Apple debuted it’s iPhone a couple of weeks ago and the initial thought of many analysts was that it would change the face the smartphone industry the day it ships. Stocks of RIM and Palm dropped significantly shortly after Steve Jobs keynote at Mac World and the iPhone, although won’t be released until June, is extravagantly expensive, and is a first stab at a completely new type of mobile device, is tops on the new toy lists of many a gadget junky.
Now that much of the hoopla and fanfare after the announcement of the iPhone has passed, analysts have had a chance to really think about what the iPhone is. Some are claiming that the iPhone isn’t really even a smartphone because it won’t support third party applications.
We must conclude at this point that, based on our current definition (of smartphone), the iPhone is not a smartphone; it’s a very high-end feature phone. Feature phones have third-party applications too, but these are relatively weak and limited to applications that work with the middleware such as Java and Brew.
Some analyst believe that the “lack of customization and application availability” might even hamper sales of the iPhone. I am not so sure, however. Although the iPhone may not meet the definition of what a smartphone is, I don’t believe these analysts are thinking about the folks that will go out buy the iPhone the day it hits the shelves…
Consumers with disposable income that want to have the latest greatest iPod as soon as they can get one.
The fact that the iPhone won’t be able to run all the apps that traditional smartphones can won’t matter much because the folks buying them won’t be thinking about that. So long as the touch screen works, it plays music as well as an iPod, and isn’t as fragile as it looks, Apple and the iPhone is golden on the first version.
[Via TechWhack]
Golly, you are more obsessed with the un-qualities of the iPhone than the qualities of the Blackberry phones. Move on!
I think they are wrong on this. I know a ton of people that are going to break their lease on other phones just to get this one. All of them have signed up through cingular’s website on the email list for send us the info as soon as we can get one. In addition to the cingular operators were bombarded with calls for requests as soon as the info was released in the news… All were asked the same questions. When can I get one? Why can’t I pre-order one? and How long before I can get one? And at 500? come on…all the teens and young adults have at least one ipod if not more and all carry a COOL cell phone. The older adults who can’t see buying an ipod cuz it seems to kiddish…but who own the razr phone…can combine both into one with the iphone. In addition, other than reading email most people are not as interested in sending it…just getting notification. however as anyone has seen the blackberry looks ridiculous held up to the head as a phone. The iphone is just cool. And I am NOT a gadget person at all. I do not have a blackberry and don’t like them. But you can betcha I am getting that sleek iphone. Don’t over analyze cool as long as it works…
Agreeing with jani.
how long before the first story of ‘iPhone related death’?
I give it 2 days after official release.
Someone should start a pool.
I agree with Robb…people won’t care if the iPhone is technically called a smartphone or not…all they will see is a super cool phone and want one.
As to 3rd party apps…the importance of that on mobile phones is way overrated. Most people won’t want to download and install 3rd party apps as long as the phone has enough cool stuff on it, which surely the iPhone does.
Besides, it makes sense to not allow junky code of 3rd party apps to mess up the OS. I know so many people who have downloaded all sorts of 3rd party apps onto their Windows PC, only to the detriment of their PC. And with all this junk out there, removing these apps can still leave the OS damaged.
People keep saying that the iPhone won’t really compete with the BlackBerry and for business users and consumers already addicted to the BlackBerry, this is very true.
I think, however, that there are a great many potential consumer BlackBerry users that may never actually become BlackBerry users, not becasue they weigh the pros and cons of the BlackBerry versus the iPone, but, simply because they have been using an iPod for years, see the iPhone as the next cool iPod that happens to have a mobile phone built into it, and by the time the iPhone comes out, will have seen literally millions of dollars worth of advertising on the part of Apple and Cingular.
If a consumer is looking for an email device that can make phone calls the BlackBerry will win hands down over the iPhone. The problem for RIM is that most consumers aren’t looking for email devices that they can make phone calls from. They are looking for really cool mobile phones that they can check their email on from time to time.
Clearly the iPhone has the edge here…
I came across this and laughed: 10 Reasons not to buy the iPhone (pun intended for this article)
10. Camera adds 10 pounds
9. “Stun” setting sometimes kills
8. Only shows the weather report for Cupertino, California
7. Calendar feature skips unlucky #13
6. Needs plutonium refill every three months
5. Steve Jobs’s “My Life in Pictures” with score by Brian Eno takes up half the memory
4. Weighs 216 pounds
3. Complimentary Quarterflash catalog missing extended remix of Take Me to Heart
2. Runs on Windows 98
1. Is $500