The reviews generally seem somewhat negative, though from the videos I’ve seen they really should be a lot harsher given the standard set by iPhone. David Pogue, however, let’s loose:
The company says that it’s hard at work on a bug-fix software update. Until then, maybe Storm isn’t such a bad name for this phone. After all—it’s dark, sodden and depressing.
Also, consider the timing of things. Apple said that iPhone was “years ahead” of competitors, and it really seems to be true. iPhone was announced in Jan ‘07, released June ‘07, and now it’s November ‘08 and the competition still isn’t quite caught up…and I doubt Apple has been sitting around in it’s R&D labs. Macworld ‘09 is right around the corner.
As time passes, the stickiness of iPhone is building. People are buying iTunes content, amazing Apps, learning on iTunes U, getting hooked on Podcasts. So if/when someone else makes an equivalent device, it won’t be a simple switchover.
“Apple watchers assumed Jobs & Co. would be the first to offer a multitouch laptop, but Hewlett-Packard has beaten them to the punch.”
…so reads this lame article on businessweek. what they fail to mention though, is that it sucks:
it’s hard to imagine this guy doesn’t say a thing about how shittily it’s implemented. like the fact that, about 5 times in the demo, he uses his other hand to grab the back of the screen for support while pressing with the other hand. or how laggy the UI is in response to his gestures: he swipes, and half a second later the screen reacts.
here’s what you can count on from pc makers: multi-touch bolted onto Windows, implemented in an unusable way, and thrown onto the market with a big “multi-touch enabled!” sticker on the side.
here’s what you can count on from Apple: multi-touch will be added to the OS when are where it makes sense. like how the new macbooks are have multi-touch trackpads (not screens) that are slowly introducing people to using gestures for input on laptops.
and when Apple does dive in and fully integrate it into the OS, it’ll feel like they were first because it’ll be the first time it was done right.
the iPhone is now the #1 phone in the US (not just the top smartphone, but top *overall*), beating out the RAZR – which had been #1 for the past 3 years. Not only that, but LetsTalk offers rebates that wind up *paying* you $30 to take a new Razr V3.
*** Update: don’t use these apps. They upload your entire contacts list to their servers without telling you.
seems like every time I check out the App Store, there’s new and amazing apps. for example, say who and say where let you speak the names of who you want to call, or what to look up in google maps. the voice recognition is fast, and it really works. and the apps are free.
so, 7M iPhones were sold last quarter and Apple is the 3rd largest phone supplier (by revenues)…with 1 product that’s been on the market for only 15 months. the goal of selling 10M iphone by the end of ‘08 will be far surpassed.
let’s look back at the foolios who shat on it, with complete disregard for the groundbreaking product that it is:
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
Richard Sprague, a senior marketing director at Microsoft: “So please mark this post and come back in two years to see the results of my prediction: I predict they will not sell anywhere near the 10M Jobs predicts for 2008.”
Ed Zander, then-CEO of Motorola (who’s handset division is falling apart): “How do you deal with that?” Zander was asked at the Software 2007 conference. Zander quickly retorted, “How do they deal with us?”
Laura Goldman, LSG Capital: “What does the iPhone offer that other cell phones do not already offer, or will offer soon? The answer is not very much… Apple’s stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 seems ambitious.”
John C. Dvorak, old man tech commentator: “Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone… What Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong. If it’s smart it will call the iPhone a ‘reference design’ and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else’s marketing budget.”
Self-proclaimed “marketing expert” Laura Ries: “iPhone is likely to be the biggest flop of the 21st century”
