January 19, 2007

iPhone: It’s Also a Hard to Use Cell Phone

Michael Arrington

90 comments »

I came across two iPhone YouTube videos this morning. The first one is serious - Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer scoffing at the iPhone in a way that makes it seem like he’s actually a bit nervous about it. He pushes the Motorola Q as a mobile Windows device that he says is a better choice for business users - “It will do Internet.” I don’t know what Motorola Q he’s using, but mine barely makes phone calls in between crashes. The second video is pure humor, and very relevant given all the hype around this yet to be released device.

Sphere It

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hornswaggled

January 19th, 2007 at 10:20 am

Awesome video… its a treadmill.
Allen Stern

January 19th, 2007 at 10:21 am

Mike - we already know your position with Apple. I do agree with him that the cost will be a huge factor for this device. This is not as easy as picking up an iPod which you can even get in a vending machine these days. This is a LOT more complicated (which my math on CN shows $1936 first year usage at the base level) and while users like yourself will flock and purchase up this device very quickly, Steve is right about this device for business. It’s not there. There will be a very high initial demand but that demand will drop quickly once it gets past the wealthy set.

Don’t get me wrong, its a pretty device.
Michael Arrington

January 19th, 2007 at 10:24 am

Allen - how about a gentleman’s bet? Let’s take a look at the iPhone a few months after launch and find an objective or third party way of verifying if it’s a true business device. Loser has to write a post about how TechCrunch was right and CenterNetworks was wrong. Deal?
Morgan

January 19th, 2007 at 10:32 am

Deal.

Oh yeah nobody cares what I think. On principle though, I wouldn’t use the iPhone to wipe. “You don’t want your phone to be an open platform.” No? I don’t? Oh thanks, I had forgotten what I wanted.

I think that’s as laughable as anything Ballmer could ever say about the iPhone.
Curt

January 19th, 2007 at 10:32 am

Allen - NO ONE knows that the rate plans will be for the iPhone, Cingular has not made them public yet.

Second, has ANY reporter caught on to the fact that this will use cheaper and faster Wi-Fi for data when available? I refer you, and all reporters out there, back to the keynote - the iPhone will *seamlessly* switch between Edge ($$$) and Wi-Fi (faster and cheaper).

Name one phone that will do that other than the iPhone. I can tell you this is somewhat of a concern for Cingular as they are trying to increase revenue from data traffic.

Lastly, the iPhone at the keynote was not feature complete and therefore can not be reviewed as a business device until such time as it’s officially launched.

To those that truly use a lot of data, this will save a boat load over their existing plans.
Michi

January 19th, 2007 at 10:32 am

People seem to commonly forget Apple isn’t after the *mass market*! They don’t want 50%. They are aiming for only 1 in 100 interested consumers over the course of an entire year. They don’t need everybody to afford the iPhone right now. I think there are enough techies and rich people out there willing to shell out $500 for a smart phone that is “cutting edge” and the next fashion gadget.
Brian

January 19th, 2007 at 10:37 am

Condiment dispenser!! That’s good stuff.

I would have to agree with Ballmer a bit on price. I can not see buying the first generation of iphone due to limited capacity. I can not replace my 30GB ipod with a 4GB or 8GB iphone. I don’t know the stats, but there are probably a lot of ipod users that have had them for a few years that exceed the capacity of 4GB. Then it just becomes an expensive cell phone.

And Allen’s estimate is on the low end if you actually talk on your cell phone. If you use any amount of minutes a month the costs will rise significantly.

Michael, If I had to bet I am would go with Allen
Michael Arrington

January 19th, 2007 at 10:38 am

Brian - that’s ok. I’ll take both of you on the terms I proposed.
Dave

January 19th, 2007 at 10:42 am

DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS

God I hate that dude. What a nervous nelly.
hornswaggled

January 19th, 2007 at 10:43 am

My little sister(22) wants one, my little brother(20) wants one, my mother wants one. None of them will use this for business.

When you think about paying 200-300 for an ipod alone the price really isnt that much of a barrier. The barrier if any will be the data plan. Everyone that gets this phone will want to go online. Those data fees will rack up.

I have the sprint SERO plan with a Treo 700wx where I have unlimited data and use it more than I should (slingbox). If the iphone was free I wouldn’t switch unless Cingular’s data plans changed drastically.
Fashion Industry Ceo

January 19th, 2007 at 10:49 am

I’ll will bet you mike!
Jonathan Jiang

January 19th, 2007 at 10:49 am

Ballmer scoffing at the iPhone is like a mouse talking crap about a juicy piece of cheese when its hungry.

You can see it in his eyes - he wants one too!
Yan

January 19th, 2007 at 10:51 am

Mike, how much are you paid to BS the Q the way you do?
Michael Arrington

January 19th, 2007 at 10:54 am

Yan - no one’s ever offered me money to trash a competitor (or themselves), so in this case nothing.
Blake

January 19th, 2007 at 10:57 am

People see to overlook the ability to make iPhone specific web apps. Seems like the access point for pretty much anything. Given time, they’ll add flash & such to the browser, and with new versions the original iPhone 1.0 will be $49 with a two year plan.
This is the birth of a whole new iPhone economy, just like the iPod.
Brian Laesch

January 19th, 2007 at 10:59 am

I don’t know where I heard it, or if it’s a real quote, but I heard someone say “it’s 5 years ahead of all other cell phones.” That’s the most ridiculous statement I’ve ever heard if it’s true.
Morgan

January 19th, 2007 at 11:10 am

I don’t overlook iPhone web apps– I discount them. Unless you want to be soaking up data plan minutes while you’re doing anything, it’s just not for me. And especially on portable devices, you are much more limited in what you can do with JS at a reasonable speed. I’m sure there will be services, and I’m sure I won’t want to use them.

I was thinking a looping “You don’t want your phone to be an open platform,” would be a great ad for the Linux phone coming, or the N800 for that matter. Just mock turtlenecks flying around, that audio loop, and application after application that won’t run on the iPhone.
Fullman

January 19th, 2007 at 11:12 am

Mike, if your Q *truly* crashes as much as you say it does, I’d either exchange it, or stop installing the equivalent of CrashWare on it.

Then again, some of your more regular readers may be on to something…
Michael Arrington

January 19th, 2007 at 11:19 am

Fullman - thanks for the suggestion that I’m being paid off to trash the Q. Makes sense to me. I write whatever people pay me to write.
Scott

January 19th, 2007 at 11:21 am

I believe that the iPhone and all cell phones for that matter are a waste of time and money.
Josh

January 19th, 2007 at 11:23 am

“Loser has to write a post about how TechCrunch was right and CenterNetworks was wrong. Deal?”

Tricky, tricky, Mike. Heads I win, tales you lose.
Michael Arrington

January 19th, 2007 at 11:24 am

finally someone actually reads the terms before they agree.
iPhone vs. Googlephone?

January 19th, 2007 at 11:29 am

Let’s not forget that rumors have been going on for a while that Google has its own secret phone goodies baking in the oven.

Back in Dec/2006, there was a widely reported rumor that Orange (a cell phone co in Europe) and Google were talking about a “Googlephone”, and then right after iPhone news broke, there was another rumor that Samsung and Google had been working on a touch-screen-based cell phone device.

On the issue of price point, Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, is reported to have wondered aloud about a “free cell phone subsidized by Google ads” — now, that’s a price point you can’t beat. Here is the Engadget article about it:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/1.....oglephone/
Fitz

January 19th, 2007 at 11:31 am

One, two, three, four…I declare a flame war!!
Allen Stern

January 19th, 2007 at 11:36 am

Mike’s not paid off to trash the Q, he just plays garageband music backwards and apple messages come out

Yes, I will take you on your challenge What defines business though?
Michael Arrington

January 19th, 2007 at 11:48 am

Whatever you want it to, ’cause my intention is to rewrite history to make sure that I was right now matter what happens.
A real software man

January 19th, 2007 at 12:00 pm

I have been using PDA phones from HP and HTC in the last few years, and they are very far from “crashing between making phone calls”. I currently have a Windows Mobile 5 device from HTC and it crashes very rarely.

I have no idea about how good Motorola Q is, but in 2004 I begun using the HP IPAQ H6300 - which is VERY SIMILAR to the iPhone - http://www.gsmarena.com/hp_ipaq_h6325-1310.php

And yes, I could use this HP PDA-phone just by pressing with my fingers the buttons shown on-screen. And yes, it could play MP3 and video files, and could use a SD memory card which can have up to 4 GB capacity.

Apple boasts that iPhone is new, when in fact very similar devices exist at least from 2004 - and even earlier if we take into account the Sony Ericsson P800 or the Handspring Treo, etc.

Apple boasts about the “buttonless phone”, but the market has been moving away from touchscreen-only designs for years now. Many modern smartphones have a slide-in QWERTY keyboard - that is because it’s a lot easier to type on that than on an on-screen keyboard.

Perhaps all you are interested in is a music phone. Check out the Sony Ericsson W950i then - it has 4 GB of internal memory, without any card. And there are phones from Samsung which have 8 GB internal memory.

So - Apple is getting into this market LATE and with little original features. Instead, they boast-boast-boast, hype-hype-hype. And I don’t understand why, but people get enthusiastic about some features just because they are from Apple.

I wish Apple all the success in the world - but that success should be founded on something other than releasing a 2007 a copycat of a 2004 device from HP.
Robert Dewey

January 19th, 2007 at 12:05 pm

LOL @ Josh - good catch
Allen Stern

January 19th, 2007 at 12:17 pm

I knew you would say that… but remember you might be Ivan Drago, but I am Rocky

I will take Bill Gates in the 10th round over Jobs when Gates uses a sweater to put out Jobs.

I just bought a SLVR - in all seriousness, how come this device didn’t do so well? It has full iTunes…
ME

January 19th, 2007 at 12:18 pm

“I refer you, and all reporters out there, back to the keynote - the iPhone will *seamlessly* switch between Edge ($$$) and Wi-Fi (faster and cheaper).

Name one phone that will do that other than the iPhone. I can tell you this is somewhat of a concern for Cingular as they are trying to increase revenue from data traffic.”

Nokie N80IE.
Paul Freet

January 19th, 2007 at 12:20 pm

I think silly Steve does have a point. iPhone will likely be a killer consumer phone. They will sell millions - no doubt. But it does not look like a business device to me.

I agree with you about the Q. Windows Mobile is not there yet. I think Blackberry is the top of the heap for business users right now. I don’t have a camera or an mp3 player in my blackberry 7130, yet I would never trade it in for an iPhone. Besides, how would I reply to emails while driving on the freeway with one of those?

Seriously, you cannot type on a touchscreen. Tactile feedback is critical.
Michael Arrington

January 19th, 2007 at 12:25 pm

Paul - I agree about typing on a touchscreen completely.

However, I can’t type fast or without typos on my Q either. The keys are just too small and too close together.

What we need is decent (not even great) voice recognition software so that we can speak quick replies to emails and have it convert to text. It needs to be no better at typos than the small keyboards on phones today, and it will be a lot faster.
Yan

January 19th, 2007 at 12:29 pm

h6325 is what I have for a couple of years and on-screen buttons is the feature that irritates me the most. The tactile part of dialing the number appears to be very important.
Paul Freet

January 19th, 2007 at 12:30 pm

Yes, it’s a shame Apple didn’t announce that!

Those tiny keys are why I never got an early Blackberry. I think the new Blackberrys like the 7130 with the larger (shared) keys and word prediction might be the best compromise for people like me (big fingers).

Just saw the second video. Hilarious. Thanks!
David P.

January 19th, 2007 at 12:31 pm

The guy from Microsoft sounded like Jim Carey’s co-star in Dumb n Dumber. Btw did they really sell (millions, and millions, and millions, and millions, and millions, and millions, and millions) 7 million phones last year? Who needs a keyboard if they come out with a voice recognition software stronger than Dragon Naturally Speaking?

Paul Freet: This isn’t like your touch screen on the 8125 or similar 8525. The touch screen has already shown that it can handle more than one touch at a time, with NO LAG. All the windows mobile devices have such slow processors and bogged down memory. The reason why current touch screens don’t work is because you can only touch it one at a time and you have to wait a split second before touching again.
danny

January 19th, 2007 at 12:41 pm

If your Q crashes that often then u need to take it back and get a working Q…or you’re already an Apple Zombie…

I’m currently using a Treo 700Wx and haven’t had any problems…and yes it does everything that the iPhone is advertising and it does it marvelously…

BTW…i got the phone for FREE!!!!!!!!!
Leo Dirac

January 19th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

I agree that it’s gonna be a hard to use cell phone. I recently wrote about similar issues on my blog. Notably, why the iPhone will be impossible to use while driving. Reprehensible as the practice is, it’s a common use case.
Luke Karisny

January 19th, 2007 at 12:56 pm

In response to voice recognition, it sounds like Spinvox needs to reverse its business model.

I have a SLVR, but don’t use it to play music, because I have an iPod. I like this phone, because it’s insanely thin and its buttons are easy to use. I think Apple is breaking one of their own rules here: Keep It Simple Stupid! Apple is going to have a hell of a time marketing against one of their own products.
Dr. Q

January 19th, 2007 at 1:04 pm

“However, I can’t type fast or without typos on my Q either. The keys are just too small and too close together.”

Mike, you can’t even type without typos using a regular computer keyboard anyway.
Matt

January 19th, 2007 at 1:08 pm

Mike you can have your iPhone that will be locked down for two years with AT&T.

Many others are looking at the FIC Neo 1973 and the OpenMoko Platform

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenMoko

I cant belive that you like Apple so much when they are one of the main companies supporting vendor lock in .

Remeber this next time you write about DRM
Walt

January 19th, 2007 at 1:11 pm

While I realize there are other phones that play MP3s, looking at Steve’s responses, I’m curious:

When is Microsoft going to come out with a ZunePhone?
Matt

January 19th, 2007 at 1:28 pm

Just get this to hold you over until June:

http://www.lfstyl.com/blog/200.....sweet.html

A phone makes calls. An iPod plays music. The myBlue allows the two to connect via bluetooth.
Seamus

January 19th, 2007 at 1:51 pm

I cannot believe you take the time to respond to these dolts and idiots, Michael. I would think that you’d be busier than that. I mean, really, a post of Ballmer being an idiot, and a video mocking the iPhone leads to complaints that you’re an Apple fanboy? Perhaps these folks have been soaking in the aura of Monkey Boy too long: has anybody actually used Windows Mobile? I use it everyday, and damn, it’s a POS.
Idont

January 19th, 2007 at 2:30 pm

And think about the prices in europe… They will be even higher… My godness…

Let’s hope they do not use the same conversion rate as they usually do for video games: 1 USD = 1 EURO …. (A game is 60USD in US so it is 60 EUR…)
Herman Harvill

January 19th, 2007 at 2:31 pm

Hi, Mike,

Read with interest the Wall Street Journal article. I’m not quite sure you fit the “surf bum” made good discription. It makes an old teacher proud to read about successful former students. I like the tone you set with your articles in TechCrunch. Hope you get this and reply to my email.
Herm
Timothy Campbell

January 19th, 2007 at 2:39 pm

I don’t like it.
It’s an over featured, over hyped.

I want:
A plain black phone, featuring:
A clear and easy to read screen.
Space for all my contacts.
A ringtone that sounds like a phone ringing.
A normal phone keypad
The ability to make and receive calls and text.

Any recommendations?
danny

January 19th, 2007 at 3:18 pm

Hey Seamus …I got an idea…why don’t u unload some of that crap u have on your device (ahem..porn)..and maybe it won’t crash as often…

BTW…I’ve used Windows Mobile Devices for the past 3 years… I and thousands of others don’t have any problems…so why is it only u Apple zombies seems to be having these issues…?

BTW…don’t hurt yourself climbing down from that pedestal of yours… Picking on MS is sooooooooo last century…..
Zac

January 19th, 2007 at 3:55 pm

Curt’s claim is wrong:

“I refer you, and all reporters out there, back to the keynote - the iPhone will *seamlessly* switch between Edge ($$$) and Wi-Fi (faster and cheaper).

Name one phone that will do that other than the iPhone. I can tell you this is somewhat of a concern for Cingular as they are trying to increase revenue from data traffic.”

Some HP phones have had that feature since 2004. The real point isn’t that this feature is revolutionary, but how well it will actually work. Will it be seamless or “seamless”? Lets see what Apple can do!
Zac

January 19th, 2007 at 3:59 pm

Curt’s claim of the following is simply wrong:

““I refer you, and all reporters out there, back to the keynote - the iPhone will *seamlessly* switch between Edge ($$$) and Wi-Fi (faster and cheaper).

Name one phone that will do that other than the iPhone. I can tell you this is somewhat of a concern for Cingular as they are trying to increase revenue from data traffic.””

This feature of switching between Cellular internet and Wi-Fi has been around in some HP PDAs since 2004. The real point isn’t that this feature is revolutionary, but how well it will actually work. Will it be seamless or “seamless”? Lets see what Apple and Jobs can reallly do!
Allen Sligar

January 19th, 2007 at 3:59 pm

We’re in beta right now, but a number of our data points target market penetration for consumer electronics as it relates to video game consumers.

In fact we have initial market penetration data as it relates to cell phone manufacturer/model. After reading this and a few other articles I went ahead and priced those models (we’ve captured carrier information as well)
and looked at the expendature information we captured.

As far as video game consumers go, given our demographic distrobution, (we’re in beta so this is small sample size still) it looks like the iPhone’s price point is about 250.00+ above the sweet spot.

I’d like to revisit this in about a year when we’re live and our populations much higher. Anyhow Im definately adding some data capture as it relates to the product launch this summer.

What % of video game consumers bought an iPhone, and if they did what carrier/phone were they using before.

That should be a bell weather predicter of adoption for the 14-35 crowd.

FWIW: I agree with Allen’s initial position on purchase and consumption, but I dont think that pattern will hold 12 months out, given Apples history of lowering price points as production ramps up (personal observation as a previous employee, albeit a peon at the time) besides any killer Dev app’s comming out wont be available widely for about 3-4 months, perfected in 8-10…..at the 12 month point 3rd party App’s should hit critical mass…just in time for a drastic price reduction and convieniently enough new cheaper data transmission plans

Mike I’d increase your window by 4 months for a (mostly) sure win

Besides the first year is recouping production/development costs…..
Zac

January 19th, 2007 at 4:00 pm

Whoops didn’t mean too post twice. Admins feel free to delete one of them. Thanks. Sorry.
Paulie

January 19th, 2007 at 4:12 pm

Business users just do what I did 1.5 years ago. Buy a HTC universal, VGA browser, Skype, Voice Recognitions, Email, MP£ player.

Dunno what all the fuss is about….

Mr Paulie
Janek

January 19th, 2007 at 4:12 pm

The N80ie unfortunately does not seamlessly switch at all, or even switch that well at all. Basically anytime you start an application it asks what connection you want to use. It certainly won’t switch the connection in use by a running application (unless that application were to ask for a new connection I suppose).
In theory there’s a wifi scanner applet that looks for open networks and should open the web browser for you on that applet (but not other apps) but not even that works reliably for me…
Klaus

January 19th, 2007 at 4:16 pm

Say what you want but Ballmer is right on the point, most commentators missed the simple fact that the real iPhone price is $800.

For the same price you can get 3-4 state of the art 3G devices
Scott

January 19th, 2007 at 4:47 pm

Before anyone gets the wrong idea of the Motorola Q, I have had one for a couple of months now and got it for $99 thank you. It has yet to crash or unsuccessfully make a phone call. The only real problem I have had to battery life but installing the latest OS update from December cleared that up. The upgrade process is a bit painful but the battery life is now about 4X longer.

Even though I love MacOS and I love my ipod Nano, at $99 versus $599 for
the iPhone makes it an easy choice.
BlogReader

January 19th, 2007 at 4:50 pm

I can not replace my 30GB ipod with a 4GB or 8GB iphone.

What if you can plug your iPod in at home and have your iPhone stream over the internets off of it? I can see Apple adding that functionality.

Does this phone have bluetooth? I can see someone making a BT extension for an iPod so that you can carry it along in your backpack if you wanted to listen to 30G of music on a 1 hour walk.
Rollo

January 19th, 2007 at 5:12 pm

Whether the iPhone will be a success is not going to depend primarily on technology. As the Economist pointed out in an article, “Why phones are replacing cars” (http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2628969), almost 3 years ago: “What sort of phone you carry and how you customise it says a great deal about you, just as the choice of car did for a previous generation.”
Amy Wilsch

January 19th, 2007 at 5:15 pm

Rollo, reminds me of the scene from American Psycho regarding business cards. “Let’s see Paul Allen’s card…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y
Johnny 5

January 19th, 2007 at 5:32 pm

FROM CRN.Com

Wishing Apple’s upcoming iPhone was going to be a bit less expensive?

Well, there’s definitely plenty of room for some downward movement, according to an analyst firm.

Each Apple iPhone sold will generate nearly a 50% gross margin for Apple and its carrier partner Cingular Wireless, giving the companies a hefty profit, as well as plenty of room for future price cuts, according to a preliminary functional bill of materials (BoM) estimate created by iSuppli.

“iSuppli estimates the 4Gbyte version of the Apple iPhone will carry a $229.85 hardware BoM and manufacturing cost and a $245.83 total expense, yielding a 50.7% margin on each unit sold at the $499 retail price,” said Andrew Rassweiler, a senior analyst for iSuppli, in a written statement. “Meanwhile, the 8GByte Apple iPhone will sport a $264.85 hardware cost and a $280.83 total expense, amounting to a 53.1% margin at the $599 retail price.”

This kind of margin isn’t anything unusual for Apple, contends iSuppli.

The company has brought in margins of 45% or more on products like the iMac and the iPod Nano, the analyst company reports, adding that with wild competition in the cell phone/music device market, Apple may need to trim that market to stay in the game.

“With a 50% gross margin, Apple is setting itself up for aggressive price declines going forward,” said Jagdish Rebello, PhD, director and principal analyst with iSuppli.

The company, a newcomer to the cell phone arena, faces a bevy of competitors in music phones, with competitors expected to introduce 835 models this year alone. ISuppli estimates that 14 music-enabled mobile phones with features that compete closely with the iPhone already are shipping from companies such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung Electronics, and LG.

In terms of features and form factors, the closest competitor to the Apple iPhone is LG’s KE850, which will ship later this year, said Tina Teng, an iSuppli analyst, in a written statement. Other phones with similar characteristics include Nokia’s N800, Teng added, although this product is aimed more at niche markets than the iPhone.
Dudes Got to Have It

January 19th, 2007 at 5:44 pm

Amy,

Great video.

“My cell is diamond-studded! Hell, my dad is prettier than your dad, and my mom can karate-chop your mom!”
km4

January 19th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

Steve ‘Uncle Fester’ Ballmer should retire because he ( and MSFT ) are a joke who clearly do not get or offer simple yet very functional technology with very compelling UI’s.
Aldo Bender

January 19th, 2007 at 6:06 pm

I have been on a Mac since the day and currently use the Nokia 9300, which I consider the best that is out there at the moment. I am, however looking forward the new iPhone as long as AT&T can reign in the data usage plans they currently have. The Wi-Fi capabilities will be a big plus as long as switching networks is seamless…
Igor Haywire

January 19th, 2007 at 6:57 pm

WOW

Mike, You’re totally right, Balmer too. Who in Fucking Hell want to buy a MF phone for $500.00 TOOO MUCH FOR A screen based phone. Does apple will have to contract more idians or chinises to their call center to let the users support on how use it?

Come one those craps that excluded Mike and Balmer, but in my view, all those wrote wrong statements are compleltly fool and doesn’t earn money to buy stocks against making crap comments here.

Men and Girls, The bussiness models do when you sell much more. iPhone, Oh come on, apple have serious problem with the alphabet, maybe S. Jobs only knows the letter i, maybe he’s still fall in love about bIll. Set a rule as Mike Said, let’s see the market compentition, I don’t have any crap stocks for MS or even for apple, Oil it’s my goal.

Respect Mike, he’s serious inovative and informative man.

My $0,20 cents.
Chris

January 19th, 2007 at 7:22 pm

Mike, I like the way your thinking in terms of moving past the teeny weeny keyboard for typing. Time to move to voice. What I’d also like to see, though, are some web-based apps that become a repository and kind of liaison to the pc. ie, voice > phone w/voice recognition > phone app > web app
Jake McKee

January 19th, 2007 at 7:34 pm

I get such a kick out of the way people talk about the iPhone. If we take a step back in time and look at the first generation of the iPod, it sucked. No iTunes store, 5gb, monochrome screen, VERY basic menuing features, marginally functional physical UI, etc.

But here comes the iPhone and everyone seems to think that this is the last iPhone model we’ll ever see. Yeah, right.
Sam Jackson

January 19th, 2007 at 9:49 pm

I’ve seen a lot of people really trash-talk to Q, but I’ve had a pretty good experience with it. It was / is my first ever smartphone but I still like to think I have high standards. It can be frustrating at times but it’s been pretty good once I got the hang of it. Oh well–divergent user experiences are still a problem from a provider standpoint, if some are very bad.

Too bad the US phone market isn’t Japan…
Pramit

January 19th, 2007 at 10:58 pm

I think both Apple and Microsoft coming from PC background will have trouble dominating the mobile market. Microsoft has failed to do so so far and now it is Apple’s turn.
A real software man

January 19th, 2007 at 11:27 pm

?! Did MS try to dominate the mobile phone market? I think this is not the case.

I think they tried to dominate the high end of the smartphone market, and they succeeded brilliantly.
Fidel Guajardo

January 19th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

Apple has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for some very cool killer apps. I want to share my vision of these because I want someone to develop them so I can use them myself. Read about my Killer iPhone Apps at:
http://fidelguajardo.blogspot......-apps.html
Jayjee

January 20th, 2007 at 12:06 am

Arrington is a toolbox. His staff writers suck and I’m just about to remove him from my netvibes. You know, Netvibes. It’s a startup. TechCrunch used to review them; instead now they gossip and put on this pretentious show that they’re inherently privy to insider information. Never failing to mention, of course, that half of their content is “off the record.”

Gay ass shit.
Toolhater

January 20th, 2007 at 12:10 am

“What we need is decent (not even great) voice recognition software so that we can speak quick replies to emails and have it convert to text. It needs to be no better at typos than the small keyboards on phones today, and it will be a lot faster.”

Whaaaaaaaat? Speech recognition fucking sucks, and that’s why it’s not successful. It must be great, not decent. With all the accents in America from numerous people, speech recognition needs to be GREAT, not decent.

It’s like you’re not even paying attention anymore.
Nathan

January 20th, 2007 at 2:40 am

On a related - equally technical but non-audiovisual note - I thought some of you readers might possibly be interested in this:

“iPhone interface analysis from an actual usability expert [Bruce Tognazzini of the Nielsen Norman Group]. Gasp!”

http://www.asktog.com/columns/.....tLook.html
(via)
http://arstechnica.com/journal...../1/19/6688
(via)
http://digg.com/apple/iPhone_i.....xpert_gasp
(possibly via?)
http://digg.originalsignal.com/

Er- post hoc, ergo propter hoc:
“The article is long, but extremely insightful, so I highly recommend you actually read it after reading this post.”
Travis

January 20th, 2007 at 3:03 am

Fuck you. You found it after it was prominently featured on YouTube & Digg. Oh great seer of TechChrunch, unlay the future of mankind at the humble threshold of our minds. You pretentiuis prick.
ahajduk

January 20th, 2007 at 4:02 am

I believe that the latter video is from The Late Night Show with Conan O’Brien.
Oliver

January 20th, 2007 at 5:36 am

never mind that the iPhone features a sealed body construction like the iPod thus preventing the user from replacing a dead battery with a charged one ad-hoc.

This negates the functionality of the iPhone for any heavy user (especially when on WiFi), essentially making it “an expensive brick” a large percentage of the time.

By the way, there is software that supports the seamless switching between GPRS/Edge and WiFi, it’s called “Smartroaming” and is made by Birdstep.

Oliver
http://mobilecrunch.com
Al Delgado

January 20th, 2007 at 7:59 am

Ballmer looks very nervious and his tone of voice gives it away. One can thank Apple, whether you love or hate them, for attending to a what I think is my least favorite tool, the cell phone. Hey, if they can bring better usability features from the other cell makers that would be great for all! Even better would be if they could help bring down data service prices!! Then we should be cheering Apple for getting into the cell phone arena!!! Will the trolls please exit!
GJJ4

January 20th, 2007 at 8:06 am

I think this Iphone will be hugely popular, but not in the marketplace of business users. Every mom and dad who can’t say no to their kids will buy them one. I just think that’s the perfect market for this product. After all - how may 5g ipods have been sold to the under 18 market? How many of those users had their ipod bought for them by their parents? How many 6th graders do you see with a cell phone? (Even though at that age, they are rarely in a place where there is no phone access - they’re at their house, someone else’s house.) It seems to me that is the big market - the whining kids who parent’s don’t have the guts to say no to anything. That is going to be huge. And if apple and cingular want to make more money, they will subsidize by selling adverts to that market, much like free411.
Matthew

January 20th, 2007 at 10:11 am

I love all the “iPhone, it’s doomed” critics.

Even with all of the valid shortcomings (carrier-locked, to-this-point non-replacable battery, relative high cost, etc), Apple will sell through the iPhone without any problems.

This is a Gen-1 device. Just like the original iPod, there are aspects that suck, but if there’s one company that figures out what it does wrong and what 80% of us want, it’s Apple.

The only thing I can see that would help sales at this point is if it weren’t a carrier locked handset. There are a ton of us in the 19 States not covered by Cingular who would buy but can’t.

The rest of the stuff people don’t like can be fixed in future revisions, or by third-parties, who will make stuff like a clip on battery to get you through until you get to your desk, car, or airline seat where you can recharge if need be.

Regarding cost, sure, the people that hunt high and low for free-after-rebate phones will gripe, but those aren’t the people Apple is targeting. They’re going after people like me who have been buying unlocked phones for years, all of which cost very close-often more-than Apple’s existing price points.
Survival Shows

January 20th, 2007 at 10:40 am

The second video is awesome!!
other

January 20th, 2007 at 12:05 pm

It’s very clear that at some point your background not being in technology is hurting you. Your motorola q is too difficult to use? You must realize that for most of your readers configuring a phone to work properly is a joke, and everyone knows that if you have multiple awkward crashes, you go get a replacement, you don’t just keep it and continue to bitch endlessly about it. You seem like the “business guy” at engineering meetings who makes everything go twice as long because you have to explain how stuff works. And then he goes out and butchers the explanation to everyone else. Except your everyone else is the massive bunch of Techcrunch readers. Please learn about technology, and please be more considerate when you potentially have the future of people’s hard work and their products in your hands.
Hashim

January 20th, 2007 at 1:01 pm

People need to hold off in judging the iPhone’s capability as an email machine until they use the touch screen for an extended time.

I remember the firts time using an iPod after seeing everyone else have it for years, and wondering what the big deal was. I was blown away by the scroll wheel with no moving parts.

The same may happen with this iPhone touch screen.
grant

January 20th, 2007 at 1:28 pm

To conclude all the discussions, here is my prediction, loud and clear:
1. iPhone will NOT be a device like iPod, will never catch iPod’s success.
2. iPhone is very pretty, not a 2nd “Newton” for sure. But you have to do everything on iPhone with TWO hands, that is the curse to this golden flower.

Conclusion: there will be an one-hand operating iPhone in two years. And this first iPhone will not sell 10 mil in first year.
matthew

January 20th, 2007 at 3:02 pm

“iPhone will not sell 10 mil in first year.” They said the iPod would never sell.

“you have to do everything on iPhone with TWO hands,”

You might not pick up the iPhone and use it one-handed the first day, but people get very good at adapting to new devices. Take texting. Watch someone good at text and it’s seemingly impossible that anyone could text that fast.
Larry

January 20th, 2007 at 4:52 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRLRjKCGHek

zune phone parody… very funny!
TheKeeperOfThe7Keys

January 22nd, 2007 at 9:29 am

Do they still sell Zunes? Did they sell any?
Avatar

January 22nd, 2007 at 12:59 pm

yes they still sell zunes, it is expected to reach their first million this june.. they shooting low so they can announce that it did better than predictions, i am shooting for 1.2 millions.

they will also announce the new stuff to follow when the first million gets sold.
David Jones

January 25th, 2007 at 9:57 pm

I keep thinking about how expensive the iPhone is going to be. Yea I think it will be a very apealing phone. But im wondering if that $500 price tage and a potential Cell phone service change will put it out of reach to the bulk of the potential audience….minus the first adopters. Especially when you look at the bulk of their potential customers probably will be highschool or jr highschool age kids whos parents arent going to want to spend that much for a phone.
Naftali

February 1st, 2007 at 4:51 pm

I find it funny that Steve Ballmer would criticize anything. Microsoft has not come up with anything innovative, EVER. 5 years for a new OS, and Vista is what they came up with? What a joke. Zune? Who the hell wants one of those? (BTW, I am not a Mac User, though I just got an iPod)

People line up to buy iPods, new releases of Mac OS, and there will be huge lineups for the iPhone. Who lines up for Vista or Zune?

I am a Palm user since 1999. I just purchased a Treo 750v which I use for both business and personal. I would have loved to stay with the Palm OS, but they have been asleep at the wheel, so I’m on Windows Mobile now. I spent $900/CDN for this unlocked phone, yet I will most certainly take a look at the iPhone.

To summarize, I appreciate that Microsoft has built and dominated markets, but they dont build revolutionary products or designs, depsite the billions they have. Ballmer would be better spending his energy building wow products than sniping at a company that has shown it can do just that.