So, will the Apple iPhone be worth the hype? There are many rumours going around in the biz that there will be something new and innovative that Apple will bring out on the iPhone v2.0 that will, again, totally revolutionise the mobile industry.
My take on that hype is that it is all Shenanigans. I think that Apple have helped generate this hype in the hopes that one of the major carriers will bite to also carry the iPhone (in the UK, anyways). And it looks like this gambit has worked. My guess is the iPhone will still be ranged with O2 - although they'll have the 2G option AND the 3G option. Car phone whore house will have both the 2G and 3g version. A 2nd carrier will have only the 3G version. My guess is that'll be Vodafone and that they bought into the hype. However, I don't think there will be anything completely game changing in the iPhone - my guess is that it'll have larger storage and aGPS with off board software (Google Maps) for location based services functionality.
Apple do innovate, and often - but most of the innovations are small and fantastic. The game changing one happen very rarely. The iPod was one of them - a compact MP3 player with a great and simple UI coupled with a vast eco-system (iTunes) - but was further game changing innovation have they ported onto the iPod since its inception? They made the screen better, made the UI prettier and click wheel better, increased the storage and spun out the player to smaller sizes - but nothing that fundamentally changed the fact that it is predominately used as an MP3 player. I don't count the video capabilities of all the iPods as frankly anyone who thinks the iPod is as much a video player as is an MP3 player needs to re-evaluate their iPod. It can play video, make notes, store contacts - but only a niche amount of their users use that functionality - Apple Fanboys, for want of a demographic*.
The next step in evolution was closely coupled with the iPhone - they changed the interface dramatically to allow touch, widgets, added wifi, safari, etc - you know what it can do, I don't need to go into too much detail. They changed the MP3 player to a portable web-based MP3 player with a better screen. That's a major jump, and one which Apple does really well when they have to. Their OS went through a major overhaul several years ago so that it would be a Unix flavour - something that Microsoft really need to do, BTW - and this innovation paved the way for Intel based chips to be implemented on their hardware. I'm guessing Steve saw the writing on the wall for their PowerPC chipset - choice of decent high end hardware wasn't cheap - and figured it best to get on the Intel bandwagon and that started the journey for them. But they had to do that innovation to get them to where they needed to be.
I don't think they need to evolve the iPhone that much right now. Android is coming out but won't be a threat to Apple till next year. Check out this post that has some great videos of Android running on the HTC Dream - that's a game changing OS/UI. Another Web 2.0 mobile - one that is very closely coupled with Google's services along with a great phone experience. If HTC get this right, then Motorola will have a major battle cracking this space. And Apple may find they will be forced to change the playing field again for the iPhone 3.0. But right now, they're riding a wave and don't need to innovate that much. I think the iPhone will have some new eye candy, aGPS, increased storage and a new form factor (with a better headphone jack) - and that's it. Nothing more. Don't expect much else bar that. Cos they don't need to innovate just now. They already did when they launched the iPhone/iPod Touch. Give them a rest. Wait till they're forced to innovate then begin salivating again.
I'm still going to get one on Monday though.
* I'm so going to get flamed for that
My take on that hype is that it is all Shenanigans. I think that Apple have helped generate this hype in the hopes that one of the major carriers will bite to also carry the iPhone (in the UK, anyways). And it looks like this gambit has worked. My guess is the iPhone will still be ranged with O2 - although they'll have the 2G option AND the 3G option. Car phone whore house will have both the 2G and 3g version. A 2nd carrier will have only the 3G version. My guess is that'll be Vodafone and that they bought into the hype. However, I don't think there will be anything completely game changing in the iPhone - my guess is that it'll have larger storage and aGPS with off board software (Google Maps) for location based services functionality.
Apple do innovate, and often - but most of the innovations are small and fantastic. The game changing one happen very rarely. The iPod was one of them - a compact MP3 player with a great and simple UI coupled with a vast eco-system (iTunes) - but was further game changing innovation have they ported onto the iPod since its inception? They made the screen better, made the UI prettier and click wheel better, increased the storage and spun out the player to smaller sizes - but nothing that fundamentally changed the fact that it is predominately used as an MP3 player. I don't count the video capabilities of all the iPods as frankly anyone who thinks the iPod is as much a video player as is an MP3 player needs to re-evaluate their iPod. It can play video, make notes, store contacts - but only a niche amount of their users use that functionality - Apple Fanboys, for want of a demographic*.
The next step in evolution was closely coupled with the iPhone - they changed the interface dramatically to allow touch, widgets, added wifi, safari, etc - you know what it can do, I don't need to go into too much detail. They changed the MP3 player to a portable web-based MP3 player with a better screen. That's a major jump, and one which Apple does really well when they have to. Their OS went through a major overhaul several years ago so that it would be a Unix flavour - something that Microsoft really need to do, BTW - and this innovation paved the way for Intel based chips to be implemented on their hardware. I'm guessing Steve saw the writing on the wall for their PowerPC chipset - choice of decent high end hardware wasn't cheap - and figured it best to get on the Intel bandwagon and that started the journey for them. But they had to do that innovation to get them to where they needed to be.
I don't think they need to evolve the iPhone that much right now. Android is coming out but won't be a threat to Apple till next year. Check out this post that has some great videos of Android running on the HTC Dream - that's a game changing OS/UI. Another Web 2.0 mobile - one that is very closely coupled with Google's services along with a great phone experience. If HTC get this right, then Motorola will have a major battle cracking this space. And Apple may find they will be forced to change the playing field again for the iPhone 3.0. But right now, they're riding a wave and don't need to innovate that much. I think the iPhone will have some new eye candy, aGPS, increased storage and a new form factor (with a better headphone jack) - and that's it. Nothing more. Don't expect much else bar that. Cos they don't need to innovate just now. They already did when they launched the iPhone/iPod Touch. Give them a rest. Wait till they're forced to innovate then begin salivating again.
I'm still going to get one on Monday though.
* I'm so going to get flamed for that
0 comments:
Post a Comment