Comments on: Now the patents make sense: the iPhone

By: Rick Mahn

Rick Mahn — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 18:21:18 +0000

Kevin,
I believe that other products on the market have already ‘answered’ the ‘iPhone’ in the aspect of media player meets mobile phone. Palm, Symbian, and most significantly, Windows Mobile have had the ability to sync & play digital audio for quite some time.

Windows Mobile specifically has had this capability from day one. Ease of syncing media has also been there since Pocket PC 2003SE/Smart phone 2003SE because of Windows Media Player 9 sync support for the devices (part of Plays for Sure).

Now sure, you can point out that the audio quality of these devices does not compare well to dedicated media players. You can also point out the lack of storage on existing and past devices, with the most ever offered being 256MB (I believe) though the usual lately is 128MB. You can also point out that the miniSD/microSD/SD/CF storage options don’t always allow for enough real space for all the music one wants to take with. But these are just hardware issues that the Palm/Windows device makers will address.

The real innovation (from what little I’ve seen of the device personally) that the Apple phone bring to the niche is the interface and the physical design. As usual, the interface seems to be a model of simple elegance. The phone itself is stunning to me because of the truly sleek button less (another issue for another time) surface.

BTW – thanks for the great coverage of everything at CES! Made it a lot of fun to read!

By: Sumocat

Sumocat — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:42:52 +0000

@ Tablet PC User
A standard touchscreen offers little more than cursor manipulation, like a single-button mouse. Doesn’t matter how you touch it, a touch is still a touch. Multi-touch, however, can recognize two points of contact and potentially provide an alternate command.

Apple already does this to an extent with their Macbook trackpads (one finger moves the cursor, two scroll the page) but working the screen directly opens up other options. For example, a tap with one finger could trigger a mouse left-click but a tap with two could trigger a right-click. A touchscreen game controller would require multi-touch with one thumb working the pad while the other works the buttons. Also, an on-screen keyboard on a multi-touch screen would work more like a physical keyboard.

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 07:57:00 +0000

I don’t know of any smartphone/PDA that would last 3 days playing video. My phone lasts 3 days if I don’t use it for anything, and I bet the iPhone will too, but as soon as I start web browsing or making calls it’s going to need charging that night. If all you have a problem with is the fact that it’s a convergence device with only one battery to share among the features then this isn’t a problem new to the iPhone, as you pointed out your phone has the same problem. Pick up one of Duracell’s portable chargers and you’re good to go.

By: Tablet PC User

Tablet PC User — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:36:23 +0000

@ Keith! Brilliant idea! How does this make my life more convenient when I have to be tethered to a recharge cable at the airport? My phone has MP3/Video/Camera/Internet/Bluetooth/touchscreen and I get ticked when I have to charge every 3 days of active use. @sumocat I'm still waiting to see how the single-touch active digitizer in my tablet PC will result in new ways to interface with XP. If we can't get our heads around single touch, how is multi-touch going to blow everything away? BTW, I saw the youtube video of the multi-touch http://youtube.com/watch?v=89sz8ExZndc (original video by Jeff Han is at http://youtube.com/watch?v=5JcSu7h-I40&mode=related&search= ) I still can't see how I'm going to use this for to make my life simpler! Multi-touch was tried back in the 1980s (see http://www.billbuxton.com/leebuxtonsmith.pdf )..which makes multi-touch a resurrection and not an innovation. I'm curious though...does the proximity sensor emit any electromagnetic-waves to detect location? Any ideas if this new technology will cause any effects on humans?

By: Sumocat

Sumocat — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:32:52 +0000

Forgot to answer the questions:
#1 – Zune cannot compete against this device. That’s not a slam; Microsoft simply cannot make a smartphone without stepping on all the guys already making WinMo smartphones. They only entered the MP3 player market directly because no one could make a dent in Apple’s market share. Apple is entering the smartphone market as a new player in the field. Despite their superior device, they won’t command the same dominance, at least until it becomes apparent that OS X beats the pants off of Windows Mobile.

#2 – See my previous sentence.

By: Sumocat

Sumocat — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 18:17:46 +0000

Aaron: “Pardon me Mr. Jobs, haven’t we had touch screen navigated by just a finger for going on a year on the UMPCs, or am I missing something?” –You’re missing the part where you can use two fingers to manipulate data, like zoom in and out of images. That opens a new realm of interface options for developers.

By: Tax Man

Tax Man — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 13:59:51 +0000

I currently use a Cingular 8125. When the iPhone is available, the 8125 is getting replaced!

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 12:16:13 +0000

Paul-
All GSM phones in the US do in fact use SIM cards. In fact, it’s such a non-issue that I would have been surprised if Apple bothered to mention it. You can buy unlocked phones and use them with any GSM carrier you like, though the actual phones you tend to buy from them tend to have customized software and they don’t always play nice on other networks (the T-Mobile Sidekicks, for instance, lose all but their phone capabilities if you use them on any other network FWIU; I think that’s an exception rather than the norm, though).

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 03:34:30 +0000

I must admit, the iPhone is a beauty. All the Mac fan boys (and girls) at my job where all over me about it when I came through the door. It is a sweet looking device.

But one thing bugs me. In the description on Apple’s website, they are touting the touch screen using just a finger as a technological breakthrough by Apple. Pardon me Mr. Jobs, haven’t we had touch screen navigated by just a finger for going on a year on the UMPCs, or am I missing something?

Now on to my Microsoft rant. And please keep in mind I love Windows. But ….

Bill, what are you thinking man? Regardless of the ultimate price of this thing, it is just flat out beautiful. With all the minds at Microsoft, couldn’t somebody have thought of this before? I know, MS doesn’t make hardware, but you couldn’t encourage more innovation from your partners?

And aren’t you learning anything from the success of your own Xbox and now the Xbox 360 and Zune that maybe it is time to seriously start rethinking your “partner” relationships and start doing more stuff on your own? Still would be the same company.

As far as I’m concerned CES is over. There will not be any news of as much cultural/consumer importance coming from there for the rest of the week that will overshadow what Apple has done. I don’t care how nice the new Toshiba looks or how great the new HP tablet is.

By: Paul J Shadwell

Paul J Shadwell — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 01:25:00 +0000

The iPhone looks great and I love the interface. But as usual, it looks like we will not see this device in Europe for some time, if at all, we’re still waiting for PS 3s and Zunes to show up on our shores.
In Europe, it would certainly need to have a SIM slot somewhere and I don’t see it in the details here unless I missed it. Having a SIM card means that you don’t have to change your number or contract everytime you get a new phone, something I’m surprised hasn’t caught on in the States, you do seem to have some restrictions there imposed by the mobile phone companies.
Still, it’s a little retribution for what we don’t have here such as iTunes and xBox Live downloadable movies and TV shows.
Keep up the good work James and Kevin, I’m loving the regular updates from the show.