Lots of phones have music players. None, as far as I know, allow you to shuffle song plays. Any iPod owner will tell you that's the unique feature of the player...not playing songs solely in the order they were copied. I'd love a phone, from anyone, that shuffled my music as it played. You can bet Apple's phones will do that.
A lot of people here think they pretty much know what this alleged iPhone is going to be. The fact is we have no clue. We know the iPod is successful and almost all of us have a cell phone...it seems simple doesn't it? But if you have a cell phone and an iPod, do you really need them both jammed together? I know how much music I listen to in a day, and I would have no battery left for call time if I had both devices together. Thats why I've avoided the music mobiles up till now. I also have a pretty good digital camera too, so I don't need that...none of the phones can get the flash right either. These devices are getting so small now, do we REALLY need to combine them all?
The thing I'm seeing is that more people want to take certain applications away from their desktop computer but not carry around a full laptop. Email, maps, multimedia, instant messaging and document viewing/editing. The first mobile device that fully taps into the internet fully, be it PDA, cell phone or PMP will win this. At the minute my RAZR can surf the net using Opera-Mini. It's woefully slow and most content on the net is not designed for it. A mobile device that can fully utilize Youtube would be an instant hit with the 16-25 demographic...the ability to post directly to Youtube or similar social sites would drive it through the roof. Now if this new iPhone offers anything less, I can't see it being any more popular than any other brand of mobile. The Original Author is right that this is a different playing field. When I'm using my Creative Zen Vision:M people ALWAYS say "Is that some sort of iPod?" or even "Is that an iPod?" because like Coke or the Walkman, the brand name has become synonymous with what the device is. This isn't so with cell phones...Apple can't hope to make everyone forget Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and go "Is that an iPhone?" as this isn't a relatively new market. No one I know knew what an MP3 player was until the iPod...I think most people know what a call phone is already. Apple will need to offer something all the others have never offered, and access to iTunes isn't going to cut it. Interface design isn't going to do it either. We all know there are good and bad GUI's for our phones yet we all still go with some phones that don't have that good an interface...ie the RAZR, which I have. I just took the best priced phone for my price plan.
CNET continues to undermine it's already shaky credibility (i.e. its amateurish and innane product reivews) by bashing Apple products at every turn. Wake up and put aside your bias!
I think you're wrong. I think it's quite the opposite. More like they praise apple, rather than bash apple. I think they are more anti-Microsoft which is bad too. CNET really does need to work on their stories.
I have a iMac and I want a pocket PC or a smart phone.
The two are incompatible.
I want the smartphone to be an extension of my desktop iMac.
Um, what doesn't the author "get" about that?
And if people TRUST Apple to produce high quality gear -- and ALL the products do the same thing, why would I take a chance on a Blackberry when I know if I buy an apple it'll work perfectly right out of the box?
iPod dominates the market because it offers ne thing literally no other device can. It actually works perfectly every time!
Can't say that about any other PC-based computer or smartphone.
What is he talking about?? No disrespect but what is apple all about.......
Do you even know what apple is about, not its not going to be a "back berry" phone type thing. All the rumors I have heard point strait to Iphone. Hmmm Ipod Iphone...... Its going to be a music phone. With the ipod apple fixed something and made it great. People realized that the only difference this time is that apple has that name that will get them the initial buyers.
Just one last thing (have you ever seen the apple commercials) Apple=Fun, Music, Video, Creative/ PC= Business.....
*** DO YOU THINK THERE GONNA DO WITH THERE OWN PRODUCTS
So there we have it my apple rant.
-Andrew G.
P.S. if you have not see the apple commercials (bc you dont watch tv?) search google for commercials and it is the first link, i think there kinda popular /sarcastic
Everyone has a cellphone. Most everyone has an Ipod. Why carry two things when you can carry one? I understand there are a lot of phones that have mp3 players with phones. I currently use a w810i, but I would drop it in a sec for even a Razr that had 4gb of space with Itunes, not that crappy 100 song limit like the last ones did. People love Itunes. People are used to Itunes. Some might argue Windows Media Player being the standard, but it doesn't appear that Zune is going to do well...at least for awhile (Xbox?). If my nano had a phone and was the same size and I could use stereo bluetooth headphones....I wouldn't care for anything else. A camera is secondary to my music.
Wow... whatever Apple touch, it turn to gold! YES! Apple did it again. Even before e actual product launch, people are starting to talk, debate, love & hate it? :-)
Just go crawl into a hole. I'm sure you cultists know why Apple invented BootCamp... It was to save themselves from ruin by Microsoft. They already knew Microsoft was going to win. This move was to bait PC users into buying Macs so they could also use Microsoft on their Mac. You cultists can't accept any fact given to you.
For right now, the iPhone exists only in Michael Kanellos' mind. Apple and Steve Jobs have fooled many an analyst over the years trying to predict what Apple is going to release next. Its just pure speculation.
My take on the iPhone - if it does exist. I'm sure it will be cool and user friendly and just like most Apple products are - It will work.
Will I buy one. I doubt it. For one. I bought an iPod because i wanted to listen to music, my music. I don't want a MP3 player with a tuner. I already have radios for that. I want a phone, a plain ole phone to make calls. I already have a MP3 player and I don't need a camera. I've already got 4 of those.
I bought a phone last year from Verizon. They only had one phone that didn't have a camera in it. I didn't want to have to pay extra for the phone. And there are a lot of places that you can't take a camera into. Now these places are confiscating your phones. Makes it hard to communicate now doesn't it?
I want something that works right out of the box with my powerbook, something that syncronize flowless with my ical, my mail and address book, no call drops, play my music like an ipod, easy to use, and that thing is going to come only from apple....long life iphone !!
Yeah, right... because Motorola has such a killer UI
"So when consumers get to that counter at CompUSA, they will debate buying the Apple phone, and even hold it up for a look. But when they whip out the credit card, they'll probably opt for a Motorola."
All cell phone manufacturers seem to suffer from the lets-load- this-thing-up-with-so-many-features-that-none-of them-are- really-done-that-well syndrome. I've got a nice digital camera and I have a nice latptop and if I wanted a pda I'd get one. I don;t want to chat on my phone. All I want is a phone and one that is small (fits in my pocket) and easy to use and built with some decent build quality. The RAZR is indeed one of the better cvonstructed phones out there but as on all Motorola phones the interface is SLOW and the UI is the absolute worst.
Apple understands the cardinal rule of "K.I.S.S." (keep it simple stupid) and that is primarilly why their products appeal to people. The iPhone will certainly be a harder sell than the iPod, but if they offer a dead simple phone with a great UI and a a good build quality I for one will toss my Motorola in the garbage.
As a matter of fact Motorolas has one of the easiest UI to get around even my 5 year old can use it and listens to MP3, and take pictures.As I stated in an earlier post before is the providers that more or less make Motorola signed an agreement to buy millions of phones and in the process theyre forced to put such a windows 3.1 menu on their hardware.
When is the consumer wake up and realize is the cell providers that are calling the shots and putting these ancient and clunky and slow menus?!!
I have a Razor and I don't have any provider "UI" I have Motorola's own and is fast and responsive is a shame since the Razor is a great phone.
Interesting but... there is place for innovations!
The point of the author is well founded and it is interesting to read how's different he think. I do partially agree with you.
There is a small probability that sometimes, a newcomer or a new player comes with new fresh air, new ideas and new concept in a game where huge well-established players turn around in the same concepts for almost 20 years of cellular era.
Even today there are models that audio is not good, screen is not clean, functions are ackward, keyboard perfectible and whatever you may think.
How can you explain that after so many years in research in the same domain?? If the companies where listening to their respective public, there will be only one good models of each kind. Some sort of a good recipe.
The perfect product/cellular is not done yet and I do believe that there is place for innovation, changes and new ideas. And this kind of thinking could be applied to many others technological department.
Will Apple found the secret recipe? It's a good question. And I do agree with the author that this time, the players are more serious that it was in the portable audio market. Apple is known for many innovative concepts; some worked very well in the past (like the ipod thing) and some worked less (like the mini). But for sure, if you want to make a hit, it must start with an innovation somewhere.
But what Apple did when they launched the iPod? They produce an unexpected results where everyones says that nothing's new can happen. Does it look like this today too? An opportunity in a market that everyone think is over/no more space??
I wish you would all CHILL: You heard it here first: Apple isn't freaking out over the name of their new phone. Is your iPod a "Pod"? No. It's a music player. So their PHONE does not NEED to be called "iPhone". It WILL be called "iTalk". So calm down. Their stock isn't going to fall any time soon.
I think if apple is successfull it will be a nice swift kick in the ass to Motorola and many of the porviders such as verizon and Sprint. For one when Motorola was working closely with apple Motorola for some assanine reason treatet apple as the red headed step child.
They (Motorola) would had a great product BUT the "old" management does not have the vision to look ahead.
Companies such as Verizon tend to basterdize a great piece of Hardware by demaning to have thier logo, icons, menu embedded in all the phones and in the process turn many features off.
If am going to pay 300-400 dollars for a phone I don't want to have it "lock" to any carrier, also I want all the features available to me and not turn off.
I see it as good thing that will give more power to companies like Motorola to be able to tell the carriers were not going to put your logo,ancient menus, in our phones and turn features off on purpose just so they can stick it to the consumer.
Motorola spends millions of dollars in coming out with better menus, that are easy to access to anyone. I say go apple.
The Apple phone could be a hit given the wide variety of quality in cell phones. The QoS that you mentioned is affected by the quality of the sound and most cell phones sound is mediocre. That is the reason that Bang & Olufsen developed their cell phone. If Apple can develop a phone with comparable sound quality that does not cost $1K+, they might be into something. Of course, they will also use the dial "a la iPod" for searching the directory.
Stupid Story. Iphone never was going to be an apple product, just goes to show how much 'inside info' the moron who wrote this story actually has...not a thing.
All you apple fans crack me up. The iPod really isn't that great. Current cell phones are like the article says fairly good. I see the apple phone being an Iflop. I have a Samsung Blackjack and apple would have to do a lot to compete with it, much less get me to give it up.
You Mac/Apple haters crack me up. Still predicting doom and gloom and "the iPod isn't that great".. tell that to the tens of millions they just sold in the last quarter. Or walk by the Target isle with the unsold Zune's and the empty shelves where iPods were before Christmas. I am on my THIRD iPod, I still have a 1st Gen. 5 gig iPod, well I gave it to my Brother, its over five years old and still working. He doesn't know how he lived without it, and he will be getting my 4th gen. 20 gig iPod, which I have replaced with another 30 gig video iPod... I don't know if the "iPhone" or whatever it is called will sell as well as the iPod, but even if it sells half as much it will do pretty well.. and I don't have a cell phone yet, so I will take a look at it and if it is as good as the iPod, I will probably get one of them too... Thank the gods we have Apple and the Mac to save us from the Dark Side (Vista/Zune)
Has anyone noticed how all of the other music/smart phones have such a low capacity of memory? Anyway, apple will fail in this just because the fact that a new smart phone is not needed. Everyone has a Q or a blackberry already. Also, a a new music phone isn't needed. Everyone has an ipod due to apple's previous success in mp3 players.
I agree with the above to a point. I think the huge problem Apple face with a phone is quite simply NOKIA. Nokia have shown how to design brilliant phones with more importantly an incredible OS - the Symbian V3 platform. You only have to look at the awesome design and feature set of the up and coming Nokia N95 (WIFI, HSDPA, Built in Sat Nav, etc) to realise that Apple quite simply cannot pull something off that is going to satisfy dedicated mobile users.
You want my opinion? Motorola are big in USA but their phones are clunky, the interface a disaster and Apple unfortunately should have looked to partner with Nokia or Symbian in delivering a device. Indeed Nokia use Safari's web technology in their amazing browser for series 3 Symbian phones.
I love Apple products and own many and have done for years. But I cannot see myself purchasing an Apple phone that seems to be basically an ipod with phone functionality attached to it. Rather, i'd buy the Nokia N95 and keep my Shuffle.
Apple can succeed with the iphone only if they pull a trick out of the bag - providing some kind of functionality or awesome design that really IS something to blow you away. Otherwise unfortunately the iphone is destined to be another Mac CUBE!
Manage updates with the Download App
you to shuffle song plays. Any iPod owner will tell you that's the
unique feature of the player...not playing songs solely in the order
they were copied. I'd love a phone, from anyone, that shuffled my
music as it played. You can bet Apple's phones will do that.
Check out Nokia's N series phones, from music play (shuffle, repeat one, repeat all, playlist), etc are all there.
They can also play video, blue tooth sync. Apple's feature is nothing special. I'm very happy with my N73's ability.
In addition, after getting a few songs from iTune, I'll never buy from them again since I can't use them on anything else besides my PC.
The thing I'm seeing is that more people want to take certain applications away from their desktop computer but not carry around a full laptop. Email, maps, multimedia, instant messaging and document viewing/editing. The first mobile device that fully taps into the internet fully, be it PDA, cell phone or PMP will win this. At the minute my RAZR can surf the net using Opera-Mini. It's woefully slow and most content on the net is not designed for it. A mobile device that can fully utilize Youtube would be an instant hit with the 16-25 demographic...the ability to post directly to Youtube or similar social sites would drive it through the roof. Now if this new iPhone offers anything less, I can't see it being any more popular than any other brand of mobile. The Original Author is right that this is a different playing field. When I'm using my Creative Zen Vision:M people ALWAYS say "Is that some sort of iPod?" or even "Is that an iPod?" because like Coke or the Walkman, the brand name has become synonymous with what the device is. This isn't so with cell phones...Apple can't hope to make everyone forget Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and go "Is that an iPhone?" as this isn't a relatively new market. No one I know knew what an MP3 player was until the iPod...I think most people know what a call phone is already. Apple will need to offer something all the others have never offered, and access to iTunes isn't going to cut it. Interface design isn't going to do it either. We all know there are good and bad GUI's for our phones yet we all still go with some phones that don't have that good an interface...ie the RAZR, which I have. I just took the best priced phone for my price plan.
The two are incompatible.
I want the smartphone to be an extension of my desktop iMac.
Um, what doesn't the author "get" about that?
And if people TRUST Apple to produce high quality gear -- and ALL the products do the same thing, why would I take a chance on a Blackberry when I know if I buy an apple it'll work perfectly right out of the box?
iPod dominates the market because it offers ne thing literally no other device can. It actually works perfectly every time!
Can't say that about any other PC-based computer or smartphone.
"back berry" phone type thing. All the rumors I have heard point
strait to Iphone. Hmmm Ipod Iphone...... Its going to be a music
phone. With the ipod apple fixed something and made it great.
People realized that the only difference this time is that apple
has that name that will get them the initial buyers.
Just one last thing (have you ever seen the apple commercials)
Apple=Fun, Music, Video, Creative/ PC= Business.....
*** DO YOU THINK THERE GONNA DO WITH THERE OWN
PRODUCTS
So there we have it my apple rant.
-Andrew G.
P.S. if you have not see the apple commercials (bc you dont
watch tv?) search google for commercials and it is the first link, i
think there kinda popular /sarcastic
grab some attention by baiting fans of Apple products.
CNET, you can do better.
Apple and Steve Jobs have fooled many an analyst over the years
trying to predict what Apple is going to release next. Its just
pure speculation.
My take on the iPhone - if it does exist. I'm sure it will be cool
and user friendly and just like most Apple products are - It will
work.
Will I buy one. I doubt it. For one. I bought an iPod because i
wanted to listen to music, my music. I don't want a MP3 player
with a tuner. I already have radios for that. I want a phone, a
plain ole phone to make calls. I already have a MP3 player and I
don't need a camera. I've already got 4 of those.
I bought a phone last year from Verizon. They only had one
phone that didn't have a camera in it. I didn't want to have to
pay extra for the phone. And there are a lot of places that you
can't take a camera into. Now these places are confiscating your
phones. Makes it hard to communicate now doesn't it?
we start speculating on something we haven't even seen.
This is the biggest load of horse Sh** i have read in a long time
how low can you go.
powerbook, something that syncronize flowless with my ical, my
mail and address book, no call drops, play my music like an ipod,
easy to use, and that thing is going to come only from apple....long
life iphone !!
debate buying the Apple phone, and even hold it up for a look.
But when they whip out the credit card, they'll probably opt for a
Motorola."
All cell phone manufacturers seem to suffer from the lets-load-
this-thing-up-with-so-many-features-that-none-of them-are-
really-done-that-well syndrome. I've got a nice digital camera
and I have a nice latptop and if I wanted a pda I'd get one. I
don;t want to chat on my phone. All I want is a phone and one
that is small (fits in my pocket) and easy to use and built with
some decent build quality. The RAZR is indeed one of the better
cvonstructed phones out there but as on all Motorola phones the
interface is SLOW and the UI is the absolute worst.
Apple understands the cardinal rule of "K.I.S.S." (keep it simple
stupid) and that is primarilly why their products appeal to
people. The iPhone will certainly be a harder sell than the iPod,
but if they offer a dead simple phone with a great UI and a a
good build quality I for one will toss my Motorola in the
garbage.
min.
When is the consumer wake up and realize is the cell providers that are calling the shots and putting these ancient and clunky and slow menus?!!
I have a Razor and I don't have any provider "UI" I have Motorola's own and is fast and responsive is a shame since the Razor is a great phone.
tomorrow:)
I do partially agree with you.
There is a small probability that sometimes, a newcomer or a new player comes with new fresh air, new ideas and new concept in a game where huge well-established players turn around in the same concepts for almost 20 years of cellular era.
Even today there are models that audio is not good, screen is not clean, functions are ackward, keyboard perfectible and whatever you may think.
How can you explain that after so many years in research in the same domain?? If the companies where listening to their respective public, there will be only one good models of each kind. Some sort of a good recipe.
The perfect product/cellular is not done yet and I do believe that there is place for innovation, changes and new ideas. And this kind of thinking could be applied to many others technological department.
Will Apple found the secret recipe? It's a good question. And I do agree with the author that this time, the players are more serious that it was in the portable audio market. Apple is known for many innovative concepts; some worked very well in the past (like the ipod thing) and some worked less (like the mini). But for sure, if you want to make a hit, it must start with an innovation somewhere.
But what Apple did when they launched the iPod? They produce an unexpected results where everyones says that nothing's new can happen. Does it look like this today too? An opportunity in a market that everyone think is over/no more space??
cheers!
Paul
:)
They (Motorola) would had a great product BUT the "old" management does not have the vision to look ahead.
Companies such as Verizon tend to basterdize a great piece of Hardware by demaning to have thier logo, icons, menu embedded in all the phones and in the process turn many features off.
If am going to pay 300-400 dollars for a phone I don't want to have it "lock" to any carrier, also I want all the features available to me and not turn off.
I see it as good thing that will give more power to companies like Motorola to be able to tell the carriers were not going to put your logo,ancient menus, in our phones and turn features off on purpose just so they can stick it to the consumer.
Motorola spends millions of dollars in coming out with better menus, that are easy to access to anyone. I say go apple.
Cisco has released the iPhone...
gloom and "the iPod isn't that great".. tell that to the tens of
millions they just sold in the last quarter. Or walk by the Target
isle with the unsold Zune's and the empty shelves where iPods
were before Christmas. I am on my THIRD iPod, I still have a 1st
Gen. 5 gig iPod, well I gave it to my Brother, its over five years
old and still working. He doesn't know how he lived without it,
and he will be getting my 4th gen. 20 gig iPod, which I have
replaced with another 30 gig video iPod...
I don't know if the "iPhone" or whatever it is called will sell as
well as the iPod, but even if it sells half as much it will do pretty
well.. and I don't have a cell phone yet, so I will take a look at it
and if it is as good as the iPod, I will probably get one of them
too...
Thank the gods we have Apple and the Mac to save us from the
Dark Side (Vista/Zune)
face with a phone is quite simply NOKIA. Nokia have shown how
to design brilliant phones with more importantly an incredible
OS - the Symbian V3 platform. You only have to look at the
awesome design and feature set of the up and coming Nokia
N95 (WIFI, HSDPA, Built in Sat Nav, etc) to realise that Apple
quite simply cannot pull something off that is going to satisfy
dedicated mobile users.
You want my opinion? Motorola are big in USA but their phones
are clunky, the interface a disaster and Apple unfortunately
should have looked to partner with Nokia or Symbian in
delivering a device. Indeed Nokia use Safari's web technology in
their amazing browser for series 3 Symbian phones.
I love Apple products and own many and have done for years.
But I cannot see myself purchasing an Apple phone that seems
to be basically an ipod with phone functionality attached to it.
Rather, i'd buy the Nokia N95 and keep my Shuffle.
Apple can succeed with the iphone only if they pull a trick out of
the bag - providing some kind of functionality or awesome
design that really IS something to blow you away. Otherwise
unfortunately the iphone is destined to be another Mac CUBE!
www.predicaments.com