iPhone Nano - For Real?

[QuarterSwede]

A rotary click wheel isn't such a bad idea especially when most people use their address book to call people (I know I do). The only problem I see with a rotary clickwheel is texting, which I think is useless anyway but that's beside the point. I don't see it too far from Apple to say, hey if you want texting then buy a full sized iPhone. They did it with the iPod Shuffle.

 

[mpw]

...texting, which I think is useless anyway...

I'm intrigued to know why? I send at least 400 texts a month and don't know what I'd do if I couldn't text anymore.

 

[ToneFREQ]

See? I told you folks yesterday that the cheaper iPhone would just be an iPod with contacts & calendar and a phone. No Email, web browsing or data connection. Makes perfect sense.

 

[avigalante]

...texting, which I think is useless anyway...

I'm a text-a-holic, I send over 3000+ a month (not sure how I do it, but it keeps me in touch with all my friends...)



Not sure how people can say that text-messaging has no purpose....

 

[bigjohn]

Apple Bluetooth Headset:
Dimensions: 2.0 x 0.5 x 0.2 inches

iPod Nano:
Dimensions: 3.5 × 1.6 × 0.26 inches


Throw an earpiece onto the Nano, narrow it up a bit and enable voice commands. Maybe a small utility screen and possibly a touch-sensitive scroll wheel and a price point of $199 and I think you have a winner. Make the sim interchangeable only with the iPhone and it's a surefire bet. The slimmer, more compact clubbin' version of your clunky iPhone v1.

 

[defeated]

no wifi, no future

 

[lord patton]

I would normally agree with you, but I think the iPhone is different. First, cell phones are already established and accepted in the collective digital conscious...

By introducing a complete set of phones quickly, they can more effectively compete with more established players. Apple is a newbie to this game. Each of the major cell phone makers has a complete line of phones that target different aspects of the market. Apple has to be able to offer the same and soon. They can not afford to timidly wade into this cut throat business if they want this to be a major part of their business.

I agree. They were in a similar situation with the Intel transition and their portable line-up. Did they promote the MacBook Pro for a year as their only portable? No. They got the MacBook out as fast as they could, as their was a market to fill.

Same thing with cell phones. Many people want smaller, cheaper, more basic phones, and Apple wants to sell them one.

My dream iPhone-nano:

Slightly wider and thicker than nano iPod (I find my nano hard to hold as a phone—I've tried )
4GB and 8GB
Text, chat, and email, using landscape mode touchscreen keyboard.
Camera and that bad-ass photo viewing from the iPhone.
Calendar, weather, stock widgets... anything from iPhone that doesn't require wifi and Edge.
$5 "data" plan

So no web-surfin' internet, but definitely email and texting and photos. Could they sell it for $300, though?

 

[plumbingandtech]

. But could they make this and sell it for $300?

Prob. comes down to the screen size...

 

[techkidd4400]

iPhone Shuffle

It does seem like the cheaper iPhone "Nano" is on the way. I am pretty convinced of that. I know from extremely reputable reports that the iPhone Shuffle is also in the works.

Production on the iPhone Shuffle is ahead of schedule so it will be out in time for students (the target market) to buy it for the fall back to school season. The iPhone Shuffle's interface will not have a touch screen or click-wheel because the phone is too small. It will be easy to carry on a belt clip or just in the palm of your hand. Instead of a virtual keyboard, the iPhone Shuffle will use a chalkboard for data entry. Apple will provide special chalk in five fun colors and the data converts wirelessly.

While most details are not yet known, this iPhone will be a certain success. I know I wish I were on campus already.

 

[pkpkast]

Rotary Dialing?!?!?! It will NOT rotary dial. That is just ridiculous. Apple will never do a rotary dialing interface, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, EVER. The only way I see it working someting similair to the design below, otherwise no chance.

Please quit with the rotary dialing concept talk! That is the worst idea I've ever heard, almost as bad as the search feature on the iPod.

How would you text with a rotary dial? To type 'Z' you would rotary dial 9 3 times. That is absurd. Let's use our brains people, come on.

While not likely, this still could work. However, I was thinking more along the lines of this:

Although, I'm not sure where the 0, #, and * would go. Texting would follow conventional cell phone texting (2 = ABC, etc). No room or need for a virtual qwerty keyboard.

A nano touchscreen can't be much smaller than the current iPhones because people's fingers are simply fat. The iPod scroll wheel is actually really nice, and really simple. I would say it's more intuitive than the iPhone touchscreen...

Added backlighting and more touch smarts to a scroll wheel could make the above concept work.

These are BUTTON PRESSES, not ROTARY dialing...

 

[mixel]

Well, I'm all for this, as I'm sure they'd make a lovely device.

Only thing I'd be worried about is too many missing features.. In some ways the current iphone has that issue already, so a cut down version might be even worse.

It'd be nice if everyone could justify afford iPhones anyway. I don't see why this is negative news. Its not as if every other phone manufacturer doesnt have more than one model for different markets.. This is probably the only way to get serious market penetration.

As long as its a good (better than good to keep the brand up) phone this would be great news.. If it's not completely untrue anyway.

 

[Rocketman]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the screen itself be a virtual click wheel thus allowing crippled sideways widescreen videos.

Also the disclosure at MW-07 was truer than you allowed yourself to believe:

Rocketman

"He told you so."

 

[indigo144]

it simply a twist on the old business model

US Carriers had a business model where they routinely hand over $200+ to 3rd party vendors like Amazon for bringing in new subscribers.

In the old model the 3rd party vendors passed on most of that to the customer in the form of a phone subsidy.

In the new model, where the drooling customer is willing to fork up all the dough, and then the (already accounted for) sum is rightly passed on Apple as the source of the drool. The carrier's bean counters have already accounted for a similar practise.

All that changed is in who'se hands the dough ends up in.

Sorry: this is a post in the Page 2 Thread on Apple/ATT Revenue Sharing

 

[Daringescape]

I posted this in a thread the other day...

I was at the dentist the other day and the Hygienist was telling me about a patient who works for apple with an apple product that had a slide out keyboard. It had a control number etched on the back and he really wouldnt let her see it - he told her that the public hasnt seen it yet.

She is NOT tech savvy and has no clue what an Apple fan I am, so I doubt she was BSing me.

Maybe it was the rumored device???....

 

[zombitronic]

Because handheld just isn't handheld enough, and I'd sure love me some lack of features.

To me, one of the beauties of the iPhone is that it replaces that spot in your pocket, which used to be filled by your old stupid phone, with a mini-computer. With too much of the computer stripped off of a cheaper version, even with Apple's name behind it, this would be too mundane of a product to follow in the glory of the iPhone lineage.

Now, if all this stupid hoopla was just some idiot analysts' hearsay on an upcoming iPod; the one that we all expect minus the phone; I sense some credibility. Then again, we all expect this so there goes his analystic integrity.

I'm thinking of becoming an analyst, too. It seems easy. For my first trick, I predict that Apple will unveil a new computer some time in the future.

 

[dontmatter]

Hmmm....

to those who say it would cannibalize iphone sales, I don't think so. The iphone is about internet and email, about doing everything. This, I think, is designed to cannibalize ipod nano sales. If you could get a phone into the same size package, that'd be a heck of a tiny and sleek phone. Using a clickwheel to scroll through contacts and menus could make it the best phone functionality out there (by which I mean calling only). As such, this could stand on it's own as a phone, but throwing in an ipod massively increases the value, by both the value of the ipod and the value of the having one less thing to take with you, keep charged, etc.

From apple's perspective, it would be cannibalization of ipod nano's, sure, but it would be an upsell to a higher margin device, and it would ensure that they took that market, rather than other cell phone makers. True, it might take some of the shine off of the iphone name, but, like the shuffle is to the ipod, I think it is viewed as it's own area, and leaves the name pretty well intact.

The only big question for me is about the non-calling features. Would people buy a phone that sucked at texting? I sure would, but I don't text. Other than that, and of course iphone like internet features, I think it would rock.


So I vote for this product. Who knows if they're making it, but I think it'd be a good idea.

 

[boss1]

I don't think I'd buy one, only because I already have a full fledged iPhone, but I still kind of hope these rumors do become fact.

Something about the thought of all the execs at Nokia, Motorola, LG, Verizon & Sprint etc absolutely crapping their pants right now makes me giddy inside

 

[Genghis Khan]

iPod?

it could be that this is still an iPod

even if it does have some phone capability...it could be primarily an iPod...which we all know as long overdue

 

[nagromme]

iPhone nano? Maybe sometime.

With clickwheel dialing? Not going to happen.

 

[Ha ze]

Since the iPhone works on a GMS network and uses a SIM card it would be very easy to use both phones on the same account. All you would have to do is put the SIM card in the phone you want to use at the time. Nothing for Apple to figure out. I have already done this with my old phone. I went to the beach and didn't want to bring my iPhone, so I took my old phone and put the SIM card from my iPhone in it.

I thought the SIM on the iPhone was locked in..
I guess i was thinking more of being able to use both "at the same time" like if you get a phone call, both would ring. however I guess then texts would have to go to both too.. if they could sync like emails that have already been read then that wouldn't be bad, but no one would want to read them twice.

But if it's like iPhone, they make you sign up for the contract so there is no just buying the phone, maybe thats just a iTunes/At&T software thing though?

 

[ajhill]

Does this look like the work of a company that is only trying for a 1% market share of the cell phone market?

Maybe 5-10% yes. But they'd take 20 in a heartbeat. Heck they'll sell 10 million of the iPhone before the year is out. Hopefully we get some insight into the numbers during Wednesdays conference call.

We're past 1 million, headed for 2 million. My $.02

 

[APPLENEWBIE]

Regarding a rotary dial, or a way to use a nano click wheel to dial, remember the apple patent that shows how a input device might change appearance to suit a purpose. You put your finger near the clickwheel in phone mode, it changes to simulate a circular number dial, for you to press or rotary dial. In rotary mode, you just touch the number an flick it a little... That would be a riot to see.

Or, maybe the dial changes to an alpha script, you just keep going around until your "letter" shows up (A- for instance), and it then directs to "Adam" or Abel

 

[momo411176]

Wikipedia specficially for iPhone!

Enjoy guys!

http://idotg.com/iphone/index.php

 

[kontheur]

Here's a little mock-up i made before the 1st iPhone was showed public:

 

[hrmpf]

has anyone see these pictures from a Jobs et al. patent

they're at hrmpf. Apparently there are two patent applications with steve Jobs as lead inventor for the iPhone Nano