained a large GSM footprint as well. While it does not offer GSM service to its own customers, Alltel has indicated that it will continue to maintain the GSM footprint (and perhaps even expand it) to provide roaming service to GSM users of other wireless carriers. Alltel advertises itself as "owner and operator of the nation's largest wireless network"; this claim refers to geographical coverage of its network rather than number of Alltel customers or population covered." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alltel [wikipedia.org])
Meanwhile, while CDMA may be the leader in North America, it is overwhelmingly NOT the leader in the world, and I doubt Apple plans to sell their phone only in the US. According to this press release [prnewswire.com] (linked from "GSM" on wikipedia) "Globally, there are 2.29 billion cellular users encompassing all technologies" and the press release itself is about the number of GSM users worldwide being expected to cross two billion that month - that month being June of 2006.
Thus, if the choice is between technologies, then GSM is the only logical choice; probably a large part of the decision was based on who was willing to partner with Apple and with what terms.
Finally, according to this article on BetaNews [betanews.com] on August 31, 2006, "As of the end of the second quarter of 2006, GSM had added 100 million new customers over the past year to end the period with a 51 percent share." But it seems to be an error; GSM is simply the most common communications technology in The Americas. HOWEVER, if we look at a graph entitled "Market Share Comparison in the United States (Sept 2005 - Sept 2006)" (http://www.3gamericas.org/English/Statistics/11.c fm [3gamericas.org]) we can see that in that timeframe TDMA became barely significant, GSM gained 4.3% of the market, and CDMA lost 0.9%.
Meanwhile, while CDMA does offer some advantages (notably higher rates of data transmission) GSM is coming along in that regard as well.
In other words, CDMA is falling, GSM is rising, and GSM is the uncontested ruler of cell service everywhere but North America. I'm not sure it's worth their while to make a CDMA phone - I think people will be more loath to purchase a $600 phone that only works with one provider (since most CDMA providers give you a really hard time about
Re:Like the PS3 is priced to high. (Score:3, Informative)
But as much as I want one, I won't get one for a while. I don't do cell phone contracts. Never have. Never will.
I'll just wait for unlocked ones to hit the Asian or European markets and get one there.
Re:Contracts (Score:3, Informative)
It doesn't close built-in and first-party applications when you close them (many third-party apps do close properly).
If the phone is sluggish, misses calls, or locks (doesn't come out of standy instantly), go to: Start->Settings->System->Memory->Running Programs and hit "Stop All" (or just stop the ones you want).
Unfortunately, there's no way to pin this control panel to the start menu or to place a shortcut to it in a more accessible spot, but it should stop the phone from being sluggish. Window Live mobile, while awesome, is the biggest offender I've found in this regard, it frequently makes the phone unresponsive in standby if I leave it running.
Re:I don't see the biug deal (Score:2, Informative)
Take a look at the Fingertouch [fingerworks.com] keyboards [fingerworks.com].. They've been around for several years, and stopped production when Apple bought the team/company/IP in 2005. Don't let the pictures fool you-- there are no "keys". It is a completely smooth surface, and all the buttons and gestures are fully re-programmable. All sensing is done in the keyboard and converted to keystrokes and mouse movements for the USB.
Granted, the linked keyboard is laptop sized, but the point is that they calculate the center of the touch.
Re:Contracts (Score:3, Informative)
It's the same with T-Mobile - their phones are uncrippled. Quite a nice change from my days as a Verizon customer. Of course as a T-Mobile customer I won't be able to get an Apple phone; but as cool as they look I don't really know that I want that particular feature set.
I know Apple goes out of its way to not step on its own product announcements, so I'm betting on a (near) future announcement for their widescreen iPods. That's what I really want... I just hope my 3G iPod's battery doesn't totally crap out before that day.
Re:Link to the keynote video? (Score:3, Informative)
Alas, it is not up yet.
Re:Contracts (Score:2, Informative)
Cingular has a good selection of phones, good plans, and good coverage (in my area). Cheapest family plan I could find anywhere, and the bundled "free" phone wasn't a 1980s brick like the one T-mobile tried to give me.
The one thing that kills Cingular is the customer service. I've spent upwards of 6 hours being bounced around their call centers and my issue STILL hasn't been fixed... and I know I'm not alone in that. My friend used to work in Purchasing for a major company that used Cingular for all their company phones, and he was the one that got to call their customer support weekly for any number of different issues. He had tons of horror stories.
Re:Contracts (Score:2, Informative)
I suggest heading over to http://www.modaco.com/ [modaco.com]
Re:Contracts (Score:3, Informative)
Here are my notes on the 6700, if you're curious, after a weeks use....
First phone, unusable after a few hours. Had the BSOD equivalent but it was WSOD instead. Had to be replaced.
EDIT - Figured out the reason for this error. If you have Goodlink installed and enable the password protection, included on the device,
You are stuck with no way out. You must hard reset and start over.
After a hard reset or a fresh setup of the device, you must skip the password setup, or you'll have to hard reset and start over.
Synch issues -
Windows Firewall must be disabled to sync. Had to connect the cable directly to the phone, as it would not sync through the cradle. Seems random after numerous tries. Seems to work either way, now.
Battery -
Seems to have a much shorter life and if Wifi is on, the battery dies very fast.
Goodlink -
Menus are a little different, but seems to run fine/same
WModem -
Now defaults to USB with no serial option
The phone connection is mini-usb
Keypad -
The keypad has been moved, from the bottom of the device, to a horizontal slot.
When you open the keyboard the screen reorients to a horizontal position and vice versa.
Very nice and much more user friendly.
Phone - The reception is no better than the previous generation. Now has voice, speed dialing, functionality. Drops my data password more than my previous 6600, by far. still testing
Resets - Very few soft resets so far, but it's still early.
Directional pad has been replaced by a toggle switch. Would seem to be very fragile, for our needs. I think this would be broken by quite a few reps.
Camera - Better quality than the 6600, 1.3mp. The camera button on my phone doesn't work so I must open the program via menus.
Wifi - It's great for those of us who can use the functionality.
Memory card - It's now Mini-SD instead of regular size SD memory cards.
Transmitting - more testing needed. BT is a major pain and not worth using. Sending through normal means - tethered usb cable - very problematic. I was only able to connect for a few seconds before I'd get an error and dc'd. The msg said - cannot send data through tethered and Bluetooth - even though Bluetooth was disabled on the phone and fujitsu.
Form factor - much smaller screen size, feels more like a phone instead of a PDA, unlike the 6600. It is a bit thicker though.
UI/Software Changes - Battery power icon now on the desktop. No longer have to manually set button lock via software. Now set by default.
Hardware - No visible external screws like unlike the AV6600. On the AV6600 we had 2 outer screws which would both fall out over time and lead to the devices being randomly hard reset. A definite plus, on the new phone. The cradle comes with and extra usb port and space to charge and extra battery.
Accessories - There's a great aluminum case - retail $30 - which is the best I've seen in terms of protecting a phone of this type. Very good shock/drop protection yet all buttons are accessible. Great for us since most users who break the AV6600 do so by dropping or crushing screens.
Re:Great phone, shitty provider (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Contracts (Score:3, Informative)
The real killer for us, though, was SMS service bad to the point of being unusable - messages regularly delayed for hours, a high percentage of messages never showing up, several instances where their mail gateway simply rejected or bounced messages, and so forth. They had us reset phones (which often would result in all delayed messages delivered at once, but never solved anything long term. They had us try several models of phones. They tried claiming that there was a problem with *our* mailserver (sorry, no, not only did we send from multiple networks, but I can see the errors your gateway is returning in the logs). One sales rep tried to sell us an "enterprise messaging plan" that cost more but gave no additional guarantees
Ultimately the accounts were cancelled and Sprint contracted instead. That was about a year ago. We recently got a couple phone to trial and have had the exact same issues.
Re:Beatles (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Contracts (Score:3, Informative)
Cingular has great coverage in the two areas I care most about (Chicago and Minneapolis). In mpls. I experianced none of the nasty dropped calls and things that all of my verizon friends experianced with the terrible network coverage there (tmobile also worked fine though). In Chicago my coverage is great and it is in fact only Cingular customers who get who get usable coverage everywhere in my dorm building. Elsewhere in the city I always have great coverage (though I think if I went alltel or us cellular or something I would get service IN the subway tunnels but I am willing to accept that loss of service for great service everywhere else)
My biggest reason for going with the cingular (other than seeing all the verizon people experiancing bad service in my area and having to deal with Verizon's locked down phones) was that they use GSM phones. Stick in a new SIM and I am good to go. Travel to europe? grab an international SIM and I have a phone I can use. The selection of phones they offered me was great and if something happens to my phone its not hard to replace with any unlocked phone out there. The plan itself was a pretty good deal. Ended up getting too many minutes on the 2-person family plan (personally, most of my calls are probobly covered in nights/weekends or the free calls to other cingular subscribers) and have accumulated a ton of rollover minutes in case I do go over. Its a handy feature to have and is still useful even if you get close to your limit every month. As to their service, their customer service is known for long waits but I havnt had any issues that had trouble getting corrected. The other part of customer service is the part you dont see, the work they do on the infrastructure when it has issues affecting bigger groups of people. A tower went down in a storm here once and the cingular customers were all having trouble...issue was fixed in a day...a new one was up before the fallen trees were even cleared from most of the streets around here.
Re:Contracts (Score:3, Informative)
But maybe again, maybe they will in time. That way they can see:
A- how many current cingular customers upgrade to the phoneB- how many new customers cingular acquires that get iphones
C- after a year or year and a half, how many customers switch to cingular and get the phone
D- how many people contact them and say they'd love to get one, but for one reason or anther can't or won't switch from their current carrier.
Re:Wireless, but still less space than a Nomad (Score:2, Informative)
Why is this critically important? Well, for those lucky T-Mobile folks with phones that'll work with Cingular's 850Mhz GSM towers, they drastically improved their indoor coverage.
This, to me, is what "sharing" means. If you have a toy and you let the neighbors play with it, you're sharing your toy. Cingular's sharing its toy. The two share the toy. The toy is shared?
OpenMoko (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.openmoko.com/press/index.html/ [openmoko.com]
Re:EDGE not EVDO (Score:4, Informative)
EDGE can carry data speeds up to 236.8 kbit/s for 4 timeslots
The maximum speed of a GPRS connection (as offered in 2003) is the same as modem connection in an analog wire telephone network, about 4-5 kB/s (depending on the phone used).
from wikipedia
Re:Hidden joke on IPhone Site (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Over the top postive statements (Score:2, Informative)
The specs say it has a proximity sensor to turn off the touchscreen when you hold it up to your head to prevent erroneous input and to cut down on power usage.
Re:Over the top postive statements (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Intel CPU on Apple TV = cheap Linux/ mythtv box (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Canada? (Score:3, Informative)
That said, it's almost a certainty that Rogers will be the carrier for the iPhone whenever it is released in Canada, because of the simple fact that Rogers is the only real Canada-wide GSM network (especially since Rogers bought Fido, which was it only competitor in this aspect). It's a safe assumption that Apple is not intending on making a CDMA version of the iPhone, so Rogers is their only real choice for Canadians.
The big question is when. Canada's wireless providers have consistently lagged behind those in the US in the arena of "finally bringing the price of [some new feature] down to sane levels", and Apple is apparently promising a certain level user freedom that wireless providers have traditionally been reluctant to provide. Rogers, for instance, strongly encourages users to get songs on to their music phones via it's own iTunes-like service: "Rogers MusicStore songs start at $1.99 plus a download fee". Start at $2, and then you're still nickel-and-dimed for the bandwidth. I don't think they'll be happy if offering the iPhone means letting Apple undercut them on all their prices.
Re:Wide Screen (Score:4, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Touchscreen Keypads Suck! (Score:2, Informative)
Personally, my only worry is that it'll be harder to use while driving... I like to keep my eyes on the road while driving and i can dial a number without looking at the phone (or hit 1 + send to call girlfriend, yay for speed dial). And yes, I use bluetooth in the car - I don't hold the phone to my head while driving. Unlocking this thing looks like it would take TWO hands (one to hold it, one to slide from left to right) and then you'd have to look at it to dial - even speed dial... unless there is some sort of voice recognition I'm not familiar with.
Then again, perhaps the fact that people can't use this easily in the car will be GOOD for humanity as a whole
iPhone Price Explained (Score:3, Informative)
What this means is that the iPhone really costs $499 and $599 (minus the hefty markup that Apple likes to add) not the $800 some of you are assuming by factoring in a subsidy.
2. The 2-year contract and long-term partnership is a payoff to Cingular for doing what Jobs says.
Cingular demanded something to work with Apple on features like Random Access Voicemail, and not subsidizing the phone (which is a huge selling point for service based companies)
3. The price point allows Apple to continue to sell iPods at their marked-up prices.
If you can get an 8gb iPod in a phone for less than a regular iPod next time you renew your cell contract, why would you ever buy an iPod?
Jobs wants to sell phones, sell iPods, and maintain the pay-more-for-higher-quality image that Apple enjoys. This is how he's going to do it.
Re:Computers? (Score:1, Informative)
Real Unix.