Steve Jobs to make a rare company-wide speech tomorrow
By Ryan Block 
posted Jun 27th 2007 8:51PM
posted Jun 27th 2007 8:51PM
From: Steve Jobs
Date: June 27, 2007 1:47:55 PM PDT
To: [redacted]
Subject: Town Hall Meeting Tomorrow
Team,
We're launching the most revolutionary and exciting product in Apple's history this Friday. And given Apple's legacy of breakthrough products, that's saying a lot.
I'd like to get together and share my thoughts about this amazing moment for our company. So please join me for a company-wide communications meeting tomorrow, Thursday, at 11:00AM in Town Hall.
This meeting will also be broadcast to other Apple campus locations. Please check [redacted] for details.
See you there,
Steve
The seccond redaction probably reads "iCommunicate"
Actually, it's probably AppleWeb, Apple's internal web site for employees that has traditionally been the way to spread information to all the campuses. iCommunicate was actually an old newsletter, IIRC...
Do'h you're right. i should hve checked my old email from el steveo... dang.
Rumors are that he will unveil a HD surprise bump to 8/16GB during that presentation. w00t!
Stop making stuff up!
Also, HD refers to High Definition. HDD refers to Hard Disk Drives, which the iPhone doesn't even use. If you don't want to use NVRAM, NAND of Flash you can always go with ubiquitous terms like storage or capacity.
Your Steveness, I worship thee! I kiss your toes! I'd even...I'd even...ahh forget it.
I'm sure there isn't gonna be anything "new" about this phone...
Also, i hope the iPhone clock starts working by tomorrow cuz tomorrow is June 28th and if the time stays "9:42" on the iPhone on June 29th @ launch.. That's not gonna be a good thing loll
Will we be able to find out what was said during the meeting? Maybe a super-secret video recording? Can an AppleTV even do that?
Maybe someone will use a 'revolutionary' phone that records video to record it.
What about something revolutionary like a user-replaceable battery?
Or equip it with 3G.
Having the iPhone on EDGE is like having a Lamborghini and being stuck in rush hour traffic.
If he was announcing anything it would be public, not within the company.
Dear god I gotta say this iphone is keeping engadget editors busy...
It sure is... Just be greatful that if it wasn't for Engadget, you'd have to do all the hard work to dig out the articles and stay up-to-date with the iPhone news
Engadget mobile is officially useless. All the 'important' (as selected by the editors) stuff appears on Engadget anyway. Why even bother, guys?
joseraulnova, seriously, right?
Deluxe, not at all. Engadget classic readers clearly want iPhone news. We're still, as always, publishing LOTS more mobile news on Engadget Mobile than we are on classic -- but there's no doubt that most of that iPhone news is making it to the front page.
Just for once, instead of just throwing it out there with a wink, could one of the Engadget writers please explain what, exactly, they think is so "revolutionary," "game-changing," "breakthrough," or just why they think it will be a "turning point for Apple, and possibly the gadget industry in general?"
From everything I have seen, this thing is at best Apple's copy of Windows Mobile, and nothing particularly special at all compared to what is going on with phones in Japan, Korea, or China. It has a lot of hype, but aside from the rather self-referential argument that it must be important, otherwise sites like this wouldn't keep saying it was so important, I actually haven't heard how an "i" branded phone changes anything.
Ease of use is all. No biggie, really.
Hah, are you kidding me? Have you ever used a Windows mobile phone? I've been a windows mobile user for 2 years now, and as much as i like my phone, the interface is terrible! Seeing a good quality touch-driven interface on a phone that actually works is awesome. That is, indeed, revolutionary. No one in the world has made a phone interface as good as what the iphone's interface looks to be. Sure, it might not be all it's cracked up to be, but from all the videos i've seen, it could never be as bad as some of windows mobile's poor points. So yeah, it may not be the best phone ever, but it has at least some revolutionary qualities, so stop pretending it is a rip off of windows mobile when its years ahead of it. The iPhone will set the curve for future smartphone interfaces (why do you think HTC came out with the HTC Touch?)
-Taylor
The iPod was not necessarily new or innovative. MP3 players existed before it. That said, the iPod was a game changer and in a big way. The iPhone is to modern cell phones what the iPod was to mp3 players back then. Both are roughly at the same stage (remember, we're talking smart-phone style phones here). The only difference here is that the stakes are higher and Apple has more competition than it did with MP3 players. This is the big leagues.
I anticipate the iPhone will set a new standard for what is expected of a phone (full web browsing, touch interface), change the business model for the industry (in terms of manufacturer/carrier interaction), and create a new expectation for the ease to which a cell phone syncs with you computer. None of these are new ideas, but it's really the first implemenation of all of them in a mass-market product that's going for broke (not some high priced limited release bull like the N95).
That's your revolution. Enjoy.
I never called it any of those things. I said it's a turning point for Apple and the industry -- and it is. I've been very clear that outside multi-touch, there isn't anything 100% fresh about this device. Technologically it's behind its competition in any number of ways. But it's not about technology and specs this time.
Every carrier wants the iPhone, and every cellphone maker wants to beat it -- before it's even come out. Even if the iPhone fails in the market, as a device it's raised the device usability bar for others, which I'd estimate holds significant benefits the average consumer. Listen to the podcast, we discuss this stuff all the time.
Oh, give me a break! The whole boilerplate "ease of use," "user experience," "beautiful UI design" Clichés and just generic Apple marketing speak! There are grade school children and tribesmen in Africa who have never seen a computer, but have a mobile phone they are able to figure out just fine. There are completely technically inept salesmen and real estate agents who use their Treo just fine. Even Apple itself uses Windows Mobile handhelds for their in-store handheld POS devices!
7 steps to dial a number, a keyboard that requires you to "trust it" and "use The Force" in able to enter text, and having to cope with new gestural interfaces in order to zoom and scroll, on the iPhone is about the furthest you can get from "ease of use" and "elegant UI design!" That aside, making something look cool isn't a "revolution" of any kind. It is just a marketing technique.
interface, interface, interface... That is the revolutionary part. Seriously, most phones are pretty counter intuitive due to so many different groups working on them... even Windows Mobile is really hard to deal with for a lot of things. I hope that the interface is indeed revolutionary as the Emperor has foreseen.
OK look. The best, hottest, by far sexiest phone on the planet is going to get launched tomorrow. It will sell like hotcakes for that reason alone.
But there's more:
- It's changing voice mail forever (eg make it useful).
- It's introducing a whole new mobile operating system which finally will make phones full fledged computers. Ever heard of software updates for a mobile phone before? No - only Apple does this.
- It's introducing a whole new interaction metaphor - there have been touch sensitive user interfaces before, but none that didn't suck, and none that relied solely on finger-input!
- It's sexy. In mobile phones, that's HUGE. At any price level, sexiness is more important than features in mobiles. Always has been this way.
After all this, think about the fact that there were over 1Bn phones sold in 2006 alone. Revolutionary? You bet!
You may laugh now, but in a few years you will see Apple up there with Nokia, SE, and Motorola duking it out for the top spot in the mobile phone business. They arrived with their first product being the hottest phone out there, making everyone else look outright stupid. The others will scramble to catch up - and improve all our phones. They just can't continue sucking like they did - maybe they'll even make Symbian not suck (I hope...)...
to Ryan:
First off, you know as well as I do that every company DID NOT want the iPhone. AT&T was not Apple's first pick, and at least one telco CEO has publicly said that he thinks Apple should stick to what they know, because they don't understand the mobile market.
Anyway, by your argument, every time any company puts out a product, it is a "turning point for the industry," since every product that comes out influences every product that comes out after it. Sure, Apple is releasing a phone, and that means there is a new company in the market, but I don't remember Engadget covering the Firefly as a "turning point in the industry" even though it had a new interface, was by a new company, and was targeting a new demographic.
Using the phrase "turning point for the industry" on a site that covers the minute by minute changes in the tech industry automatically implies this is a bigger deal than just any company releasing any product, and will forever change the fundamental nature of the market. If you now want to define people changing their icons to look prettier, or rearranging their UI to have a slicker appearance as "turning point for the gadget industry in general" then that is your right, but it really devalues the meaning of the phrase.
to LM Lloyd: Dude, most normal people didn't even know cellphones could have their email or the internet on them at all a few months ago. In your apparent cocoon of a tech world maybe smart-phones are what everyone knows and uses, but in the real world it isn't, at all. Apple is bringing the concept to the masses big time, and that right there is a revolutionary change. (you can see this in some message boards where people complain tha rates are too high—it's because they never had or knew of the existence of data plans before). BTW, i've suffered through two years of WinMo5, and let me tell you, i can't get away fast enough. it might have more features, but if you ask me, features shouldn't count if they are literally painful to use, or turn out to be unusable due to hard crashes, etc. Windows Mobile has been the worst tech experience of my life.
also, to whomever was complaining about 7 taps to make a call, that is the maximum number and includes turning on the phone and unlocking it (three steps on most phones) and switching out of another application to get to the home screen—thats 4 steps right there, 4 steps you'll have to go through in any other phone under similar circumstances, except they will be even easier with the iphone since you won't be trying to hit tiny keys and soft buttons to do it. and once you get there, apples phone interface is so delightfully simple and designed for usability, i haven't seen a phone that makes it anywhere near as easy to call a number (esp the super simple and obvious [but amazingly lacking from most phones[ favorites list not buried in a sub-menu).
turkish, you either live in a fantasy world, or you sent this pose over a decade ago! Have you missed the network news stories about "BlackBerry thumb" and BlackBerry addiction?" Have you not seen Conan O'Brien making fun of the BlackBerry, or heard comedians making jokes about the PalmPilot? Have you not noticed the music videos with the Sidekicks and BlackBerries in them? I assure you, TV shows don't do stories or make jokes about things people won't get. Actually go out on the street, and start asking people what a BlackBerry is, and you are going to be out there for quite a while before you find someone who has no idea what you are talking about.
The, "they are introducing it to the masses" argument would be fantastic, if this was 1997, but it isn't! It is 2007, and just about anyone who works at a company with more than five employees has, if nothing else, seen their boss walking around answering emails on their Treo or BlackBerry. Just because most people havn't wanted to spend hundreds of dollars on a smartphone, doesn't mean they have never heard of them, or didn't know they even existed. What's next, are you going to start talking about how most people have never even seen a computer, and don't know what a video game is?
What most people will never really realize about the Iphone, is that if you don't "get it", you're not meant to.
Who is really meant to like the Iphone? ITMS users. Whether or not ITMS is good is a whole different debate, but being able to put music from ITunes onto your cell without having to jump through all the anti-DRM hoops...is a good thing. Of course you can choose not to use ITMS, but then you go right back to my first point, if you don't get it, don't buy it.
Oh, and why is it considered revolutionary? Because as much as the functionality of an mp3 player exists in everyone's phone today, only a very (and I mean very) tiny percentage of people can claim their phone to be their main music playing device. The fact is, the Ipod brand has the potential to make cell phone music legitimate much faster then Motorola, Samsung, and Sony's efforts combined.
The Iphone isn't the best device, but it has the potential to be. And would it really be a bad thing if it is? Would it be bad if using one device for on-the-go web browsing, mobile media, and communications were rolled into one device? No. Iphone may not be it, but it's not wrong to hope it is.
THANK YOU, at least 2 people GET IT, and are probably going to GET IT for a long time to come.
"being able to put music from ITunes onto your cell without having to jump through all the anti-DRM hoops...is a good thing"
Yes because DRM is good and Steve said so. Oh wait... Nope
You know, I find this whole argument very interesting. The iPod is clearly the far and away market leader if you look at *dedicated* music players. However, if you open that up to PDAs and phones that play music, then actually the iPod isn't that impressive at all in terms of sales or market penetration. As an example, Apple is quite proud of selling 100 million iPods since 2001, while Nokia sold 92 million phones, just in Q1 of 2007! Most, if not all, of those phones could play MP3s. Let me say that again, Nokia alone sells almost as many phones in 3 months, as the total number of iPods sold in 6 years!
Now of course the question is, how many people use their phone as a music player? Unfortunately, there isn't a good answer to that question. I have seen surveys that rate it anywhere from 12% to 40%, and I have heard anecdotal evidence ranging everywhere from "no one" to "everyone."
The point is that even if only half the mobile phone users in the world have a phone that can play music, and then only 12% of them are actually using the feature, that is still 120 million people listening to music on their phone! Of course that is a completely out of my ass number assuming 2 billion mobile phone users, which was the latest figure I could find as of 2005. At any rate Apple's perceived dominance and mastery of the entire digital music realm is entirely based on the assumption that everyone only listens to music on their dedicated player. That is not only false, but a ridiculous position to take when you are talking about Apple's importance in the phone market.
In reality the music-phone is already a big hit, and it was companies like Nokia and Sony that got it there. So saying that Apple can do what they can't is just silly. In fact, it seems like it might well be the iPod users who are the minority, not the people who use their phone as their music player. Once again, Apple is trying to catch up to the market, and spinning it as a revolution, and people are buying.
LM Loyid: All you need to do is look around you - I have honestly never, ever seen a single person with stereo headphones connected to their phone listening to music. I also know why - I have a Nokia N73 "Music" edition and everything about the music player sucks - you need a PHD in Computer Science to even get the music onto the phone and in part that's probably intentional because the operators want to sell you music which you buy via their network. In part it's also an inability to create software. Nokia PC Suite is one of the worst pieces of software that have ever invaded my PC - and I wonder how that's possible given that Nokia sells close to half a billion phones every year and has vast resources at their disposal.
In fact, I am still baffled by this. But I have proof of the giant company's complete inability to make useful software right here on my computer. Maybe Sony is better but I really doubt it.
iTunes/iPod is the easiest there is, and people struggle to learn that - they get the hang of it, and then it's all clear but they still need someone to hold their hand and explain how it works in the beginning.
As I pointed out above, apart from being quite possibly the only phone that makes listening to music easy, the iPhone has quite a few other revolutionary features. Don't you think it's amazing that a company can enter a new market and make a new product it's never done before and blow the existing giants out of the water with one clear shot?
And the secret to that is: Software. Apple makes excellent software and they have people who are creative and who care about usability.
In the time before smart phones, the same could be said about Nokia - the non-smartphone Nokias were awesome, perfect in every detail. But Nokia has lost its way and/or got overwhelmed by the features that need to go into smartphones and that's why their smart phones suck big time and the iPhone will rule - at least until Nokia et. al. find a good answer.
to nikster:
*yawn* Yes, I already said that I have heard anecdotal accounts that no one uses music on there phone. Problem is, I have also heard plenty of anecdotal accounts that say that everyone listense to music on their phone.
If I look around, like you suggest, what I see is a fair amount of people on the subway listening to music on their phones. Now to be perfectly honest, none of them LOOK like computer scientists, but they seem to have figured out some way to get music on there. I get really tired of this condescending attitude that everyone in the world is an idiot, who needs Apple (who is apparently the only company on Earth who has ever heard of usability testing, at least according to you) to save them from their inept inability to navigate even the simplest menu.
Oh, and yeah, Apple makes FANTASTIC, and amazingly easy to use software, as evidenced by a 700MB phone OS that takes 7 steps to dial the pone, and can't look up a name.
The OS on the iPhone is most probably not 700mb. That number was, I believe, derived from the screenshot showing only 7.3 GB available on the iPhone. However, if you take 8GB in the decimal form and convert it to the binary value, it is only 7.45 GB, which would be the number indicated by a computer. Then, the OS would take up 150MB, leaving 7.3 real GB.
LM Lloyd, I find your argument...actually much more humorous then you find mine. Thank you for the good laugh. Now I now you clearly defended your numbers as inaccurate (pulled from your ass as you put it), and called mine and Niksters "anecdotal", but just for shits and giggles lets go back to your numbers. Millions upon of cell phones sold. From that, subtract a rather large percentage as not all cell phones play music at all. Next, and if you want to debate this next fact I'd recommend falling back on something called common sense (often mistaken as anecdotal evidence), subtract a large portion of phones with that require you to pay extra in the form of a memory stick in order to even use the music functionality (considering that 90% of phones use mini/micro SD cards and 90% of those don't support SDHD, or in other words, any cards larger then 2 GB). Of the small group of phones left, use your "authentic" 15-40% figure and you results are much less overwhelming.
The point of all that? The fact that people seeing the Iphone as a VIABLE mp3 player/phone won't just help apple, but help create a trend. A trend you claim already exists. Heck lets start an informal poll right now. Everyone who uses their phone as their main mp3 player say aye. Everyone who doesn't say nay.
If I have to hear the word "revolutionary" one more time....argh.
Even if it sucks, i do think it is revolutionary in a way. Look how much stir there is among everyone, whether it be ridiuclous arguments on blogs, or people just talking about it. I mean, it's all over the freaking news. So, clearly people are relatively excited about this. So that means that there is something apple is doing that the other companies aren't. Whether that be an OS that is fluid and easy to navigate, whether it be the beefed up internet, or how it suceeds (for the most part) as a totally touchscreen interface. The actual iPod part isn't that impressive. But the way they execute it is great.
So yeah, its revolutionary for the industry. Execs at handset companies are nervous.
It's revolutionary for apple as a company becuase they are viewing this as a signficant new division of the company - meant to bring in revenue and have a lot of resources dedicated to it.
And, im not being a fanboy. It's just logical.
I used to sell apple Ipods and apple computers.
Ipods in my opinion SUCKED...a complete fad toy that people buy just to wear on their hip to let the world know they've got one. Meanwhile, cheaper and BETTER Mp3/digital media players existed on the market with considerably better features
(divx, FM radio, multi fiel format playback, etc)
Their products have always been long on presentation and SHALLOW on innovation.
The Iphone is the most impressive thing I've ever seen Apple roll out, but, I believe in the end it is going to be the ties to AT&T which kills its sales figures. As a network AT&T sucks.
For Apple not to allow GSM usage on all GSM networks and to offer the device in a CDMA format to me is typical of the company's incompetence.
The "LESS IS MORE" mentality doesn't appeal to me whatsoever. That is why, as much as I like the phone, I'll never buy one
doesn't anyone see a parallel between the mp3 player market before iPod and the present phone market leading up to the iPhone? feature set is completely secondary, what apple does is shift the paradigm.
i mean, people still bitch that the iPod has no radio receiver, for example, but apple stick to their guns: design simplicity, not a lot of extras that complicate the perception of the thing.
No, actually I don't see the parallels at all between the two industries! In the case of the MP3 player market, you had a brand new market without a single large company in the market when Apple got in, and no infrastructure at all. In the mobile phone arena, you have a 30-year-old industry, where the biggest companies in the world have been duking it out for more than 20 years, and an incredibly sophisticated infrastructure that happens to be designed by companies like Nokia and Motorola who invented the technology.
Rather than just reading off an Apple marketing sheet, and alluding to supposed simularities, would you care to explain them to me?
You guys should stop ragging on Apple and the iPhone. What this 'revolutionary device' does that no other mobile can do is make everything EASY to do. That is what Apple does better than anyone. They know how to make an interface work. Sure, my Moto Q can do most everything the iPhone can do but it is the most pain in the ass (Windows Mobil) device I have ever used. Every day I talk myself out of throwing this thing in the toilet. Also, the iPhone's insane hype will cause all the mobile manufacturers and providers to make better products and less expensive service. You can thank Apple for this.
I meant to reply to Big, not you Dog, sorry.
So you really have that much trouble using your phone? I mean you say that the iPhone, unlike every other phone on Earth, is easy to use. Now, maybe I am just some kind of innate technical genius, or maybe you are just not very good with phones, but I have literally never had a single problem using any feature on any phone I've owned since '91.
I'm just hoping it is recorded so I can purchase it on iTunes later that day.
The phone *is* GSM, http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html, it's just locked to only work on the AT&T network in the US (which many mobile providers do) and it'll work in other countries via roaming but only with the AT&T sim card.
The iPhone raises the bar for the user-phone interaction. It's now the "features" that make it revolutionary, it's the interface and execution of those features. It changes the game on that alone.
That should've read: "It's not the features"...
BELIEVERS, KNEELING!!!!!
Hes going to give iPhones to all apple employees. :)
I would imagine that Apple employees have been working extraordinarily hard for many months to launch the iPhone on schedule and with everything in place to give this completely new product the best chance for success in a highly competitive and very demanding market. Time for the commander to thank his troops.
I bet he announces his retirement tomorrow after thanking all the employees for all their hard work on getting the iPhone and really the last ~7 years of Apple the best it has ever been
A bullet list of features and codec support doesn't make your product great.
This is hard for nerds to understand, but easy for designers to understand. Apple basically represents a minimalist philosophy in a digital age, which is rare but psychologically appealing (to many, at least). This is why they keep succeeding and hardcore nerds keep predicting their failure. It sounds esoteric, but it really boils down to philosophy and psychology. If you can't understand why Apple doesn't need to support DivX to succed with an iPod, then you just don't get the company as a whole. Their choices aren't always perfect, but it's hard to argue with their success.
They don't need to support DivX because most of the people buying it are not going to use it to watch videos. How many people do you see who have Video iPods actually use them for that purpose? If they were going to, they would realise they had made a horrible mistake when they had to convert all their movies and video clips to the .mov format and have them scaled down. That was one of the appealing features to the Zen over the iPod for me: no conversion necessary. To put it in Apple-speak "it just works". You have to keep in mind that the reason the feature list doesn't matter is because the only "feature" people buying this are after is the Apple logo stamped across it.
Or, the fact that less than 1% of the buying population even knows what the hell DivX is. Couldn't be that. iPods can't require a ton of conversion from DivX when nobody has DivX in the first place.
The reason they are buying the Apple products is exactly because they DON'T need to know what DivX is to use it. This is what some of the "hardcore" simply don't understand.
If you are asking what is revolutionary you must have had your head in the sand. I've had 2 BlackBerry's and 1 Treo and watching the walkthrough video on the iPhone...well... it is a breakthrough revolutionary device.
rev·o·lu·tion·ar·y
adj.
1. often Revolutionary Relating to or being a revolution: revolutionary war
2. Marked by or resulting in radical change
Everyone agrees that this is creating a big change to how people view cell phones. You all forget that there were MP3 players before the iPod. The iPod even had less features than some. The interface and ease of use made it revolutionary. The blending of the MP3 player, the computer, and purchasing music made it revolutionary.
The iPhone: A cell phone that I can easily use most of the features without having to read the manual. An address book that works. Internet browsing that doesn't require a mobile webview. iPod features. Plays movies on a 3.5" widescreen. Better battery life than any competitor phone. I could go on but this is as much about the incredible user interface and software design, coupled with arguably one of the best looking cell phone designs out there...coupled again with one of the easiest media content download programs out there....
And then on top of it, they add the ability to buy it in minutes at a store, take it home, and within minutes, choose your phone/data plan and activate your phone. No waiting in store. No pressure on which plan to select. Spit and polish. On top of the easiest to use device on the market, and one where people will use 90% of the features instead of 10%, they take care of the small details. It is revolutionary because it will cause so much change for the better in the market place. It will also change peoples entire thinking about a $0 phone and paying big bucks on the plan. Instead, pay for a quality device and pay less for the plan. Watch the revolution people.
Everything you just typed is Bullshit.
You haven't used the phone yet, and the hands-on journalists that have used it claim that many of its features are not innovative, the phone service is poor through AT&T and continue onwards to point out more flaws.
While I make it a point to never extol the virtues of any cell provider, I frequently castigate those who have made my life hell (screw you, Verizon... ymmv).
After more than two years with ATT Wireless (then Cingular, then ATT Wireless again), I have nothing bad to say about them. That should speak volumes.
Also, if you read the reviews again, you'll notice that most of them are positive, albeit delineating negatives along with positives. For many of these journalists, the pros outweigh the cons. These reviewers aren't completely sold on the iPhone, and thus they do not wish to appear as a staunch supporter in case the device fails in the market.
By the way, didn't the RAZR debut at a seemingly obscene price? I seem to remember $400, but it may have been even more expensive. It's hard to argue with the RAZR's success.
"It will also change peoples entire thinking about a $0 phone and paying big bucks on the plan. Instead, pay for a quality device and pay less for the plan. Watch the revolution people."
OH PLEASE!! You are so deluded. I'll admit, the rates when compared to the current rates for data services is DECENT, but they are hardly cheap... and included actual talk minutes are weak. This isn't going to convince people to paymore for a phone and less on a plan at all. All this is going to do is convince the phone companies they don't need to subsidize the phones. We'll all now be paying more for our phones, just as much for our services plans, and STILL be locked into RIDICULOUS 2-year contracts to boot. Woo Hoo!! What a revolution! Thanks, Apple.
I'm somewhat expecting the Apple guys to all get free iphones+contracts tomorrow. Or at least an announcement with the guys who are there in person being able to pick one up. It's their new dev platform in a way and their entire staff needs to be thinking about it. If their staff isn't worth a free iphone each at cost I'd question the direction their stock is taking. Also, I'm sure those guys have been working tirelessly which would make this a nice little gift.
As others have said, the new thing about this device, is the emphasis on ease of use. It's a mini Web tablet and video player with a crappy wireless carrier and slow data service but, it's all dressed up to be visually beautiful and stylish.
It opens up a whole new way of looking at a smart, connected device, that Palm should've anticipated, but instead gave us the Foleo (remember that?) So listen up phone makers, give us something that might not have the same exaggerated amount of buzz, but a little more juice, at a lower price, of course.
Not every carrier wants it. Apple's first carrier choice was Verizon Wireless, but VZW turned down the iPhone for various reasons that will become all too apparent to Cingular customers in due time. And I should know, I work for VZW.
First things first, I don't want the iPhone, nor do I own anything Apple related, but as a interface designer I felt this needed to be addressed...again.
All you people whining about the *revolutionary* iPhone should just stop, you don't get it. As a few people have already mentioned in the plethora of comments, the iPhone is a good thing primarily due to the amount of research Apple has done in the realm of user-interaction, accessibility, and usability. It's very much like making a good website (I don't mean glossy web 2.0 graphics, I mean semantic code, correctly executed CSS/XHTML, etc).
Motorola, Microsoft, Palm, and all the other companies that have made their own cell phone OSes and mobile device UIs have not had the resources, ambition, let alone process to implement such an elegant interface that Apple has come up with. It's not about whether or not it does or doesn't do everything your Windows Mobile 6 phone does. It's about making your everyday applications on your phone that much easier to use. It's about interoperability and many of you can't seem to get that.
How easy was it when you first used your very first Smart Phone, to figure out how to use it? Did you at ANY time use the manual (you know who you are)? Apple is aiming with the iPhone, just like they did with the iPod, to make it so simplistic that your grandmother could use it to browse the web, check google maps for her favorite restaurant, and keep track of all her friends.
And as I have been reminding people around my office, at the launch of the iPod, everyone said that the market was saturated with mp3 players and that the iPod lacked momentum to compete. The features weren't all there when all the HP, Dell, Creative and Rio players had those missing features. Now look at the iPod. It's the world's top selling mp3 player. Why you ask? It's easy to use. The best analogy to make would be that Apple is the ultimate Antithesis of Sony. They learn from their mistakes, they are PR geniuses, to an extent they advocate removal of DRM, and above all they look to improve their platform through reduction of complexity, not the other way around.
Get above the hype and look down to see the bigger picture. No the iPhone isn't any better that Smartphones of 2 years ago, let alone "revolutionary". But it takes everything those 2 year old phones did and does it 100x better.
And again, just like the iPod, subsequent generations of the iPhone will revise and patch up the problems that are prevalent now and will in the end become the end-all-be-all comparisons of what a functional phone SHOULD be. That's where the revolution is. To look forward Apple has been looking back at the past and improved on it. They can only go forward from here, and I anticipate the improvements they make.
By the time the EV-DO (3G) version makes it's way to market it will be everything today's phones are, and even more than what the phones of 5 years from now will be. History is repeating itself and Apple knows it.
Sean: Yes! Exactly. iPhone is still revolutionary in some aspects but you are spot on about the features - it takes all these features phones had for a while and makes then not suck.
xxxxxxxxxNo the iPhone isn't any better that Smartphones of 2 years ago, let alone "revolutionary". But it takes everything those 2 year old phones did and does it 100x better. xxxxxx
And you ascertained this after seeing a handful of commercials?
http://www.thestreet.com/_mktwrm/newsanalysis/techgames/10305501_2.html
Some revolution in interface design. I wonder how much R&D it took to copy a device which had been on the market for over a year before the iPod came out. I'm not saying this is what happened with the iPhone, indeed it is a well designed original interface, but don't overrate it. While creative was in the red with their MP3 player range, Apple was selling the iPod with a similar interface and making millions. Was it their superior interface design or are they just better at marketing it?
That's great and all, but what about the Sidekick, PalmOS, or the BlackBerry? Those are all devices that have not only targeted, but done quite well indeed with the "non-technical" crowd. As I think many have pointed out, for example, the iPhone interface actually looks quite a bit like the modern BlackBerry interface. This idea that Apple is the only company on Earth that does any decent interface design is asinine, and childish. All Apple is doing here is putting their own style on an interface that really isn't that difference from what has been out for years.
Has anybody said those products you mentioned weren't important milestones? Lloyd, why do keep constructing straw man arguments everywhere you go. Palm: businessmen. Blackberry: Businessmen 2.0. Sidekick: 14 year old girls. iPhone: everybody else. You see, the iPhone is mass market targeted, while the others have relied on niche needs and IT managers shoving them down people's throats. Not the same thing.
Um, James, it isn't a "straw man argument." If something is revolutionary, that means it it new, and a change. If someone else already did it, then it is just another person doing it, not a revolution.
As far as your other comments go, the Palm and BlackBerry, it would seem, are only for professionals (since you must be including actors, writers, directors, models, and artists as "businessmen" given how many BlackBerries and Treos I see around Hollywood), and the Sidekick is only for young girls, so what does that mean, that the iPhone's target market is unemployed men of any age, and housewives? Oh, wait, no the market must be students and Boomer retirees, just like all of Apple's other products!
Ha ha, you bring up Hollywood. The Blackberry's and Treos will be non-existant in status conscious hollywood in mere days. You have no clue what you are talking about.
It's cool though, because apparently Apple doesn't make good products but they have a magic ability to hire advertising firms while companies far bigger with far deeper pockets just can't figure out how to write a check. Yeah, it's all because of advertising...
Lloyd, man, ease up off the haterade. Remember, you still have that Magic tournament this weekend.
what reviews have you been reading??? because from what Ive read the iPhone is one of the most innovative phones. (Not a fanboy)
I wish someone would by Apple just to kill the damn iPhone. I mean I would really consider it money well spent.
Sweet. Never thought I'd get the fanbois riled up enough to get lowest ranked. All to easy.
Seriously though. Can we do a nation wide donation drive to buy Apple? Not to kill it. I like Apple overall. Just to buy it, kill the iPhone, then let them get back to work on oh I don't know....Macs?
We can call it...kill that fracking iPhone drive and you get these spiffy back armbands with a faded out Smiling Mac Face that is cracked with a super imposed iPhone over it that has a circle slash over it.
"Jobs: I am Steve Jobs, and I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?
Veteran: (to Jobs) Fight against that? No, we will run, and we will live.
Jobs: (in reply) Aye, fight and you may die, run and you'll live. At least a while. (shouting to all) And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our marketshare, but they'll never take our wireless freedom?!!!!!!"
"- It's changing voice mail forever (eg make it useful)."
Visual voicemail is an AT&T feature and NOT an Apple creation nor iPhone exclusive so expect it on more devices soon.
"- It's introducing a whole new mobile operating system which finally will make phones full fledged computers. Ever heard of software updates for a mobile phone before? No - only Apple does this."
http://www.america.htc.com/support/8525/software-downloads.html 'nuff said
"- It's introducing a whole new interaction metaphor - there have been touch sensitive user interfaces before, but none that didn't suck, and none that relied solely on finger-input! "
And in 2 months when you are sick of sending e-mails and text o n e l e t t e r at a time please come back and retract that statement.
Listen fanboys and fangirls, this phone is not revolutionary and if anything is devolutionary at best in most respects.
No 3G, any phone claiming to be evolutionary MUST be on the new up and coming service
A music phone with no A2DP, what is this 2006?
No video recording, maybe 2004?
No MMS, oh I got it 2003...
No removable battery...whoa 1995 here we come.
I own 3 iPods, a Macbook pro, an iMac, and just bought my daughter a Macbook but even I can see that this phone is all hype, the best thing on it is visual voicemail and that's not even an Apple product!
Move over Jim Jones, Steve Jobs is in the house and instead of Kool-Aid he's offering a bite of his apple.
"Ever heard of software updates for a mobile phone before? No - only Apple does this."
Just for clarification, Neonode does the same. And it is nice thing, each month or two, you get new feature here and there. Feels like your old gadget suddenly got new.
I'm not being a troll here. What is so revolutionary about the iphone's user interface? I really want someone to answer that without biting my head off. Multi-touch is cool. I don't think it's all that great on the iphone, c'mon the screen is so small. A lot of what you're touching will be blocked out by your hand. If it was on a tablet pc then that would be cool and useful. But now I'm getting off topic.
People say the interface is revolutionary. I've seen large touchable icons before. They keep touting "the keyboard pops up when you need it!!" as a feature. If I click at text field in windows mobile a keyboard pops up too.
Tell me how great using your finger will be when you need to click a specific spot. Like say on a spreadsheet. What if if I want to click on a specific cell, my finger will surely cover more than 1 cell, and I have slim fingers. The keyboard can supposedly predict what key I meant to press, but how are other applications going to know what I wanted to press.
So my question again, what's so revolutionary about the UI. Please don't tell me about multi-touch. The only multi-touch thing I've ever seen was resizing a photo.
P.S. How is this even news? I'm sure millions of companies had meetings today. I feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow and read "This just in: Steve jobs took a dump at work. Ear-witnesses say it required a double flush."
MultiTouch is hardly the only thing revolutionary about this phone, altough this is the first phone that has it. If you have ever used a Mac computer, the first thing that hits you is how easy every thing works together. Apple designs both the hardware and software for all of their products. It is an elegant solution and everything just works. The old mobile business model says the manufacturers will build the hardware, another company builds the software, and the mobile provider decides which features they will cripple so they can get a piece of the pie. What Apple has negotiated with ATT to alow them complete control of both hardware and software, and made sure ATT would not cripple or affect change for their own benefit. This by itself is revotionary. They originally negotiated with Verizon but Verizon would not give up complete control to Apple. Hell, you don't even have to activate the iPhone at the ATT store. You just go home and connect via iTunes and voila! activation. Also, you get the added benefit of Apple's regular software updates that will include added features and other cool stuff. This is done by Apple not ATT, so Apple has absolute control of everything but the wireless contract.
Ellianth,
You aren't trolling, I think you have a valid point. The multi-touch, while cool is essentially a gimmick. Myself, I'd like to have a stylus to use with the iPhone but the interface and usability goes beyond clumsy thumbs and a touchscreen.
Smartphones are innately hard to use due to the fact that they aren't friendly to the user when being used. They attempt to do too much on screen at any given time. The larger screen helps with that. It affords Apple the ability to be spacious with their information design immediately making the device and its interface that much more valuable and usable to the user.
Also it also ends up not just being about the User Interface but also about the way all the applications work together and it's plain to see in basic comparisons between how the iPhone treats things like email, web browsing and voicemail with how a smartphone typically treats these very same functions. EMail is typically text based on most smartphones, not rich html and cannot embed links to make it easier for you to call someone using an embedded phone number in an email or text message. With a smartphone, at least all the ones I've used, you have to write down the phone number then dial it manually. All the little things that you tend to take for granted on a Smartphone become easier through use of the phone.
User Interface, Application cross-channeling, Spacious and Usable Information Architecture, that's what ends up making the iPhone such a big deal.
Sean, really? While I think that is what Next may offer, it gets lost in what in MacOS/Apple (well, Steve Jobs) hype.
Not to mention, since most features are commoditized across MS, Apple, Linux (&c), it's more than just functionality, it's licensing, and Apple doesn't want to try to take a stand like Free/Open systems.
I hope the Chinese BOOTLEGG THE SHIT OUTTA THIS THING
@Big
No, I've come to these conclusions by reading dozens of reviews, previews and press releases. And being an interface designer and information architect by profession I can make reasonable assumptions based on best practices and personal experiences with other smartphone devices. I'm extrapolating the available information like any good industry analyst.
I guess it's a warning to sell my Apple stocks. All downhill from here!
less than 24 hours after the launch of the iphone, Engadget will be flooded with user reports of glitches, dead pixels and UI issues.
It is Inevitable
Hey, L.M. Lloyd: Chill out.
Why are some of you so offended at the iPhone's mere existence? Because people other than you are interested in it? And you're never wrong; your opinion is always the correct one, right? Even if the iPhone is not a huge a leap as some may believe, it doesn't matter. The RAZR sold a shitload despite a wretched UI simply by being the first cell phone that didn't look like it was designed by a programmer: it actually had some style and sexiness to it. The iPhone has that, and more, and there are genuine new features, as well as a fucking huge-ass screen: this is enough for a phone to be the next big thing. Products have been in the limelight for less.
Let me ask you this: if not the iPhone, then what phone shoud be in such a spotlight right now? The $800 n95? The butt-ugly Treos? A 14-year old girl's sidekick? A Helio "yeah, 2 keyboards is totally fixing the problem" Ocean? I mean, even a fool can understand why the iPhone is a big deal in cellphone-land. Your words smack of nothing but insecurity, bias, and arrogance. Even Apple's biggest critics (Ryan Block cough cough) understand *why* they succeed where others fail. This comprehension is what separates the men from the boys. You've lost your cred: come back when you actually understand what is going on.
We are offended by the fact that even if we sit in a sound proof room with the light turned off somehow news of the iPhone would make its way to us. Personally its the fucking hype which has totally turned me away from the iPhone. I can NOT stand this shit any longer. News Papers, TV news, any tech blog, radio, magazines. You can't go anywhere without something iPhone being talked about.
AS if its such a great leap forward. It isn't. Its 80% marketing 20% substance. Ohhh a touch screen. Why do you think they are shipping it with a cleaning cloth? I can't wait the first time someone pulls out an iPhone to show me. Yummm ear grease. Then there is the interface. Its a FRACKING PHONE for god sake. Look at my $60 Sanyo. It can dial a number. OMG! Revolutionary. Visual Voicemail. Interesting. revolutionary? Hardly. touch screen keyboard? Jobs claims it leads to easier configuration. WTF? Why would you want to reconfigure your keyboard. For those of us who don't give a shit about video its a nonissue. I personally like the tactile feedback of real keys.
The single revolutionary thing that that iPhone IS doing, and one that I will give Steve and Apple full credit for is shaking things up. They did the same thing with the MP3 market. While in that case it took years because no one took Apple serious. Things are different this time around. By Fall of '08/ Spring of '09 I expect to see the major phone manufacturers getting their collective butts in gear.
So yah in some respects I'm glad for the iPhone's appearance. But the hype. The god awful hype. Its got to end.
If you actually read my comments, you will see that it isn't the iPhone, or even Apple for that matter, that pisses me off, it is this ignorant and hyperbolic crap that as being passed off as 'truth' in the excitement over an Apple product release. Just look at your own post. The RAZR was the first phone that didn't look like it was designed by a programmer? Nokia, and other companies, have been doing stylish "fashion phones" for more than a decade! The RAZR wasn't even close to the first time a phone did well because of style over substance.
What gets me bent out of shape, isn't the iPhone as such, it is the bizarre way in which fanboy opinion, if repeated enough, becomes fact on the Internet, because nobody takes the time to question it, or if they do are shouted down as a troll or hater. The PS3, even though it is selling better than the PS2 did at this stage in its life, is a flop. Snakes on a Plane is going to be a huge sucess, because of Internet community involvement. Wikipedia will forever change the field of information science. Vista, even though it is selling better than XP did at this stage in its life, is a flop. The PSP, even though it is the second best selling handheld ever, is a flop. Microsoft has never created anything, but just steals it all from Apple. The iPod is responsible for the entire MP3 revolution, even though Napster was huge before the iPod ever existed. Old media, even though they are making record profits, is dead, and the Internet killed it. The iPhone is the most revolutionary product ever, even though there have been products out for years that do everything it does and more. These are all examples of Internet memes that are only 'true' because "everybody knows" they are 'true.' It is a self-perpetuating consensual reality where the actual truth doesn't matter, because as long as enough people keep repeating the same self-hypnotic mantra, it becomes 'true' regardless of the facts. That, is what pisses me off, not the product or company itself.
Sure, the iPhone is a neat phone, with a neat interface. That isn't a big deal. Neat products with neat interfaces come out all the time, they aren't called revolutionary. Sure, it has a slicker interface than most phones, but that slick interface comes at the cost of basic functionality like cut and past, or the ability to search for contacts. If this were any company but Apple releasing this product, the idea of sacrificing such basic functionality for glitz would be seen as nothing but a bad decision, and the idea that it was a revolution would be a joke. That, is what gets me pissed off, not the phone itself, but the realignment of reality to fit the predetermined conclusion that anything Apple does must be brilliant and revolutionary, whether it is or not. I see, before my very eyes, people erasing the last ten years of smartphone history, just so that the world will conform to their expectation that this product is revolutionary. I see repeated comments about how products that have been on the market for years suddenly can't do things they have been doing for years, just because Steve Jobs says they can't. When you point out that it is inaccurate, and that plenty of devices have been doing this for a long time, then the argument falls back to the tried and true, and completely subjective and unprovable, UI and "for the rest of us" arguments. It is infuriating! It isn't the product, or even the fact that a company would hype the product, that is infuriating, it is the gullibility and malleability of people that is infuriating. It is the crazy herd mentality that causes people to ignore what they themselves have seen, in the desire to get caught up in the group that sends me into fits, not Apple, or the iPhone, or Engadget. I would just like to see people think for themselves for once, instead of swallowing corporate PR in some unquestioning chase for the "next hot thing." I would like to see people form their own informed decision, rather than parroting back company PR.
Does that answer your question?
Oh, and by the way, which is it, insecurity, or arrogance? The problem with hurling every insult you can think of, is that some of them cancel each other out. Arrogant? Sure, wouldn't be the first time I heard that one. Insecurity? A little hard to be insecure when you are so damned arrogant. :)
I truly wish people will just shut up about the iPhone. It is a new type of cellphone with some added features in software, and it's shiny. That's it. Same with the iPod, overpriced, over-hyped hardware that doesn't meet people's expectations, but still is sold because it is ingrained in pop culture. This hardware market is like to .com bubble of the late 90s, except there is something physical about it.
Think for a minute. There are now several US cellular service providers who lock hardware into their data network (and by "data network" I mean the wireless/wired network that handles all types of data being sent, including voice) and charge exorbitant fees which people blindly pay because they feel they "need" it. I lived for many years without a cellphone, and I was not hindered in any way. Before cellphones were as ubiquitous as they are now, we all planned things beforehand, and we talked to people in real life. Not to say cellphones aren't handy, but I would not want to drop $400 for an iPhone, then pay $360 a year just to use it. Think about the features the iPhone offers:
MP3 player - a $30 MP3 player from Creative or Rio would do the same thing, and isn't locked into iTunes.
Video playback - If you really must watch movies somewhere without a TV, get a $50 portable DVD player off ebay.
Web Browsing - Use your laptop, or wait until you get home. WiFi is almost everywhere, or use a cheap cellular service.
Phone - A pay-as-you-go phone from Virgin Mobile. $20 every 3 months for about 100 Minutes. Buy more, or use your land line. Do you really need to talk to people everywhere you go? (I suppose people involved in business might. Trust me, I've been there)
Anything else? Oh, its not "sexy". Too bloody bad, who cares. Will someone really think more of you because your telephone is shiny? I doubt it. End of rant.
If you 'truly' wish everyone would stop talking about the iPhone, feel free to start by shutting up yourself. There'd be one less person talking about it then.
And yes, lots of people don't really need to be talking to their kids, bosses, doctors, lawyers, parents, spouses, business partners, florists, travel agents, etc. (some of us even actually have friends) as much as they do, but some people have jobs that require travel or that aren't in front of a land line. Not everyone's requirements are the same as yours.
HaX80r [Video playback - If you really must watch movies somewhere without a TV, get a $50 portable DVD player off ebay.
Web Browsing - Use your laptop, or wait until you get home.
Phone - A pay-as-you-go phone from Virgin Mobile. $20 every 3 months for about 100 Minutes.]
Who wants to carry all this? That's the whole point of this convergent device. I guess I am a part of apple's target audience because I'll be lined up with the rest of the sheep on friday to get one. Why? Three words, ease of use.
Regarding the initial launch of the ipod, I had a rio diamond. Returned it within 30 days. Software was horrible and I think the memory was only 32MB. Not intuitive. I then purchased a Creative Nomad. Still have it and it still works but I haven't used it in 4 years. Why? Software was frustrating, only 64 (maybe 32) MB memory which meant it held about 17 songs. Everytime I wanted to listen to something different, I had to hook it up to a computer and move songs off of the device. I rarely changed the songs. Too much hassle.
When the ipod came, it was a revelation. I lusted for 3 months because I didn't have a mac. I finally bought an imac so I could buy an ipod. I've been using ipods every since. Why? Ease of use. Sure, it couldn't record and didn't have a radio like the nomad but I could carry hundreds of my fave and not so fave songs in my purse. Who needed a radio? Never had to read the manual to operate it.
Call me a fangirl but I think apple gets what regular folks want from their devices. Maybe you see sidekicks, blackberries and helios in New York and LA, but here in Michigan, not so much. Why? Too complex for people who don't want to read a manual.
I've had this piece of crap Razr for 2 years. Paid $250 for it and it drives me crazy. I don't use a fourth of the features because they're hidden behind who knows what menus. Could have easily purchased a windows phone but after my experience with a dell windows pda, I decided to pass.
I want a device that works without much effort for me to figure it out. As far as it being sexy to show off, I could care less who knows that I have one. In fact, I'll be getting a case to hide it because I don't want to get robbed. The iphone fits my needs, maybe not others but I am apparently a sheep.
Chicksta,
the problem isn't with the forum posters. What we want is the media to STFU. Again its an overhyped smartphone \ PDA that has limited capabilities at the end of the day. Everyone is going on like its been touched by the hand of god. I'm wondering what % of these reviews are playing it somewhat PC so to speak. To avoid the wrath of the fanboi. I'm pretty sure if someone put out a bad review. The site would get 100,000 e-mails within 8 hour.
>What we want is the media to STFU
Sorry, that's what I meant. Thanks. Didn't mean to insult anybody or anything, besides the media.
Reading L. M. Lloyd's lunatic rantings have been a real blast. My favorite part was when he said he sees people using their phones to listen to music! My second favorite part was seeing just how many peoples post he replied to to troll. He may actually be a paid Apple employee to make iphone haters completely loose their credibility.
"We're launching the most revolutionary and exciting product in Apple's history this Friday." - Steve Jobs. I wish I could have seen the look on this Lloyd characters face when he read that!
69th post! xD
HOLY CRAP I can't believe I'm reading some of this crap! People calling Apple succesful because they actually believe that they have something that works right? WTF?!? Stop hitting the crack pipe! IT'S CALLED ADVERTISING, that's all Apple has going for them. Film a crack addict jumping around and sell it to the don't know sqwat about tech mom's and dad's.
Their (iphone) battery life is a joke, read the fine print people. Sucks that you only get 300-400 charges (if you're lucky) before you have to send it in for a battery swap.
For all the misinformed people APPLE DECIDED TO USE AT&T's EDGE SERVICE OVER 3G making it Apples fault.
Oh how Apple will fear Creative should Creative decide to jump in the Cell Phone buiz. As it was said before about Creative, it just works!
Funny how people try to compare this phone to full fledge windows mobile phones. So I bought myself a Treo 750 and I'm getting a free upgrade to WM6. So yes we do know that there are free OS upgrades out there that don't involve apple.
I can see Steve now at the meeting telling everyone "I'm rich bitch!"
What's that you say? WM to hard to operate? Maybe for a Mac user but if you're like the other 98% of the population you already know how to use Windows so its all good.
300-400 charges before battery life starts being limited is what I read. Depending on usage you'd charge every 2-4 days. The phone supposedly would last 2 years before battery degradation. That's a heck of a lot longer than my current cell phone. 2 years later and it dies in a day if I use it much at all. My wife's, bought at the same time, dies in about a day even if she doesn't use it. So, if that usage of the iphone is true and the battery life doesn't significantly change for 300+ charges, I'd be good with that. And in 2 years, many people would be getting a new phone anyway. Most people in the market for a 300+ phone are in it for newness/features, etc. So, in two years, getting the newest phone (2nd/3rd gen iPhone), is pretty likely, so I don't think the battery will be a big issue. And, it may take 5o bucks or so to get a new battery? That's not a lot more than a spare battery on a cell phone anyway. And THAT'S the only thing I see as an issue. If you're traveling, don't have a charger or spare battery, you could be in trouble. But, again, I've never remembered to bring a spare battery, and if I've forgotten a charger, just buy one whereever you're at. Been there, done that.
RE: L. M. Lloyd @ Jun 27th 2007 10:35PM
How *hard* is it to 'learn' a few gestures anyway, when we are talking abt pinch/spread/flick?
Those gestures are as natural as they come to anyone who has normal use of their thumb and fingers.
Blah blah blah. You whiners (Big, you call yourself that from penis envy?) are hilarious. You were the same guys that posted the same thing about the iPod. Well, I've got news for you: Revolutionary does not equal NEW. Get that? Understand it? Need to hear it again? Revolutionary does not equal NEW. Sure there are some new technologies in the iPhone. Obviously 200 patents on the device cover new things.
But to be Revolutionary at something means you have to change the way people act/think/behave. The iPhone has already begun to do that in the mobile market. It'll sell >400,000 units in the first two days. It is changing how other manufacturers design and make phones. If it wasn't for Apple, PC's would still be all a bunch of little beige boxes. Now, some of the cell phone designers will be forced to re-think design and function and produce much better, easier to use phones. Microsoft will need to overhaul Windows Mobile because they don't have the monopoly here. We, the consumers, will all gain from the iPhone. It will change the entire direction of an industry to produce products that you don't have to scroll through 12 different settings or apps to change your ring tone. It will get consumers to spend $500 on a phone and purchase it in mass consumption.
If you understood the definition of revolutionary, compare that to 6 months, 1 year, 2 years after the iPhone launch and this will be the same turning point digital music took with the iPod.
By the way, Motorola, BlackBerry and Nokia all spend more in R&D than Apple does. They should have led this charge.