The carnival comes to town on Friday. Round and round she goes and where she stops, nobody knows. Be certain of just one thing, initial stock will sell out. Come Monday, after all the cotton candy and fireworks are gone, what will the iPhone business look like?
The Good: Industrial design and ease of use. Forget about the touch screen vs. micro keypad debate. The iPhone itself will be a killer gadget and price will not be an obstacle. As an object and a tool, the iPhone will set the bar, just like the iPod.
The Bad: The iPhone could have problems. Apple kinds of problems. Touch screens that don’t work or that crack. Unacceptable battery life. Basically design and quality control issues that come with secrecy or rushed development. Rapid deployment and aggressive damage control is the only way to handle a glitch with a product that has seen this much hype.
The Ugly: AT&T. They were lousy at wireless, I know, I was once a customer. After selling the mobile business to Cingular they have bought back the baby and the bath water and are in the midst of re-branding. Apple did not have the clout to break the mobile phone model that plagues the US market. Supposedly “free” phones linked to two year contracts “locked” to a single provider. Wireless with strings attached. At least the iPhone will not be customized and crippled by AT&T, as are most handsets. If all phones were sold independently and unlocked, the iPhone would be bigger than the iPod. Look to be pushed towards the high end service package at $100/month. It really hinges on AT&T, unless or until another Apple handset becomes available with an alternate service provider.
The carnival comes to town on Friday. Round and round she goes and where she stops, nobody knows. Be certain of just one thing, initial stock will sell out. Come Monday, after all the cotton candy and fireworks are gone, what will the iPhone business look like?
The Good: Industrial design and ease of use. Forget about the touch screen vs. micro keypad debate. The iPhone itself will be a killer gadget and price will not be an obstacle. As an object and a tool, the iPhone will set the bar, just like the iPod.
The Bad: The iPhone could have problems. Apple kinds of problems. Touch screens that don’t work or that crack. Unacceptable battery life. Basically design and quality control issues that come with secrecy or rushed development. Rapid deployment and aggressive damage control is the only way to handle a glitch with a product that has seen this much hype.
The Ugly: AT&T. They were lousy at wireless, I know, I was once a customer. After selling the mobile business to Cingular they have bought back the baby and the bath water and are in the midst of re-branding. Apple did not have the clout to break the mobile phone model that plagues the US market. Supposedly “free” phones linked to two year contracts “locked” to a single provider. Wireless with strings attached. At least the iPhone will not be customized and crippled by AT&T, as are most handsets. If all phones were sold independently and unlocked, the iPhone would be bigger than the iPod. Look to be pushed towards the high end service package at $100/month. It really hinges on AT&T, unless or until another Apple handset becomes available with an alternate service provider.