A HUGE jumpstart for people being fed up with their Telcos

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A HUGE jumpstart for people being fed up with their Telcos

Posted on 09 January 2007 by miss rogue

This changes EVERYTHING. B-bye limitations. Hello raised expectations.

(Chris said to me as I was jumping up and down with excitement: “Why are we excited about this? It’s the way things were supposed to be all along. It’s about time.”)

20 Comments For This Post

John Dodds Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
It’s a beautiful, expensive phone(+) but i don’t see that the telcos will change.
Brent O. Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I’m with John Dodds on this one – I don’t see this as changing anything. I’m wild about the phone, don’t get me wrong, and I had my credit card out the whole time during the keynote, but remember, Apple just signed a “multi-year” exclusive contract with AT&T to sell this. We’re talking about the original monopolistic empire, having a monopoly on the phone I want. (Thankfully, I’m a Cingular customer already.)
miss rogue Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Right…but all of the ways our data is strangled on the phones will have to change. Plus, they have to stop delivering us the crappy phones and plans.

Or at least, I believe all of our expectations will raise because of this. But maybe I’m just foolin’ myself.
Chris Messina Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Well, this is really more than a phone… so we also have to think about this from a graded perspective… it’s an awesome BlackBerry killer for sure, but for folks who really do want “just a phone” will this change things? Will telcos treat them better or as second-class citizens?

At the very least, it’ll be interesting to see how, if at all, this changes the support expectations for mobile devices.
Max Katsarelas Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Apple is always on the top of things in terms of technology. However, phones like the iPhone have been out for a couple of months, but since it’s Apple everyone “must” have it. I smell a winner. BTW, Apple design isn’t too bad either- take a look at my blog for more.
SlashChick Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Tara, you say “B-bye limitations.” However, there are a lot of limitations that haven’t yet been discussed:

1) Lack of keyboard. I know, there’s a keyboard on the screen. But it remains to be seen how fast we Treo/Blackberry people can type on it, and whether it favorably compares to what we already know and love.
2) Third-party applications. What IM client will work on it? Will there be a better email client than the HTML one that ships with the phone? What about a SSH client? All of these applications and more are already available and tested with most smartphones.
3) Carrier limitations. The phone is expensive AND requires a 2-year agreement…something I try never to sign with any carrier. And it runs on Cingular, which is a carrier I’m not interested in switching to (and I’d guess most others aren’t either.)
4) Battery life. 5 hours talk time doesn’t stack up that well against the Blackberry and Treo. It’s average at best.

These are big questions that Apple has to answer. I think the real limitation will be the price combined with the 2-year agreement. The larger version is double to quadruple the prices that people typically pay for iPods, and I’m not sure too many people will pay that much for a cell phone. And of the people who are willing to pay that much, most of us already have Blackberrys or Treos that we’re happy with, that have many things that this device hasn’t showcased yet. I don’t think this device will exactly be a dud, but it will likely need 2-3 more product revisions, multiple carriers, and a much lower price point (without a contract!) to really take hold.
Paul McEnany Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Oh my god, I want to make out with that phone. A lot.
LA Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
I am getting in line to make-out with it, too.

And, I am sure after we start dating, I will find a flaw or two.

But like any relationship (carrier or otherwise) somethings MUST be worth making the commitment?
Ian Muir Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
It’s pretty and all, but tying it to a single carrier stinks. Around here AT&T service is awful, so all I’d have is a pretty phone that doesn’t work.

I guess I’ll for a few clones to come out that use other carriers.
Tantek Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
As SlashChick said, with poor battery life, no physical qwerty keyboard, the iPhone does not come even close to measuring up to the productivity you get with a keyboard and a phone that lasts days with heavy data usage, i.e. the current BlackBerry 8700c.

I’ll text-race anybody with an iPhone vs. my BlackBerry. Let’s see how fast you can accurately type on that thing. Texting, emailing, wiki-editing etc.

I’ll give the iPhone this much – it is pretty and fashionable looking, for those who focus on that sort of thing.
sean coon Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
the looks blew me away, but i’m a wary apple customer — my 2nd generation ipod died a week before the 1 year battery warranty ended. i can deal with that; it’s now forever hooked up to my unused cig. lighter in my truck, but my phone? i’m not going near this thing until it has a proven battery life that rivals my treo.

give me battery life and a qwerty keyboard, and you can sign me up for life, apple.
Deepak Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
I admit, this thing is drool worthy, but I do have some questions for now (although I will probably get the gen 2 device)

1. It packs a lot. To make it worth it, this will be my mp3 player, and my phone and my mobile internet, so it better be good at all of those.

2. I don’t seem myself as fast on it as I am on my qwerty keyboard, but who knows

3. No 3G That’s big for me.
Deepak Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
OK … finally heard the keynote .. conceptually, the interface is great … so point #1 might not be valid … can’t wait to try it to see if the lack of QWERTY is going to be a problem …

3G please
engtech Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
What I’m excited for is how the other companies are going to react… make a decent phone for a change?

I hope so.
Colin Says:
January 10th, 2007 at 6:55 am
As a loyal BB user for 7 years, even I have to admit this is an industry changing phone. Blackberry have been strong on hardware and form factor, but weak on software. Text based email in this day and age is prehistoric.

I happen to type a lot on my BB, so I am curious to what extent the advanced software apps will make up for the (zero?) keyboard feel. I am not ready to jump ship just yet.

But I predict people who would have otherwise purchased Pearl, Motorola etc will leap to this thing.
jr Says:
January 10th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Bluetooth keyboards will solve one of the problems but not sure where this leaves us as customers. My guess is all providers stink once you have signed for 2 years. You become a liability not a customer since they then have to provide you with service. It would be great if you could choose your carrier. I wonder how many will start hauling 2 phones around.
Lloyd Budd Says:
January 10th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
+1 SlashChick
Daniel Collico Savio Says:
January 11th, 2007 at 6:08 am
Maybe a Skype-enabled phone like the Acton launched about six months ago is more revolutionary.

I do like Apple stuff, but this iPhone won´t change telcos. Business plans are still based on two years agreements, poor bandwidth and worst customer service. So, at least in my country, the song remains the same.
PS, I like your blog.
Jeff Says:
January 11th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
I agree that Apple has come up with what appears to be a really slick, really cool product. But, I’m not sure I see this changing the telcos, OR putting much of a dent in the Blackberry market, at least not for several years. A huge piece of the Blackberry market is made up of corporations who buy them primarily for the enterprise email and phone capabilities. I’m not sure I see my Fortune 500 CFO signing off on 1000 phones with camera and photo-sharing capabilities.
We may all start to lose our tolerance for crappy, ordinary phones, but I see this ship taking an awful long time to turn.
But hey, I’m just an old-time corporate guy, so what do I know?
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2 Trackbacks For This Post

Militant Geek Custom Shirts » Blog Archive » Calling Out the iPhone Says:
January 10th, 2007 at 10:54 am
[...] Like much of geekdom, I too stood by and read the breathless excitement that poured from yesterday’s MacWorld keynote. And I was ready to admit that the Apple iPhone had some positive things going for it. But then the fan boys and girls started blogging stupid over-generalizations like: This changes EVERYTHING. B-bye limitations. Hello raised expectations. [...]
The first rule of iPhone… » Beyond Madison Avenue Says:
January 10th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
[...] We do NOT talk about iPhone. Everyone else already has. So I won’t. Not even a picture. You want to talk about the iPhone, go here. Or here. Or here. Or here. Or here. Or here. Or here. Or here. Or here. Or here. Or here. Or here. Or here. Talk about branding. [...]