So now the dust has settled on Steve Jobs big press conference and as you already know (even our commentators beat us too it) these are the final release details for the iphone uk :
- Release Novemeber 9th.
- The Iphone UK will be exclusive to 02 and c…

The phone is superb, it sync’s up immediately and I cant wait to see what’s next !

Think 300/300 and the Wildcat BBS days. I could never ever possibly dream of buying a non 3G device especially one so feature laden to take advantage of the web etc. I saw the comment that a trade off with 3g is too bad, but with my N95 it seems the bluetooth and wifi and GPS mapping are the really battery culprits.

I can understand why most who haven’t used 3G can dismiss it easily, but the lack of it in a market arena that has it will be very trying. I can imagine a lot of people/early adopters here will have had 3G capable phones going to an Apple and then wondering why it feels so slow for email, browsing etc.

As for cloud WiFi even in the city it’s pretty patchy and you pretty much have to stand still if you are using it.

- make calls
- listen to my music library
- listen to radio
- watch &make movies
- watch & make pictures
- manage my contacts
- connect my laptop to the internet using bluetooth (3G)
- browse the web
- email
- send messages
- get realtime traffic information
- navigate using gps (tomtom)
- play games while I’m waiting…
- as a calculator/currency converter

I want ONE device in my pocket to do all of that, not 10!

The major sticking points for European customers are likely to be no tactile feedback for texting and the Edge network. US customers text far less and the Edge network is king here - not the case in Europe. And it still amazes me that many people haven’t yet realized why customers buy the iPhone - it’s a slick all-in-one device. It’s not for the power business user, it’s for the tech yuppie that lives in all of us.

And I don’t see many people thinking to themselves “I’d like to buy an iPhone, but I’ll just buy an iPod touch instead”

Well yess, but for that I can use my current phone which can do all that. And get a decent speed out of it. And my phone has GPS….

Another minor problem, which Apple would face in my country (Netherlands) is that all providers have or are dismantling the Edge network….

Without a keyboard, I have to look at the phone for a lot of calling operations, for instance when i listen to my voicemails, there are several keys i can press for FF etc.

AFAIK the bluetooth implementation of the iPhone is crippled…

I like the Touch/iPod, because there are moments i don’t need to have my phone around..

As for the iPhone, O2 actually sounds good, the whole only one service in the US for carrier-necessities was a big mistake. I especially love how a young hacker even took down the security protocols for the Wi-Fi access. Cheers. I can’t wait to see if the cloud will make the Wi-Fi nice for the iPhone. I still have yet to get an iPhone though…

Eventually, there’s still too much hype with little substance other than a sometimes fast-moving GUI.

I have a MBA from UNC Chapel Hill and Master degree in Computer Science/Engineering from UMass at Amhert. I am a software developer, an entrepreneur and I am an iPhone user.

But, forget about my background for a moment and let me tell you two stories (cases) about iPhone experiences from the user point of view and why I think we ain’t seen nuthing yet about the momentum that iPhone is creating for the industry.

Case #1: I have a friend who was about to upgrade to a smartphone. Like any other young (20s something) cell phone users, he uses data more then voice and he spends more of his computing time on his laptop. But, he is a marketing/sale person, not a techie. So, like anyone else, he began shopping around and reading review about smartphones in the U.S. market. His choices came down to either RIM’s blackberry, Palm based treo, Pocket PC based and Nokia smartphones. But, he never considered an iPhone (it was 2 weeks ago, and the 8G iPhone still costs him US$600). One day, after all his research in the market and before he decided to head to Verizon to pickup his blackberry pearl, he called me and asked if that is a good choice. I told him why not give iPhone a try and just get it for a 14 days period, if he didn’t like it, just return it. Well, a few days later he called me again and said that Apple just lowered the price with a US$200 cut on iPhone and he is going to get one and see. Now, it’s been a week since he got his iPhone and he told me that he is keeping the iPhone and the reasons are:

1. It has been the best experience during this past week. He accesses his gmail account for email 24×7, the UI design is so cool and easy.
2. The calling and SMS experience are amazing. iPhone kept all his call logs in a very intuitive way with all his hundreds of contact right there for easy access.
3. He has an iPod, and he sold his iPod. iPhone has become his iPod and smartphone. When a call comes in, music fades away and the transition is awesome. He loves it.
4. He has been using iPhone more than his laptop now, because he can do most of his things now on iPhone (browsing, email, IMs, SMS, etc.). And the other day, he needed to purchase a concert ticket and he thought he have to go back home to use the laptop to research and purchase the ticket online. Instead, he used his iPhone and completed the task while still hanging out with his friends in the mall.
5. This is a plus, I don’t know the truth to it, but here it is. There has been more hot chicks talking to him and having conversation with him now since he got his iPhone. (Don’t know about this one, but he think it’s because iPhone).

Well, it turned out that after he got his iPhone for more than a week, there has been more people around him buying iPhone after he showed them his iPhone. (These people include his father, girlfriend, co-workers and friends that he hangs out the most).

Case #2: I know I will get an iPhone eventually, but I waited for 3 months because there are still some facts that I don’t like about iPhone being a techie:

a. Safari browser under current iPhone does not support flash. So, you know if you are into Web videos, that’s a big minus.
b. There is not ‘upload file’ support under the current Safari browser.
c. There are no native IM clients available.
d. There is google maps integration, but w/o a build-in GPS, it is kinda crippled.
e. Camera quality is overall good, but lack of video capability.
f. I just don’t like AT&T’s EDGE network (non-3G). This is actually a BIG one.

But then, I was ready to visit China and Taiwan for 10 days and want to show off an iPhone to all my friends and family there how sexy an iPhone is. So, I went and bought one from AT&T store just one day before my trip. I thought I will return it after the trip and wait for Apple to improve those minus points I listed above then I will get one again.

Well, the minute I got my iPhone, I played with Safari and I decided to write Safari app for it. So, 3 hrs later, I have a simple photo sharing app ready before I head to Asia. I was excited that, now, not only I can show them the iPhone, I have a custom built app for it.

I didn’t return my iPhone after my trip and I found out more about why I am keeping it:

1. All the 5 points in the Case #1 applies to my case except the #5 (I am married).
2. Inside iPhone is actually OS X, which is a BSD based UNIX operating system. That means it is a fullblown UNIX computer. Not a handicaped smart phone. So, just this one, set it apart from the rest of the competiters out there in the smartphone market. All the UNIX developer out there can start developing applications for it only to learn a tiny bit of other things what iPhone UI is all about, but as far as programming go, they will really feel at home (Well, at this moment, Apple hasn’t decided to open up for 3rd party developers yet. e.g. Sarafi as a development platform is quite limited.) But this has prevent people from coming out of native apps. At the moment, I have about 20 3rd party apps on my iPhone.
3. Being a developer and an user, I spend more time on my iPhone because it allows me to:
a. ssh into my server to do whatever I need to do remotely. (It is sorta like my 24×7 ultra portable computer). I actually ssh into my server in the co-location server and applied a patch to my web server application and reboot apache and published a new release for my web app. Sent out emails to my users annouced the new release and exchanged some messages with the users. All in the comfort of StarBucks couch.
b. read online bible (the book of Romans) while I was waiting for a friend outside the bench of Barns and Noble under the early morning sun.
c. browse and edit my blog while listening to my iTunes collections.
d. get a call from my sister while listening to iPod, and on hold to check an email message about a question she asked me and resume to tell her the answer.
e. I am helping a friend who is a very talented graphics artist to customized (pimp) his iPhone in a way that no other smartphone out there are capable. i.e. customized ring tone, rearrange the whole dock, icons, themes and install my unix scripts onto his iPhone for automatic tasks and this is all FREE to him. And, I believe there will be some good business models coming out of this effort.
4. Well, it turned out most of the smartphones out there are also suffering a lot of those minus points I listed above (a - f).
5. Apple can really release a update on it’s iPhone firmware and most of (a - f) will be gone.

So, do I need to continue why there is an iPhone phenomenon?

Now, here is a trick that Apple deals with the AT&T disadvatage. Apple just introduced iPod Touch. For those who doesn’t really like AT&T and don’t really need another smartphone, there is a very good reason to jump on the bandwagon now and enjoy the life style that I have mentioned above having a UNIX computer and iPod in your pocket all the time, 24×7.

This may be common practice in the US but in belgium it’s illegal.

Personally, I’m not totally against it but I am disgusted by the way Apple is forcing customers to choose a particular carrier! Especially since there’s no advantage for the customer to switch carriers whatsoever…

I believe the customer should be free to choose which telco they want…

Not sure about the cloud…. coverage = london I suspect…

- Check email
- Google Maps
- Camera
- Create calendar events
- Create notes
- Bluetooth
- Stocks & weather apps

Not to mention poorer screen quality, no internal speaker or dock included.

[)amien

This means that basically the iPhone in France would be unlocked.

Even if this is unconfirmed, a french law forces the carriers to issue an unlocking code for all locked terminals after six months of usage, therefore the french iPhone would be unlockable after 6 months. Time for a parallel market on eBay