yeah I was going to post my monthly bill as I figured someone would ask It's not any more than my bills were in Canada/US. About $60.00 USD. It can be higher than North America but it can also be a lot cheaper. Everyone's situation will be different. I'm using AU by KDDI. The fastest growing kodomo on the block. My phone is the Casio W51CA. Take a look at the flash site. Quite nice. Oh and I made a mistake my phone has a 2MP camera. I was going to buy the Aquos I think it was which has the 3MP camera. Still 2MP cameras have been out for eons and 3MP is normal now in Japan and they are also about the same price. The W51CA display also rotates 180 degrees.
Airtime is the same all across Japan. And best of all, incoming calls and that includes intl calls are free. There are also many more types of options in plans that can reduce your bill by somewhere around 50% I guess. I don't care what AT&T users pay. I was simply illustrating.
I've found that I can pretty much limit my airtime to almost nothing. It's all about instant full email here. It's rude to use the phone on public transportation and some restaurants etc so people put their phone on manner mode and email away. A $10 a month web access package pretty much gives you all the emails you'll ever need. So then you can have say a $30 a month plan plus $10 for emails then if you make few outgoing calls then you're pretty much guaranteed to stay below $50. I know it's hard to imagine not making many outgoing calls but that's how it is here. And chances are if you make a lot of outgoing calls you are working for a company here and they will be paying your bill anyway.
It did seem a bit passive aggressive didn't it? I guess because I love sexy Mac products but stay clear of the overpriced stuff unless I need them for my projects or they help me stay organized. Sometimes I'll splurge and buy myself something for a special occasion such as my red iPod Nano. It's 8GB and I never use more than 2GB. That's an example of what I was talking about earlier. I sync to my MacBook and replace music / audio books on a daily basis. I wanted it cause I liked the red and also didn't mind that some proceeds went to a good cause.
I wish I had bought the iPod video now because I really want to convert my Divx stuff to mp4. Maybe I'll give my Nano to my gf and buy the iPV.
Now here is a product that makes you go Hmmmm. Meizu MiniOne M8 article at Engadget. An Asian manufacturer has produced a similar phone that will be a world phone. Product shots.
I guess the deciding factor is for those people that are about to buy an iPod video like me. If you're going to blow $300 might as well buy an iPhone. And if you want something with that large of a form factor compared to small phones. I guess a buttload of people are going to be selling their iPod videos on eBay to make way for the iPhone. The other thing is you can buy an iPod Video for almost nothing on eBay. Makes it a difficult decision I guess. The Phone is a great deal for people who have no technology and want a new phone, PVP and mp3 player all at once and for those people who were planning to upgrade. I guess eventually that will be everyone lol
Your Casio seems rather thick and clunky. It might best the iPhone in specs, but if the iPhone was the same size as the Casio it would be a different story. Also, look at Apple's software design- it's brilliant, I highly doubt the Casio (or any other phone for that matter) has better interface/software design than the iPhone at this point.
Also, many people are forgetting that Apple WILL be pushing out software updates that add features and such in the coming months, they have stated that they consider iPhone buyers "subscribers" so everyone will be getting software updates for FREE for the next 2 years. What other phone manufactures add features 2 years after the phone is released?
Cool that you live in Japan though- I'm jealous, you're hardware over there is a lot farther ahead of the US. I plan to visit sometime in the near future....
It's definitely not clunky. A touch thicker maybe. Fits in my jeans pocket and you can't do that with the iPhone but you won't care about that if you are buying the iPhone. The flip phones here are a touch wider merely because they have rotating displays for the camera and TV. The display rotates and flips over. I think the iPhone or similar phone will do really well over here as long as it's below about $200 USD and is TV ready.
The deal breaker is the TV. It's free and it's sweet and you can record it to data card and upload it to your PC. Technically speaking what would it take to make the iPhone 1SEG TV capable?
It would sure be nice to easily sync my iPhone and Macbook together. Looking forward to it all.
I think the low key gut in the video is a great choice.
Apple wants to sell this phone to people who don't think they can use a smart phone. The whole point is to make intimidating technology seem approachable and friendly.
I showed the video to my mom and she was sort of captivated. Compared to every aspect of her ostensibly bone simple Verizon LG phone, the iPhone seems like mellow happy land, and the affect of the guy in the video fits right into that.
I think most of us "get used" to the interface on whatever cell we're using and forget how actually horrible the UI is, how utterly unintuitive and clunky and arbitrary and ugly it is.
"High energy" isn't what's called for here. Soothing solutions to to the age old question "Why are cell phones so freaking hard to use" calls for easy going nice guy.
He's the guy that says "See? You've been struggling with that crummy phone, it's not your fault. This is what a good phone does. This is how a good phone acts. Aaaaahhhhhhhh........."
Although the iPhone of, say, 2010 is likely to be pretty compelling....
I suppose so... My current deal with T-Mo can't be beat, even by T-mo. I signed up with them when they first started to offer service in the US, so I got a great plan that can't be matched by any provider out there today.
I really like your "Japan Perspective" posts (along with a few others posters on this forum currently living in Japan). I used to travel there a lot (worked on several projects with Takeda Pharm). Not so much anymore. I am totally fascinated by the country, the culture and the people. And, the large gadget malls are positively orgasmic for a tech freak like myself. My Tokyo hosts had to drag me out of the Akihabara.
You may have posted on this before (too lazy to search right now) but I have some questions for you:
1) If you were in Apple's board room tomorrow and SJ asked you "how can Apple significantly improve its market share in Japan for all of its products", what would you say?
2) How popular is the iPod in Japan?
3) When the iPhone eventually adds the Japan-specific features needed, what do you think its prospects will be in that market? Ditto for the rest of Asia?
Now here is a product that makes you go Hmmmm. Meizu MiniOne M8 article at Engadget. ....... So if that phone comes in at 1/2 the price of the iPhone you know what phone I'll be buying.
Hmmmm. Let me know when I can buy one (and if it works).
As the forum posting on meizu.com by poster "yankee" (I think that he is the owner or some such thing, along with his pal "ice-orange") says in response to some who wants to know if their (previously promised) M6 has gapless playback: "Excuse me,what do you mean by gapless playback? Is it repeat? M6 supports voice recording and repead. It will be marketted at the begin of June in China. Other countries will be in the near time. We will inform you when United Kingdom's seller is avaliable."
LOL.
PS: I encourage you to browse their website, en.meizu.com, esp. their "Userforum." The general discussion area welcomes one with: "No matter the suggestion to Meizu company, or the suggestions to Meizu websites, pls speaking out freely." Generally, they seem to be a bit coy on product availability in the West. Perhaps they sell a truckload in Japan, who knows. In any event, I have a suspicion that Apple's lawyers might soon be speaking out freely....
1) If you were in Apple's board room tomorrow and SJ asked you "how can Apple significantly improve its market share in Japan for all of its products", what would you say?
2) How popular is the iPod in Japan?
3) When the iPhone eventually adds the Japan-specific features needed, what do you think its prospects will be in that market? Ditto for the rest of Asia?
1) Subnotebooks. Integrated TV tuners. Better advertising. Better organization.
2) Pretty popular, but so are music phones.
3) Well it needs 3G (luckily NTT and Softbank use the same UMTS bands as Europe). GPS would be nice. E-Cash via a near field contact chip. Over-The-Air iTunes store. 1-Seg TV tuner. A higher resolution screen would be good (they're using 800x480 3" panels in high end phones now).
That would bring it up to date hardware wise. Remember that for all the cool hardware features Japanese phones have, their software sucks just as much as everybody.
As iPods are popular, and music phones are popular, and the iPhone has way better UI then anybody?they should be quite popular if they match on the hardware front. This assumes Apple Japan actually gets some good people and works hard on this (a subnotebook would help them immensely).
1) Subnotebooks. Integrated TV tuners. Better advertising. Better organization.
2) Pretty popular, but so are music phones.
3) Well it needs 3G (luckily NTT and Softbank use the same UMTS bands as Europe). GPS would be nice. E-Cash via a near field contact chip. Over-The-Air iTunes store. 1-Seg TV tuner. A higher resolution screen would be good (they're using 800x480 3" panels in high end phones now).
That would bring it up to date hardware wise. Remember that for all the cool hardware features Japanese phones have, their software sucks just as much as everybody.
As iPods are popular, and music phones are popular, and the iPhone has way better UI then anybody?they should be quite popular if they match on the hardware front. This assumes Apple Japan actually gets some good people and works hard on this (a subnotebook would help them immensely).
Thanks for the informative response and the link to my Japan questions. On the Ipod, do you know what Apple's market share in Japan is?
54% in April 2006. That's standalone MP3 player market share and doesn't include music phones. Likewise the iTunes share of the market is something like 70%, but doesn't include Over-The-Air sales directly to music phones which would cut way way down.
Counting music phones you get a grimmer picture. I could only find international data from Wireless Watch but:
Quote:
The whole MP3 player market worldwide for the second quarter of 2006 is not 10 million units, from which Apple could claim four out of five units. In reality the MP3 player market is about 56 million units (48 million MP3 playing musicphones, 8 million iPods, and 2 million non-Apple brand stand-alone MP3 players). So Apple's quarterly market share is not 77% like it was back in 2004 before musicphones. In this quarter Apple's market share is 14%.
Now they're all doom and gloom on Apple (and some of their arguments go away if you look at the iPod sales following that quarter) but the data is useful, nonetheless. One problem is that it's hard to tell is music mobiles are actually being used to play music.
Regardless, it's pretty obvious why Apple is releasing the iPhone.
To put things into perspective, consider that, of the nearly $20 billion in total sales in 2006 (the latest full year of data for which geographical segment details are available), Japan accounted for only $1.33 billion. Of $1.4 billion in total Apple assets, Japan accounted for $64 million.
Facts suggest therefore that, on the whole, Japan is a somewhat secondary market for Apple (I am not saying that it is trivial, just secondary).
That said, Apple acknowledges that growth in Japan in the first half of 2007 slowed to 14% over the previous year's first half, and that Mac/iPod sales have been decreasing/flat (altho notebook sales have been more than making up). Apple blames the tough market for PCs in Japan, and says that it is ".....continuing to evaluate ways to improve the future results in its Japan segment."
(I should have added that the data are from Apple's latest 10K and 10Q filings with the SEC).
Great post EM! It paints a very clear picture of life in Japan compared to the US and shows the hurdles the iPhone must eventually overcome (if ever) to make inroads in that market. It's amazing how far Japan is ahead of the US in some areas of technology. This is going to be a very tough nut to crack but iPhone v1 hopefully is the first step to that end. Again, many thanks for the info.
...I can't wait to see what my oily fingers do to the screen...
I just realized that with a glass screen and the proximity sensor, you could easily wipe the thing clean on a sleeve or cloth or even pant leg if necessary and it wouldn't accidently push any wrong buttons. Okay, so I'm slow ...
I do that all the time with my flipphone and it doesn't seem to be bad. Heck people clean glasses all of the time and it doesn't seem to be a hassle.
... I believe that even the Newton had some sort of password for log-in. ...
There you go! You had to bring up the Newton! Now I'm going to have to waste more valuable time imagining what this interface (sans phone perhaps) would look like on a 6" screen the size of a pda!! Just think of the multi-touch, multimedia, keyboard mapping and document viewing that could happen on a screen/tablet three times the iPhone size.
Sure it is a niche market, but if the screen read like an ebook and if it could allow you to input/edit Word and Excel docs and play REAL games, then it would be really intriguing ... and all the hard R&D is already done! Just find the right size for the functions.
Okay, now I can go back to craving the iPhone again.
I think for most people 4 or 8gb is fine for a variety of media. The iPod Shuffle is successful, and how much can you store on that? But you don't watch video or look at pictures on the shuffle. Maybe I'm the lone one in the flock who doesn't want to constantly be syncing my iPod up with my computer every day to load in different music. I like that on my iPod I can just put everything on it and it's there when I want it.
I have a shuffle that I use when I go jogging, but it's a set play list that rarely changes. I just can't see comparing the shuffle to the "best iPod we've ever built."
I think the 4 and 8 gig choices are fine. I love taking all of my music with my big iPod, but I would leave it in the pack or at home if I had a phone that had my 20 favorite albums, all of the podcasts that get automatically cleaned up anyway, and a few photo's. I have really gotten into podcasts and rarely listen to the radio anymore. Kind of strange, but it works for me and it is so great to be hanging out listening to music and then for the heck of it switch to an MIT lecture on the physics of light!! Other than NPR and some sports, radio doesn't match up.
This thing doesn't replace the Shuffle, cause you wouldn't want to jog with it (I'm guessin') and it doesn't replace the iPod since it has limited storage and it doesn't replace the iPod Nano cause it is frickin expensive. It replaces your PHONE! ... and lets you get by without the Nano if you can afford it.
Also ... 4 posts in a row, I need to leave my computer obviously ... I want to be able to make my own ringtones with GarageBand! If I can make a symphony and a podcast, why not a little ring tone?!
I envy all of you who live in the States and can actually buy this device. It looks awesome. My wife looked at the highlights of the intro video (I skipped the wordier sections) and declared she wanted one; it took ten minutes to sell her.
This is a phone with lots of goodies. Somebody is always going to complain about some aspect of the device (not enough of this, too much of that, it doesn' have a 30-month battery, I can't place more music than I can listen to in a month on it, blah blah blah), but I think Apple will see millions of units sold in a short time because it is simply so much better than any other phone available today, hands down. If you don't like it, nobody will force you to.
One accessory for the iPhone is indeed an arm band so you can wear it jogging. Why carry two devices when you can get away with one? Also, I think that most of the target users of this device are too busy living life than to place hundreds of hours of music on their device at one time, realizing the memory requirements. As part of my job, I create, edit and evaluate audio and video and I get paid to do so, but I rarely have more than 3 hours worth on my iPod at any one time (granted, I get paid to listen to the same clip many times).
People also look at this device as an end product rather than a first step into a major and mature and ruthless market. There will be new versions of the iPhone over the years, with each one adding more and more features (duh). Apple needed to create a doable device that will work and work well from the start. This will. They also wanted to create something that would change a market. The iPhone has. Looks to me like Apple has succeeded in doing what they had hoped; we are the lucky ones who will benefit whether we buy the iPhone or not.
I envy all of you who live in the States and can actually buy this device.
Some of us live in the States, but the wrong states, with no AT&T service. I'm hoping, like you probably, that this thing can be unlocked pretty quickly and used outside of AT&T's claws.
All of those ringtones sucked except the last one (the one we already heard at MacWorld).
The select few that they played sucked. Some of them on the list (step frame by frame as he flicks it upward) look promising. I used to have an old time ringer on my Sony phone and it looks like this will have a similar one.
What I did not see anywhere in that is any kind of button that would even potentially allow you to use a song as a ringer.
Comments
yeah I was going to post my monthly bill as I figured someone would ask
Airtime is the same all across Japan. And best of all, incoming calls and that includes intl calls are free. There are also many more types of options in plans that can reduce your bill by somewhere around 50% I guess. I don't care what AT&T users pay. I was simply illustrating.
I've found that I can pretty much limit my airtime to almost nothing. It's all about instant full email here. It's rude to use the phone on public transportation and some restaurants etc so people put their phone on manner mode and email away. A $10 a month web access package pretty much gives you all the emails you'll ever need. So then you can have say a $30 a month plan plus $10 for emails then if you make few outgoing calls then you're pretty much guaranteed to stay below $50. I know it's hard to imagine not making many outgoing calls but that's how it is here. And chances are if you make a lot of outgoing calls you are working for a company here and they will be paying your bill anyway.
It did seem a bit passive aggressive didn't it? I guess because I love sexy Mac products but stay clear of the overpriced stuff unless I need them for my projects or they help me stay organized. Sometimes I'll splurge and buy myself something for a special occasion such as my red iPod Nano. It's 8GB and I never use more than 2GB. That's an example of what I was talking about earlier. I sync to my MacBook and replace music / audio books on a daily basis. I wanted it cause I liked the red and also didn't mind that some proceeds went to a good cause.
I wish I had bought the iPod video now because I really want to convert my Divx stuff to mp4. Maybe I'll give my Nano to my gf and buy the iPV.
Now here is a product that makes you go Hmmmm. Meizu MiniOne M8 article at Engadget. An Asian manufacturer has produced a similar phone that will be a world phone. Product shots.
I guess the deciding factor is for those people that are about to buy an iPod video like me. If you're going to blow $300 might as well buy an iPhone. And if you want something with that large of a form factor compared to small phones. I guess a buttload of people are going to be selling their iPod videos on eBay to make way for the iPhone. The other thing is you can buy an iPod Video for almost nothing on eBay. Makes it a difficult decision I guess. The Phone is a great deal for people who have no technology and want a new phone, PVP and mp3 player all at once and for those people who were planning to upgrade. I guess eventually that will be everyone lol
Your Casio seems rather thick and clunky. It might best the iPhone in specs, but if the iPhone was the same size as the Casio it would be a different story. Also, look at Apple's software design- it's brilliant, I highly doubt the Casio (or any other phone for that matter) has better interface/software design than the iPhone at this point.
Also, many people are forgetting that Apple WILL be pushing out software updates that add features and such in the coming months, they have stated that they consider iPhone buyers "subscribers" so everyone will be getting software updates for FREE for the next 2 years. What other phone manufactures add features 2 years after the phone is released?
Cool that you live in Japan though- I'm jealous, you're hardware over there is a lot farther ahead of the US. I plan to visit sometime in the near future....
The deal breaker is the TV. It's free and it's sweet and you can record it to data card and upload it to your PC. Technically speaking what would it take to make the iPhone 1SEG TV capable?
It would sure be nice to easily sync my iPhone and Macbook together. Looking forward to it all.
I think the low key gut in the video is a great choice.
Apple wants to sell this phone to people who don't think they can use a smart phone. The whole point is to make intimidating technology seem approachable and friendly.
I showed the video to my mom and she was sort of captivated. Compared to every aspect of her ostensibly bone simple Verizon LG phone, the iPhone seems like mellow happy land, and the affect of the guy in the video fits right into that.
I think most of us "get used" to the interface on whatever cell we're using and forget how actually horrible the UI is, how utterly unintuitive and clunky and arbitrary and ugly it is.
"High energy" isn't what's called for here. Soothing solutions to to the age old question "Why are cell phones so freaking hard to use" calls for easy going nice guy.
He's the guy that says "See? You've been struggling with that crummy phone, it's not your fault. This is what a good phone does. This is how a good phone acts. Aaaaahhhhhhhh........."
Excellent analysis.
Then see you in five years, I guess.
Although the iPhone of, say, 2010 is likely to be pretty compelling....
I suppose so... My current deal with T-Mo can't be beat, even by T-mo. I signed up with them when they first started to offer service in the US, so I got a great plan that can't be matched by any provider out there today.
I really like your "Japan Perspective" posts (along with a few others posters on this forum currently living in Japan). I used to travel there a lot (worked on several projects with Takeda Pharm). Not so much anymore. I am totally fascinated by the country, the culture and the people. And, the large gadget malls are positively orgasmic for a tech freak like myself. My Tokyo hosts had to drag me out of the Akihabara.
You may have posted on this before (too lazy to search right now) but I have some questions for you:
1) If you were in Apple's board room tomorrow and SJ asked you "how can Apple significantly improve its market share in Japan for all of its products", what would you say?
2) How popular is the iPod in Japan?
3) When the iPhone eventually adds the Japan-specific features needed, what do you think its prospects will be in that market? Ditto for the rest of Asia?
Thanks.
Now here is a product that makes you go Hmmmm. Meizu MiniOne M8 article at Engadget. ....... So if that phone comes in at 1/2 the price of the iPhone you know what phone I'll be buying.
Hmmmm. Let me know when I can buy one (and if it works).
As the forum posting on meizu.com by poster "yankee" (I think that he is the owner or some such thing, along with his pal "ice-orange") says in response to some who wants to know if their (previously promised) M6 has gapless playback: "Excuse me,what do you mean by gapless playback? Is it repeat? M6 supports voice recording and repead. It will be marketted at the begin of June in China. Other countries will be in the near time. We will inform you when United Kingdom's seller is avaliable."
LOL.
PS: I encourage you to browse their website, en.meizu.com, esp. their "Userforum." The general discussion area welcomes one with: "No matter the suggestion to Meizu company, or the suggestions to Meizu websites, pls speaking out freely." Generally, they seem to be a bit coy on product availability in the West. Perhaps they sell a truckload in Japan, who knows. In any event, I have a suspicion that Apple's lawyers might soon be speaking out freely....
Sucess,
1) If you were in Apple's board room tomorrow and SJ asked you "how can Apple significantly improve its market share in Japan for all of its products", what would you say?
2) How popular is the iPod in Japan?
3) When the iPhone eventually adds the Japan-specific features needed, what do you think its prospects will be in that market? Ditto for the rest of Asia?
Thanks.
We actually discussed this once upon a time. Apple Japan: Looking Forward
1) Subnotebooks. Integrated TV tuners. Better advertising. Better organization.
2) Pretty popular, but so are music phones.
3) Well it needs 3G (luckily NTT and Softbank use the same UMTS bands as Europe). GPS would be nice. E-Cash via a near field contact chip. Over-The-Air iTunes store. 1-Seg TV tuner. A higher resolution screen would be good (they're using 800x480 3" panels in high end phones now).
That would bring it up to date hardware wise. Remember that for all the cool hardware features Japanese phones have, their software sucks just as much as everybody.
As iPods are popular, and music phones are popular, and the iPhone has way better UI then anybody?they should be quite popular if they match on the hardware front. This assumes Apple Japan actually gets some good people and works hard on this (a subnotebook would help them immensely).
We actually discussed this once upon a time. Apple Japan: Looking Forward
1) Subnotebooks. Integrated TV tuners. Better advertising. Better organization.
2) Pretty popular, but so are music phones.
3) Well it needs 3G (luckily NTT and Softbank use the same UMTS bands as Europe). GPS would be nice. E-Cash via a near field contact chip. Over-The-Air iTunes store. 1-Seg TV tuner. A higher resolution screen would be good (they're using 800x480 3" panels in high end phones now).
That would bring it up to date hardware wise. Remember that for all the cool hardware features Japanese phones have, their software sucks just as much as everybody.
As iPods are popular, and music phones are popular, and the iPhone has way better UI then anybody?they should be quite popular if they match on the hardware front. This assumes Apple Japan actually gets some good people and works hard on this (a subnotebook would help them immensely).
Thanks for the informative response and the link to my Japan questions. On the Ipod, do you know what Apple's market share in Japan is?
54% in April 2006. That's standalone MP3 player market share and doesn't include music phones. Likewise the iTunes share of the market is something like 70%, but doesn't include Over-The-Air sales directly to music phones which would cut way way down.
Counting music phones you get a grimmer picture. I could only find international data from Wireless Watch but:
The whole MP3 player market worldwide for the second quarter of 2006 is not 10 million units, from which Apple could claim four out of five units. In reality the MP3 player market is about 56 million units (48 million MP3 playing musicphones, 8 million iPods, and 2 million non-Apple brand stand-alone MP3 players). So Apple's quarterly market share is not 77% like it was back in 2004 before musicphones. In this quarter Apple's market share is 14%.
Now they're all doom and gloom on Apple (and some of their arguments go away if you look at the iPod sales following that quarter) but the data is useful, nonetheless. One problem is that it's hard to tell is music mobiles are actually being used to play music.
Regardless, it's pretty obvious why Apple is releasing the iPhone.
Facts suggest therefore that, on the whole, Japan is a somewhat secondary market for Apple (I am not saying that it is trivial, just secondary).
That said, Apple acknowledges that growth in Japan in the first half of 2007 slowed to 14% over the previous year's first half, and that Mac/iPod sales have been decreasing/flat (altho notebook sales have been more than making up). Apple blames the tough market for PCs in Japan, and says that it is ".....continuing to evaluate ways to improve the future results in its Japan segment."
(I should have added that the data are from Apple's latest 10K and 10Q filings with the SEC).
...I can't wait to see what my oily fingers do to the screen...
I just realized that with a glass screen and the proximity sensor, you could easily wipe the thing clean on a sleeve or cloth or even pant leg if necessary and it wouldn't accidently push any wrong buttons. Okay, so I'm slow ...
I do that all the time with my flipphone and it doesn't seem to be bad. Heck people clean glasses all of the time and it doesn't seem to be a hassle.
... I believe that even the Newton had some sort of password for log-in. ...
There you go! You had to bring up the Newton! Now I'm going to have to waste more valuable time imagining what this interface (sans phone perhaps) would look like on a 6" screen the size of a pda!! Just think of the multi-touch, multimedia, keyboard mapping and document viewing that could happen on a screen/tablet three times the iPhone size.
Sure it is a niche market, but if the screen read like an ebook and if it could allow you to input/edit Word and Excel docs and play REAL games, then it would be really intriguing ... and all the hard R&D is already done! Just find the right size for the functions.
Okay, now I can go back to craving the iPhone again.
I think for most people 4 or 8gb is fine for a variety of media. The iPod Shuffle is successful, and how much can you store on that? But you don't watch video or look at pictures on the shuffle. Maybe I'm the lone one in the flock who doesn't want to constantly be syncing my iPod up with my computer every day to load in different music. I like that on my iPod I can just put everything on it and it's there when I want it.
I have a shuffle that I use when I go jogging, but it's a set play list that rarely changes. I just can't see comparing the shuffle to the "best iPod we've ever built."
I think the 4 and 8 gig choices are fine. I love taking all of my music with my big iPod, but I would leave it in the pack or at home if I had a phone that had my 20 favorite albums, all of the podcasts that get automatically cleaned up anyway, and a few photo's. I have really gotten into podcasts and rarely listen to the radio anymore. Kind of strange, but it works for me and it is so great to be hanging out listening to music and then for the heck of it switch to an MIT lecture on the physics of light!! Other than NPR and some sports, radio doesn't match up.
This thing doesn't replace the Shuffle, cause you wouldn't want to jog with it (I'm guessin') and it doesn't replace the iPod since it has limited storage and it doesn't replace the iPod Nano cause it is frickin expensive. It replaces your PHONE! ... and lets you get by without the Nano if you can afford it.
This is a phone with lots of goodies. Somebody is always going to complain about some aspect of the device (not enough of this, too much of that, it doesn' have a 30-month battery, I can't place more music than I can listen to in a month on it, blah blah blah), but I think Apple will see millions of units sold in a short time because it is simply so much better than any other phone available today, hands down. If you don't like it, nobody will force you to.
One accessory for the iPhone is indeed an arm band so you can wear it jogging. Why carry two devices when you can get away with one? Also, I think that most of the target users of this device are too busy living life than to place hundreds of hours of music on their device at one time, realizing the memory requirements. As part of my job, I create, edit and evaluate audio and video and I get paid to do so, but I rarely have more than 3 hours worth on my iPod at any one time (granted, I get paid to listen to the same clip many times).
People also look at this device as an end product rather than a first step into a major and mature and ruthless market. There will be new versions of the iPhone over the years, with each one adding more and more features (duh). Apple needed to create a doable device that will work and work well from the start. This will. They also wanted to create something that would change a market. The iPhone has. Looks to me like Apple has succeeded in doing what they had hoped; we are the lucky ones who will benefit whether we buy the iPhone or not.
I envy all of you who live in the States and can actually buy this device.
Some of us live in the States, but the wrong states, with no AT&T service. I'm hoping, like you probably, that this thing can be unlocked pretty quickly and used outside of AT&T's claws.
All of those ringtones sucked except the last one (the one we already heard at MacWorld).
The select few that they played sucked. Some of them on the list (step frame by frame as he flicks it upward) look promising. I used to have an old time ringer on my Sony phone and it looks like this will have a similar one.
What I did not see anywhere in that is any kind of button that would even potentially allow you to use a song as a ringer.