iPhone's OS: Symbian, Newton redux, Windows Mobile

Comments

• Reply 1 of 6

  mrob Posts: 13member

  November 19, 2006 8:44PM

  Uh, is this supposed to be a joke???
  
  
  
  Windows on an Apple phone?
  
  
  
  The horror. . .the horror.
• Reply 2 of 6

  mr. me Posts: 3,221member

  November 19, 2006 9:34PM

  Although it is about as conclusive as a rumor can be, I am still not convinced that the iPhone is an Apple-branded product. However, I don't see the point of Apple's selling a phone based on Symbian, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, or Linux. (A revival of the Newton OS ain't happenin.') Such a product would serve no purpose beyond bringing the Apple logo to cell phones. Apple's software designs allow it to innovate hardware. If Apple sells its own cell phone, it will be based on an Apple OS--most likely an OS based on MacOS X.
• Reply 3 of 6

  zo Posts: 3,117member

  November 20, 2006 4:56AM

  I was thinking the long term...
  
  
  
  To have ANOTHER OS to maintain costs a LOT of money. Thats why RIM will also be going either Symbian or Windows Mobile soon enough. Its easy to start and have a few basic functionalities, but a few years down the line, you'll need to be sure it's on par or better than all the other OSs out there.
  
  
  
  I doubt Apple would come out with anything less than a "smart phone"... and hopefully not just something that does a few functions.
  
  
  
  Opening to Symbian, or other, also means, suddenly having access to tens of thousands of developers, hundreds or thousands of apps, etc etc. Re-inventing the wheel is not what they need.
  
  
  
  I can see a product that will need to seamlessly integrate with the "iLife" suite (pictures, movie montage, blogging) as well as obviously perfect Sync...
  
  
  
  It'd be the only chance they get to eventually re-use Newton OS if they really want to keep it to themselves...
• Reply 4 of 6

  ajprice Posts: 320member

  November 20, 2006 6:59AM

  The iPod OS has a lot of features an iPhone would use, the only difference would be that it would have to allow direct input instead of being read only as on an iPod.
  
  
  
  * syncs with a computer (iPhone could sync by bluetooth or wifi as well as a cable or dock)
  
  
  
  * address book, calendar, notes (make it editable on the phone and sync back to the computer)
  
  
  
  * image viewer (link it to the camera and have the thumbnail image viewer to display camera and downloaded images)
  
  
  
  * video player (same as above with videos, downloaded or from the camera)
  
  
  
  * games (already there for the iPod).
  
  
  
  OK there are things a phone can do that an iPod can't, like email and web browsing, but most of the work for a phone system is already there on the iPod, and it would be a lot easier to fill the gaps on the iPod OS than make a whole new phone OS, or licence somebody elses (I really can't see a true Apple phone using a version of somebody elses system, whether it is Symbian, Windows, Palm or whatever.)
• Reply 5 of 6

  zo Posts: 3,117member

  November 20, 2006 9:57AM

  the interaction between all these apps, and the whole communication side (GSM, CDMA?, UMTS, GPES, WiFi, etc etc), is quite hellish. Yes, there is Linux OS for handhelds available and they could build on it, but still, the amount of money required is a LOT...
• Reply 6 of 6

  skwidspawn Posts: 66member

  November 20, 2006 1:51PM

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by ZO
  
  
  the interaction between all these apps, and the whole communication side (GSM, CDMA?, UMTS, GPES, WiFi, etc etc), is quite hellish. Yes, there is Linux OS for handhelds available and they could build on it, but still, the amount of money required is a LOT...
  

  
  

  
  
  This is the argument in a paragraph for why Apple needs to do it's own software/hardware integration. Apple products are appealing for several reasons, including stability and functionality. Both of which stem from the fact that they make both the hardware and software in house. They could do the same on the iPhone and hopefully make a phone that is much higher quality than the competitors out there.