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Apple Phone in Early '07?

I would love to see an Apple Phone with these features:

- At least 4 GB storage, preferably 8 GB.
- 3G (UTMS) / 2G (GSM) combo
- iPod/iTunes/Addressbook/iCal integration (duh!)
- BlueTooth
- less than 100g
- clamshell or candybar, no slider please

For less than 600 euros I would buy it instantly.
 
Somewhere in Culpertino, Steve Jobs is working out who he told they'd originally been working on a from the ground up design that they've now "scrapped"


I don't believe this rumour either. Leaving aside the major reasons I've dismissed iPhone rumours before, there's the fact that I can't see any reason or evidence for Apple initially starting off by trying to design the circuitry itself. There's no need to, it's more expensive than licensing off the shelf parts, it requires skills very different from those you'd use designing a G5's Northbridge (for example), it means more regulatory hurdles and it really doesn't help much with your design.

The notion Apple ever even spent time considering designing their own, especially given their success with the iPod, is just too far out to be worthy of serious consideration.

Apple would have started off by basing the iPhone on off-the-shelf components, not switched to that model midstream.

I am more and more convinced that given the real, unambiguous*, rumours are coming (allegedly) from people inside Apple leaking information, that this is a sting, as I partially wrote satirically yesterday. I don't believe there's a single engineer working on this project.

* Firmware of iPod nano just means nano's iTunes and iTunes for ROKR are likely built from the same codebase. Remember neither are based on the Portalplayer software, and Apple isn't going to reinvent the wheel. "iTunes Phone Driver" refers to the ROKR driver, and Apple's website specifically says that's what it's for. Uploading of pictures and other features in the latest iTunes Phone Driver may simply point to updates in iTunes for Phones, or even making the code more generic. All of these pieces of evidence have logical explanations that, on occasion, contradict the notion they're part of some roll-out of an iPhone. The only evidence we have for an iPhone is actually that people like Arn are convinced that their sources are reliable. Ok, I believe you Arn. But you'll forgive me for not believing the story makes any sense.
 
peharri said:
* Firmware of iPod nano just means nano's iTunes and iTunes for ROKR are likely built from the same codebase. Remember neither are based on the Portalplayer software, and Apple isn't going to reinvent the wheel. "iTunes Phone Driver" refers to the ROKR driver, and Apple's website specifically says that's what it's for. Uploading of pictures and other features in the latest iTunes Phone Driver may simply point to updates in iTunes for Phones, or even making the code more generic. All of these pieces of evidence have logical explanations that, on occasion, contradict the notion they're part of some roll-out of an iPhone. The only evidence we have for an iPhone is actually that people like Arn are convinced that their sources are reliable. Ok, I believe you Arn. But you'll forgive me for not believing the story makes any sense.
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I agree with you and what you said about the Firmware in my opinioin is just that, refering to the ROKR... in fact when I updated an old machine it actaully said that as the description in the software update.

And if Apple does make a phone then great! Our market here in the US sucks for phones and phone services. I had a friend visit from China and she had this amazing motorola... all touch screen, did her email, web, everything on it.. when she charged something she got an auto email saying you just charged something, it was amazing.

I think if anything needs to change here in the US to make phones any better it is our service plans, not adding in cameras and iTunes abilities... those are just gimmicks to make you think you have a better service. I think apple could make a better phone but it would be limited to what our US service plans can offer.
 
Apple phone

Bakerman said:
I would love to see an Apple Phone with these features:

- At least 4 GB storage, preferably 8 GB.
- 3G (UTMS) / 2G (GSM) combo
- iPod/iTunes/Addressbook/iCal integration (duh!)
- BlueTooth
- less than 100g
- clamshell or candybar, no slider please

For less than 600 euros I would buy it instantly.
Click to expand...

The market screams for an Apple phone. The above architecture is a basic excellent expected product. Still even a video ichat internet communicating device ( of course camera capable )
would be "hot" for the market inroading mac populace. C'mon Steve this cant be that challenging!!
 
DrFrankTM said:
I really think the camera has to be able to swivel in some way if we want to be able to take pictures of stuff in front of us while looking at the screen, and have video chats too I don't recall seeing decent mock-ups that address this issue.
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My Sprint Samsung A900 does that.
 
Shuffle phone it is then!

rdrr said:
Hmmm that is an intresting thought. I saw a demo, over a year ago, of a wireles VoIP phone at Dartmouth University that did just that. They wear them around their neck or use a clip, but it was voice activated, and they actually called them their "Star Trek badges".

http://www.vocera.com/
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So a quad-band gsm iPhone based on the new clip shuffle? Perfect! Speaker phone mode or BT headset .. voice activated.. Sync the phone number and voice dialing through an updated AddressBook. Perfect!

;-)

jwd
 
Bakerman said:
I would love to see an Apple Phone with these features:
- less than 100g
Click to expand...

you're setting a high bar. my samsung a900, considered a very small RAZR-like phone, weighs 100g and lacks most all of the other feaures you want. (ex: the extended life battery adds 30g and even with it, the samsung's criticized for poor battery life)
 
if they are using off the shelf parts it sounds like its going to be like every other phone which blows
 
miranderm said:
The market screams for an Apple phone. The above architecture is a basic excellent expected product. Still even a video ichat internet communicating device ( of course camera capable )
would be "hot" for the market inroading mac populace. C'mon Steve this cant be that challenging!!
Click to expand...

I don't know if the market in general is screaming for an Apple phone, but it would certainly add an interesting element to an oversaturated market filled with crap product.
 
camomac said:
why is the US so far behind Europe with this kind of technology?

(edit: maybe it isn't i haven't shopped for a phone in nearly a year)
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It's certainly why I haven't. I wouldn't say the U.S. is so much behind the rest of the world (although that is true) but keep in mind U.S. carriers are all about keeping people locked into contracts. It's much easier to get a phone and change providers in Europe because they don't do hardware locking to network and prepaid is more proliferant. You can get lots of these great phones (by the way, they do make 10 megapixel camera phones now) if you buy them online, paying retail prices.

The problem is most U.S. consumers are cheap as far as I can tell, most will not pay at all for a phone and even few will pay more than $100. The carriers cannot afford to subsidize these phones because even with them partially covering the cost a consumer will be looking at an over $250 cost with a contract..

The U.S. cell phone is behind other countries because the U.S. cell phone network is behind other countries. We're just now getting 3G out in most of the country but Japan has had it and two way video calls for years.

If I could afford it and was willing to take the gamble of learning a new UI, I would get the Nokia N73. But it's hard to justify spending that much on a cell phone for me and I'm more familiar with Nokia series 40 phones.
 
i dont know if anyone has said this yet, but why dont they just turn a ipod into a phone instead of turning a phone into an ipod... seriously, an 80gig ipod w/ the ability to call and text people and etc. alhtough, i suppose the tech isnt there to make it small enough for the average consumer to enjoy
 
I don't like the sound of "off the shelf" parts. That sounds like Apple is going to rebrand an existing phone or place the guts of another company's phone in their casing.

I'm don't want a piece-of-@#$% Motorola handset inside a nice brushed steel Apple form. Which is who I imagine they would partner with.

If you're listening Apple, I'm interested in the iPhone. I buy my phones outright and I'm not interested in changing carriers (currently on T-Mobile). So you better sell it yourself and hardware unlocked.
 
I am sorry

dondark said:
Did you see any PDA phone couldnt play video? $599 actually is a very low price. Many high-end PDA phones are selling close to $1000 even without a hard drive.
BTW, $1000 aud is $755 USD
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I have to disagree on the price point.

For $1000 you can get a low level 17" iMac. Why would I want to pay that for a frikking phone?

$600 buys you a nice Mini with a dual core. Why pay that much for a phone?

The phone sweet spot is $299, with bluetooth, camera (optional), full pda capabilities, nice screen, voice command, 256 meg internal mem, 2-4 gig flash, new antenna design to pull in weak signals, open so that you can move it from carrier to carrier.

Something like that would sell like hot cakes. Not only that but it would beat a lot of the phones out there in price, usability, and coolness.
 
EagerDragon said:
I have to disagree on the price point.

For $1000 you can get a low level 17" iMac. Why would I want to pay that for a frikking phone?

$600 buys you a nice Mini with a dual core. Why pay that much for a phone?

The phone sweet spot is $299, with bluetooth, camera (optional), full pda capabilities, nice screen, voice command, 256 meg internal mem, 2-4 gig flash, new antenna design to pull in weak signals, open so that you can move it from carrier to carrier.

Something like that would sell like hot cakes. Not only that but it would beat a lot of the phones out there in price, usability, and coolness.
Click to expand...

If you can connect a small but full sized bluetooth keyboard to it, I wouldn't mind haviing something that is ultra portable. It could even act like a phone, but I would like to see a smaller macbook available.

I know your dealing with screen real estate issues, but I wouldn't be using it to create movies for disney pixar.
 
donlphi said:
I'm soooo over the iPhone idea. I'm sort of hoping Apple comes out with iTelegraph or iMorse Code. RETRO IS VERY IN RIGHT NOW!
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Retro is always in, it's never out. That's why it's retro. Like it or not, the iPhone is coming, and I think it will be here in by the end of Novenber, cause Apple wont go from now until the end of the year without another consumer based event. They're on a roll right now, and they wont let Christmas pass by without releasing that thing.
 
prady16 said:
But then why would he say "Some people might be coming up with that soon" ?
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The BG quote was "I don't carry an ipod. I think carrying music on my mobile phone is much better. Some people might be doing that in the future." (chuckles)"

"Carrying music on my mobile" would be the "future" thing (never mind that there are already phones that do this, and even phones and PDAs running Windows Mobile that do this...)
 
GSM / VoIP

Well, here's what I'm hoping for. (Crazy, I know, but I think there's a chance, because Apple's a computer company, and they seem to approach everything with the computer as the center of everything.)

I want a GSM phone with VoIP capabilities, so it will work with either Vonage or Skype. That way, I can pay way less money...

(Obviously, it has to have bluetooth and sync-ability, but I don't undersstand why people here even consider that optional...Apple created iSync, after all.)
 
SeaFox said:
I don't like the sound of "off the shelf" parts. That sounds like Apple is going to rebrand an existing phone or place the guts of another company's phone in their casing.

I'm don't want a piece-of-@#$% Motorola handset inside a nice brushed steel Apple form. Which is who I imagine they would partner with.

If you're listening Apple, I'm interested in the iPhone. I buy my phones outright and I'm not interested in changing carriers (currently on T-Mobile). So you better sell it yourself and hardware unlocked.
Click to expand...


I'll agree about the motorola thing! I've had my share of Moto handsets over the years and I've hated every single one. My primary complaint? underpowered and unresponsive. LAG! I would like it if they would just stick a Core Solo ULV in there and we'll be good! ;)

I'd love it to be unlocked too. But they'll probably make it GSM so i'll need to switch networks. Unless they're REALLY nice and make it GSM/CDMA like my Samsung A790 (about to be on my third of those- they have a knack for survival unless you hurl them onto concrete 5 feet below you as hard as you can throw them). I'd pay tons of money for that.
 
ok, so...I wrote this really really really long message, and by the time I had submited it, I had been logged out, and so I lost the whole message. So I'm going to re-write it, but in a much shorter version

Basically I listed all the Ideas I had for the Apple Smartphone. What made the message so long was that I also explained why I wanted each type of feature. I'm going to try and stay away from doing that this time and just list the features but keep in mind that I agree that a lot of these things are a stretch.

- first, call it iMobile instead of iPhone
HARDWARE
- have a full size screen that is a touchscreen.
- have the screen slide up to reveal the keyboard
- have atleast 30 gigs of storage.
- iSight that can rotate. For taking images and having the screen as a viewer, and having the iSight pointed at you for video conferencing
- Use the EvDO technology that the sony treo700 uses that is supposed to be "near broadband speeds"

SOFTWARE
- iPod interface
- mobile iTunes Store, able to download music, shows, and movies on the go.
- ability to record sounds and voices
- ability to record video
- mobile versions of Mail, Address Book, Calender, iPhoto (displaying photos you take or upload) and able to sync perfectly
- mobile Safari
- mobile stickies (more like a notepad type feature)
- bluetooth ( using headsets, but also using the phone as a remote for keynote and the soon to be released iTV
- radio tuner ( i know this is pretty simple, but why not?)
- GPS like system, or atleast a built in mobile google maps? (possibly even mobile google earth
-mobile iChat (since iChat can connect to aim and other services)
- mobile widgets (my sidekick has a lot of programs that you can download for it, most of them being a lot more powerful than most widgets) imagine having the "find the cheapest gas station" widget, get our your phone, bring it up, put in the zip code of wherever you happen to be, see where the cheapest place to get gas is.
- the ability to remote desktop into your mac. (would have to install software on your mac that would create connection for you) gives you the ability just to browse through you desktop's files, if you forgot a file that you need and lets you download it on to your phone.
- Also, lets you use the phone as a bluetooth modem for your computer.

I'm sure there is more..but I'll stop there
 
UberMac said:
A shame about scrapping the idea of a ground up design - I hope that doesn't lead to a lack of innovation. That's what really leads Apple along! Although if they just make a killer phone (I'm sure they will at some point...) it's bound to sell buckets loads!

Uber
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I don't think scrapping the ground up design will hurt. The iPod was made mostly from off the shelf parts when it was introd. but it still was awesome. Hopefully they can do the same thing with their phone. My contract doesn't expire until December 2007 but I want one...and I don't even know what it is yet.
 
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