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There are four versions of iPod. Is it time for multiple versions of iPhone?

T

thermal

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 3, 2009
294
370
Vancouver, Canada
When Apple introduced the iPod in 2001, they only offered the 5GB hard-drive based classic. They now offer the shuffle, nano, classic, and touch.

Do you think Apple should also offer multiple versions of the iPhone? I could see the current version plus a larger-screened version (say 4.2 inch) co-existing.
 
thermal said:
When Apple introduced the iPod in 2001, they only offered the 5GB hard-drive based classic. They now offer the shuffle, nano, classic, and touch.

Do you think Apple should also offer multiple versions of the iPhone? I could see the current version plus a larger-screened version (say 4.2 inch) co-existing.
Click to expand...

... there are multiple versions... 3g, 3gs, 4 and 8gb, 16gb, 32gb, etc


...




..
 
The thing about the iPhone is its a great all-in-one. It has a great browser, music player, phone etc... Anything smaller might sacrifice one of those features.

I think the only other version of the iPhone will be the CDMA version for Verzion's network in summer 2011.
 
No. Last thing Apple needs to do is go the RIM route and have 9382523043829048 models that do the exact same thing with minute differences.

"Hey, is that the iPhone?"
"No. This is the iPhone 4500."
"Cool. I have the iPhone 4530."
"What's the difference?"
"..."

Just keep the same version and have it available on other networks.
 
Only thng I can think of that can be added that won't hinder performance is make it bigger or a hardware keyboard. Other than that just boost performance.
 
timerollson said:
No. Last thing Apple needs to do is go the RIM route and have 9382523043829048 models that do the exact same thing with minute differences.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Also, don't forget the effect it would have on the app store. Different screen sizes and resolutions would make it more difficult for developers to support their apps.
 
FSMBP said:
The thing about the iPhone is its a great all-in-one. It has a great browser, music player, phone etc... Anything smaller might sacrifice one of those features.

I think the only other version of the iPhone will be the CDMA version for Verzion's network in summer 2011.
Click to expand...

My idea was to sacrifice one of those features - the browser. No apps. Just your basic contacts, calendar, photos, music and video. I think of it more as a combo iPod nano / dumb phone than a smaller iPhone. Dumb phones are 80%+ of the market.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A306 Safari/6531.22.7)

Ease of use and product continuity is how Apple brought the smartphone from a "geek/business only" device into the must-have device for mainstream consumers.

Maybe a 4" iPhone next year, but I wouldn't expect much more than that.
 
I've always thought they should have the iPhone and the iPhone Pro so that people who have Apple products to feel 'special' can continue to feel 'special'.

And I don't mean the 3GS and 4 - just keeping the older one going isn't a range of models!
 
I'd love to see a 2.8" iPhone nano. Also maybe the iPhone Flip: an affordable flip phone with built in iPod and iPod games. Comes free with a contract. In the UK, £69 for unlocked pay and go. That would own. People could then afford an iPhone, and say 'hey! I have an iPhone!'.
 
cambookpro said:
I'd love to see a 2.8" iPhone nano. Also maybe the iPhone Flip: an affordable flip phone with built in iPod and iPod games. Comes free with a contract. In the UK, £69 for unlocked pay and go. That would own. People could then afford an iPhone, and say 'hey! I have an iPhone!'.
Click to expand...

That sounds incredibly ugly.
maxis-to-launch-the-blackberry-pearl-flip-smartphone-in-malaysia.jpg
BlackBerry-9670-Guru.png
 
Tee Hee said:
Only thng I can think of that can be added that won't hinder performance is make it bigger or a hardware keyboard. Other than that just boost performance.
Click to expand...

As far as the keyboard, won't ever happen.
I don't know how long you have been an apple follower, but if you go back and listen to the introduction of the first ever iPhone, Steve jobs says that one of the inspirations for it was how he despised hard keyboard. He thinks they are ugly and limited in function. The iPhone will die as a device before they put a keyboard on it.
 
As a developer, the one big advantage that sets the iPhone apart from Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and other mobile platforms is that there are four models of the iPhone as of this date, with varying capacity.

This means that QA is a lot easier than other platforms. With Android, a dev has to run QA on phones with slider keyboards, Blackberry style keyboards, trackballs, touch-trackballs, arrow keys, various sizes of screens, various DPI of screens, various RAM, scads of different CPUs, six versions of the operating system, and radio types (CDMA versus GSM.)

I really don't want to see the iPhone fragment. I just want to see one new iPhone each year, perhaps with differing capacities to suit the price points. This means I can spend more time working on the app and less time running QA.
 
If there were multiple versions of the iPhone, I think the increase in "Which iPhone should I get" threads would cripple the servers.
 
jfyrfytr25 said:
I don't know how long you have been an apple follower, but if you go back and listen to the introduction of the first ever iPhone, Steve jobs says that one of the inspirations for it was how he despised hard keyboard. He thinks they are ugly and limited in function. The iPhone will die as a device before they put a keyboard on it.
Click to expand...

I don't know how long you have been an Apple follower, but Jobs is a salesman first and foremost, and is well known for putting down anything that the device he is currently pushing doesn't have or use.

That is, right up until he changes his mind and puts that something on his device, and then suddenly it's "like magic".

Cheers! :)

PS. He didn't say ugly. He said they take up space and always have the same buttons. Of course, that nicely ignored the screen space taken up by a virtual keyboard, and the lack of quick functionality that dedicated buttons can bring. But hey, when you're selling something, you work with what you have.
 
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