10 Days Until The iPhone

Well it's finally arriving, both my first post here on the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine blogs, and Apple's new iPhone. First a big thanks to Hal Goldstein and Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine for hosting these newly updated blogs. Hal is a kind and courteous man who has really done wonders keeping the magazine going and growing all these years.

For the folks out there who don't know me I am the Conference Chairman of the Smartphone Summit conference that takes place at CTIA Wireless events in the US. We focus on enterprise solutions utilizing cutting edge Smartphone devices from all makes and operating systems. My blogs will therefore cover all facets of Smartphone technology.

So lately I have received alot of email and questions regarding what my take is on Apple's upcoming iPhone and its potential uses as a converged wireless device that could be carried by a mobile professional. Well for starters it seems once again that Apple has managed to come a little late to the game, with technology that has been repackaged, but in a way that looks and feels a step above many other existing devices in its class. There was nothing revolutionary about the iPod either, other than its simple interface and ease of use, along with integration with the Apple-owned iTunes music portal. But yet something about the look and feel of the iPod suddenly spawned a whole nation of users sporting little white earbuds as far as the eye could see.

Will history repeat itself or has Apple finally stepped into a market where it will finally face some stiff competition? The blogs are ablaze with opinions, including what Apple's intended demographic is for this new device, especially at the price point they're planning.

What makes the iPhone special? Well it has no appreciable hardware buttons other than basic on/off and volume, and a touchscreen that represents the entire the main interface. And speaking of the touchscreen, what a screen it is! There are plenty of carriers that have been dabbling in delivering video to the phone but on the tiny screens of most of those devices the experience is somewhat lackluster. With the slick, giant 3.5" color screen of the iPhone - mobile video is going to be taken to a whole new level!

Yes it also integrates with Outlook contacts and calendar, but so do plenty of other devices. It sports a full QWERTY virtual keyboard, so that is a plus, depending on how well it works. So the question is - does Apple intend this to be a business device? Perhaps. It certainly might be the business device you'd take with you in the evenings, or out on the weekend with the family on a trip. But without some more advanced applications - its use would be limited in the mobile business sector.

Speaking of applications - who will be developing 3rd party applications for the iPhone and what will they be? Apple claims that the iPhone currently runs on an optimized version of OS X. If so will many popular mobile applications be able to be ported over to the iPhone? At the moment this looks not to be the case, as supposedly 3rd party applications will only run on the iPhone through the use of the Safari browser.

However, at this time it seems that the iPhone version of the bundled Safari browser does not support the use of Flash! In terms of writing 3rd party applications to run in a web browser - Flash has anything else beat hands down. Especially appications that include heavy audio, video, and graphics components, which from a mobile standpoint could be taken to the next level on the large colorful screen of the iPhone. If there ever was place where Flash technology could be put to maximum mobile wireless use it is on the iPhone. So why no Flash Apple??

Why no GPS either? At such a high price point and with a screen that large, GPS would seem like a no-brainer as a de-facto application to be buillt into the iPhone. Since again, it seems like this device is designed to converge/replace a couple of others, but if you need directions, you’ll still need to carry yet another device that runs GPS. It is likely that GPS will be inclded in the 2nd generation iPhone, because if they put everything into the initial iPhone device here and now - there’s not as much to upgrade to (and promote) further down the road.

I think that Apple is positioning this device as an ultra-hip entertainment device that conveniently performs some core business tasks such as holding all your contacts and multi-media email capabilities. This way if you're out having fun with your iPhone and listening to music and watching videos, and then an important business email appears, you have the core tools to take care of it, at least temporarily, until you can reach a computer or a more capable mobile device.

The price point Apple has chosen for the iPhone release is somewhat staggering for a non-fully-capable business device, since at $499-$599 it's up there with all of the other keyboard enabled devices from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, HP, Motorola, etc. Perhaps their target demographic is the 20-40 crowd - i.e. those who can likely afford it without much to-do as a secondary device, but who don't need it they way they do their main business device.

In my opinion Apple is pricing the iPhone there to create some exclusivity with it, and to create a big initial buzz. This isn't a device that will be under everyone's Christmas tree like an iPod, due to its price and since it also requires a wireless service plan of some sort. It's a device that only the uber-cool will have at first, and the price point will create a barrier to many from acquiring one right away upon its release.

One could also assume that Apple is developing and releasing this device at this price point because they simply don't have much to lose there. Apple is not a wireless device company that lives and breathes on device sales and market share. If the iPhone fails it won't impact Apple's bottom line much, since the iPod is their mainstay there, and the iPod isn't going anywhere. So for Apple it's pretty much a win-only situation. Alternatively if they price the device low initially and it doesn't sell very well, they might acually take some heat, and be competing with tons of other offerings in the $200-$400 range.

The way they've set it up if sales are slow to start they can always say, 'Well look at the price point, of course everyone isn't buying one, it's an exclusive club this iPhone thing we've got here.' This is also the reason they're taking such a chance with an unproven type of interface. If the interface becomes a barrier to widespread adoption again it will just become the uber-toy of the occasional hipster.

In summary, a lot with the iPhone will be wait and see. As a personal entertainment device that can eliminate the need to also carry a cell phone and be a unique conversation piece - the iPhone may be a clear winner in every way but price. As a business capable device it will rank low on the totem pole to start, but if 3rd party apps start to appear that rival those found in current business devices, and Apple deploys Flash in it's iPhone browser along with adding GPS down the line, there could be some very unique applications for the iPhone in the business sector. I could imagine some whole-scale solutions that could perhaps be built to take advantage of such a platform/device with this kind of screen size and customizable usability interface.

Only time will tell. Perhaps if between now and October Apple makes some in-roads in business applications for the iPhone or someone somewhere seems to be planning some, we'll get this device into a session at the next Smartphone Summit conference, and put it up against the best the mobile business device class has to offer!