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Hon Hai Receives iPhone Contract?
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It will be GSM
I cannot imagine that anyone who has been looking to jump into the cellular market would not start out with anything less than GSM. Especially a technology company like Apple. And since it is a foregone conclusion that this will be a music player too, you know darn well that Apple will want to sell music for downloads right into this puppy. It's gotta be GSM, imho.
I still can't think of having a unified phone and music player. I like my iPod, I like my Razr phone (until May 07 ) and I really have no gripes having two devices. When I use my iPod, I don't need to take calls. When I'm on the phone, I don't need an iPod. Having everything combined means when my iPod or cell phone breaks, I lose both of them. And seeing how often that happens, to both, I'm not sure I would buy a combo. Also, if I'm crankin my iPod for a while, I'd have to get worried about killing the battery since its also my cell phone.
And seeing the phone will likely carry an extremely high cost if it's not attached to a carrier, I'd have to be really impressed by it.
I'd buy a high quality Apple cell phone that synced to my computer out of the box, and all that good stuff, but if it was a iPod/cellphone hybrid, I wouldn't pay for that extra cost.
) and I really have no gripes having two devices. When I use my iPod, I don't need to take calls. When I'm on the phone, I don't need an iPod. Having everything combined means when my iPod or cell phone breaks, I lose both of them. And seeing how often that happens, to both, I'm not sure I would buy a combo. Also, if I'm crankin my iPod for a while, I'd have to get worried about killing the battery since its also my cell phone.And seeing the phone will likely carry an extremely high cost if it's not attached to a carrier, I'd have to be really impressed by it.
I'd buy a high quality Apple cell phone that synced to my computer out of the box, and all that good stuff, but if it was a iPod/cellphone hybrid, I wouldn't pay for that extra cost.
To do well in Europe and rest of world it will have to do better than that. T-mobile and O2 have already rolled out the new standard with 1.8 Mb download speeds in UK (1.2Mb in real world tests by PDA Essentials in their review of Windows Mobile phone t-mobile vario II v 384k max for 3G). Latest nokia phone just announced for US market also has this standard. 3G is already passe.
I totally agree with this guy
Well it's good to know you agree with yourself!
But you can't allow yourself to get all bent out of shape just because it's been a long-running rumor that hasn't panned out yet. There are logical reasons this has been a rumor for some time, logical reasons why so many people get excited about it every time they hear about it, and probably just as logical reasons for why Apple hasn't released one yet.
If people get overly-high expectations about it, and then are disappointed about it once it's released, well then that's their OWN problem, isn't it? Don't work yourself up over what you THINK others might think. Therein lies madness...
Yet you care enough to keep posting about it!!
Look, you're frustrated about it, we get it. Perhaps you're itching for an iPhone yourself, and you just want Apple to come out with one already. But if the rumors really upset you, just..... don't read them!! And definitely don't post on the threads that you're sick of hearing about them! It just makes you seem... silly.
Look away, buddy. Look away...
Next Gen iPod = Phone
With both mobile phones and iPods (video), there is such thing as too small and too large. I personally believe that both devices share the same sweet spot.
As some have suggested, I too think the next gen iPod will add phone functionality: capable of making/receiving calls, listening to music, watching videos, as well as updating Address Book, iPhoto library, etc. - on the go.
We'll see. Eventually.
With both mobile phones and iPods (video), there is such thing as too small and too large. I personally believe that both devices share the same sweet spot.
As some have suggested, I too think the next gen iPod will add phone functionality: capable of making/receiving calls, listening to music, watching videos, as well as updating Address Book, iPhoto library, etc. - on the go.
We'll see. Eventually.
I still can't think of having a unified phone and music player. I like my iPod, I like my Razr phone (until May 07
I'm fine with having two separate devices too.
Battery life is definitely my biggest concern about a phone/iPod hybrid.
Although if they DO go this route, I wonder if they'll have mics built into iPod headphones? That could prove comical -- you're listening to tunes, and then your phone vibrates (which I think it should do automatically if music is on), and you check to see if you want to answer it or not. Or... you simply reach into your pocket, push a button, and answer the call. You'd probably get a lot of funny looks from people who see you head-banging to music one minute, and then suddenly talking to yourself the next.
I think its funny how all these analyst are making all these assumptions about the iphone, what im wondering is how much the zune is adding to microsofts bank accounts?????
Bring on the 15" MB Apple. I will be first in line.
Then we will have to fight for the first spot!
I need a new laptop, but 13" is just too small and a MBP is just too expensive (and don't need the features)...
Please pick a carrier...
(preferrably Cingular since I"m with them right now) But honestly, why people prefer to pay full sale price for a phone and then the same amount of money month to month as someone on contract who paid $50 for the phone is far beyond me. Look, you're going to use your phone. You're going to have either buy a plan or buy minutes (i.e. the companies are going to screw you either way). So why not take the $200 off the retail price and sign the contract you're going to end up using anyway? I swear some people totally amaze me. Unless you really think you're moving to Europe or Asia anytime soon or you think you'll be on unemployment there's no reason not to just sign the stupid contract. Otherwise you're just giving away your $200 for an option you'll never use...
(preferrably Cingular since I"m with them right now) But honestly, why people prefer to pay full sale price for a phone and then the same amount of money month to month as someone on contract who paid $50 for the phone is far beyond me. Look, you're going to use your phone. You're going to have either buy a plan or buy minutes (i.e. the companies are going to screw you either way). So why not take the $200 off the retail price and sign the contract you're going to end up using anyway? I swear some people totally amaze me. Unless you really think you're moving to Europe or Asia anytime soon or you think you'll be on unemployment there's no reason not to just sign the stupid contract. Otherwise you're just giving away your $200 for an option you'll never use...
Yep, HSDPA, mostly seen as a wireless broadband for everywhere.
In Belgium we'll have an 80% population coverage by the end of this year.
I believe you pay 55 euros for "unlimited" access, but this is only 1 GB transfer (1/10 of normal broadband limits here)
I don't see it in the iPhone, though. Not enough coverage, and the receiver is pretty large (compared to the iPod nano).
what worries me...
what worries me is what, exactly, our expectations are. What IS the ideal (read: "improved" or "better" or "right") cellphone?
--it has to send and receive calls reliably
--it needs a simple interface
--and it needs to play music well, and easily.
there's no reason to think apple can improve on the connectivity of current phones. But it IS reasonable to think it could provide a better interface, especially with integrated music features including the ability to buy songs thru the ITMS and to sync songs between the phone and apple computers. Heck, at that point it's just a phone-in-a-nano: Done deal!
but is that enough to sell 12 million phones quickly and at a handsome profit? If not, what can sweeten the device's appeal?
--complete integration with Address Book seems a no-brainer and achievable: it's already built in to the Nano
--integration with a good calendar app is more problematic, because imho iCal is sorely lacking yet i doubt apple would facilitate integration with an "outside" app
--a camera and integration with iPhoto?
Syncing address book and a calendar are two features that would make me a buyer, but i know not everyone would be so moved. So what else?
--something more dramatic, like a built-in iSight facilitating live video to accompany phone calls?
I'd like to hear your ideas. To me, most of the features allow for incremental improvements. The iSight video calls are the only innovation i can think of that would provide Steve that "oh, and there's one more thing..." moment. What can you think of? Or more importantly, what can Steve...? What ARE our expectations?
what worries me is what, exactly, our expectations are. What IS the ideal (read: "improved" or "better" or "right") cellphone?
--it has to send and receive calls reliably
--it needs a simple interface
--and it needs to play music well, and easily.
there's no reason to think apple can improve on the connectivity of current phones. But it IS reasonable to think it could provide a better interface, especially with integrated music features including the ability to buy songs thru the ITMS and to sync songs between the phone and apple computers. Heck, at that point it's just a phone-in-a-nano: Done deal!
but is that enough to sell 12 million phones quickly and at a handsome profit? If not, what can sweeten the device's appeal?
--complete integration with Address Book seems a no-brainer and achievable: it's already built in to the Nano
--integration with a good calendar app is more problematic, because imho iCal is sorely lacking yet i doubt apple would facilitate integration with an "outside" app
--a camera and integration with iPhoto?
Syncing address book and a calendar are two features that would make me a buyer, but i know not everyone would be so moved. So what else?
--something more dramatic, like a built-in iSight facilitating live video to accompany phone calls?
I'd like to hear your ideas. To me, most of the features allow for incremental improvements. The iSight video calls are the only innovation i can think of that would provide Steve that "oh, and there's one more thing..." moment. What can you think of? Or more importantly, what can Steve...? What ARE our expectations?
OK, random/inspired idea for all those worrying about the battery life: what if there were two batteries? One just for the cell phone, one for the music player. They could probably make it fit in an enclosure that's still small and reasonably light, but that way you don't have to worry about your iPod battery running down and then not being able to use the phone, or vice-versa. They could charge at the same time still, but it would solve that problem.
jW
jW
I'm mainly replying to you.But you can't allow yourself to get all bent out of shape just because it's been a long-running rumor that hasn't panned out yet. ...
Yet you care enough to keep posting about it!!
I'm not really sure how to respond to this cause you aren't making much sense. I'm silly? gimme-a-break. But emotions don't portray over MR very well. Either way I'll contribute to the rumor mill...
I hope the iPhone is not called the iPhone instead I would prefer no "i"s and pPod is a bad idea too. Hmm how about RojoPhone?
Ditto here. I want a phone to be a phone and an iPod to be an iPod - period! I don't need my cellphone getting all yucked up when I go running - nor do I give a crud about being able to make/place calls during a workout.
That reminds me - there is this woman on my bowling league who has her bluetooth headset on 100% of the time. Last week we actually bowled against her. While bowling, she is sometimes on the phone!!! I find that to be ridiculous.
Two devices and make each of the superior for their niches!
Rojo, I'm with you on why it's been a rumor, and why it excites us. But i don't see the logical reasons apple hasn't released one yet.
Consider: New cellphones are introduced continually, with improved feature sets and smaller sizes. Logically, why couldn't apple do that, unless it doesn't think it can do it better? And numerous cellphones with music players are now in the market. Their execution is faulted generally not for sound quality but for their UIs, which i think we'd agree apple could do elegantly. So where's the logic in apple not having done so?
In hindsight maybe the logic in the delays will be apparent. But i didn't see it during last year's MW and I don't see it now. What logical explanations can you think of?
Specially given Intel release an LV (low voltage, low temp) Core 2 Duo 1.5GHz with 4MB of cache in January.
Not that I'm a fan of small Apple laptops or owt like that.
I'd like to see an iPhone. I'm not convinced it's going to happen but I'd like it to. My phone needs replacing and I'm needing something more involved than this shuffle....
I think a better option, mentioned earlier (sorry I forget who) is for their to be some artifical capacity below which one of the primary functions would cease. The user could set this limit as well as decide which function to lose.
As for look and feel, I think the "simple iPhone" would just be a Nano with a slider for keypad. Max of 4 gig capacity, syncs with itunes, iphoto, ical and address. I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around how the "smart iPhone" would appear. Would it be combined with the True Video iPod as some have suggested? Would it have a slide to the side qwerty keypad? Same form factor as the current 5.5G iPod? Full screen? What type of cemera? How many? WiFi? Bluetooth? Both? Video chat from any hotspot? Cram too much of this together and you could end up this this.
Yeah, this would definitely be very sweet. Does anyone remember maybe a year ago there was a rumor about a tranluscent screen? ie you could have a camera behind the screen and can shoot straight through it as if it were clear even though it's displaying things? That would be IDEAL for this type of thing, so you can have an invisible camera that can video you while you're watching the video of your friend on the line. However, from what I remember from the article, the technology sounded a long ways away from being put into practice.
I believe this all falls under the old saying "A Jack of all trades and a Master of none".
Apple is known for doing one thing, and doing it well. While iPod has evolved from just music, it now also includes other forms of media for watching and viewing as well. However, meshing an iPod into a Smartphone is going to stretch iPod past what it can do well.
As I said before, I would gladly carry an iPhone and an iPod, but I won't pay for a hybrid since I believe functionally it couldn't serve its purpose as well as each by itself.
Apple is known for doing one thing, and doing it well. While iPod has evolved from just music, it now also includes other forms of media for watching and viewing as well. However, meshing an iPod into a Smartphone is going to stretch iPod past what it can do well.
As I said before, I would gladly carry an iPhone and an iPod, but I won't pay for a hybrid since I believe functionally it couldn't serve its purpose as well as each by itself.
The US has both old and new tech. There are a lot of IS-95/2000 (EV-DO) networks still operating (the majority of networks), but there are also some major GSM networks, including the largest, by subscriber figures operator in the US: Cingular. The two largest GSM operators are being upgraded to UMTS and do not have any record of being heavy-handed with branding (at least no worse than outside the US.) So if Apple were to come up with an iPhone, there's no reason why they couldn't make it UMTS/GSM and expect fairly good sales.
Whether they can persuade US carriers to subsidize such a phone is open to question. Whether they can keep the iTunes Store viable if they went into competition with the mobile phone market is seriously doubtful. All around I think it'll be a bad thing, but on the "Will they see a need to create a locked-down Verizon-branded Verizon-standardized-UI (I'm not kidding) CDMA/AMPS phone", the answer is "No effing way."
I really hope that this phone will ship unlocked. Otherwise, I cannot see 12 Million sold in the US alone. I currently have a CDMA phone from a Canadian carrier. I expect to be traveling a bit in the coming months and an unlocked GSM phone would be great. An exclusive Cingular deal [as rumored in the past] is not likely to generate anywhere near 12 million phones. If Apple wants
to be seen as a non monopolist, an unlocked phone would be a great way to build that image.
to be seen as a non monopolist, an unlocked phone would be a great way to build that image.
video-phone (finally the stars are aligned)
Ah the mythical video-phone that has been talked about for ages (okay 2 to 3 decades). Will Homo sapiens ever warm up to this idea? I think this is a tough "problem" to crack. What is the compelling reason to video chat with someone? I think there are a few instances where I would like to have one for example seeing my 1 day-old nephew, or an important artifact instantly. Okay, maybe I will cave into this wishful thinking afterall. I think Apple can do it. A phone that can video chat (forget music for now). Lets make a video-phone that can do this well, and did I mention it has to look fabulous too!
Ah the mythical video-phone that has been talked about for ages (okay 2 to 3 decades). Will Homo sapiens ever warm up to this idea? I think this is a tough "problem" to crack. What is the compelling reason to video chat with someone? I think there are a few instances where I would like to have one for example seeing my 1 day-old nephew, or an important artifact instantly. Okay, maybe I will cave into this wishful thinking afterall. I think Apple can do it. A phone that can video chat (forget music for now). Lets make a video-phone that can do this well, and did I mention it has to look fabulous too!
You mean making personal computers? By that rationale Apple should not have even entered the music business and never made the iPod because at the time they were "known for doing one thing, and doing it well", that being computers. But they did. And they succeeded. And furthermore, they evolved the iPod to not only handle music, but photos, videos, games and more. Once again, should they have stopped at music and not pursued other types of media?
What makes you think that they cannot continue with their success and come out with an excellent phone/iPod hybrid? Apple has continued to disprove the nay-sayers time and time again and I don't see this iPhone possibility as being any different.