More Apple Phone Rumors and Speculation

[J Radical]

It seems the 'iPhone' / 'iPod Phone' device is being hailed and praised as the 'next big thing' from Apple that will 'revolutionize the market' for cell phones.

In my opinion, the only contribution Apple could reasonably make is to take their already successful (and *simple*) iPod, and add a *simple* way to make a phone call on it... and *maybe* send a text message/email. I don't think it will have 'smart phone capabilities' (besides iPod funcationality).

I see what you're getting at, the core reason why the Apple Phone is a good idea is that it eliminates the need to have two devices. The Apple Phone doesn't need to be anything other than a basic phone and ipod in the same case to be a good idea. However to be a success it needs to lure as many people as possible away from buying the devices separately.

As a consequence you can bet that the phone is going to have a at least a 2.0 megapixel camera, internet (for iTunes), bluetooth and a feature rich (for a phone) OS.

PDA/OS X lite? V. Unlikely (unless there will be 2 iPhone ranges).
Basic syncing with Address Book, iCal and .mac mail? Almost a certainty.

IF (yes IF, not when...) Apple releases some sort of phone, it will be an iPod with the ability to place a call. Not some sort of PDA or web-browsing jack-of-all trades. I think someone mentioned this in another thread earlier, but I just wanted to restate it, as I don't think that Apple would do well to make some sort of ridiculously complex smart phone. I would estimate the price to be around $299-399, with 4/8GB flash or something like that.

The Apple Phone IS going to happen- analysts agree that mobile phones are a threat to the ipod, Apple hasn't stayed top by standing still.

I have a Samsung D600, which is a nice phone thats not too expensive. I'm sure its got the processing power to sync with my computer if only someone made the software- this is where apple come in.

The cost of manufacture isn't that of an ipod nano PLUS a phone, they'll share the same screen and case, and interface etc. So the cost is really that of a phone + Flash Memory + 2nd ipod Battery. £180 ish ($350, i love dashboard...) would be my guess, but the US price would probably be lower since the UK is the land of the rip off.

 

[j_maddison]

I really don't understand why an ipod+phone should cost $600+. What's so complicated about adding a phone function on the ipod? What I have at the moment is a benq-siemens s68, a very simple elegant candy bar phone with bluetooth and lots of other stuff but without a camera (which is not really necessary - I had a camera phone before and I rarely used the camera). You can buy in the uk for £99 (that's about $190) + 2gb ipod nano at $149, that's $339. (2gb: why would you ever need to have more than 2gb of music on your phone? Do you ever really listen to all those songs?). That's not bad at all, it could be even cheaper, and so you'll have apple in the cell phone market with a phone that can appeal to almost everybody.

What a simple ipod phone from apple must have? well apart from looks (which is reasonable to expect from apple) and reliability, something like addressbook and ical + the essential gadgets+ you get an ipod with it. And It shouldn't be difficult for apple to pack all that in an easy to use interface.

At least that's what I think.

The benq-siemens s68 i a budget phone, its also ugly as sin. benq-siemens also sell a more expensive EF81, which retails for £249 ($484). Add on the price of a nano; you do the math.

Apple generally doesn't sell budget products, so I wouldn't expect a budget phone offering from them.

Its also important to remember that the US market is very very different ot the UK mobile (cell) phone market. We have a history of the networks subsidising the cost of handsets.

I think the good news for European consumers is the rumour that Apple might be in discussions with Telefonica.

Jay

 

[ppnkg]

The benq-siemens s68 i a budget phone, its also ugly as sin.

De gustibus non est disputandum. But why is the s68 a budget phone exactly?

 

[Aniej]

wow wow wow. you mean to tell me apple is thinking about coming out with a phone? the next thing you will be telling me is Saddam is dead and that the democrats took back Congress.... puhhleassee none of those things could ever happen.

 

[know-it-all5]

STEVE JOBS IS NOT AN IDIOT. The cell phone market is a crazy complicated one. If apple continues to innovate the ipod, cell phones with their non-comparable capabilities to the ipod will have no competitive chance.

 

[D34thPwny]

I'm not necessarily sure I want one, but for the love of god can it be released so I can decide?!? Torture!!!

 

[amoda]

I think that Apple has to release a phone now and not just any phone but a i-never-would-have-thought-of-that type of phone. I say has to because there is soo much pent up energy for this that if they don't release one soon they would really hurt their image. In the past it was usually only Apple enthusiasts who would be wondering what the company is doing in their labs but now even the general public is trying to peer in.

 

[bowzer]

Let's hope the iPhone (or whatever), doesn't become the next G5 Powerbook... over rumored and big let down when it doesnt arrive.

 

[flyakite]

I seriously, seriously hope, no... I pray there is no iPhone (or whatever it may be called), and all the people so obsessed with it end up committing suicide over the announcement that there never will be one.

Seriously, it's a PHONE. I already can't stand about 95% of people and their cell phones. Freakin' 11 year olds have their own phones now. People who are cell phone crazy are generally jerks. On the phone non-stop. On the phone at restaurants. In public places. In the car which causes them to drive like morons.

It seems like every week there's a front page news item about the iPhone. Get over it.

 

[Nimiety]

My dream phone?

I'd like to place calls via bluetooth, sync with the mac (for phone lists), play a few basic games (card games or tetris - fairly generic and standard), and I'd love to be able to check email. A 2 mp camera is fine (don't need more than 3 on a phone), and I wouldn't really need more than a gig storage, so really, it's a phone that's a useful time-waster when I'm on trips and don't feel like pulling the laptop out.

Whether those criteria make it for the 1st gen basic phone/ipod or the likely 2nd gen smarter phone, I don't know. Hell, there may be just one model coming out, rather than the two being speculated...

My old seimens s58 is old and I have "permission" (for those of you who aren't married, you wouldn't understand) to get one when it comes out.

6 more sleeps...

 

[tehdee]

what could make or break this phone, as a blackberry/treo killer, is wi-fi or no wi-fi... they're obviously going to be pushing the 'download' thru iTunes Music Store angle.

Carriers in North America have traditionally requested to manufacturers when ordering handsets, crippled models-- preventing wi-fi access. This allows them to make ALOT of money in data charges. If Apple is going to sell these things unlocked, thru Apple Stores, they have no obligation towards carriers, and moreover, could even use this to their advantage in marketing the handset.

So...here's my wish list: wi-fi, bluetooth, hsdpa/umts (crosses fingers), 3.2 mp camera, second video camera on the front, touch screen, 4 gb or 8 gb, bt keyboard support, tiger os...

 

[Doctor Q]

And I doubt 16% of America even knows about the possibility of there being an Apple phone.

I think you are right, given that so many still don't know that iPod is a product, not a company, or that the company that makes iPods also makes computers. (When they sell phones too, even more people will be confused.)

However, I suspect that they mean that, based on a sample, 16% of Americans would say that they like the idea of an Apple phone, if it was explained to them.

 

[Compile 'em all]

STEVE JOBS IS NOT AN IDIOT. The cell phone market is a crazy complicated one. If apple continues to innovate the ipod, cell phones with their non-comparable capabilities to the ipod will have no competitive chance.

I think you got it all backwards. If Apple doesn't enter the Mobile phone market soon, no one will be buying flash-based iPods in the future. If I can buy a mobile phone that can play music as easy as an iPod, I see no reason whatsoever why I should go and buy an iPod nano for example. May be playing music on mobile phones is not that easy 'now', but that doesn't mean it won't be in the future. Just take a look at the new Sony Ericsson phones and you will see what I mean. With each gen. they get better and pack more capacity that for the average joe, buying an iPod is not necessary anymore. Once again, I am not talking about the current state of mobile phones, but in the near future. IMHO, entering the mobile phone business is absolutely necessary for the iPod in the long term.

 

[MacRonin]

Okay, here's what iThink…

Apple iPod Phone, with smartphone capabilities, touch-screen lcd covers entire side of iPod (Phone); fairly straightforward…

Here's where it gets funky…

iPod Phone also functions as a multi-fuction remote/input device for the forthcoming iTV product… Which in turn allows the iPod Phone to go from quad-band cellphone mode when out of the house, to a VOIP & video iChat (via .Mac accounts, duh…) mode when in the house…

Slim possibilty for a built-in docking station for the iPod Phone on the top of the iTV, but not likely…

Remember, you heard it here first…!

;^p

(send me a few free sets for calling it Steve, you cheap bastard!)

 

[PCMacUser]

If Apple is going to 'innovate' with an iPhone, it'll have to be bloody mindblowing to compete with what's coming out of Japan these days.

 

[ziwi]

I honestly do not know of any phone that would endear me enough to part with a large sum of cash...I am the typical consumer who believes that the phone should come free with the service. Maybe not typical, but what am I paying extra for? Take pictures - no thanks I have a camera, listen to music - no I have an iPod - movies - please. Any Phone can text message, I just don't know what they could offer to make people want to spend upwards of $300...call me crazy, but it is just a phone.

 

[tehdee]

call me crazy, but it is just a phone.

about a thousand or so members on howardforums.com would probably say a mac is just a computer... people like phones.

 

[bmb012]

Anyone else out there wish that Apple would make a reasonably priced phone that did nothing but make calls and send text messages? I've yet to find a phone with an interface half as good as the iPod's...

 

[Georgie]

What's so great about wi-fi on a phone?

I'm a little confused why people desire wifi so much on their phones. Admittedly that's in part because my phone doesn't have wifi and I've never played with a phone that does have it. However, for me the great promise of my cell phone, especially when using it as a modem for my MPB, is to get away from wifi.

Wifi sucks power, that's one downside, but not a big one. No, the big downside if finding a hotspot. That's a pain. Starbucks are ubiquitous, but there you have to pay an egregious hourly rate, plus somehow negotiate service on the device. Or what, you're at a friend's house, struggling to peck in the WPA password, 100 hex decimals long. That's such a hassle.

And what is the benefit to having wifi access? Speed of transmission is one benefit I guess. It's faster than cell service. However cell service is bearable, and 3G/EVDO/latest-greatest promises significant enhancements on this front.

The only real promise to wifi is the ability to skype when connected, usually home. That's a big plus, I admit, assuming call quality is equally as good and the transfer process is transparent. On the other hand, my cell is my only phone (no land line), and I rarely go over my minutes. And they're only 450 per month. I talk talk more than that, but mostly at night. Perhaps I don't know what I'm missing though; perhaps I'd come to value the ability to skype cheaply. This 45 cents/minute overcharge fee is BS, quite the ripoff.

Are there any significant benefits to wifi capabilities on a phone besides the great promise of VOIP?

 

[jonhaxor]

New Approach to Voice

Put the 802.11n and bluetooth chips in the iPod and make a long range wireless VoIP device.

 

[iFan]

$600 dollar phone too expensive? No way!

Long time reader, first time comment! I can't believe all of these comments about $500-600 for a phone being too expensive. In the phone industry, just like the computer industry (although Apple doesn't follow these rules), early-adopters pay high prices for phones when they first come out.

For instance, when Motorola's RZR phone first came out, it cost over $500 for a few months. Then, every few months, the phone would receive a huge price cut. Now, even without buying a 1-year plan, you can find RZR phones for cheap.

Now I have no way of knowing if Apple will do exactly what the other phone companies do, but you can bet that before a phone has reached mass-production, or even because of brand-new expensive components, new phones can be very expensive. Either that or every phone manufacturer worldwide has been ripping off early-adopters for a very long time. Could be a little bit of both.

 

[Reverend Wally]

All of you are wrong.

Apple will come out with a small iPod shaped object that will replace the human brain and will be upgradable as better chips are deployed into the market place.

Your human brain memories and thoughts will be transmitted into the device and it will be installed inside your head. Instead of driving down the road with a cell phone stuck in your ear, you will have it built into your iBrain. You will not have to talk into it, just think what you would normally say and it will transmit over the built in cellular device in your iBrain.

You will be required, though, to have the Apple logo tatooed on your forehead.

 

[GregA]

Are there any significant benefits to wifi capabilities on a phone besides the great promise of VOIP?

Not really. The only advantage is cheaper phone calls.
(Oh, and while on a call, the power usage is lower, and better for your brain.)

So if you're on a cap, there's little point. Perhaps you can get a cheaper cap.

IF Apple allowed an innovative easy way of logging into other Wifi spots all over the place, that could also be interesting. Eg: use your .Mac account to access some public wifi spots without any effort. OR you allow Apple to give away net access through your new Airport base station (or your iMac's onboard wifi card) - in exchange, you get to use another Apple-user's Wifi down the street.

 

[failsafe1]

I am in the market for a phone and iPod. I need one and want the other. I probably just want both. Does anyone really need a cell phone? I don't see spending much on either. A refurbed video pod is $179 and a new phone off eBay is as cheap as I can find <$100. I use a GSM phone so just switch sim. So I could not see paying more than $290 for a combo unit that the new vaporware phone hints at being. We'll see if I have will power come monday.

 

[geerlingguy]

Apple will come out with a small iPod shaped object that will replace the human brain and will be upgradable as better chips are deployed into the market place.

That already happened, though. I have my iBook and my Palm Tungsten E. I'll be upgrading so I can have more memory and better imagination sometime next year, when I get the money.