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Six Reasons the iPhone Won’t Rock the House

June 30, 2007 BY Mark Evans

Despite the long line-ups and staggering amount of hype about the iPhone’s launch, I’m still taking a wait-and-see approach before I jump on the bandwagon. Here’s why:

1. It’s expensive: With a starting price of $499, the iPhone ain’t cheap. Then you add on another $50 to $100/month for data/phone service, and you’re talking about another $1000 to $2500 over the course of a two-year contract.

2. AT&T’s Edge network: Truth be told, Edge isn’t fast enough to do all the wonderful things the iPhone can offer such as a real Web surfing experience and high-quality streaming videos.

3. You’re locked in (or locked out depending on our perspective): Even though AT&T operates a GSM network, you can’t take the SIM card out of the iPhone and then put one in from another carrier. What a nice way to lock out a huge audience of potential users.

4. The Walled Garden: If you’re looking to personalize the iPhone with applications that don’t come with as standard features, you’re out of luck.

5. Supply and demand: With so much pent-up demand, Apple will have to do an amazing job to ramp up production quickly or manage consumer expectations.

6. The Blackberry is Better: If Research in Motion can introduce an even more consumer-friendly device that includes a better MP3 player and Web browser, then the iPhone will have a serious rival in the market.

Update: Robert Scoble has a iPhone. He’s clearly impressed: “when you open your box you’ll realize that Apple has changed the way we all will look at mobile phones forever”. TUAW, which provides a fairly extensive first-impressions reviews, calls the iPhone wonderful. Meanwhile, my friend and Talking Tech partner, Kevin Restivo, is hoping to pick up an iPhone this weekend. Good luck, Kevin!

Update: Scott Karp believes Apple will take over the wireless industry. He contends the iPhone will get cheaper and that Apple really wants to sell an unlocked version.

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  • http://aonb.blogspot.com Slava

    Yeah… that and we’re Canadian so we couldn’t get a hold of the thing even if we wanted to :(

  • http://www.medagogy.edublogs.org Justin Medved

    For the market share Apple wants to pick up I have no doubt that the iphone will be a success. I do not plan on buying one but the global “early adopter” market is massive. In Thailand alone not to mention the rest of Asia, mobile phones are discarded like tissue paper when the next new toy hits the shelves. The RAZR is a perfect example of this. It was priced much like the iphone when it first came out and the cost was not as much a barrier for entry as the store hours were.

  • http://www.technosailor.com Aaron Brazell

    AT&T has 3G as well, so really they do have the bandwidth to do it.

  • http://tinyurl.com/rotht Heathen Dan

    Cellphones may be discarded like tissue paper in parts of Asia, but the vast majority are just cellphones, not smartphones which the iPhone is. I’ve seen people trade in their Nokia N series phones for simpler devices. And will the iPhone even accept non-AT&T simcards? Will Apple make draconian deals with Asian carriers like the one they have with Cingular? I think it’s too restrictive for companies and also for users.

    I’m still agnostic over the iPhone but I am pessimistic over the hype that it’ll change the mobile world. PC Mag’s initial review says the iPhone is the best iPod yet, but a lousy phone. Let’s hope that Apple makes a real phone next time. We Asians may change phones a lot, but we are just as concerned with function as with form.

  • Anonymous

    The comment by Scott Karp is not really jumping out there with that obvious prediction. Of course it is going to get cheaper, technology always gets cheaper as better methods, materials, and streamlined processes are defined. Second, they are not going to go with just one market. Apple is awesome in marketing and will eventually hit bigger markets for sure.

    As for some of the points made…

    1. Expense… it will get cheaper to make.
    2. As pointed out they have 3G as well
    3. Perhaps locked in, but someone will figure a way to break free they always do.
    4. I can’t say anything on this for sure.
    5. Apple has been preparing for the demand for months
    6. RIM compete with an extremely innovative and inventor of iPhone? By the time they can do something like that, iPhone will be synonymous with phones and locked up the market. That is like a classic mp3 player coming out and your friend says “oh is that the new ipod?” where then you have to reply kind of embarrassed.. “No”