Pogue offers answers to some burning iPhone questions

[AppleInsider]

New York Times technology columnist David Pogue this weekend delivered some additional details on Apple's new iPhone features, including dialing, synchronization, and web browsing.

Answering questions from curious readers, Pogue, who had some one-on-one time with the iPhone during Macworld, clarified some of its abilities while eliminating glaring misconceptions about others.

Notably, the journalist pointed out that the mobile edition of Safari, once thought to be stripped of many of the media plugins necessary for more advanced websites, will likely be full featured. He cited an interview with Apple chief executive Steve Jobs conducted by the German magazine MacWelt that raises the possibility of JavaScript and Flash support, suggesting the Apple-made handset may either directly support Flash or else receive easy conversion of Flash videos into external formats.

"YouTube -- of course. But you don't need Flash to show YouTube," Jobs said. "We could get [YouTube] to up their video resolution... by using H.264 instead of the old codec."

Pogue also noted that the iPhone's now-legendary "pinch" control for zooming photos will also apply to e-mail and web browsing, offering a complete view of a page or magnifying text for those with poor eyesight. "I could zoom in and out on an entire e-mail message: embedded photo, text, and all," he wrote.

However, the New York Times editor was quick to downplay some supposed features of the device, stating bluntly that the iPhone as shown at Macworld does not support speed dialing, live GPS positioning through its Google Maps tool, or wireless synchronization with a host computer through either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

Pogue nevertheless defends Apple, saying that he "could not agree more" with a reader who observed that Apple was not likely to let the iPhone's capabilities remain static in the run-up to its June launch.

Read below for a complete list of more definite information revealed in Pogue's article:

JavaScript is "built into the phone," according to Jobs, but a full Java engine would only be a "heavyweight ball and chain" no one uses.
Jobs on the subject of Flash: "you might see that."
The company has not decided on whether or not a user's existing music library can be used for ringtones.
Mac OS X on the iPhone is stripped down. The interface has been redesigned for the phone as well.
The Calendar tool will allow new events and schedules to be added from the phone itself, rather than requiring a sync.
The settings menu is functional and includes an airplane mode (which disables the cellular radio while maintaining other features such as music).
The pinch motion works with both e-mail and web browsing, controlling zoom.
No speed dial links exist at present, but may change by the official launch.
As demonstrated, the phone has no GPS integration and cannot pinpoint its owner's location in Google Maps.
The display surface is polycarbonate plastic, but is "substantially improved" over the material used for iPods and should resist easy scratching. Brightness is very high.
Input on the screen must be made using direct finger contact, and does not work with gloves or a stylus.
Any set of earphones with a standard headphone plug will work without adapters.
The company plans to add 3G wireless (in the form of HSDPA) to the iPhone once access is more widespread.
Apple may allow rotating the phone for entering text in a more comfortable landscape mode, but has not committed to the feature yet.

Published Sunday 5:00pm ET as part of Monday's early morning edition.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[DeaPeaJay]

Isn't the favorites list Jobs demonstrated basically like a quick dial list? Maybe not quite as easy as pressing and holding 1 for instance, but it seems like that's their solutions for it.

I think the keyboard would be easier in landscape, but the disadvantage is a loss of screen to see what you're typing.

[SpamSandwich]

Apple may allow rotating the phone for entering text in a more comfortable landscape mode, but has not committed to the feature yet.

I would consider this (landscape text entry) an absolute must.

[Mooch]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

As demonstrated, the phone has no GPS integration and cannot pinpoint its owner's location in Google Maps.

This is the thing I hope they change the most.

[Bob Dobbs]

Tuesday's big announcement by Steve, along with the breathless responses in the media pro and con alike by journalists and self-annointed pundits made me wonder how much we REALLY know about what we THINK we know of the new iPhone. I'm almost tempted to make an X-Y graph depicting a bell curve chart of the hype-hysteria-FUD cycle that has taken place in the past week. Whipped up to a frenzy in the days preceding the announcement, the public was almost orgasmic in the minutes and hours following. A day later, we witnessed a counterattack of FUD pushed by hidden PR forces of opposing camps, be it vehement anti-Apple haters (Dvorak, Kantor, USA Today et al), telcos and phone makers not in on the deal whose hegemony is threatened, and some company from the Seattle area. We've seen message boards, articles and blogs littered with lies, half-truths, gross inaccuracies and more.

The first victim has been truth.

Slowly, thanks to people like David Pogue, some truth is beginning to emerge, and the wave is beginning to return to a more normal level. If we look back in a few weeks or months, we'll see that a lot of silly behavior ensued.

This reminds me of looking at dream cars at an auto show. These cars of the future are a bit of fantasy, and not a little be of market research. For years, auto makers have used dream cars to gauge public reaction before committing resources to the final product. And given the length of time before the iPhone is introduced in finished form, I would not be surprised to see differences between the unfinished version that Steve demoed and the finished product, based on marketplace response.

Don't forget: this is a VERSION 1.0 product, for all this infers. Some of you will be disappointed that it's not nuclear powered and can't be used while deep sea diving. Too bad. In fact, please get over yourselves. In time, we'll see improvements to subsequent versions, likely at lower prices. What's important here is that the iPhone represents a huge step forward. And no amount of FUD or spittle from those who hate Apple and Apple fans can change that.

So strap in. It's going to be a great ride.

[Robin Hood]

No HSDPA support is simply lame. I won't be getting the phone before it's added.

Here in Ireland, we have almost 90% HSDPA coverage already. I've also found that recently, I am getting UMTS/HSDPA coverage almost anywhere I travel in Europe. "Until it's more widespread" is simply not true.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Robin Hood

No HSDPA support is simply lame. I won't be getting the phone before it's added.

Here in Ireland, we have almost 90% HSDPA coverage already. I've also found that recently, I am getting UMTS/HSDPA coverage almost anywhere I travel in Europe. "Until it's more widespread" is simply not true.

Since right-pondian cell networks are mostly 3G compliant and since you won't be getting the phone until late 2007, I expect that it WILL DEFINITELY have HSDPA when it hit's your drunken* shores. If not, I'll buy you pint the next time I'm there. :-)


* My sterotyping is purely in jest. Take no offense of this stupid American.

[saschke]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Since right-pondian cell networks are mostly 3G compliant and since you won't be getting the phone until late 2007, I expect that it WILL DEFINITELY have HSDPA when it hit's your drunken* shores. If not, I'll buy you pint the next time I'm there. :-)


* My sterotyping is purely in jest. Take no offense of this stupid American.

hahaha! thanks for making me laugh!
btw: i agree...

[eat@me]

Apple has said it will not allow 3rd parties developers to write apps for the iphone.

this will be the only major handset manufacturer to close their system to outside developers (other than Google). Cingular has numerous of other phones that do not bring down the network.

this is a complete strategic mistake by apple. it's all about control for them.


lastly, their image is being tarnished by using a trademarked name owned by cisco yet apple went after every company using the term pod in it...even trying to get the "pod" out of podcasting.

hypocracy

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Apple Insider

"The company has not decided on whether or not a user's existing music library can be used for ringtones.

It looks like Apple is still fighting with Cingular (er, AT&T) over this. They charge $2.49 for a ringtone and really don't to lose that supplemental income.

No matter what phone and cell carrier you utilize, you have to thank Apple for their efforts. We are witness to a paradigm shift where a manufacture is making a cell carrier change. It won't be long before cell carriers will have to stop charging outrageous rates for something as simple as a ringtone, and all manufactures will finally have a chance to end their stagnant, limited functionality phones. A new era of mobile telephony and computing is upon us.

Cingular will fold because right now every other carrier is willing to join forces with Apple. AT&T is the largest cell carrier with 58M (25%), but how much more will they gather from the exclusive Apple deal? I'm guessing a lot more than a few overprices ringtones will bring them.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by eat@me

Apple has said it will not allow 3rd parties developers to write apps for the iphone.

this will be the only major handset manufacturer to close their system to outside developers (other than Google). Cingular has numerous of other phones that do not bring down the network.

this is a complete strategic mistake by apple. it's all about control for them.

No, Apple has said that apps go through them. As in not opening up the framework so that apps get generated in the wild.

There is a huge difference between "no third party apps" and "no third party apps theat we don't vet to make sure nothing breaks, since we are very keen on keeping our brand new platform nice and tidy, for the time being."

lastly, their image is being tarnished by using a trademarked name owned by cisco yet apple went after every company using the term pod in it...even trying to get the "pod" out of podcasting.


hypocracy

Nonsense. Nobody outside of tech enthusiast circles know a thing about the Cisco deal, and even there Apple's "image" is hardly "tarnished". Some people are puzzled, sure, but it looks like Cisco didn't go after other iPhones that predated Apple's, so they may not even win their case. Either way, it's hardly vile and predatory.

Hypocrisy isn't a word that has any bearing on the doings of large corporations. Apple went after "Pod" users because they saw an opportunity to make some money. They used "iPhone" because it's the natural fit for their product line and figured they could make it stick, Cisco notwithstanding. Neither action embodies principles that contradict one another.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by eat@me

Apple has said it will not allow 3rd parties developers to write apps for the iphone.

this will be the only major handset manufacturer to close their system to outside developers (other than Google). Cingular has numerous of other phones that do not bring down the network.

this is a complete strategic mistake by apple. it's all about control for them.

Yes, it is about control, but the reasoning isn't unwarranted.

• If Skype was allowed to create software for the iPhone then AT&T would be seriously pissed. This may be something in the contract by Cingular that keeps certain functionality that will cause Cingualr to lose money (lowered minute plans with excessive data usage on their unlimited plan) to a minimal.
• Apple wouldn't even offer this feature until dev. kits are created.
• Jobs said that there are only 2 widgets with the iPhone, this is odd since widgets are easy to make and even easier to port to the iPhone since it uses JS. Apple developers could have ported all the typical widgets over to the iPhone on their lunch break if they had wanted. How useful would currency converter, language translator, flight tracker, and world clock be? Probably useful enough for Apple to charge $.99 for them on the iTS. Putside the hour it cost to develop and the 40k download these are a pure profit center.

Originally Posted by eat@me

lastly, their image is being tarnished by using a trademarked name owned by cisco yet apple went after every company using the term pod in it...even trying to get the "pod" out of podcasting.

hypocracy

That is not necessarily true. Cisco has made some huge mistakes with the trademark. Most notably, they let others companies use the name without incident, they failed to re-register the name with the alloted time (though barely made the extension date), and failed to exercise use on an existing product for several years (though recently slapped a new "iPhone" label on an existing product).

Now, does that mean that Cisco's former lackadaisical use and enforcement means Apple has the right to use it? I don't know; It looks this one is going to be up to the courts.

[vinney57]

Originally Posted by eat@me

Apple has said it will not allow 3rd parties developers to write apps for the iphone.


this will be the only major handset manufacturer to close their system to outside developers (other than Google). Cingular has numerous of other phones that do not bring down the network.

this is a complete strategic mistake by apple. it's all about control for them.


lastly, their image is being tarnished by using a trademarked name owned by cisco yet apple went after every company using the term pod in it...even trying to get the "pod" out of podcasting.

hypocracy

Wrong. Third party apps will have to go through Apple for approval.

Wrong. Its all about control of the user experience; you know, the central focus of EVERYTHING APPLE DOES.

Its not hypocrisy you fuckwit, you are legally obliged to defend your trademarks or you lose them; which is precisely why Cisco are probably going to lose theirs.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by vinney57

Wrong. Third party apps will have to go through Apple for approval.

I, too, have heard that Apple will not allow 3rd-party developers. Can you please post a link to this fact without calling me a fuckwit or some other pejorative name?

[Denton]

Originally Posted by solipsism

It looks like Apple is still fighting with Cingular (er, AT&T) over this. They charge $2.49 for a ringtone and really don't to lose that supplemental income.

I would also suspect that there may be some problems convincing the RIAA that this is fair use of purchased material. This is not my opinion: I think that we ought to be able to use our music however the hell we want. But we all know that the more times that the RIAA makes you purchase (or rent) a song, the more money that ends up in their pockets.

[Electric Monk]

We've heard varying things.

Apple (in various guises) has said no third-party apps because they want to (stripped of the actual lies like apps crashing phone networks) keep control.

On the other hand Pogue (NYTimes, iPhone FAQ part I, comment 229 IIRC) reported that third-party widgets haven't been decided yet.

Further several developers are already in talks with Apple over SDK's and Apple seems non-commital from what I can see.


Best guess is that widgets will be a yes (given the current uproar going on), and software a maybe—if it's a yes it will almost certainly be through Apple's walled garden.

[physguy]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I, too, have heard that Apple will not allow 3rd-party developers. Can you please post a link to this fact without calling me a fuckwit or some other pejorative name?

I think people are referring to this quote from newsweek article

Still, since the iPhone runs a full version of OS X, the operating system of the Macintosh computer, it’s reasonable to expect the device to take advantage of that power by running lots of applications, even if Apple has to vet them to make sure they won’t compromise the integrity of the network.

This is their speculation (which I think is right) not a 'Jobs quote'

[BRussell]

Originally Posted by Robin Hood

No HSDPA support is simply lame. I won't be getting the phone before it's added.

Here in Ireland, we have almost 90% HSDPA coverage already. I've also found that recently, I am getting UMTS/HSDPA coverage almost anywhere I travel in Europe. "Until it's more widespread" is simply not true.

Here in the US we're not there yet, and I think that is what Jobs was talking about. My guess (only a guess) is that iPhone won't be released in Europe without it - remember, it's being released in Europe several months later than in the US.

[Neruda]

Originally Posted by vinney57

Its not hypocrisy you f*ckwit, you are legally obliged to defend your trademarks or you lose them; which is precisely why Cisco are probably going to lose theirs.

Exactly. Trademarks can be abandoned, and there is at least some evidence that Cisco did not use the name, let others use it, and did not renew the trademark. There rarely is such a thing as a closed case (ie, that Cisco will win this suit), otherwise, O.J. would be in jail.

[sCreeD]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

"YouTube -- of course. But you don't need Flash to show YouTube," Jobs said. "We could get [YouTube] to up their video resolution... by using H.264 instead of the old codec."

Whoa whoa. Confirmed!!1!: YouTube (now owned by Google) will offer higher resolution versions via h.264 (read: Quicktime).

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by sCreeD

Whoa whoa. Confirmed!!1!: YouTube (now owned by Google) will offer higher resolution versions via h.264 (read: Quicktime).

Is the video decoded on YouTube's servers or on the client's computer? If it's decoded on YouTube's servers before streaming via Flash, I doubt they currently have the hardware needed to decompress H.264 for so many streams at once. Even if they only do the inital encoding when you load the file, they will still need to drastically beef up their system to handle the increased load.

[anantksundaram]

Frankly, Pogue -- who's very influential, very hardworking, very astute, very funny, and gets great access, all adding up to quite a combination -- is somewhat over his head on this one. He had to post a follow-up to his original (somewhat cute-sy and overstated) claims. A number of readers (including moi) posted some rather informed and thoughtful (not including moi) questions/comments that seemed to contradict many of Pogue's assertions. He did a somewhat lame -- but nonetheless, brave -- job of responding.

Here's his original post (make sure to check out the comments section; to see Pogue's post, toggle up to top):

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/...ions/#comments

and here's the follow-up:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/...s-list-part-2/

It is quite obvious that a lot of this stuff is up in the air, and none of us has a clue (just as NONE, I repeat NONE, of us came close to predicting or visualizing or anticipating what this seemingly revolutionary product finally turned out to be).

I think that, right now, iPhone predictions make good copy, and people are being seduced into wild speculation and counter-speculation. I suspect that Apple is watching and listening to a lot of this back-and-forth, and there are a few surprises up its sleeve on or before June.

[franksargent]

Originally Posted by Bob Dobbs

Tuesday's big announcement by Steve, ... big snip ... a great ride.

I think we all got the idea with the announce date of June.

It's a working prototype, a trial balloon.

But IMHO I don't think Apple has any more time to muck with the HW if it actually ships in June, need final drawings, award contracts, parts orders, time to build (whoever builds it that is), and inventory.

About the only thing Apple can do is muck with the SW, and they can do that up to and through the iPhone launch.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by franksargent

About the only thing Apple can do is muck with the SW, and they can do that up to and through the iPhone launch.

Another great thing about the iPhone--like with Macs--is that firmware upgrades, security holes and bugs fixes will easily be updated through the updater. This is something I've found tough to do with all other cell phones. Even smartphones, as you're proactively required to access their support website to see if new updates are available.

[solsun]

Too bad about the GPS. I thought iPhone would do directions too.

[drmoto]

Originally Posted by Robin Hood

No HSDPA support is simply lame. I won't be getting the phone before it's added.

Here in Ireland, we have almost 90% HSDPA coverage already. I've also found that recently, I am getting UMTS/HSDPA coverage almost anywhere I travel in Europe. "Until it's more widespread" is simply not true.

For US, it's sad that Apple is going with Cingular for the "high-speed WAN" access. Verizon and Sprint both offer EV-DO which has fantastic coverage and true broadband speed. I consistently get over 1 Mbps down and 200 Kbps up.

No iPhone for me if I have to use EDGE or wait at least two years for Cingular to put up HSDPA.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by drmoto

For US, it's sad that Apple is going with Cingular for the "high-speed WAN" access. Verizon and Sprint both offer EV-DO which has fantastic coverage and true broadband speed. I consistently get over 1 Mbps down and 200 Kbps up.

No iPhone for me if I have to use EDGE or wait at least two years for Cingular to put up HSDPA.

But they use CDMA. At least with the Apple working to improve AT&T's network, HSDPA will be coming faster to the US than it otherwise would have without the announcement of the iPhone.

Look at the big picture, no one is making you buy an iPhone, but all of our cell phones and cell service will benefit from its release.

Example, Cingular has already altered it's infrastructure to include Randon Access Voicemail (RAV). How long before other carriers and manufactures include this as well?


Oh and here is good article from Roughly Drafted about other possible reasons Apple did not go with HSDPA: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM...0976FAB5E.html

[Patrik_L]

No Outlook-syncing on Windows-computers is a big dissapointment. Sure, I am a mac-user. but as many else I am forced to work with Windows everyday, and on my compay Exchange with Outlook is used for all planning and email. To not being able to sync with Outlook on my job is a huge dealbreaker for me, since it is necessary.

Hopefully David is wrong about this, because if it is correct, I think Apple would sell a lot fewer phones. I mean, even th iPod can today sync with Outlook, via iTunes.

My guess is that this is a misunderstanding; Apple says it won't sync with Outlook directly, but it will sync with iTunes and get data from Outlook through it.

[franksargent]

Originally Posted by Patrik_L

No Outlook-syncing on Windows-computers is a big dissapointment. Sure, I am a mac-user. but as many else I am forced to work with Windows everyday, and on my compay Exchange with Outlook is used for all planning and email. To not being able to sync with Outlook on my job is a huge dealbreaker for me, since it is necessary.

Hopefully David is wrong about this, because if it is correct, I think Apple would sell a lot fewer phones. I mean, even th iPod can today sync with Outlook, via iTunes.

My guess is that this is a misunderstanding; Apple says it won't sync with Outlook directly, but it will sync with iTunes and get data from Outlook through it.

Outlook is widely used in the US federal government as well as the Office suite, if syncing is a must for seamless ease of use, it could be a big deal breaker for government users.

[palegolas]

1. Who knows, they might introduce 3G for the european launch. 3G is after all available in Europe. And after all... it's a year from now we're talking about.
2. I guess Apple will start with letting 3d party developers develop widgets to the phone. You could do some really nifty "apps" with Widgets. I guess they'll eventually introduce iPhone apps to be purchased from the iTunes store.
3. I hope they won't lock the phone to one provider here in Europe... like vodafone or something. Eeek. That would be a strategic mistake. The cellphone operator business in Europe is very competitive and competent. Probably only 2 features that require operator specific functions anyway.

[Patrik_L]

Originally Posted by palegolas

1. Who knows, they might introduce 3G for the european launch. 3G is after all available in Europe. And after all... it's a year from now we're talking about.
2. I guess Apple will start with letting 3d party developers develop widgets to the phone. You could do some really nifty "apps" with Widgets. I guess they'll eventually introduce iPhone apps to be purchased from the iTunes store.
3. I hope they won't lock the phone to one provider here in Europe... like vodafone or something. Eeek. That would be a strategic mistake. The cellphone operator business in Europe is very competitive and competent. Probably only 2 features that require operator specific functions anyway.

Thankfully, Vodafone has ceased to exist here in Sweden. Hated Vodafone, they branded their telephones way to much, and made them less functional then intended...

But still, if Visual Voicemail will require locking to a certain provider, I would probably accept it, because that is a killer feature.
Anyways, the latest news is that the european version will indeed be GSM only, according to http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipod-itune...m?newsid=16929.

Big mistake. At least if they want to sell many phones. I will probably still buy one, because I am an Apple Geek. But for most of the customers, no 3G will make the iPhone look obselete and utterly outdated compared to other offerings. Regardless of how much Core Animation, multi-touch, OS X, slick interface goodies the iPhone has; on the paper it will still look outdated. Sadly enough.

[aegisdesign]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

It is quite obvious that a lot of this stuff is up in the air, and none of us has a clue (just as NONE, I repeat NONE, of us came close to predicting or visualizing or anticipating what this seemingly revolutionary product finally turned out to be).

I think that, right now, iPhone predictions make good copy, and people are being seduced into wild speculation and counter-speculation. I suspect that Apple is watching and listening to a lot of this back-and-forth, and there are a few surprises up its sleeve on or before June.

I hope so because so far some of the answers Pogue has provided have sucked.

No Syncing via Bluetooth? - Every phone I've ever had has synced with AddressBook, iCal via iSync. It'll seriously suck if I have to use iTunes and carry a dock around. I know Apple seems to like shoving everything in to iTunes but please, no more. And please fix the iSync menubar tool!

No 3rd party apps, not even widgets - It's the perfect platform for writing widgets yourself.

No using iTunes tracks as ringtones - None of the phones I've got have this restriction. If iPhone has then WTF happened to Apple telling the carriers how a phone should work.

And that's leaving out the lack of 3G and less than average camera. I can only hope by the time it arrives here in Europe, all the above are sorted.

[milton.john]

full Java engine would only be a "heavyweight ball and chain" no one uses.

This is really strange. I am not sure about USA, but here in Europe Java-based games are big part of mobile business.

As far as I was excited about iPhone, how can anyone call mobile phone a "smart phone" when this lacks ability to run 3rd party apps? There are mobile phones (not smart phones) with some web browsers and definitely with email client for ages. Web browsing and mail reading does not qualify mobile phone to be smart phone in my eyes.

I'm not the first one to ask, but who is apple targeting with this phone?
Is it business person? Then where is support for office formats, at least some very basic "mobile office" suite (or at least reader) and productivity tools?
Or is it young person that likes to have iPod and phone in one package? Then, in Europe, Java games will be missed a lot...

[pmjoe]

Originally Posted by solipsism

It looks like Apple is still fighting with Cingular (er, AT&T) over this. They charge $2.49 for a ringtone and really don't to lose that supplemental income.

No matter what phone and cell carrier you utilize, you have to thank Apple for their efforts. We are witness to a paradigm shift where a manufacture is making a cell carrier change. It won't be long before cell carriers will have to stop charging outrageous rates for something as simple as a ringtone, and all manufactures will finally have a chance to end their stagnant, limited functionality phones. A new era of mobile telephony and computing is upon us.

Cingular will fold because right now every other carrier is willing to join forces with Apple. AT&T is the largest cell carrier with 58M (25%), but how much more will they gather from the exclusive Apple deal? I'm guessing a lot more than a few overprices ringtones will bring them.

Well, this is a grand assumption. If Apple is still quibbling with Cingular over things like ringtones, even after announcing their exclusive deal, then I'd suspect Apple is on the losing end. Add to that how this is starting to sound like a closed platform for development, sounds like no support for VoIP, no Bluetooth sync ...

Where is the "paradigm shift where a manufacture is making a cell carrier change"? Sounds like Apple is pandering to the carrier on this one. If there is some huge paradigm shift here, I'm still waiting to see it. This is starting to sound like yet another phone whose innovative features were stifled by the carriers.

[Electric Monk]

Originally Posted by Patrik_L

Anyways, the latest news is that the european version will indeed be GSM only, according to http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipod-itune...m?newsid=16929.

Big mistake. At least if they want to sell many phones. I will probably still buy one, because I am an Apple Geek. But for most of the customers, no 3G will make the iPhone look obselete and utterly outdated compared to other offerings. Regardless of how much Core Animation, multi-touch, OS X, slick interface goodies the iPhone has; on the paper it will still look outdated. Sadly enough.

Originally Posted by Macworld

“Europe is a very important market for us and we think that we have a nice opportunity with this product here, and obviously choosing GSM and a GSM roadmap gave us hope that we could get to Europe in a very short order, and that’s the goal we’ve expressed,” he added.

I have hope that GSM roadmap is code for we'll add HSDPA once someone smacks us in the head and we realize Europe != US/Canada.

Having quad-band GSM is all well and good for phone calls, but 3G is important outside the US.

3G (in the form of UMTS/HSDPA) covers Europe, South Korea, Japan[1] and a good chunk of the developed globe. North America is a bit of an exception since the GSM providers were slow off the mark to 3G and the CDMA guys weren't (CDMA 3G is EV-DO).

In Europe people don't go for WiFi as much as they go for HSDPA laptop cards because of the everywhere coverage angle. Heck dump WiFi and stick in HSDPA and the iPhone would good to go in the rest of the world (although ideally of course WiFi should be kept).

However 3G would add size/weight and reduce battery.



[1] Only Softbank (which explains old rumours about the iPhone and Softbank), DoCoMo uses an incompatible version of WCMDA called FOMA, and—like Verizon—Au/KDDI uses EV-DO.

[a-maze]

Originally Posted by Robin Hood

No HSDPA support is simply lame. I won't be getting the phone before it's added.

Here in Ireland, we have almost 90% HSDPA coverage already. I've also found that recently, I am getting UMTS/HSDPA coverage almost anywhere I travel in Europe. "Until it's more widespread" is simply not true.

as it's spelled out in the article, it will be added! this is great news, probably the version sold in europe will already have it!!!
This is, I repeat, great news. Just waiting for it to be released here in Belgium, as it is illegal over here to sell locked phones (it is called coupled sales), Apple will have to sell them unlocked! we'll ship them unlocked to whomever wants them!

i(simplylove)phone

[GregAlexander]

Originally Posted by pmjoe

If Apple is still quibbling with Cingular over things like ringtones, even after announcing their exclusive deal, then I'd suspect Apple is on the losing end. Add to that how this is starting to sound like a closed platform for development, sounds like no support for VoIP, no Bluetooth sync ...

I'm of mixed minds about the iPhone. The lack of 3G is important around the world, and I'd like to think that Apple can allow external apps yet still have an "easy to use" phone. Imagine if Microsoft (or Apple) stopped 3rd party developers from writing apps for the respective OSes because they wanted to control the look and feel.

There are 2 derivative devices I wonder about.
1) iPhone without GSM, but with VoIP. No deals with the networks because it wouldn't use the networks. Designed to work in your home and/or office as a phone.
2) iPod Video - no phone, no bluetooth, no wifi, big hard disk.

I don't know if either of these derivatives would be popular - especially if they cost the same (or more) as the iPhone.

[mr O]

Originally Posted by solipsism

[*]Jobs said that there are only 2 widgets with the iPhone.

Oh, that truly is a bummer I was so much looking forward of manipulating the Hula Girl widget with my fingers

Originally Posted by solipsism

Now, does that mean that Cisco's former lackadaisical use and enforcement means Apple has the right to use it? I don't know; It looks this one is going to be up to the courts.

Owmygod, why are we so keen on the hyped "iPhone" name? It is more than a phone. It is actually a widescreen iPod, a Phone and an Internet communicator. A widescreen iPod, a Phone and an Internet communicator! A widescreen iPod, a Phone and an Internet communicator!! (Jobs)

Got it?! So, bye bye iPhone and hey, Mr Cisco, you can have your crappy iPhone name

[mr O]

Originally Posted by mr O

Owmygod, why are we so keen on the hyped "iPhone" name? It is more than a phone. It is actually a widescreen iPod, a Phone and an Internet communicator. A widescreen iPod, a Phone and an Internet communicator! A widescreen iPod, a Phone and an Internet communicator!! Got it?! So, bye bye iPhone and hey, Mr Cisco, you can have your crappy iPhone name

Okay, how are we going to call a device that is a widescreen iPod, a Phone and an Internet communicator?

Firstly, one should look at what they have in common. Aah, Multi Touch controll! It is truly amazing how touch is gonna bring us into the wonderful Appleworld.

So, the uninspiring iPhone name is not doing any justice to the magic multi touch idea, as introduced by Apple inc.!

Why not call it Genie! As referring to the fairy tale where one has to rub a lamp (thrice!) to make all his wishes come true

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by mr O

Owmygod, why are we so keen on the hyped "iPhone" name? It is more than a phone. It is actually a widescreen iPod, a Phone and an Internet communicator. A widescreen iPod, a Phone and an Internet communicator! A widescreen iPod, a Phone and an Internet communicator!!

Got it?! So, bye bye iPhone and hey, Mr Cisco, you can have your crappy iPhone name

We called AppleTV the iTV for many months knowing full well that name was already taken. I don't think we are hyped about it so much a s we are used to it. If Apple changes it to ApplePhone we'll start calling it that.

I don't care if they call it iRapedYourMotherLastNight, it's Apple and Cisco that are "hyped" about the iPhone moniker. But, like I said, the final decision is up to the courts.