vodaPod? podBank?

[Taro Toporific]

[floatl][/floatl]
Apple, Softbank plan iPod mobile phones - Nikkei
Yahoo! News, Fri May 12, 6:22 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Japanese Web and telecom conglomerate Softbank Corp. is working with Apple Computer Inc. to develop mobile telephones with built-in iPod music players...Speculation has mounted that Apple is developing its own mobile phone -- popularly labeled the iPhone -- that will combine the stylish design of its iPod music and video player with mobile phone features....more...

[emperor]

Apple iPhone :?:

[ATTACH]2349[/ATTACH]

I like it... but I'm really gonna have to wait and see if I €599 like it...

I dont find the voicemail thing that revolutionary - my Sony-Ericsson A5402S from 2003 had that feature, although I did quite miss it when I returned to Europe.

& after owning a HTC manufactured pda/smartphone a couple of years ago (aside from the user interface - which has seemed kinda obvious for a while now - was just waiting for someone to do it) I dont feel that Apple made THAT huge a jump forward

My main concern with the Windows mobile models was the constant (at least daily) resetting they required - I assume/hope this scaled down version of OSX wont have the same problem.

The only other thing I can think of right now is how bad it is for scratching and smudging: after parting with 600 yoyos I dont expect to have to fork out for a case aswell

[FG Lurker]

It's very cool... But Apple has screwed up some very important things.

It's not 3G.
It doesn't (seem) to support MMS.
It's not going to be sold in Asia until next year (or anywhere else until June).

The lack of 3G is really weird. You'd think Apple would want to tie this into iTunes somehow, but without 3G that is impossible.

Details are also very slim on the software side of things. Overall it really looks like Apple was not ready to announce this but that the announcement was forced on them by the extreme amount of hype.

At this point it's pretty half-assed IMO.

[emperor]

The lack of 3G is really weird. You'd think Apple would want to tie this into iTunes somehow, but without 3G that is impossible.

I'm not so bothered about that - if I did actually pay for songs and d/l them from iTunes - I dont think I'd have the compulsion to download them to my phone.

But wireless syncing with a desktop/laptop/home-network would be nice: maybe that will come with the 2nd Generation models?

[Charles]

But wireless syncing with a desktop/laptop/home-network would be nice: maybe that will come with the 2nd Generation models?

Don't be too surprised if WiFi sync is available with the first released models, from what I read, the software feature set is not finalized yet. You may get more than advertised. Also note that Jobs said the iPhone would ship to Europe early in 2008. That would pretty much require 3G. That would also open the Japan market, and Japan has traditionally been Apple's biggest non-US market.

The oddest thing about the iPhone is the Cingular 2 year contract. I've been waiting for my Cingular 2 year contract on my current Moto cell phone to expire, the old phone is a lemon and I want an upgrade. But I'm not anxious to lock into another 2 year contract, especially when major upgrades to the iPhone are sure to be released within 2 years. But overall, this deal has to be a huge giveaway to Cingular. At current prices, the lowest cost voice plan is around $45/mo, and an unlimited data plan is $50/mo. So Apple gets $599 and Cingular gets a contract for $2280. What do you bet that Apple gets a cut of the $2280?

[FG Lurker]

I'm not so bothered about that - if I did actually pay for songs and d/l them from iTunes - I dont think I'd have the compulsion to download them to my phone.

It's the carriers who are interested in music downloads. They would likely negotiate a small cut of every sale from Apple, plus the packet charges they would make. In Japan such a system would be hugely important, and I would guess that this is why the phone won't becoming here until 2008.

I don't think Apple was really ready to announce this yet... Too many things don't add up.

I'll keep my Samsung phone for another year and then see what Apple is going to offer.

[emperor]

Don't be too surprised if WiFi sync is available with the first released models, from what I read, the software feature set is not finalized yet. You may get more than advertised.

You might be right about that, they may even throw in a couple of games?
(although I suspect they'll want to leave some features for the Gen2 & Gen3 models that'll be no doubt snapped up by must-buy-everything-released-by-Apple fanbois)...

I'll keep my Samsung phone for another year and then see what Apple is going to offer.

Hopefully in the not too distant future we'll have Wimax blanketing every square meter of this speeding spinning rock and we'll be able to install Skype, VLC, Azureus and Wii Emulators on our 'iPhones'(?).

Ars-Tech lists other gripes here in bulletpoint.

[American Oyaji]

i want it and I want to hear more about Apple TV

[Mulboyne]

LA Times: That Sound? Japan Yawning at iPhone

Tomoaki Kurita presides over racks of cell phones lined up outside his shop on a busy sidewalk in Harajuku, Tokyo's catwalk of youth street culture where people attracted by the riot of phone options can stop to flip open and fondle latest models of what the Japanese call a "keitai." From behind his busy counter, Kurita giggles when asked about the excitement in America over the arrival of Apple's iPhone cell phone that also could be used to download music and surf the Internet. "Sounds like business as usual," he says. As stock markets swooned and techies buzzed over Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs' long-awaited entry into the mobile-phone market, Japanese consumers could be excused for wondering: Why the fuss? Many Japanese had a hard time buying Jobs' hype about "reinventing" the phone. The revolution is well under way in Japan, where cell phones are used for everything from navigating your way home by GPS to buying movie tickets and updating your blog from wherever you are. Oh yeah. Japanese cell phones also download music, surf the net and make phone calls...more...

[Kuang_Grade]

I don't know if Apple would get a cut of the monthly bills (since Charles' case Cingular would actually make earn less off him if he bought a iphone vs. his current moto phone where Cingular doesn't have to share anything) but I do suspect Apple will get sign up bounty or some other spiff for each phone activated/active for X days. As for music sales, I don't know if Apple makes enough cash from those to share with the cell phone folks to make the deal appealing to the cell phone folks (who usually sell music for much more per song than Apple does). I suspect Apple worked the deal so many of the secondary items (such as music sales) that the cell phone companies usually hog for themselves are firmly in Apple's control...in exchange for this, Cingular gets a exclusive phone that no other cell phone company has or will get for at least two years, that many people will be interested in, and is primed to get regular people to add a data plan on top of their existing calling plan (data plans in the US basically don't sell to anyone but biz folks and maybe some teenagers...and that base is simply not large enough to pay for a proper national data network in country as large as the US). So Cingular will attract new customers and will likely get some existing customers to stay/spend more, all at a time when they are about to launch a brand new branding campaign with a "new" name.

While I'm not interested in it myself (no way am I signing up for a 2 years with Cingular), I am excited for what it portends for the future ipods. Toss out all the phone tech and that's a pretty awesome widescreen ipod with wireless web browser functionality (somehow I think the market for Sony's Mylo, which was never that great to begin with, now looks alot rougher now)...Given that the subset of people who could actually buy this ($, local Cingular service availability, not currently locked into a contract with another cell phone company, ect), while not small, it is not especially huge either...so I would expect to see a fair bit of this tech trickle down to ipods by next Christmas.

[mr. sparkle]

I've seen the iPhone at MacWorld and it's AWESOME. Ya'll are lucky with 3G networks already rockin' in Japan, but in the U.S. we're still 5 years behind in our networks. A sucky fact 'o life. However, I too think that Cingular was not a smart choice as it is far behind in upgrading their network to 3G like others. I believe Sprint would have been the best choice. Who knows when Cingular will switch over?

Even my buddy, who is a professional in the U.S. phone biz was very impressed with the iPhone. And he's a guy that is not easily impressed.

[GuyJean]

..The revolution is well under way in Japan, where cell phones are used for everything from navigating your way home by GPS to buying movie tickets and updating your blog from wherever you are. Oh yeah. Japanese cell phones also download music, surf the net and make phone calls..

Yeah, I love listening to music in 'M6FUKYU.KTAI' format on my cellphone, and surfing rich content with a 2 inch screen.. ]..[/URL]

Here's an 8 minute clip of all it's features.. available now:
[dm]4iszvC7GiGabo6Jwa[/dm]

GJ

[Charles]

..However, I too think that Cingular was not a smart choice as it is far behind in upgrading their network to 3G like others. I believe Sprint would have been the best choice. Who knows when Cingular will switch over?

Actually, Cingular has a pretty big 3G network using HDSPA, but it still has gaps in coverage in major metropolitan areas, which would be a dealbreaker for the yuppie smartphone customers. Also from what I hear, HDSPA is a huge power draw so it would cut into battery life compared to EDGE. There are many design compromises to be made in a new product like the iPhone, this was obviously one of them. This isn't a product designed to stream music or video, like some of the other stupid crap provided by some cellular nets.

[emperor]

[GuyJean]

[YT]tH0-GKBmOE8[/YT]
[YT]PQLTjiAfdLY[/YT]
[YT]bhhbaaWBgnk[/YT]

Coming June 29th... In Japan June 29th, 2010..

GJ

[kamome]

Apple Shares juiced by iPhone battery life promise

Is this overhyped? Apple claims to improve battery life by an hour and the market value for Apple stock jumps.

Anyone have this stock in their portfolio? Thinking of getting it based on the iphone buzz?

[madfuku]

I just went back to take a look at my portfolio. It was complicated as I originally bought the shares via Suretrade which has been itself bought and sold many times and now after three different owners is a division of bank of america.

Anyway, I bought a few thousand dollars of Apple stock at $18.76 a share years ago. At the time people where totally bashing Apple, pulled out of Yahoo at the time to buy the shares, was a great move.

I wasn't even an Apple user at the time but I was always a fan of Jobs management style. I probably won't be buying anymore Apple shares however as my attention is now mostly focusing in on the auto industry where I see a lot of money to be made on the backs of disillusioned investors backing out of GM which is wonderful for me.

I think Apple is going to get really exciting from an investment perspective but there's a fair amount of risk opening up for investors due to this iPhone hysteria and Apple's ability to fully exploit there market position while not cannibalizing future iPod sales. I think they so far did a very good job at making sure there where not significant shortages of the device which really would have hurt them in the long run and highly agitated early adopters which really will fuel the next round of iPhone sales. The, I bought it, I love it crowd is so important right now. They also really need to get this iPhone in as many markets as possible before people tire of waiting for it and spend there money elsewhere. Lack of 3G and lack of a real non-web 2.0 SDK is also troubling.

Though, I do feel 3G has already been addressed and will quickly find its way into the iPhone outside the US market. Apple did the right thing there [in the US] and they should do the right thing for Europe and Asia by utilizing 3G. But, I can see why they are mum on it, as US consumers would not understand why there handsets lack 3G and it will be perceived as some sort of rip-off, when in fact, 3G is simply not an practical feature for Apple under an AT&T network. The life of the phone is probably less than 2 years with generation 2 in consumer hands before 2009. As an investor, this was a brilliant move, so lets hope the next one is just as well thought out for Europe and to a lesser extent Asia.