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iPhone Analysis and Palm Perspective
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Apple has already said that the iPhone will be just like the iPod-- a closed platform.
That means that IF there's any 3rd-party development at all, it's going to be Apple-approved apps sold through iTunes.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/macworld...-isnt-it-white-and-other-questions-227575.php
"...like an iPod, it won't be an open system that people can develop for. Remember, this is both an iPod and a Phone."
If you want this to change, why not file a bug with Apple?
http://rentzsch.com/cocoa/iphoneIndieAppDevelopment
I can understand why they're doing this--they want to fully control the user experience so they can be sure it's what they think is best.
For someone like me who owns a Treo 650 and a Nokia E70, and is a software developer, it's tremendously disappointing. I use plenty of third-party apps on my phones to keep track of projects, interface with GPS software, and watch video in formats not supported by the software. I've also randomly hacked together a couple things on my phone.
While there aren't many people in the world like me, there are a substantial number--this is why the third party software market for Palm, Symbian, and Windows Mobile exists. Many of those people wouldn't have trouble spending $499 or $599 on a phone.
The iPhone has perhaps the best interface of any phone (save for a few shortcomings, such as the keyboard, which you pointed out in your excellent hands-on write-up). Despite all that, I don't want to give up GPS mapping, project management, instant messaging, and fast access to my appointments and todo list. Since Apple isn't providing those features with the phone, and they're not allowing third-party development, I'm going to have to pass on the iPhone.
One of the best things about the Macintosh is the wide array of great shareware. Apple has purchased companies developing shareware and integrated their products with OS X. (iTunes and its new CoverFlow feature both started their life as shareware programs). They've also hired away talented shareware developers from their own companies. Hence, Apple is familiar with what an great asset third-party software is--even software from small developers. I'm surprised they didn't incorporate this lesson into the iPhone by allowing 3rd-party developers to work their magic on the iPhone.
Are you kidding?
Apple created this market, Palm followed suit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Newton
I wouldn't be so sure about soon... someday likely (2008-2009) but I doubt anytime soon (aka 2007).
In the near term (1-2 years) I expect Apple to keep it closed and to selectively work with 3rd parties to bring specific high-quality applications/capabilities to the iPhone.
Mr. Metz from PC Mag says it all:
"For all of ten minutes. Ten minutes isn't much, but I can safely say that the iPhone is even more impressive than it appeared during the Jobs keyote. And that's saying something."
Conclusion? Palm is dead, Treo is dead, every other high-end mobile phone is dead...Apple leads yet another revolution...simply amazing.
I will get one as soon as it comes, no question about it.
"For all of ten minutes. Ten minutes isn't much, but I can safely say that the iPhone is even more impressive than it appeared during the Jobs keyote. And that's saying something."
Conclusion? Palm is dead, Treo is dead, every other high-end mobile phone is dead...Apple leads yet another revolution...simply amazing.
I will get one as soon as it comes, no question about it.
If, and only if, Apple makes it open for 3rd party developers. As it was presented, there is a lot of functionality from my Palm that is missing (ebook reader, MS office doc. support, pdf reader, sync with MS Office, games etc.)
Palm Dead?
I doubt palm is dead, but really..... 3rd party apps continue to bloat my Treo 700p. It's a POS as it freezes constantly. The new iPhone doesn't have a paperclip hole.... but I could find mine on my Treo in the dark holding the paperclip between my toes I use it so often.
Just picked up a word document yesterday through email, and tried to open it in documents to go. It said it wasn't supported. Though even AppleWorks opened it fine on the Mac, and of course Word worked without a hitch. How many times have you had a PDF that wouldn't load on your Palm? How long does it take? Wouldn't it be easier just to open up a laptop and look at it. I know it would be for me.
Keeping everything in house makes for a cleaner product. Have you tried an iPod? I believe that you will find only a hand full of developers allowed to partner for 3rd party solutions. But who knows. This is gen 1......
I doubt palm is dead, but really..... 3rd party apps continue to bloat my Treo 700p. It's a POS as it freezes constantly. The new iPhone doesn't have a paperclip hole.... but I could find mine on my Treo in the dark holding the paperclip between my toes I use it so often.
Just picked up a word document yesterday through email, and tried to open it in documents to go. It said it wasn't supported. Though even AppleWorks opened it fine on the Mac, and of course Word worked without a hitch. How many times have you had a PDF that wouldn't load on your Palm? How long does it take? Wouldn't it be easier just to open up a laptop and look at it. I know it would be for me.
Keeping everything in house makes for a cleaner product. Have you tried an iPod? I believe that you will find only a hand full of developers allowed to partner for 3rd party solutions. But who knows. This is gen 1......
LG rip off?
What exactly did you think Apple would do with a 10 key layout that wouldn't be a ripoff from something? I can look at a calculator or an AT&T phone from 1984 and say that they both ripped off the layout.
What is this? care to explain the LG brand on the iPhone Look Alike? Or was it Apple that copied LG?
What exactly did you think Apple would do with a 10 key layout that wouldn't be a ripoff from something? I can look at a calculator or an AT&T phone from 1984 and say that they both ripped off the layout.
It's hard to tell, but the apps on the iPhone look considerably similar to Dashboardmaybe they were testing the interface waters a littleand thus there may be something similar to Dashcode, but for the iPhone. Obviously the SDK won't be released before the phone, so your timeline may be correct, since the iPhone won't be released until around WWDC.
Apple's been recticent with the iPod, but the iPhone may be a different story. We'll see.
So we agree, the iPhone of today is not the death of Palm. (The iPhone of tomorrow will have to compete with the Palm (etc.) of tomorrow.)
And as to your questions: I have pdf:s that crash my printer! But I also have pdf:s that work fine on Palm, and that I can always have with me for reference. The same goes for word-documents. The iPhone did not seem to have any ebook-reader capabilities as of today in any format. And I can easily use the Palm for taking notes at meetings without having to look at the device, and without having to crowd the space with my laptop. Two important things (for me) that the iPhone does not have. I also have some 3rd party stuff that I would really miss: a star map, tide tables etc. Highly specialised narrow stuff that I doubt I will ever find in a stock release of a iPhone.
(And I have an iPod. Which I bought for the design, not the functionality. I also have a macbook, a couple of PCs, some Palms, mobile phones, etc. etc. And I will instantly buy the >=80GB Video iPod which uses the same screen and UI as the iPhone!)
Consumer market
I second the previous suggestion that Apple is not even trying to really compete with some of the 'business' smart phone makers. From the perspective of a recent college graduate, I can tell you that Apple has made leaps and bounds with the regular consumer/youth market. My freshman year, whenever I'd walk into the library every laptop was a Dell; now virtually every laptop I ever see around campus is an iBook or MacBook!
Similarly, the only people that I know with a Palm or Blackberry are people that I work with and for, none of my friends have one. I think what Apple is doing by creating a simple, easy-to-use interfaced device with great functionality is giving people who previously would never even think of getting a smart phone to strongly reconsider what their next phone will look like. Everyone I know is drooling at the possiblity of having something that they can easily walk around campus with and listen to music, call people, jot down assignments, etc. and surf the net with.
I think people should not look at the iPhone as the end all product (and thus criticize every minute thing they can find wrong with it), but consider that it is the foundation for a whole new take on mobile computing. Apple is, and has always been, about enriching regular people's lives through innovation. I think this perfectly in step with that. I think Steve Jobs doesn't give a hoot whether he can replace every Treo in the board room; he's looking at that soon to be college student who is putting his list together.
I second the previous suggestion that Apple is not even trying to really compete with some of the 'business' smart phone makers. From the perspective of a recent college graduate, I can tell you that Apple has made leaps and bounds with the regular consumer/youth market. My freshman year, whenever I'd walk into the library every laptop was a Dell; now virtually every laptop I ever see around campus is an iBook or MacBook!
Similarly, the only people that I know with a Palm or Blackberry are people that I work with and for, none of my friends have one. I think what Apple is doing by creating a simple, easy-to-use interfaced device with great functionality is giving people who previously would never even think of getting a smart phone to strongly reconsider what their next phone will look like. Everyone I know is drooling at the possiblity of having something that they can easily walk around campus with and listen to music, call people, jot down assignments, etc. and surf the net with.
I think people should not look at the iPhone as the end all product (and thus criticize every minute thing they can find wrong with it), but consider that it is the foundation for a whole new take on mobile computing. Apple is, and has always been, about enriching regular people's lives through innovation. I think this perfectly in step with that. I think Steve Jobs doesn't give a hoot whether he can replace every Treo in the board room; he's looking at that soon to be college student who is putting his list together.
I think the iPhone is sure to have some issues, and it won't make everyone happy, just most. In the end I think it will be a hit, but I also think that it would be foolish for Apple not to learn from established companies in this market. For heavy text and email users, I can see there being an issue with a completely touch-screen interface because of the lack of feedback. I remember when Apple switched the iPod's control wheel to being touch sensitive, and a lot of people complained about the lack of tactile feedback when scrolling through their playlists. But, this didn't hurt iPod sales at the end of the day, and I don't think it will hurt the iPhone either.
Palm and other SMART Phones Dead?
I don't think the current market entrants will disappear any time soon. Some business people are dull therefore will always use dull fiddly smart phones, others might like fiddly complicated devices and the rest may actually love their smart phones and get a great deal of joy using them.
I don't.
Currently I use a Tungsten for word and excel apps and syncing these documents through docs to go is slow and painful. I've experienced on too many occassions the slow opening of documents let alone freezing screens. My end user experience is poor very poor and I do hate using that bloody stylus thing. Do I use my Tungsten because I want to? No, I use it because I have to. It's no fun at all.
Now the Apple Phone looks like a device I want to use for work and play (more for the latter). It's not only stunning in design and UI but most important of all, seriously easy to use. I do not care one iota that its not 3G, the fact that it can do all thats been demonstrated and very possibly so much more once approved and available whets onces desire to purchase one.
The fact alone that its been a carefully crafted product from Apple means to me that the ball is way way out of the park.
My only question is how long will I have to wait to get one!
I don't think the current market entrants will disappear any time soon. Some business people are dull therefore will always use dull fiddly smart phones, others might like fiddly complicated devices and the rest may actually love their smart phones and get a great deal of joy using them.
I don't.
Currently I use a Tungsten for word and excel apps and syncing these documents through docs to go is slow and painful. I've experienced on too many occassions the slow opening of documents let alone freezing screens. My end user experience is poor very poor and I do hate using that bloody stylus thing. Do I use my Tungsten because I want to? No, I use it because I have to. It's no fun at all.
Now the Apple Phone looks like a device I want to use for work and play (more for the latter). It's not only stunning in design and UI but most important of all, seriously easy to use. I do not care one iota that its not 3G, the fact that it can do all thats been demonstrated and very possibly so much more once approved and available whets onces desire to purchase one.
The fact alone that its been a carefully crafted product from Apple means to me that the ball is way way out of the park.
My only question is how long will I have to wait to get one!
Exactly my thoughts...Apple just did it right, period. Every other smartphone is scary to say the least, and made just for geeks or those execs that also prefer Windows over OS X...their interfaces are just awful, and no comparison can be made with the iPhone...not at all.
Huh, good luck. Over at Palm Infocenter we've called the Palm OS 'FrankenGarnet' for a couple of years. Cobalt was a complete bust, and the best definition of vaporware since Duke Nukem.
I have and use a Treo 650. One thing, though, that is fantasic is precisely the 3rd party apps. Standing in a stream 3,000 miles away from your office (Finlande, 300km north of the polar circle) with your fishing rod thrown up on the bank in haste, and fixing a clients problem through a SSH session...... saved my neck, that did.
So, for me terminal/ssh and all the other developer stuff is essential. Given the underlying OS on the iPhone, that should be no problem at all. Except from willingness from Apple.
Edit: That should be 3,000 km, not miles
Same here, I had the Palm twice in my life, T5 and E. They were horrible to use and sync even back in the day when I was on Windows. Everyone knows that the iPod claim to fame isn't the fact that it was THE most technologically advanced or with the most "features" or being the first mp3 player in the market. It's the design. SIMPLE.
Freak, I don't know why the other companies can't get it through their head. WE WANT SIMPLE TO USE THINGS. I don't have the time of day to sit down and read the whole manual for my phone or pda in order to get it to work. I want something that's right out of the box.
How do you do quick notes with a Treo? I used to with my Tungsten and Grafitti, but the Treo doesn't support that shorthand that I learned over the years..... I can't/won't type fast enough with the QWERTY on my Treo. I'm sure the same will hold true on the iPhone.
I also would buy this device as an 80Gig Video iPod only.
Another feature that is not shown, but will probably be easily added is audio recording, and video camera. Both of which I use with the treo. Audio for meetings, and video for more than I care to admit.
While I do think the LG phone has a similar interface, I think it's impossible that Apple could've ripped off, built and presented a similar interface in 25 days. Not to mention, they also had to design and build a similar looking phone in that same time frame. We simply have two phones based around a 3.5" touchscreen. How different could the dialing interfaces be?
Considering that this project was started 2.5 years ago, with all of the patents and rumors along the way, I'd say it's more likely that LG is trying to rip off Apple.
Considering that this project was started 2.5 years ago, with all of the patents and rumors along the way, I'd say it's more likely that LG is trying to rip off Apple.
Well, I spent 2 hours in SFO yesterday waiting for my flight to return home from MacWorld, and there is NO free wireless in any of the airports. And I'm not going to pay TMobile $20 for 2 hours of WiFi time.
Those are the situations I want my phone to be able to act as a modem for my laptop.
But I still bet you that Apple won't have that feature. (Just like Jobs and the 1-button mouse)
Calendar app not demoed
I wonder what the calendar app looks like on this thing. I was barely mentioned, but is an important function. And, wasn't there also a PODCAST icon on the device?
I wonder what the calendar app looks like on this thing. I was barely mentioned, but is an important function. And, wasn't there also a PODCAST icon on the device?
Would the fact that Jobs referred to them as "widgets" during the keynote provide some hints as to why the similarities?
If I had to guess, I would say that on the first iteration, applications will be locked, first or second party only, and widgets would be open -- the nature of widgets present far less danger of instability to the OS as a whole.
I don't know that the iPhone will be the death of Palm as much as Palm will be the death of Palm. How much longer can Palm last with the same old Treo design, the same hacked up Palm OS, etc.? Even with them now offering Windows Mobile it seems like other cellphone manufacturers are making better devices.
I dig my Treo 650 for the most part, but it seems like whatever creative minds there were at Palm and Handspring are long since gone, and it's like Palm has just been spinning their wheels (that's not to mention Palm's almost complete abandonment of non-smartphone PDA's).
LG's Prada-branded phone interface apparently is totally different from the iPhone's and maybe it has a more traditional touchschreen, as can be seen in this pic from gismodo circulated two weeks ago. Touchschreens have been there for ages, even the old Sony Ericsson P900 variants and Windows Mobile 5 support touchscreen input, and they normally do not work so good.
The similitude just appears because they used an Aqua-esque wallpaper. It's a nice concept, better designed than most, and with tabs and lateral buttons, but nowhere close to iPhone's all multitouch interface from what I can see.
