Apple Cell Phone
Europe calling...
How about an Apple Cell Phone?
If companies like Sendo and Benefon with barely 300 employees between them can produce competitive phones why can?t Apple?
There has never been a better time for new entrants into this market. Anybody with the cash can now license the technology for a complete 2.5G GPRS phone:
?Ericsson and Motorola will sell you the hardware technology.
?Symbian can provide you with a realtime pre-emptively multitasking OS.
?Nokia has just announced that it will soon be marketing a range of mobile applications like WAP browsers etc.
I think the iPod is great but MP3 players are still a niche product unlike the ubiquitous Cell Phone. Apple needs a shop window product that would get people who have never heard of the Mac interested in the company. I would like to see Apple apply the principles it has used to create the iPod to a premium phone. Here is a list of the features I would like to see:
?Minimalist Titanium enclosure - Nokia, Siemens and Sony design great looking phones but none have that Audi-style minimalist chic which the PowerBook G4 exudes.
?True grayscale screen - Colour screens are nice but don?t fit in with the minimalist image.
?Apple designed interface - Symbian can take the role of Darwin and Apple can provide the mobile version of Aqua. I am convinced that Apple can trump Nokia in this department.
?iPod/iTunes/Palm style syncing - current PC to Mobile syncing is pretty crude. Provide the phone with decent memory like the Siemens SL 45 and the possibilities are huge.
?FireWire/USB ports - ubiquitous connectivity and iPod style FireWire charging would be nice.
?Bluetooth - whatever the doubters may think, this is going to takeoff in a big way in the next few years. And it is NOT a competitor to Airport - try fitting an Airport Card in a pen or a watch!
?Triband.
?Ground-breaking games.
?Other great features that I cannot think of right now.
I would imagine that the financial risks of such a venture would be fairly low too. Most of the R & D costs are amortised into the third party licensing fees and the phone would be manufactured by a contractor like Flextronics so I can?t see it costing more to develop and manufacture than the iPod.
How about an Apple Cell Phone?
If companies like Sendo and Benefon with barely 300 employees between them can produce competitive phones why can?t Apple?
There has never been a better time for new entrants into this market. Anybody with the cash can now license the technology for a complete 2.5G GPRS phone:
?Ericsson and Motorola will sell you the hardware technology.
?Symbian can provide you with a realtime pre-emptively multitasking OS.
?Nokia has just announced that it will soon be marketing a range of mobile applications like WAP browsers etc.
I think the iPod is great but MP3 players are still a niche product unlike the ubiquitous Cell Phone. Apple needs a shop window product that would get people who have never heard of the Mac interested in the company. I would like to see Apple apply the principles it has used to create the iPod to a premium phone. Here is a list of the features I would like to see:
?Minimalist Titanium enclosure - Nokia, Siemens and Sony design great looking phones but none have that Audi-style minimalist chic which the PowerBook G4 exudes.
?True grayscale screen - Colour screens are nice but don?t fit in with the minimalist image.
?Apple designed interface - Symbian can take the role of Darwin and Apple can provide the mobile version of Aqua. I am convinced that Apple can trump Nokia in this department.
?iPod/iTunes/Palm style syncing - current PC to Mobile syncing is pretty crude. Provide the phone with decent memory like the Siemens SL 45 and the possibilities are huge.
?FireWire/USB ports - ubiquitous connectivity and iPod style FireWire charging would be nice.
?Bluetooth - whatever the doubters may think, this is going to takeoff in a big way in the next few years. And it is NOT a competitor to Airport - try fitting an Airport Card in a pen or a watch!
?Triband.
?Ground-breaking games.
?Other great features that I cannot think of right now.
I would imagine that the financial risks of such a venture would be fairly low too. Most of the R & D costs are amortised into the third party licensing fees and the phone would be manufactured by a contractor like Flextronics so I can?t see it costing more to develop and manufacture than the iPod.
Comments
ooo oo better yet, how bout an apple tazer gun, everyone could use one of them. "Protection from a brand you trust"
Im counting on MWSF bring an apple spy kit <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> .
My post was only meant to generate debate and wasn?t meant to be speculation about Apple?s next digital lifestyle device.
I have a substantial part of my savings invested in Apple and I want them to succeed in the long term.
They will not do this by selling PCs. Although I hate mobile phones and don?t use one, any fool can see that the future is mobile AND wireless.
Within 5 years more people will be accessing the Internet using mobile devices than with PCs. There will be more than a billion Bluetooth enabled devices in circulation. Most major world conurbations will have 3G networks up and running providing data transfer rates of up to 384kb per second.
Look who is testifying against Microsoft in the latest stage of the renegade states attempt to renegotiate the terms of the DOJ agreement - Nokia. Who poses the biggest threat to Microsoft?s ?.net? strategy with their rival non-proprietary portal which firms like AOL, Sony and many others have signed up to - Nokia. Why has Microsoft invested millions in a wireless research centre in Sweden? Why is Intel trying to move away from the traditional desktop CPU market and investing so much in embedded and low-power processors? In fact, Mac users will soon be having Mhz envy in relation to PDAs and Smart Phones when Intel launches its 1Ghz StrongArm processor next year. Why, in three years time, will most Ford models feature a built-in Bluetooth network? Check out <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk"; target="_blank">www.theregister.co.uk</a> to get the bigger picture and understand why Microsoft isn?t worried about Apple or IBM or Sun or Oracle but sees the threat to its future in Sony and Nokia.
I seem to remember Steve Jobs being quoted as saying that PDAs had had their day and that people who sported them in meetings a year ago no longer used them. I bet the executives who used cell phones a year ago still use them!
I guess what I am trying to say is that I do not believe the PC will be the digital hub of the future. If such a thing still exists and that is debatable given the emergence of peripherals which do not need a host computer (check out Canon?s new baby photo printer), it will be a Playstation device style device in the home and a smart phone on the move. After all, most home only use their computers for playing games, Web browsing, chat and email. Sony has already launched a Linux kit for the Playstation II in Japan which allows you to do all these things.
I am just a bit worried that Steve Job?s is too wedded to the concept of the PC which is entirely understandable given his seminal role in its development.
Apple makes computers, and they make them well. I don't see any reason for apple to be spreading R&D resources to anything other than this in the forseeable future while they still need to gain marketshare in their primary market.
-S
By the way, right now, there's nothing like that in the US. We're a little behind in the wireless space.
Also, Steve has stated that he's very against the "Internet Jr. experience" -- that is, tiny screens and no good input device. It makes a lot of sense. WAP browsers are cool and all, but they're not nearly as useful as a real computer. To get stuff done, you need screen space and (for now) a keyboard and mouse.
Also, to imply that noone needs to do anything besides email, web browse, and play games is exactly WRONG, and is why all of those sorts of things FAIL. Sure, they keep popping up, but name ONE that's been an undeniable success.
There will always (well, until useful brain implants start showing up) be a need for a device that acts like a PC, even if it's only a terminal to a server of sorts. (And Apple is VERY with it in regards to this future client/server structure. Mac OS X is BUILT for it.)
Alex
I'm only posting them because they are available-not because I'm speculating.
I would like to reiterate that the R& D costs need not be high for such a device. All the ?difficult? technology can be licensed. I have attached a photo of Sendo?s new smart phone which uses Microsoft?s ?Stinger? OS. I don?t like the design but note that this cutting edge device has been produced by a company with less than 150 employees!
Here is a rather incomplete list of Apple?s key skills:
?Industrial design.
?Marketing/branding.
?Software engineering.
?Human interface design.
?Electronic engineering.
?Software/hardware integration.
These competencies do not merely have to be applied to PCs. Apple?s turnover and market share are now much less than when Steve Jobs took over. Profits are up but I can?t see major long term growth accruing from their current strategy. Steve Jobs seems to be taking the company down the high-margin, low sales niche route. Although, I would love him to prove me wrong with an $800 G4 LCD iMac next month.
Companies can enjoy huge growth if they can find unfilled niches and fulfil untapped desires. Look at Nokia who have managed to increase their market share by 20% in the last four years by producing innovative product designs and user interfaces. I worry that Steve Jobs? Apple isn?t looking for these places. Remember that one of the first things he did on assuming control of the company was to can the ?Blue Skys? research division that came up with QuickTime and FireWire.
The Sendo phone is called the Z100 and to quote:
?The Z100 weighs 99g and it is a tri-band handset. It is GPRS enabled, supports Java, MPEG4 video player, has USB and IrDA sync options and a WMA player. The Microsoft OS allows the users to take advantage of the familiar Office products such as Outlook, Media Player (Mp3), Internet Explorer and more?.
I totally agree that mobile devices will never compete with a full-size PC for a lot of things. Nobody is going to use Quark, Photoshop, Maya etc. on them. There will always be a market for the conventional desktop computer but I do not believe that this industry will enjoy much growth in the medium term. Any computer produced in the last few years is sufficient for most needs. Most companies do not want to spend a fortune on IT when it does not bring appreciable improvements in productivity. This is why the Finnish Airports Authority and Finland?s second largest municipal authority, Turku, have dumped Windows and gone for Linux and StarOffice. The cost of the hardware upgrades that the latest Microsoft Software demands was one of the main factors in them making this decision.
One of the reasons for starting this thread was to give the European perspective on the future of computing. Remember this is the continent where the Nokia 9210 communicator is the best selling premium PDA. North America may have led the world when it comes to personal computing but it seems to be lagging when it comes to the wireless revolution. One only needs to look at how Lucent, Nortel and Motorola are being outpaced by their european competitors; Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens and Alcatel.
Also note that Steve Jobs is not always right.
The Applele images are sumptuous as always - why doesn?t some major corporation give this guy a job?
In my opinion, Apple will not even consider the mobile telephony market until 3G is on its feet. Apple have recognised brands worldwide, and due to the current situation of conflicting mobile systems around the world, they would have to split up the product on a geographical basis. I'm not saying that they will make an iPhone then, just not before then.
Dave
Apple-branded alarm clock radios?
Smack it in the Apple if you weant the alarm to stop.
Seriously, leave the cell phones to the cell phone companiesl.