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June 7, 2007

Signs Of Trouble For the iPhone

Michael Arrington

38 comments »

CrunchGear writes about some troubling signs around the upcoming iPhone on the same day BusinessWeek says it could become a $10 billion business for Apple. The launch date is the last business day of June, for example, suggesting Apple really needs more time but fears the consequences of missing their June launch date. Another problem: the iPhone may have a glass screen which will break very easily. And more on that touch-screen keyboard.

I’m on Apple’s side on this one. CrunchGear is simply spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt about this revolutionary new product. See here for all of our iPhone coverage.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 7th, 2007 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. Somewhat Frank

    June 9th, 2007 at 7:23 am

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  1. kit

    June 7th, 2007 at 3:47 pm

    What’s up with this post? I thought Michael Arrington is all sweet and dandy and nice and beautiful and saying all the good things about iPhone.

  2. Ali

    June 7th, 2007 at 3:49 pm

    Why is there a windows icon on the top left of the iPhone graphic? Somebody has a real evil streak in them.

  3. kit

    June 7th, 2007 at 3:49 pm

    With the freaking high price tag, iPhone is destined to fail.

  4. kit

    June 7th, 2007 at 3:50 pm

    ooh…. Arrington just added the second paragraph.

  5. Michael Arrington

    June 7th, 2007 at 3:51 pm

    it is a work in progress.

  6. netmuse

    June 7th, 2007 at 4:00 pm

    But how is its voice clarity??? It’s a phone remember???

  7. Bemmu

    June 7th, 2007 at 4:00 pm

    With any complex new computer like the iPhone, there are bound to be things that go wrong the first time. It may need a bit of iteration, perhaps until iPhone 2 for everything to be as rosy as in the ads :)

  8. Gary King

    June 7th, 2007 at 4:18 pm

    Wait, did Arrington just criticize is his own CrunchGear? That looks weird to me :)

    I hope it’s not a glass screen. Why would they ever do that?! The closest that I’ve gotten to a touch screen recently is the Nintendo DS’s screen, and so far, it’s very reliable after stabbing at it with my figures for hours on end.

  9. jason

    June 7th, 2007 at 4:32 pm

    I guess I’m still at a loss as to how this unreleased product is supposed to revolutionize the world. It’s been announced now for months and it really has generated anything other than hype.

  10. Jessica

    June 7th, 2007 at 4:42 pm

    Well, we could always wait 3 weeks until we have the thing in our hands.

  11. CVOS Netpaths

    June 7th, 2007 at 4:51 pm

    Sweet - techcrunch is using its own websites to build viral traffic to itself. Left hand says right hand is a douche. Right hand denounces left hand and the fans love it.

    Bloggers cant stop the iphone from being a revolutionary device.

  12. Photography Jewelry

    June 7th, 2007 at 5:05 pm

    Was going to get one but decided to wait until they work out the bugs. Got a dash instead.

  13. Doug

    June 7th, 2007 at 5:22 pm

    This seems a bit weak to spell doom for the iPhone. Even if they get it out in July, the earnings will still come. And Apple almost always has some issue with the first iteration of a product so I would expect there to be something wrong with the touch screen. And the battery. And the software. But other than that it should be okay. except for the bluetooth.

  14. ix

    June 7th, 2007 at 5:28 pm

    the biggest threat is that the assumption that these are going to sell like hotcakes is baked into the stock price, the assumption that beacuse ipod was a hit, this will be.

    i want my 700 mhz gPhone!

  15. AHoyt

    June 7th, 2007 at 5:53 pm

    http://www.mewantiphone.com

    hey guys, theres this really cool site that is awesome and has bloggin and stuff. http://www.mewantiphone.com

    its pretty sweet, also if you have like a buisness or a company, you can advertise for pretty cheap!!!

    http://www.mewantiphone.com
    try it out, its awesome!!!

  16. Peter

    June 7th, 2007 at 6:15 pm

    I don’t think the iPhone is revolutionary…. at all… come on now everyone how can u believe it is……….I also have to say that the HTC Touch (the new windows mobile device with multiple input) is also a disapointment if its suppose to compete with the iPhone (it doesn’t even have GPS)…..

    Plus the lack of a keypad or qwerty is terrible…..I would never personally buy a phone now that is just a touchscreen…….

    and not to mention the tacky iPhone commercials to date……especially that last one Michael pointed out!

  17. km4

    June 7th, 2007 at 6:26 pm

    > Signs Of Trouble For the iPhone…but I’m on Apple’s side on this one.

    Hey Arrington perhaps your true calling is being a sensationalism tabloid writer…

  18. Jonathan

    June 7th, 2007 at 6:29 pm

    Of course, those who say ‘wait until it’s out before you comment on it’ had no problems slamming the Zune for months and months. Just sayin’.

  19. tapster

    June 7th, 2007 at 6:29 pm

    @16 - have to disagree on the ads. They’re possibly the best phone ads I’ve ever seen - how many others show that kind of view where the product just speaks for itself. I’ve been trying to avoid the allure, but no, I think I’ll be chomping at the bit by 6/29

  20. Huckleberry

    June 7th, 2007 at 6:31 pm

    With all of the hype surrounding this thing I can’t see how it could possibly live up the expectations. Even it’s perfect in every way it will end up being anti-climatic.

    Let’s hope Apple gets ALL of the bugs worked out before it goes to market or this could be the biggest flop of the year. I bet Microsoft would love for everyone to start talking about how the iPhone is missing this or that and take a little heat off of the shortcomings of Vista.

  21. David

    June 7th, 2007 at 6:33 pm

    Michael,

    Oh, you mean a glass screen like the one on my buddy’s Treo 650 that shattered today? At least the phone still worked even though the LCD was shattered. ;-)

    Plastic would look like crap and scratch too easy. What other material would you suggest?

    The iPhone is a gorgeous device like the ipod and the original nano, but like those brethern, it will have to be sheathed in a nice case to keep it looking sharp. It really blows to put such a pretty device in a clunky case - sigh.

    To me, the REAL issue with the iPhone is the network. Why create the worlds best phone and then marry it with a crappy service like AT&T’s Edge network? If the iPhone is “the internet, on your phone” then network speeds need to be EVDO capable, not Edge.

  22. Bruce

    June 7th, 2007 at 6:58 pm

    I thought the screen mas made out of Transparent Aluminum?

  23. Mikey

    June 7th, 2007 at 6:58 pm

    I’ll be in line to get one. Sold.

  24. ali

    June 7th, 2007 at 6:58 pm

    Arrington we know that CrunchGear is autonomous, you don’t have to feed it to us. ;)

  25. Akshay

    June 7th, 2007 at 7:20 pm

    You really need to come up with better ways to market your crunchygear. I know making posts like iPhone will bomb will attract a lot of attention to your website but I hoper people are smarter then that.

    Nice try anyways.. We need someone to teach us a lesson in viral marketing.

  26. Akshay

    June 7th, 2007 at 7:22 pm

    Oh and also.. this is the third post about iPhone you posted this week. I thought this blog was about startups?

  27. matthew

    June 7th, 2007 at 7:40 pm

    the iphone is going to suck in innumerable ways.

  28. Spud

    June 7th, 2007 at 7:55 pm

    It will be fine. The iPhone will rock!

  29. No... you got it wrong

    June 7th, 2007 at 9:20 pm

    It’s plastic screen like classic PALMTOP

  30. Jon Martin

    June 7th, 2007 at 10:04 pm

    What is revolutionary about it? It’s like a poor mans Nokia N95 with pretty colours but without a 5 megapixel camera and without 3G. The touch screen could be nice (it could also be terrible) but it’s not exactly a new idea.

  31. Jon

    June 7th, 2007 at 10:24 pm

    All due respect to CrunchGear but I have more trust for BusinessWeek regarding “accuracy”, even though both articles are absolute speculation - meaning their foundations are shaky at best. Not sure when speculation became newsworthy… must be a very slow day in news cycles.

    Jon

  32. Antoine

    June 8th, 2007 at 12:40 am

    Whatever the price tag : if it really brings something new, people will buy it. There will be no real competition for this kind of device at least on 2007.
    Plus, we all know it’s an Apple product ;)

  33. Simon Leyland

    June 8th, 2007 at 2:24 am

    @Jon M, I agree iphone needs 3g, 5 megapixel camera and GPS to compete with the N95. But does the N95 have the ability to display the latest web apps? It seems the iphone is built to display them through a feature rich browser.

    Having said i’ve gone for a N95 and will wait another 12 months to see how the iphone pans out. I’m willing to be though the iphone will be just as big a seller for apple as the ipod.

  34. Will

    June 8th, 2007 at 6:57 am

    I agree…that’s sort of lame. Arrington bashing his own CrunchGear? Sounds suspicious…

  35. Rob

    June 8th, 2007 at 8:04 am

    Check this iPhone Video reaction: http://www.viddler.com/explore/cdevroe/videos/179/

  36. Information Madness

    June 8th, 2007 at 10:49 am

    I would not buy $750 phone just because its so “cool”. Half of the poeple won’t even use all the features that this phone has. They might buy it just something brag about.

    If I am happy with my contract service provider which would be cheaper then damn expensive AT&T, why would I change my network and buy this phone ?

  37. George P.

    June 8th, 2007 at 1:27 pm

    Is it time to long the puts and write the calls? Maybe..

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