Apple announces iPhone

[Heath McKnight]

I watched a lot of the presentation last night...Jobs mentiones PCs and Macs, so I guess it's safe to assume we'll have versions for both users.

heath

[Dave Lammey]

Originally Posted by Heath McKnight

Cingular never bugged me as far as customer service, but they're reliability isn't too good. Consumer Reports ranked them near the bottom of the majors (Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, etc.), with Sprint dead last.

.

What did they mean by "reliability"? Is that the customer service? Or the receptivity? I've had both Sprint and Cingular phones and neither have been great, though Cingular's reception seems particularly poor, though I suppose that depends on the actual phone and not the provider?

One thing I'm wondering about the iPhone is the display -- I know the display on my iPod scratches very easily. I wonder if they've figured out a way to keep the iPhone display more durable.

[Heath McKnight]

Dave,

I could've sworn they mentioned a cover or something, that's already on it (clear, obviously) to protect it.

I'm talking about Cingular's reliabiltiy when on the phone. I've also learned it's where you're at. I have good reception in South Florida as there isn't a huge city nearby (Miami's 70+ miles from me). Phone plays into it a little, too.

Cingular has the largest subscriber base.

heath

[Christopher Witz]

I don't know about you guys... but I run my biz off my cell phone.... our home phone is only used for tele-marketers... seems like anyways.

here in louisville/cinci/indy area... tmobile seems to be the best of the worst.

I went to nextel for a while... thought if it was good enough for the building industry that it must be robust.... not so..... sometime would not get a voicemail till the next day! really po'd a few clients that were in a hurry.... lost a job cause of it. switched back to tmobile the next day with a $200 early out fee from nextel..... arguing about it did me no good.... still had to pay the fee ( and pay $250 for a new phone at tmobile! )

I have a love hate relationship with my phone.... mostly hate.


you think the iphone would solve all this? I don't.... but it might make me happy till the 1st dropped call or lost vm.

[Heath McKnight]

Who knows how the first generation of the iPhone will work, but I'm sure it'll be interesting, to say the least.

heath

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Heath McKnight

Cisco and Apple have been in discussions over the name and Cisco expects a signed deal today (1/9/07)

Evidently there are a few little details left to finish up.....

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Stor...yhoo&dist=yhoo

Cisco Systems Inc. on Wednesday said that it and Apple Inc. have still not yet agreed to terms for naming Apple's cell phone the "iPhone." Cisco owns the iPhone trademark and was expecting Apple to deliver signed agreements sometime Tuesday. But as of Wednesday afternoon, that hasn't happened, a Cisco spokesman said.

[David Tamés]

I think the iPhone is a paradigm shifting, dare I say, defining, device, just like the Macintosh, QuickTime and the iPod before it. Think about it, it's a cinema, jukebox, phone, browser, and e-mail client in your pocket. Version 1 is only the tip of the iceberg. I remember when I used to demo QuickTime 1.0 to video pros and they laughed. They could not see it was a platform for time-based media that went way beyond the tiny movies of the original demos. This device shares some similar qualities, like the iPod before it.

Bill Gates' Keynote at CES paled in comparison to Steve's vision. I'm not saying there will not be problems and limitations faced by early adopters, but the future is bright for Apple. No wonder they've decided to change their name from "Apple Computer, Inc." to just "Apple, Inc."

[Mike Schrengohst]

When Verizon gets iPhone and when the iPhone can get PSP games and have at least a 8megapixel camera then I am in.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

Cisco Systems Inc. on Wednesday said that it and Apple Inc. have still not yet agreed to terms for naming Apple's cell phone the "iPhone."

The plot thickens....

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070110/cisco_apple.html?.v=1

Cisco Systems Inc. said late Wednesday it filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Apple Inc., seeking to prevent Apple from infringing upon, copying and using Cisco's registered iPhone trademark.

[Paulo Teixeira]

Originally Posted by Mike Schrengohst

When Verizon gets iPhone and when the iPhone can get PSP games and have at least a 8megapixel camera then I am in.

Sony is coming out with a 60 gig PSP by the way.

Remove the phone capabilities and put in a 120 gig hard drive and you have yourself the next I-Pod. Toshiba does have a 1.8” 120 gig hard drive.

[Heath McKnight]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

The plot thickens....

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070110/cisco_apple.html?.v=1

Hoo boy...iTV changed to Apple TV, why didn't they change it to the Apple Phone? I mean, I know they were kinda stuck with it because everyone in the media, etc., was calling it iPhone, but, wow.

This could be bad for Apple. Start signing that licensing agreement!

hwm

[Heath McKnight]

Summary of reactions here:

http://www.maclife.com/article/iphabulous

MacLife is MacAddict transformed. Not sure how I feel yet.

heath

[Rob Yannetta]

Why the heck was Apple sooo stupid as to announce a name they know they didn't own?

Contracts should have been signed before the announcement. They just learned a lesson the hard way.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Heath McKnight

This could be bad for Apple. Start signing that licensing agreement!

We'll see how this plays out soon enough I suppose. But a few thoughts come to mind....

1. Nothing like filing a lawsuit to revive stalled negotiations.

2. Cisco may have been surprised by the amount of press the iPhone is generating and it now wants to up the ante.

3. Never underestimate the power of Apple's legal team. Whatever is happening, I'm sure that Apple is carefully planning every move.

4. Ever hear that old cliche: "there's no such thing as BAD publicity"?

[Boyd Ostroff]

As the initial excitement dies down some people are digging a little deeper into the iPhone's prospects. Personally, I would be very reluctant to place any bets against Steve Jobs given his recent track record. But there's some food for thought in these articles:

http://blogs.business2.com/utilitybe...ce=yahoo_quote

Apple also decided to sign a multi-year exclusive deal with Cingular (T), which instantly makes it the enemy of not only every phone maker in the world, but also every other carrier in the United States – including giant Verizon

http://blogs.business2.com/netly/200...jobss_big.html

The bigger risk on the horizon has nothing to do with how Apple's hardware and software perform. It has to do with Cingular and its second-place cellular network. Cingular's coverage, even post merger, pales besides Verizon's. (And believe me, I'm no Verizon apologist