Jobs, Stephenson sound off in iPhone interview

Thankfully for us all, the iPhone launch is but hours away, and what better way to make those last second decisions on braving the crowds (or not) than to read over what's likely to be the last pre-iPhone-launch interview with both Apple and AT&T's head honchos? Sitting down with USAToday, Steve Jobs and Randall Stephenson faced a number of dutiful questions, and a few of the answers were intriguing to say the least. Besides bragging about revolutionizing the mobile phone industry and finally producing "a phone people like," the duo noted that the 6:00PM launch time was chosen to give "everyone the same shot" at nabbing one, and they both made it seem like shortages wouldn't be too much of an issue. Most noticeable was the dodging of the inevitable EDGE inquiries, as both execs spent more time boasting of the iPhone's ability to "fluidly switch from EDGE to WiFi" than actually responding to the "sluggish" criticism received thus far. Furthermore, Jobs noted that Apple was already working with a number of companies in regard to corporate email, and while he wouldn't budge when questioned about an overseas release, he did state that "selling 10 million" during its first year was a "realistic goal."

[Podaman @ Jun 29th 2007 12:56AM]

Doesn't the positive of EDGE being "less power hungry" compared to 3G, get countered by the fact you have to use it longer than 3G to load the same content?

Like, hypothetically:

EDGE:
2 minutes to load website, 2% battery used

3G:
10 seconds to load website, 2% battery used

[MyNewtonWeighsATon @ Jun 29th 2007 2:42AM]

I would like to see the nation roll out 3G completely before I own a 3G ipod.

[jabar @ Jun 29th 2007 12:57AM]

How many Moto Razrs were sold within its first year?

[Moff @ Jun 29th 2007 1:00AM]

LOL.. So.. Hundreds of people wait across the US for a PS3 (Most spending more than a day outside in the COLD!)

A couple people sit outside a AT&T store.. and he says 10 million? He's an idiot.

[Jonhimslf @ Jun 29th 2007 1:04AM]

Yeah you're right......you've obviously done your market research and can accurately predict that they won't make it, they're never sell 10 million by the year's end...........

[Moff @ Jun 29th 2007 1:08AM]

you must be an idiot to think that 10 million can be sold.

[Streak Free @ Jun 29th 2007 4:13PM]

It's not about weather they'll actually sell 10 Million, I'm with you in that they won't. It that your claim is outrageously unsupported by the evidence you supply. The ps3 is not comparable to the iPhone just because of market size. If you simply scale the numbers, assuming the iPhone sells as well in market share as the ps3, the should sell more than 10 Million.

[MyNewtonWeighsATon @ Jun 29th 2007 2:53AM]

What you don't realize is the PS3 had only 400,000 unites available at launch. While Apple is rumored to have close to three million. Knowing that also there's going to be no shortage of iPhones and that i have three apple stores and 8 AT&T stores within 20 miles, I think I'm not going to have to worry about getting shot over an iPhone.

The iPhone will gain a strong momentum in time for christmas.

[absurdio @ Jun 29th 2007 3:35AM]

In addition to what MyNewtonWeighsATon (damn, I wish I'd thought of that name first) already said, 1) there's a lot more cell phone users out there than there are gamers (since i suspect most gamers are cell-phone users, but the reverse is not necessarily true). That means there's a whole lot of people that could potentially become among the hoped-for 10 million. 2) Not only is there no real reason to camp in line for an iPhone (again, where camping out in line is likely to be the difference between getting your commodity item and not, it makes sense. Where the object of your desire is in no short supply, you stand to benefit very little from being the first guy in the store), but there is also legitimate reason that people WOULDN'T be waiting in line on launch day: contracts. Anyone on Sprint, Verizon, or any other non-AT&T network has to consider whether or not the iPhone is worth opting out of his/her existing contract. Surely some people will decide it is, and surely some others will wait out the end of their current contracts, and then switch to AT&T. That means there'll be ever-more buyers as the contracts end.
I wouldn't say 10 million is impossible within a year.

[docrock @ Jun 29th 2007 11:12AM]

We apple opened the retail stores they Biz Writers from Fortune and the like all said it would bomb. Now apple is doing 1billion per quarter. They said teh ipod was too expensive and would bomb ... 100 Million plus untis later ... they still say it's too expensive. Worng. They said apple was losing shares... MSFT down 7% DELl down 8.7% Apple up 32% over 46 points in last three months. People should stop counting apple out yeah and the Spurs and Patriots too. Sleepy winners are the best.

Hate apple or not Steve is a good businessman and is normally right about his guesses.

I gotta go wait in line

[Arrowmaster @ Jun 29th 2007 1:01AM]

lol, the quote of the year...

Jobs: "It's easier to disappoint people."

[T_R_J @ Jun 29th 2007 1:03AM]

TOO....MANY....IPHONE....POSTS

ugg.

[John Doe @ Jun 29th 2007 1:07AM]

The interview went as such I'm willing to bet....

USAToday: Steve can....
STEVE: IPHONE BITCH!
USAToday: But Steve people want to..
STEVE: I SAID IPHONE BITCH!
USAToday: Mr. Jobs I'm trying to ask you a question...
STEVE: ITS THE IPHONE BEEEECH!!!
USAToday: Mr Stephenson can you answer a question about the keyboard on the iPhone..
Randall: As Steve said. Its iPhone....*coughs*...bitch.
USAToday: You know this is very unprof...
STEVE: *starts nouggying (SP?) the interviewer* IPHONE IPHONE IPHONE BEEEEECH!
USAToday: This interview is over damn it! *storms off*

[Zach @ Jun 29th 2007 1:08AM]

LOL, 10 million? The iPhone is great, but if it sells 10 million by next summer I'll paint myself blue, put and engadget logo on my chest, and send the pic into engadget.

Don't take this lightly either, when I say stuff like this I mean it.

Zach

[Andrew H. @ Jun 29th 2007 3:50AM]

if theres any reason buy an iphone... thats it right there

in addition to the engadget logo, you should get a tattoo of the apple logo right on top of your heart.

[David Michaels @ Jun 29th 2007 1:18AM]

iPhone iblows PERIOD.

[MyNewtonWeighsATon @ Jun 29th 2007 2:42AM]

Now David, that type of attitude is not becoming of a teenage lad.

[DM @ Jun 29th 2007 11:37AM]

hahaha

[dan @ Jun 29th 2007 1:21AM]

10 million sold by end of 08 not 07.

[Deluxe @ Jun 29th 2007 2:05AM]

"Thankfully for us all,".. You guys are the ones hyping the shit out of it. Quit spitting in your coffee and complaining about it.

[Jordan @ Jun 29th 2007 2:17AM]

Oh great - I go to test my EDGE to report the speed and it says the WAP gateway is down, LOL!

It *seems* like I have noticed considerable faster speeds recently, especially over Google Maps. A friend of mine used my Blackberry Curve and was amazed at how much faster Google Maps ran on it compared to his T-Mobile Dash, even though we both had decent EDGE signals. I was a little puzzled, but could this be it?

[Jordan @ Jun 29th 2007 2:18AM]

Whoops - I meant to post that on the article about a boost in EDGE speeds. Sorry!

[Archietype @ Jun 29th 2007 5:24AM]

I just love this quote from the article:

"When we started this, none of us loved our phones. Yet, if you talk to iPod owners, or Mac owners, they love their iPods and Macs. We wanted to make a phone so great, you couldn't imagine going anywhere without it. That was our goal, and we think we achieved it."

First Jobs says music on phones hasn't taken off...obviously he hasn't been out in public and seen that roughly half the people listening to music on public transport are doing it via their phones.

I know he 100% believes in his company's products but honestly, the current crop of phones in the market aren't so unsatiisfying that there was a *need* Apple to come along and 'improve' our mobile lives. And isn't the point of a mobile phone that it's something that you want to take everywhere anyway? It's like the man thinks we hide our handsets at home because they so difficult to use and that we're ashamed to be seen with them.

[tired-of-apple-fanboys @ Jun 29th 2007 8:19AM]

it's called RDF man..don't fight it!

[absurdio @ Jun 29th 2007 10:47AM]

Also, could we get a CEOh-No-He-Didn't on the line:
"EDGE will be faster than people have read in the reviews. Some of the criticism of EDGE is more theoretical. Blackberrys use EDGE, and in many cases is [sic] slower, because our software is better."

I'm a mac user, myself, so I'm not gonna disagree with the man, but I'm willing to bet there's a fair number of Blackberry users that're willing to take offense to having their software called inferior to that of an as-yet-unreleased phone.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Jun 29th 2007 4:23AM]

As a former BlackBerry user, I can tell you that no, probably no one will take offense to that. The BlackBerry browser is ridiculously slow, and everyone knows it. It really is not hard at all to make something faster than that piece of junk. Now the email, you would have a hard time beating, because it is instantaneous. In fact, it is so fast that two people with BlackBerries can converse over email at a rate that is indistinguishable from IM.

[Mike @ Jun 29th 2007 7:58AM]

>In fact, it is so fast that two people with BlackBerries can converse over email at a rate that is indistinguishable from IM.

When I ran a BB on AT&T, the old AT&T, not the new AT&T... I would often get an email on my BB before it hit my desktop. My phone would buzz and I would turn to my computer to wait for my new email to show up. And I was running the BB redirector software (on another machine), this wasn't even with the corporate server.

[Phillip @ Jun 29th 2007 12:53PM]

This is all about the Law of Supply & Demand. You create a product and market it to create a demand, and after that demand has been taken to the max, you deliver the product to the meet the demand. Apple will do this. The iPod has sold 100,000,000 units since its launch. That equals about 14.3 million a year on average. The demand for the iPhone is so much greater than that of the iPod. So if Apple can deliver 14.3 million iPods a year, why can't they sell 10 million iPhones in a year? AT&T has about over 60 million suscribers as of 2007. And to add to that, there are a lot of people who are saying they are going to jump ship to AT&T just to get the device. Well I know about 30 off hand.