More Apple iPhone Evidence? 4th Quarter 2006?

[jimN]

An iPhone?
Can Apple compete with Nokia,Sony Ericsson or Samsung? No. Don't kid yourself, the trends of mobile phones will need to be tried and trusted in European markets before the USA sees something happen. Apple has NO platform or has not spent the years that the above companies have in this field. Offering a phone would be not only difficult but technology wise, Apple just don't have the R&D infrastructure to support an ongoing effort.

Of course apple can do this; they had no presence in the mp3 market until a few years ago and now they totally dominat it and have sold over 1 billion songs via their online store. They now have immense brand awareness on the back of the iPod and are therefore widely acknowledged to make beautiful products that work and integrate well. The mobile phone is perfectly placed for someone to streamline the whole thing as they in danger of becoming too complicated for their own good - Apple is all about products that 'just work' so it seems like a great time for them to hop in and the industry is worth an absolute fortune.

What is the big talk in boardrooms?

The offering of OSX Leopard to be sold for OEM manufactors on non-Apple hardware to increase the OS market share. The shift to intel was to help ease the burden of backlash from consumers. While the Apple hardware will provide unique features (OS and hardware related, such as touchscreen specific) generic PC's will not, it will be the OS that will lead the way however.

The consensus on this one seems to be, 'No way!'. Licensing their OS to third parties would damage the apple image as driver and incompatibility problems would abound. With a rising market share and a reputation as a very stable OS this would only hurt them at a time when it really isn't necessary.

I'm ready to eat humble pie on this but IMHO you're talking bull!

 

[ClarkeB]

Verizon rarely gets cool phones.

Rarely is better than Sprint's never (although the LG PM-325 is really nice...it's quite plasticy...and the Samsung A900 is the RAZR ripoff that's much better than Moto's...it's quite cheap looking as well).

disappointment.

 

[macdong]

It will be a Vonage style phone. It will work via .mac. It will replace your home phone, and also work from wireless hotspots. It won't be on a major network like verizon. They are greedy and want a huge chunk of the download business. So it will be wifi based. You will be able to keep your current home #, because these are now portable by law. Just buy the phone and cross off your home phone bill if you are a .mac member. And to boot, when you travel you can use it at hotspots. Oh, it has a camera, you can video chat with it.

I'm good, no?

that sounds like a good idea.
and don't mimic my name, yes?
just kidding.

 

[ethen]

i hope they will also release non service provider specific phone, i've been using tmobile, and if apple release it for verizon only or at&t only, i'll be damn

 

[johnbro23]

Touchscreen

Apple will integrate their touchscreen technology with the iPhone/iPod. The iPod will have full screen video. It will have a touchscreen clickwheel that fades in and out. It will have a number pad interface that fades in and out as well for cell phone use. Even if this product was $500, I would definitely buy it.

This iPod is the future. It is definitely possible. Slapping a 30GB hard drive into the Razr (and a slightly larger battery) will only make the device as thick as the 60GB iPod. This is totally doable.

 

[Detlev]

OK, but an iPhone has to be cutting edge and provide useful functions. Things that would get me to buy an iPhone (and these might sound insignificant but if you are a business person on the road they add up and I think some people will agree that Apple can do sub-par at times):

#1 and most important: don't sell it through one distributor with one service. A majority of people already are signed up and under contract with a service. It's a pain and expensive to keep moving around. If they had to they better work with a company that allows free calls between users.
• Internet access—websites, news feeds, email, text messaging, SMS, IM, etc.
• It's gotta synce with all, or at least a majority of the apps, not just Mac apps. Fact is Apple has NO market share in this market and most users are not just going to drop everything for a pretty white phone which brings me to ...
• Sorry, white is not going to cut it. A cell phone gets more abuse than an iPod. It's gotta be tough, real tough. Tough enough to be tossed, dropped, scuffed, puked on, get wet, left in the car in the middle of the summer (or winter for that matter) and still keep playing/working. Oh, please don't make it look like the Motorola.
• Bluetooth or whatever. It needs to have solid wireless connectivity to other phones, the Blackberry, PocketPC, and/or computers without using minutes.
• Multiple models from the beginning. I'm not interested in another $400 cell phone.
• I don't need no stinking camera but connectivity to a camera would be very useful. That way I can back up the CF Card.
• Battery life needs to be great. Better than anything Apple has done to date. This thing could be real useful and going all the time. A couple hours is not going to cut it.
• Silent ringer. I don't need to hear Ne-Yo play when I'm in a meeting or with a client.
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE and whatever else is out there. Don't limit the phone to some 48 metropolitan U.S. cities. Think different Apple. Build it right from the beginning.
• Downloadable games. Hey everybody needs to do something on the train.
• Hands free funtionality. Duh!
• A dial pad that makes sense. Some phones are just ridiculous.
• It's gotta sound good on the other end.

 

[MagOne]

Please make iphone for Verizon

If apple makes this a Cingular only Deal I will be the most Dissapointed Apple user ever.. i made the swich to verizon. Dealing with Cingular is a nightmare not to mention there service.

 

[Detlev]

Of course apple can do this; they had no presence in the mp3 market until a few years ago and now they totally dominat it and have sold over 1 billion songs via their online store. They now have immense brand awareness on the back of the iPod and are therefore widely acknowledged to make beautiful products that work and integrate well.

Sure thing, but that market was/is immature (it was a new industry in need of direction) whereas the cell phone market is quite established and the U.S. is so far behind it is not funny.

The mobile phone is perfectly placed for someone to streamline the whole thing as they in danger of becoming too complicated for their own good…

It is usually a company that can focus on that task of streamlining not accent it with a new product. No offense meant but I think you are looking to the wrong company to revolutionize the telecommunications industry. I think they relized that they could produce a better product than the iTunes phones out there and decided to do it. Nothing more.

 

[milatchi]

a Piper Jaffary analyst

Wow, well if it came from some guy at Piper Jaffary, a financial investment company that I have never heard of, (but claims to have been around since 1895) then it must be true. And what exactly is the truth of this story? That they:

claimed

they felt

a 75% chance

Apple would release an iPhone

in the next 12 months.

Well, I'm convinced.
Hey, I can do even better than that.

"I predict that within the next 12 months Apple could possibly, in theory, perhaps, enhance some portion of their existing product line, maybe."

Now everyone can start sending me checks, clicking ads on my website, and praising me for this definite speculative insight.

*Edit* The above is not directed at Mac Rumors, but at the asshats who throw out the obvious or wild rumors to try to get attention.

 

[Maxiseller]

Wow, well if it came from some guy at Piper Jaffary, a financial investment company that I have never heard of, (but claims to have been around since 1895) then it must be true. And what exactly is the truth of this story? That they:

Good point, although MR never posts stories that are based enirely on speculation on the front page usually, so there must be some grounding to this.

On the other hand, I think we all need to be a little more speculative about rumor material considering the fact that Apple are now in the media spotlight more than ever - the rumor mill must be getting pretty hectic.

 

[jimN]

It is usually a company that can focus on that task of streamlining not accent it with a new product. No offense meant but I think you are looking to the wrong company to revolutionize the telecommunications industry. I think they relized that they could produce a better product than the iTunes phones out there and decided to do it. Nothing more.

No offense taken. To my mind Apple don't need to revolutionise the mobile phone industry but while it is mature there's significant room for sales because of the high turnover of mobile phones; in the UK the majority of users will change their handset once a year (at least)! As i see it the idea of a convergent product is a bad one - the jack of all trades is the master of none and as phone companies increasingly try to build a phone that achieves everything the ability to achieve anything tails off. I want a small-ish phone with good sound quality, good battery life (stand-by and talk time), hands free with bluetooth, international roaming, built in (and usable itunes) and syncing with my calender and address book. Given how well the ipod sells I would have thought that a subsidised phone with all of the baove would be hugely popular.

 

[hokullani]

iPhone

I think that it is a cool idea but is it really needed? Motorola already has itunes compadibility so why would you need an i phone. Apple would have to spend a lot more time developing a phone. i would rather have that time spent on making new computers and software, preferably frontrow for other computers. But it would be cool but i would rather use my RAZR and a nano.

 

[Detlev]

"I predict that within the next 12 months Apple could possibly, in theory, perhaps, enhance some portion of their existing product line, maybe."

You see, now you've gone and done it. Here come the G5 iBook rumors again.

 

[reyesmac]

If they do make an iPod that can also be a phone it would be a huge winner. My wife and I would buy an iPhone even if it didnt play music. If it is also an iPod it would be like icing on the cake. And would justify paying so much for any phone.

 

[dongmin]

Talking about hardware specs, imo, is the wrong way to approach this. Where Apple will innovate is in software and services. As others have suggested, Apple will most likely introduce its own network (MVNO) integrated with its own software and hardware. After the Motorola-iTunes debacle, surely Apple will want to go at it alone, with a complete solution like they have with the iPod-iTunes-iTMS. Possibilities are endless, but there are some interesting suggestions being thrown around:

-ichat integration
-.mac linked data service
-video and music download/stream service

 

[Super Dave]

Other than the obvious, a flash drive iPod, an iPhone needs to sync with Apple Mail, Calendar, Contacts for it to be really useful. It needs bluetooth. And the case needs to be made of metal for strength and durability.

And why I'm at it: it should have a built in iSight camera, iChat with WiFi internet with a mini version of safari!

No seriously. A phone that is wifi VOIP when you're at home, the office or any internet cafe like joint (and therefore seriously cheap on the minutes) and a cell phone when you're out and about or there's a power failure in your area. And if Apple is buying iSights by the boatload, why not? They'll be super cheap to add to the phone. I honestly see this as their strategy.

It's a phone done right. It replaces your home phone, your cell phone and promotes wicked awesome VOIP iChat technology, and therefore pushes more people to the Mac.

David

 

[puuukeey]

I hope this doesn't happen. I hope we see more innovation and less LCD consumer pandering

 

[jthrasher]

I think that it is a cool idea but is it really needed? Motorola already has itunes compadibility so why would you need an i phone. Apple would have to spend a lot more time developing a phone. i would rather have that time spent on making new computers and software, preferably frontrow for other computers. But it would be cool but i would rather use my RAZR and a nano.

YES it is most definitely needed. Motorola's OS sucks major A$$. I just bought the SLVR with itunes and I can't stand the OS. I had a Sony Ericsson and it's OS was nicely laid out but slow as hell which is mainly why I bought a new phone.

I have no doubt that if Apple made a phone it would be the best OS of any phone out there. I would buy one in a heart beat. Cingular would for sure be the first carrier to get the phone and once every other carrier saw how many were sold they would jump on the bad wagon too. They know everyone has ipods and they would all want to dump their own mp3 player software to sell a phone that would sync with itunes because it's a major seller.

The phone would most definitely have a camera because iphoto is a major Apple iLife app. And of course it would sync perfecly with all the other apps. which is exactly what I need.

PLEASE APPLE... MAKE A PHONE!!! all the other phones out there suck. You are our only hope

 

[bketchum]

You might find this telephone-industry article interesting. To me, it sharply rings Apple strategy for its possible iPod phone introduction.

A quote from the article says, "Upon receiving her iPod Nano, my 18-year-old daughter's first response was, 'I wish this was my cell phone!'"

How could Apple not ignore that sentiment? I'm sure it isn't isolated either.

http://telephonyonline.com/mag/telecom_apple_day/

Adding to the author's thesis if I may... Apple could also provide cheap air time to sell more iPods, much like they do with music.

I find this very exciting. I'm asked why I've never owned a cell phone. Ever since its earliest rumor, I say it's because I'm holding out for the iPod phone.

 

[cycocelica]

I still don't see why they would release a iPhone. They have the SLVR. Like I have said in previous threads, unless it can hold 1000 songs and runs a OS like OSX, I see nothing special about an iPhone.

 

[50548]

Moving right along...

Sorry to disagree, but I am pretty sure Apple has bigger fish to fry now...the mobile market is like a gladiators' arena, with more makers and models than you can shake a dirty stick at...

Really, there is nothing on mobile phones that hasn't already been covered by a thousand models out there, in U.S., Europe, Japan, everywhere...you have BT, movies, MMS, SMS, iTunes, games, mobile OSs, calendars, clocks, keyboards etc...unless Apple shows us a mindblowing INNOVATION BONG, there is nothing to be seen here...

At most, Apple will enter some niche market like the Cupertino mobile area and launch an iPod-cum-phone for a few customers...the iPhone rumor is almost older than the PB G5 one now...let us put it to rest, please, and let Apple create great new Macs and iPods...mobile phones are boring..!

 

[csimmons]

Apple will integrate their touchscreen technology with the iPhone/iPod. The iPod will have full screen video. It will have a touchscreen clickwheel that fades in and out. It will have a number pad interface that fades in and out as well for cell phone use. Even if this product was $500, I would definitely buy it.

This iPod is the future. It is definitely possible. Slapping a 30GB hard drive into the Razr (and a slightly larger battery) will only make the device as thick as the 60GB iPod. This is totally doable.

The iPod already has the basic functionality of a cell phone / PDA (calendar, address book, etc.) so an iPod with phone features is indeed doable.

Apple could also make a VoIP cell phone...:shock:

 

[4np]

I would get one.

How can you decide to buy a product without seeing it? What if it looks like the Motorola Rocker? I most definitaly don't want a phone like that....

 

[lelereb]

mmmmmmm, a white pod with backlit phone keys, that appears when you activate them. For just 999$!

 

[Arcus]

Dam, I just got a couple of Razors. Oh well, glad I got the insurance on them!

*places razors under car tire*


Whoops!