Like the Poohbah I also am jonesing for one of these bad. However, I think the iPhone is very much a Blackberry and Palm killer.
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2007.
Wow,
Apple’s announcement yesterday was pretty amazing and wasn’t all that unexpected.
On the surface, the iPhone is a pretty awesome device and I can’t wait to get my hands on one.
My initial reaction though was more of a “Ewe, for as awesome as it is, they missed a couple boatsâ€.
Cingular/ATT: While this carrier might be awesome in San Fran, it downright blows around here. Everyone who’s left Verizon for Cingular is back. Edge isn’t all that, in fact it’s downright slow in a lot of cases.
No Removable Media or Battery: This to me as a big disappointment, It also appears that the battery isn’t user replaceable, which prevents users from carrying more than one, and/or replacing batteries as they go bad.
Keyboard? : Apple certainly has done something amazing with their new multi-touch technology. While they certainly bashed mini-keyboards, I have yet to see a faux keyboard that really worked. There is no replacement for tactile feel, and knowing you ‘pushed’ a button. While I agree with them that a number of devices with keyboards simply blow, the Treo’s keyboard is pretty good once you learn to use it. I expect its learning curve is or will be less than that of the faux keyboard simply from a feedback perspective. I would gladly give up some thickness for a horizontal slide-out keypad/keyboard.
Web Surfing? : Was it just me or did the experience in the keynote seem slow? Granted it was using a ‘real’ web browser. But if you used Opera-Mini I thought the rendering and navigation around the Times website was kind of slow.
Enterprise Apps and Compatibility: O.K. This one really got me. Perhaps 3rd parties will step up to the plate. They listed ‘Exchange’ under iMap. That’s just great. That is not Enterprise level “over the air†syncing. I certainly hope they are not expecting iTunes to integrate with Exchange and Active Directory. No Syncing with iCal and Address Book is not enterprise level integration. FACT: Most “Smart Phone Users”, are using their smart phones with enterprise level software, be it Good[tm], Exchange Push, or BlackBerry software.
Outside of all of that, I really like what I saw. It’s not overly priced given the features.
My final and biggest concern is; “One handed useâ€. Of all the smart phones that Apple bashed upon, one thing they do and do well, is allow you to operate them with one hand. Palm/Treo is very good at this. Granted, they have made absolute ZERO progress in the last 3 years improving the Treo other than adding new carrier support. The Palm interface, and Blazer are awesome.
My biggest fear is that this device ‘requires’ you to use two hands in most cases. That will render it fairly cumbersome to use. Phones are single handed devices, so are iPods. I hope that isn’t its Achilles heel.
The parallels between this launch and the leap in technology remind me a lot of Palm’s “Palm VII†launch. Where is that device today? Certainly the networks are greatly improved and I applaud Apple for giving us a full browser on a phone. (It should however be Firefox and not Safari).
Steve claimed they were creating 3 new devices, or making extreme gains in 3 categories. The reality is that this is a very special iPod. A wide screen, touch based iPod with a pretty nice phone built in. A new Internet communicator? SMS isn’t what I’d call earth shattering, gadgets are nice, too but, from current experience with Cingular and Edge, this part may very well be disappointing.
Bottom line though? I can’t wait to get my hands on one.
Cisco sues Apple, duh.
January 11, 2007 in Commentary, IT, The Truth Hurts, VOIP by datapoohbah | No comments
Story here via Yahoo news.
So it’s well known that Cisco through Linksys/InfoGear has had the trademark for “iPhone”.
Everyone was amazed when Master Jobs declared “and we’re calling it iPhone”.
It wouldn’t surprise me that Steve is this “Pompous” to move forward without a deal.
Now maybe, just maybe they _do_ have this worked out. Any press is good press no? Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this is just being played out the long way just for press coverage.