Software Review
iPhone
Is Apple Attacking the Mobile Phone Market from the Bottom-Up Even as the iPhone Attacks from the Top-Down? |
20 Jul 07 4:34PM Laurie Gonsowski |
In case you missed it, Apple recently entered the mobile phone market with the iPhone, an elegant device designed to converge and replace a mobile phone, iPod, and Internet-computing activities such as email and Web surfing, furnishing consumers with a gadget that can basically do anything you will ever need it to do. But how many people actually use all of that functionality? Did they over-shoot consumer needs with a feature-crammed, overpriced, slow-networked techno-bauble or did they create a new device category that fulfills needs that people didn't know they had?The iPhone fits better in the more sophisticated smartphone market segment and by selling as many as 700,000 units in its first weekend is expected to sell 10 million units in 2008 which could amount to 5% of the market, far more than Apple CEO Steve Jobs stated goal of 1% market share. However, Apple also appears to be hatching plans to launch a cheaper version of the iPhone to compete in the lower-end and much larger handset market segment (dumbphone anyone?) in the fourth quarter that could be on the future of the ultra-slim iPod Nano form factor, according to a JP Morgan report.
A patent filed on July 5 describing a multifunction handheld device with a circular touch pad control, similar to the Nano's scroll wheel led Kevin Chang of JP Morgan to declare, "we believe that the iPod Nano will be converted into a phone because it's probably the only way for Apple to launch a lower end phone without severely cannibalizing iPod Nano." Because most Americans spend no more than $100 on an cell phone, Chang also believes that a lower-priced, Nano-based phone could sell up to 40 million units.(read more)
Does Apple's Tightly Controlled Ecosystem Strategy Constitute an Illegal Tying Arrangement? |
06 Jul 07 6:27PM Laurie Gonsowski |
The fundamental weaknesses of an integrated value chain like the one that exists between iTunes and Apple's iPod products and, now, the iPhone, is that even the most fawning of customers inherently rebel - some in the form of hacking the system - against such a compulsion against consumer choice. Today, in the face of growing hegemonic power in realms expanding from media to telecommunications with last Friday's iPhone launch, those same hackers are trying to disintegrate that value chain for themselves, attempting to rid the revolutionary new device from the grip of AT&T's last generation data network.
What defines value for Apple's customers? Well, in addition to the innovation in user experience and design packed into every one of its products, Apple's brand itself is as much the performance defining characteristic that draws legions of loyal buyers to iconic products like the iPhone.
But even as the company protects its inherent advantage by erecting barriers to competition in its value chain, that same source of strength can become the company's greatest weakness. Just as Apple's hegemony in the digital music distribution business has been based on the inseparable linkage between iTunes and the company's iPod media players, the integration between the new iPhone and the AT&T network as the sole wireless carrier presents a target for disintegration that hackers have found hard to resist. What's at stake is nothing less than Apple's compelling value proposition itself - its formidable proprietary product linkages.(read more)
Winners, Losers and Why as iPhone Anticipation Reaches Fever Pitch Before Reality Sinks in Over the Weekend |
29 Jun 07 5:29PM Laurie Gonsowski |
The ridiculously over-hyped introduction of that most revolutionary of products burdened by such mediocre technical specs, Apple's iPhone is here at last and competitors are putting on a nice front by thanking Apple for building demand for smart phones in general.
Indeed, it seems consumers weren't content to wait the six months for the iPhone as Research In Motion (RIM) announced a three-for-one stock split net income grew a staggering 73% to $223.2 million or $1.17 a share from last year, as revenue climbed 76% to $1.08 billion.
For many, this was rather less surprising as RIM finally penetrated the consumer space with its cool new BlackBerry Pearl and Curve products, adding to its base of corporate customers and solidifying its position at the top of the heap of smartphone vendors... in North America at least.
But for those standing in line at AT&T and Apple retail stores in cities around the country (some since Monday) to get their hands on the new iPhone, RIM, Nokia, Palm, and Motorola all have smartphones that have gained a halo effect of exposure to the marketplace, just by giving consumers a less expensive, business savvy option. In fact, it can be argued by growing the pie for everyone with a rather mediocre product that simply delights prospective buyers with a much-improved user experience, Apple has in fact put wind in the sails of all wireless phone makers and carriers alike by disappointing power users unwilling to part with a few days wages in return for the first generation of anything.(read more)
Steve Jobs Spins SDK Absence for iPhone as a Sweet Solution for Developers as Safari and Leopard are Released into the Wild |
13 Jun 07 4:46PM Laurie Gonsowski |
Spinning the absence of a software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone, Jobs suggested that AJAX and other open standards UI programming principles for the Web would allow developers to create content that looks and behaves exactly like apps and would further mean users and developers alike wouldn't have to compromise on security, reliability or, for that matter, the ecosystem strategy Apple is grafting onto the iPhone from its hegemonic iTunes/iPod franchise.
(read more)