iPhone Announcement on Monday?

[ready2switch]

First of all, he really doesn't say which Monday. I guess we can assume the next Monday after posting, but really, I doubt it's enough of a loophole to keep their credibility intact should nothing appear.

Secondly, the "It isn't what I expected at all." makes me a bit worried. Maybe I'm just reading into it, but I sense disappointment. I really hope that isn't it.

 

[leorou]

Announcement people!

It's an announcement people, not a release, of course Apple won't be releasing nothing before Xmas. I bet this must be due the increasing rumors.

And Brian, i hope you're right, if not, i will hunt you down and put an entire shoe store up your ***. lol

Please God, let the iPhone be an awesome piece of work, not a software or an add-on.

Cheers!

 

[lmalave]

The monday before Xmas??? When you could just wait for MWSF?

I say no. Still, I wonder.

Defensive move, maybe? I mean, maybe apple wants to supress sales of possible competitors. Maybe the phone won't actually be out until next year, but Apple wants to *announce* it now, so that people will keep their cash and hold out for an iPhone.

 

[Rocketman]

Not a chance. First and foremost, this is Jobs' pet project. He's not going to release it or even announce that it exists without some major fanfare. There's not enough time to get people together. And then there's the whole monday thing. What's the most significant thing Apple has ever done on a monday? Bump some specs? I don't see them changing anything in their lineup until after the first of the year.

I'm calling bull on this one. The iPhone will be landing at Macworld, no sooner, no later.

He could announce it on Oprah or something and go well past all fanboy sites.

THEN have press conferences AFTER the release.

Rocketman

 

[davebarnes]

If this is true it makes good sense. Apple has stated they will release products "as available" rather than when a scheduled news event is expected. They have been sticking to that.

Further, pre-Christmas makes much more sense than post-Christmas

Actually, I think that pre-Macworld makes sense. If the emphasis at Macworld (January 2007, San Francisco) is to be on the new TV product, then announcing the iPhone now makes a great deal of sense. Otherwise, half the focus of the reporters at Macworld will be "where's the iPhone" instead of on what Apple wants to showcase.

,dave

 

[Squonk]

The iPhone will be released. I guarantee it.

or double this post back?

 

[averyash]

I think this announcement makes a little more sense than some are giving credit for.

While I would be extremely surprised to see Apple release the full fledged iPhone (a term which recent buzz has had Apple looking to gain the rights too here and here back in October). However, the "Answering" option added to iChat would have to get you thinking. What logic would be behind Apple announcing a product like this so close to Christmas?

Here's a scenario that makes a lot of sense to me.

-Monday (the Monday announcement is an interesting twist, but read on) Apple announces the launch of the "iPhone." This will be a bluetooth enabled voip phone, form factor to be seen. This will essentially be a cordless phone working over the iChat network. A program exclusive to Macs.

-The Monday announcement date the week before Christmas makes a good deal of sense. A common misconception is that the busiest time of the shopping season takes place right after Christmas. While it is true that there is a ton of TRAFFIC in stores for Black Friday weekend, the sales are not tops for the holiday season. Looking back from 2002-1993 (if anyone has data from 2003-2005, please link to) the top shopping day took place December 18th at the very earliest. Furthermore, if you look at lists for the top ten shopping days for any given year, 7 or 8 of the top sales days take place on or after the 18th of December. A December 18th product announcement, while fairly unprecedented, would still leave a majority of the top ten shopping days for the holiday season in play.

-The goal of this announcement would not be to sell the iPhone product, but to create a huge product buzz for Apple right before an extremely busy shopping period. Announcing a product such as this that only works on a Mac creates greater incentive, in addition to hype, for consumers to go out and purchase one as a Christmas present.

-The Bluetooth iPhone would cannibalize a negligible portion of iPod sales. Apple is far to smart to release a product that eats into its own market at such an important shopping junction. Hence the iPhone, which would have none of the same features as the traditional iPod. What I expect we would find out at MWSF is that (surprise) the announced iPhone is actually a stripped down version of the iTunes Mobile, which one would imagine is the cellphone/ipod/iphone combination that has been rumored for some time.

I can just see the next Get a Mac Ad… Apple answers a phone, PC guy looks outdated and drab, you get the picture…

 

[Squonk]

I agree with all the previous posts regarding this being unlikely to be rolled out without Steve's Mac & pony show! Seriously, how often does Steve get to be on stage and wow the masses with one more insanely great product? There is no way that Steve is going to let this one roll out of the barn without a full parade and at least 30 minutes of stage time. I'm just thinking back five years ago to the original iPod roll out... Mmmm, good times!!!

 

[Compile 'em all]

Defensive move, maybe? I mean, maybe apple wants to supress sales of possible competitors. Maybe the phone won't actually be out until next year, but Apple wants to *announce* it now, so that people will keep their cash and hold out for an iPhone.

This might be a good reason but I still don't think it is enough to explain why not announce it at MCSW instead. Besides, what does "announce" exactly mean? just saying "we will release an iPhone in January"?

 

[iMeowbot]

i couldnt see on gizmodo anything anymore about the iPhone so i think they took it down...

It's scrolled off to the second page now, but the entry is still live.

 

[Squonk]

2.) Why confuse customers in the last week of the holiday season?

I was just thinking about this notion the other day: Why does Apple introduce new stuff in January? The answer is simple and insanely great (my SJ phrase of the day...)

Here goes:

By having a stable product mix through the 4th calendar quarter, people who are requesting certain gifts and those shopping for these gifts have a nice stable product offering to choose from. There is no, "Jimmy asked for an X but now there is a Y out there, what should I get him.... Oh heck, I dunno and I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I'm going to just get him a nice sweater instead." And bing - Apple looses the sale.

 

[68134]

_

 

[Peace]

iWish

Steve Jobs Keynote is on MONDAY Jan. 8th isn't it?!?!?!

The Keynote at this years MWSF is Tuesday Jan 9th.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Here you go, iPhone SmartPhone with built-in Mac OS X:

http://www.t3.co.uk/news/247/communications/mobile_phone/evidence_mounts_for_january_iphone

http://www.t3.co.uk/nested_content/gallery_assetlisting_navigation?root=633162&result_page=1
http://www.t3.co.uk/nested_content/gallery_assetlisting_navigation?root=633162&result_page=2
http://www.t3.co.uk/nested_content/gallery_assetlisting_navigation?root=633162&result_page=3

Horrid on so many levels. First off in no way, shape, or form do I want a screen that big on my phone. No only does it suck battery life down faster but it will have a higher tenancy to get scratched, scuffed, and outright broken when in the pocket. Secondly a touch screen in the cold? Do you know what happens to an LCD when you get into the teens or below? The refresh sucks. The larger the screen the suckier it gets.
As for the UI. In NO way shape or form should OS X's UI be transfered to any other platform be it tablet or smartphone. OS X was designed for the destkop not a phone. This is something that MS has slowly learned over the course of its grand PDA experiment. Prior to 2000 the Palm Sized PC tried to stuff Windows into a PDA sized device. It failed because Windows does not work well from a UI standpoint on such a small screen. With the introduction of the Pocket PC MS redesigned the UI to take this into consideration. Their smartphone \ PDA phone variant of Windows Mobile "generally" does further cleanup of the OS for a phone.
If Apple is going to release a smarphone they dang well better do the OS from scratch.

 

[RichP]

Whahaha, dumbest rumor yet about this iPhone. A week before Christmas, and Apple is going rock the boat with one of the most-hyped products of their company history? (iPhone rumors date before even the iPod release, correct?)

This is a Macworld release. End of story. We basically had an "early" iTV release to give space and attention to the phone in January.

 

[MacSamurai]

Umm people since when does announced mean released?It just means that apple will be telling people it exists but in no way means that it will be available anytime soon...move on please

 

[rdrr]

They do have to submit specs to the FCC, right? So maybe they will announce it the same day to keep the buzz going.

 

[Buschmaster]

I would say if anything is released this Monday it would be the iTV. But under a new name, or perhaps the new name would be released along with new information on it, but simply shipping soon.

I would love to see an iPhone, it's start to sound so likely, yet likely way out of my price range (A computer?) but those prices don't include the $100-$200 you can get from wireless carriers towards a phone.

I don't see them announcing and shipping the same day with the iPhone. If they did announce it, it would almost be a poor move, because look at how much hype it's built already, without a word coming out of Cupertino... What if they simply said something at MW like "We'll have some new products for you you guys have been itching for for a long time coming very soon." Can you imagine the explosion of posts happening here about the iPhone? Then maybe some silhouette ads with a bluetooth headset or something. "Coming soon"

They'll want to take this full head of steam further, I'm thinking...

 

[rstorm]

Its still on their site:

http://byrningi.gizmodo.com/gadgets...iphone-will-be-announced-on-monday-221991.php

 

[Peace]

Its still on their site:

http://byrningi.gizmodo.com/gadgets...iphone-will-be-announced-on-monday-221991.php

It's also still one of the top stories on giz's front page.

Look at the top of the page :

http://gizmodo.com/

 

[madmaxmedia]

Timing

The timing may also coincide with a major magazine cover- Time, etc. So MWSF or not, it will make a big splash in the press.

MWSF is not really necessary to announce consumer devices like an iPhone, as it will be all over the place anyways. But MWSF is a great place to collectively announce a lot of new Mac stuff, because MWSF is a press-worthy in itself.

They tend to introduce stuff at MWSF anyway because everyone expects big announcements at the show. But they could introduce a new iPod in a Walmart in South Dakota, and it would be on every evening news show in the country anyways.

 

[OdduWon]

lol, maybe it is a voice recoreder built in to osx.... you know an "i" phone

or better yet it is an "eye" phone, like a ichat adapter for the ipood


aside: the worst 300th post ever

 

[miket2006]

seen on craigslist in portland

http://b.im.craigslist.org/Ll/1n/RVqBi79ekWnJVLPiT8KhxwIbDjoH.jpg

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/ele/248780995.html

this looks like a great phone ?

 

[jmbear]

Silly Gizmondo

It´s probably some stupid prank...

And I agree with most people, Steve wouldn´t introduce such a big product without all his circus...

 

[Squonk]

http://b.im.craigslist.org/Ll/1n/RVqBi79ekWnJVLPiT8KhxwIbDjoH.jpg

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/ele/248780995.html

this looks like a great phone ?

I think the concept is good. I don't care for the 3G iPod buttons around the scrollwheel. I'm sure those functions could be mapped to the scroll wheel like the 4G and newer iPods.

I've never used a blackberry, but me thinks that trying to use that keyboard would be difficult.

Go fish!