Other New iPhone idea.....let’s hear your opinions

[dcpmark]

Most of the major carriers have “Numbershare” or other similar products that allow you to share your phone number with several devices, and there are a small number of phones that can utilize these services like the Palm Phone, Light Phone II, and others. These secondary phones are mostly designed to be a small, lightweight break from the normal digital world. The problem with using any of these phones with your primary iPhone is that iMessage and other Apple apps won’t be synced on both phones, requiring you to use a third-party messaging service to keep your messages synced.

I’m thinking that it would be great for Apple to release a small, lightweight, stripped-down iPhone for use with these Numbershare programs that does nothing but make and receive phone calls and texts, email, and perhaps play music. Add to that a $250 or less price tag, and I think they would sell like hotcakes as secondary phones, and maybe for kids and seniors as well.

I know that some will say that this space is already occupied by the cellular Apple Watch, but I have one and there is no way I’m taking or making a phone on it, or answering emails, etc.

Thoughts?

 

[ET iPhone Home]

Most of the major carriers have “Numbershare” or other similar products that allow you to share your phone number with several devices, and there are a small number of phones that can utilize these services like the Palm Phone, Light Phone II, and others. These secondary phones are mostly designed to be a small, lightweight break from the normal digital world. The problem with using any of these phones with your primary iPhone is that iMessage and other Apple apps won’t be synced on both phones, requiring you to use a third-party messaging service to keep your messages synced.

I’m thinking that it would be great for Apple to release a small, lightweight, stripped-down iPhone for use with these Numbershare programs that does nothing but make and receive phone calls and texts, email, and perhaps play music. Add to that a $250 or less price tag, and I think they would sell like hotcakes as secondary phones, and maybe for kids and seniors as well.

I know that some will say that this space is already occupied by the cellular Apple Watch, but I have one and there is no way I’m taking or making a phone on it, or answering emails, etc.

Thoughts?

I don't think this idea of a secondary phone to the iPhone would be something Apple would adopt alongside their iPhone lineup. Isn't Message forwarding handling this already?

 

[dcpmark]

I don't think this idea of a secondary phone to the iPhone would be something Apple would adopt alongside their iPhone lineup. Isn't Message forwarding handling this already?

As far as I know, you can only use Message forwarding to other idevices....I use it with my iPad Mini. So when you initiate a text from a Numbersharing non-Apple device, it doesn’t go through iMessage, and your Apple device will not show any text from the non-Apple device.

 

[velocityg4]

I can see some people liking this. Seems like a niche product though. I think Apple mostly wouldn't want to have a $250 phone. Too many commoners would have iPhones.🧐

 

[dcpmark]

I can see some people liking this. Seems like a niche product though. I think Apple mostly wouldn't want to have a $250 phone. Too many commoners would have iPhones.🧐

Ha! But it would be a Numbershare phone, meaning that people would also have to have a regular iPhone to take advantage of all the features.

 

[akash.nu]

Ha! But it would be a Numbershare phone, meaning that people would also have to have a regular iPhone to take advantage of all the features.

I think the basic idea is still too niche for Apple to consider. Generally their approach is to invent a category and then make it a mass market thing.