Holy crap! If the iPhone is the number one handset sold in the US, this represents a big shift in how cell phones are treated in the US. Pretty much means that most cell phone buyers will be gravitating towards smart phones instead of the traditional cell phone. This is big.
Only one that tops it is the Motorola RAZR V3. With a 17% smartphone market share, the iPhone 3G is the number one smartphone on the market, even outselling the Blackberry Curve, Blackberry Pearl, and Palm Centro. Yeah, baby!
This is just too freakin’ cool! Proof that Obama is clearly in touch with today’s times. The McCain campaign has nothing on Obama when it comes to the “cool” factor. Funny thing is that it’s a very well put together app. Very polished, clever, and just absolutely beautiful. If you’re an Obama supporter, it’s actually quite useful. :)
The Free Software Foundation seems to be at it again with their attacks on Apple and the iPhone. DefectiveByDesign.org, a campaign of the FSF, has posted what they call the iPhone Challenge. In a nutshell, they want people to print out a handy questionnaire (mirror), walk into an Apple store, and attempt to get someone at the Genius bar to answer all their questions. Apparently it’s some sort of IQ test for the geek impaired.
So, am I up to the iPhone Challenge? You bet! I’ve already addressed most of these questions in a previous post that covered the FSF’s 5 Reasons to Avoid the iPhone. I’ll go ahead and answer them again and further clarify my answer if necessary. So, at that, let’s begin:
Why do all developers have to submit their applications to Apple before they can be loaded onto an iPhone?
Because Apple want to ensure that applications being installed on the iPhone meet certain standards and avoid having malicious applications in the wild. There’s an advantage to having one place where applications and updates get deployed. Rather than having to run around and check for updates from a variety of sources, you can simply check for updates in one place. That to me is a huge timesaver and ensures that when developers update their applications I’m going to know about it. Granted, the launch of the App Store didn’t go as smoothly as folks have liked. The timeframe it takes to get applications approved and posted by Apple is ridiculous right now.
Keep this in mind too: this is just the beginning and we have no idea what the plans are for the iPhone’s future. When the iPhone first launched, no one had any idea whether they would allow for native apps or not. Less that one year later and Apple is allowing native applications, even ones based on open-source software. However, Apple clearly wants this to be within a controlled environment for the time being in an effort to keep the flood gates from spilling over. Personally I think this is a wise move. I used a Treo before I moved to an iPhone and I can tell you from experience that the majority of applications for it were total crap, and that’s on a so-called open platform that allows people to install any application from any source. I’ll gladly take a smaller choice of quality applications over hundreds to thousands of crap ones any day.
As to the reason for your question, although it’s required to submit an application to the App Store, open-source applications are freely accepted. The only thing that isn’t free for developers is the iPhone Developer Program, which for most people is $99 a year for access to the SDK, support, and the ability to submit any number of applications to the App Store. That may sound like a lot but considering the fact that Linux distributors like Novell and Redhat charge for support this really isn’t any different.
Now, back to the point about the freedom to offer open-source software, consider WordPress for the iPhone. WordPress itself is distributed under a GPL license and I would imagine that the iPhone app will follow the same tradition since the source-code itself is available. You say that iPhone users are not permitted by Apple to share or load modified versions of programs distributed through the App Store but what’s to stop a developer from downloading a copy of the WordPress app, modifying it, and submitting it to the App Store as a different WordPress app? I’m sure we’ll starting seeing variations of different open-source apps sooner or later. Apple isn’t holding any developers at gunpoint; it’s just the fact that no one has done this yet. Too early to bitch just yet.
Why does iTunes still contain so much DRM-laden music?
Yes, companies like Amazon, eMusic, Napster, Rhapsody, Play.com, CDBaby, 7digital, and more are selling music without DRM, but so does Apple in the form of iTunes Plus non-DRM ACC encoded files. Now, you could argue that because Jobs has a lot of pull that he could get them to release all of Disney’s films without DRM, but get real. Regardless of what anyone might think, Steve Jobs does not rule all at Disney or Apple. He is a CEO. He is beholden to the stock holder and the customer. He has to make both happy. The choice on what to do with Disney’s films does not lie entirely with Jobs. And who is to say that he hasn’t already suggested eliminating DRM from films? We have no idea what has transpired behind closed doors at Disney. And besides, Jobs and Disney are in the business of making money. That’s what business is…making money! What gives you the right to tell them what they can and can’t do with their property? If they end up removing DRM they’ll do it to satisfy the customer’s desire to convert and view the media as they see fit.
As far as music is concerned, Apple has no say so as to what they can and can’t do with the music they sell. Plus, it’s not the job of the RIAA to tell Apple or any other music seller what they can and can’t do. They are entirely beholden to the music labels and publishers. Even though Amazon and others are selling DRM free music, if Sony, Warner, or any other big music label tells Apple, “You can’t sell our music without DRM”, then they must obey. It used to be that the RIAA was there to protect the artist. Now they are nothing more than an organization that protects the big music labels. Many people point fingers at the RIAA but they’re only doing what the big labels tell them to do.
If Apple could convert their entire catalog to iTunes Plus and sell everything DRM free they would…but the big labels refuse to allow them to do it. And why would they do that? Simple. They want a bigger piece of the pie. They would rather get exclusive contracts through other vendors that are willing to pay them more for their content than allow Apple to continue to have such a big piece of the market. So this has much less to do with DRM and more to do with corporate greed. The music industry is changing and the big music labels don’t like it because it means that their cash cow is shrinking.
The iPhone 3G has GPS support. How can users be sure that the GPS cannot be used to track their position, without their permission?
There are many smart phones on the market that have built in GPS; Nokia, Palm, RIM, Motorola, just to name a few. Do you distrust them too? If you’re gonna beat on Apple you might as well beat on them too. And what about all the stand-alone GPS units out there by companies like Garmin, Magellan, and others? Do we put them on high alert as well? Come to think of it, you could triangulate a person’s general location just by using cell phone towers and wireless networks. So, we should be really paranoid now since none of this stuff is powered by open source free software, right?
The thing about a privacy agreement is that it’s a contract. Contracts are bound by law. If a company was to violate their own contract then they would be sued. I’m sure there are plenty of GPS experts that are able to test different GPS devices, including the iPhone, to see if they are being used in mischievous ways. But, as it stands, Apple hasn’t violated their privacy agreement and the iPhone doesn’t do anything with the GPS without first asking you. That’s good enough for me. Till I hear otherwise I have no reason not to trust Apple right now.
In ‘Thoughts on Music‘, Steve Jobs said, “it is useful to remember that all iPods play music that is free of any DRM and encoded in ‘open’ licensable formats such as MP3 and AAC”.
The main reason why Apple hasn’t started supporting the Ogg formats is simply because the majority of users out there simply don’t have any desire to use the format. Apple and other companies that sell devices capable of playing digital music file are mainly concerned with the majority. Since over 80% of their customers use format like MP3 and ACC that is what sells. Like it or not, MP3 is the format most companies support simply because it was the first. After that came other formats like Windows Media, AAC, and others that, although not entirely open, were pushed heavily by the big tech and media companies. As such, formats like MP3 and AAC continue to rule the roost. Yes, some media players and phone support Ogg, FLAC, and other ‘open’ formats, but until a music store starts selling Ogg encoded music and gains enough popularity, I doubt you’ll see many media players and phones that will support Ogg.
Will Apple approve applications for the App Store that support these formats? That’s a good question. Personally, I don’t see any reason why they would block applications that allow for this. Heck, if you can write an application like FileMagnet that is capable of syncing files over a wireless connection to an iPhone, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t do that with an Ogg player.
Why can the iPhone 3G only be activated by Apple and AT&T?
Apple is bound by contract to allow AT&T to be the exclusive provider of the iPhone for a period of two years. The reason why the iPhone isn’t available on other carriers is simply because those carriers didn’t want to play ball with Apple and allow them to retain full control over their phones. The same probably applies to other carriers around the world as well. The way Apple is handling the iPhone is unprecedented. No other cell phone maker has been able to retain as much control as Apple has. So in many ways Apple is helping the industry by breaking down barriers and getting customers to realize that the quality of the phone is just as important, if not more important, than the quality of the phone service.
As far as the right to unlock an iPhone, you can certainly buy one from AT&T without service…but it will cost you about an extra $200+ on top of the retail price. The reason is that, just like every other cell phone carrier, AT&T subsidizes the price of the iPhone with a two-year service agreement. As such AT&T will require you to pay more to offset this loss of revenue. Neat deal, huh! And, guess what…that’s how it is with just about every phone with ever other carrier. Cell phone carriers don’t talk about it much and don’t advertise it simply because it’s not a profitable way of doing business. So, don’t look to Apple to remedy this…look to the cell phone carriers. Bitch at them instead.
I have a few questions for the FSF:
Why just the iPhone? Why not pick on the Blackberry, Treo, or the Instinct?
These phones have just as many issues with proprietary software and hardware as the iPhone. And some of these, like the Instinct, won’t even allow you to install your own software anyways. My guess is that, just like Windows is to the desktop operating system market, the iPhone is the biggest target in the smart phone market. It’s the one getting the most attention and the most hype, thus the reason why the FSF choose to attack the hell out of it.
Rather than bitch, moan, whine, and complain about how the iPhone sucks, why doesn’t the FSF put their money where their mouth is and sponsor an open phone that’s worth buying? Sponsoring the OpenMoko was a mistake because it’s hardly worth any serious attention. [For those who have not seen the OpenMoko, read my blog post about it here] I seriously wouldn’t even bother trying to push that one as a worthy alternative to the iPhone or any other smart phone for that matter. Even when compared to other phones out there, the OpenMoko is crap. I about shit myself when I saw the price: $400! I paid $250 for my first iPhone. Why would I want to pay $400 for something that is severely inferior? And according to the OpenMoko wiki the only major carriers in the U.S. that provides service are AT&T and T-Mobile. Yeah, that’s a big choice there. Buying something like this and sacrificing so much quality and usability just for the sake of adhering to a misguided philosophy is just impractical for me, not to mention nuts.
There’s a reason why the iPhone, the Blackberry, and other smart phones have been so popular. It’s because they are well-designed and fit the needs of many consumers well. In the case of the iPhone, Apple touched on a nerve by creating something that is highly innovative. There is nothing like the iPhone out there, period. No one has created a touch screen interface that works as well as the iPhone. For other cell phone makers to compete, they really need to step up to the plate and create something extraordinary. Apple has raised the bar.
So I challenge the FSF:
Can you design an open phone that is as good or better than the iPhone?
If so, let’s see it. What I want to see is something extraordinary in terms of both hardware and software. I want to see something that shows that even open source developers can have standards and principles in the design of their products. I want to see something that is so polished, so well-designed, that people won’t believe that it’s an open source phone. If you believe you can do this then put your money where your mouth is and show me. Until such time as you or any organization that supports free and open software can produce a phone that is as good as the iPhone, I’m afraid just about all of your criticism is moot.
When I first started this blog last October, I chose to use Movable Type instead of MODx to power it. It actually was a pretty difficult decision mainly because of my belief that MODx is a good solution for just about any scenario due to its inherent flexibility. However, my final decision was narrowed down based on one factor: the iPhone. Although I’m sure I could still find a way to use MODx and blog with an iPhone, I simply didn’t want to invest the time it would take to accomplish this goal. It would be nice if I could eat my own dogfood, but given that this was to strictly be a blog that I could post to on-the-go, it simply just wasn’t achievable at the time. A MODx installation just couldn’t beat the sheer speed of deployment and the use of an iPhone webapp plugin for Movable Type.
With the launch of the iPhone 2.0 update and the iTunes App Store, things have changed with the addition of a few blog specific native iPhone apps. Two in particular that I looked at was TypePad and WordPress for the iPhone. TypePad for the iPhone looks great but it only works with the hosted TypePad service. I have my own hosting provider and want to customize the hell out of my blog so…that’s a “no” for TypePad. What was noticeably absent though was a native app that would allow for blogging to your own installation of Movable Type as well as what these apps provide. That left WordPress for the iPhone.
For the nine months or so that I’ve used Movable Type, I can say that it’s a great blogging platform. However, there are two things that really bug me about it. First, publishing pages seems to take a long time and, at times, you have to republish your entire site to get everything to work. I’ve also noticed that Movable Type can cause a bit of a strain on a server when you do this. Now, I don’t know if the use of CGI scripts has anything to do with this behavior…but it did leave me a bit concerned about the stability of the app as my database gets bigger. Second, I planned on updating my template a bit but upon looking at the code kind of frowned at the idea of doing so in Movable Type. Although Movable Type has a very powerful templating engine it’s still not the easiest thing to develop for.
So I took another serious look at WordPress and, after looking at the new features in WordPress 2.6, was sold. Templating is much easier, content editing has been greatly improved, there’s a wealth of great plugins available, and overall WordPress has turned into a great blogging platform. And with the addition of a native iPhone app it’s even better. There’s just something about being able to take a picture with my iPhone and post it to my blog on the fly that I find very appealing.
As of today, my blog has been completely converted over to WordPress 2.6. One of the things I did was update the design a little bit using the 960 Grid System. It’s more or a work in progress so the design isn’t complete. However, the fact that I was able to throw it all together in a single weekend just amazes me. As time goes by you might notice a few things changing here and there.
The WordPress iPhone app is the really cool part. It’s a very simple app, really, but still powerful nonetheless. Although writing and posting blog posts is easy enough, it doesn’t appear that you can write in landscape mode just yet. Adding photos to a post is breeze, giving you the option to choose a picture from the iPhone photo gallery or take a new one from the built-in camera. The differences between TypePad and WordPress for the iPhone are very minimal. The main difference though is that the WordPress app allows you to use your own installation as opposed to using one that is hosted for you. That’s a big plus for me.
I’ve always said that the advantage of stand-alone apps is that they can do one thing really well. It may not be MODx but as a stand-alone blogging app WordPress is a great app. Hats off to the developers. They did a great job.
Yesterday, I talked about a member of the Free Software Foundation and his 5 reasons to avoid the iPhone. What struck me was that this guy is willing to sacrifice quality for the freedom from proprietary software and corporate ties. That kind of philosophy is all fine and dandy and I would applaud him for his efforts, but when I saw what he claimed was the alternative I couldn’t help but laugh. One look at the phone and interface told me everything I needed to know, that this thing was an absolute piece of shit.
Today, I watched a few videos by Dave Fayram off of the Vimeo site where he reviews and shows a comparison of the OpenMoko powered FreeRunner and the iPhone. It’s very clear that this phone has absolutely no comparison to the iPhone:
OpenMoko Train Wreck from Dave Fayram on Vimeo.
Wow! The keyboard alone has me wondering what the hell the developers were thinking. And the shitty scrolling? Please. Even if I shared the same philosophy as the FSF, an interface like that would be completely unacceptable to me. I wouldn’t use it. Period.
Plus, the thing is practically twice as thick as an iPhone. In fact, I think it’s even thicker than the Treo 750 I used to use. The thing resembles a f@#king hockey puck for Pete’s sake. Talk about a really shitty form factor!
More OpenMoko Train Wrecking (Now with Qt!) from Dave Fayram on Vimeo.
My god, is that interface slow!
And it doesn’t play MP3’s? Really? The most popular audio file format and it doesn’t play it. But, hey, it plays Ogg Vorbis files! Awesome! Now I can convert all my existing MP3 and ACC encoded files into Ogg files and waste more time just so my music can sound more shitty. Great idea!
And how many times does he have to tap the same button before it does anything? I mean, really, come on! That by far is one of the biggest blunders of interface design I’ve ever seen! Instant show stopper in my book.
Text entry is God awful. I’ve used Treo’s, played with Blackberry’s, and many, many other types of smart phones and I’ve never seen text entry as bad as this. What a f@$king joke!
I know what the guy from FSF would respond with to my post. He would say that to buy an iPhone or any other phone that requires proprietary software would go against his philosophy. That’s fine. If that’s what you believe and you don’t want to have anything to do with any phone like that then that’s your choice. But to make unfounded claims in an attempt to prove your point is a big mistake. Until you’ve used these phones and really have taken the time to understand what these phones are really all about then how can you have any sort of educated opinion.
The thing I’ve learned is that even though I support open source software I know that it’s unrealistic to think that all software can be open and free. Hell, it’s highly unrealistic to think that you can avoid any proprietary corporate ties in this day in age. Just about everything you use and buy is proprietary in some way or has ties to a corporation. People work to make money. Corporations exist to make money. Regardless of whether you’re developing open source or proprietary software the whole point in doing it is to make money in some shape, fashion, or form. Open source software survives not because of its openness but because developers have found way to profit off it and have learned that good product design is a must if you are to compete with companies that develop proprietary software.
Again, I bought an iPhone because I wanted the best phone I could buy that would suit my needs and integrate into my lifestyle well. The iPhone is the best phone for me. Now, whether it’s the best phone for someone else, well, that’s a matter of personal preference and taste. Apple didn’t put a spell on me. I didn’t buy one just because of all the hoopla surrounding it. No, I bought it because I feel it’s the best smart phone out there. If anyone making open source software for smart phones wants to compete they’re going to have to really create something extraordinary, something so well designed that your average layman simply has to have it. That’s what Apple did with the iPhone. Sure, marketing and advertising helped, but even then the product speaks for itself. Can OpenMako do the same with the FreeRunner?
To say that a FreeRunner is SO much better just because it’s open and supports the philosophy of the FSF, that’s a delusional statement at best. I just don’t get the willingness to sacrifice useability and good design on a somewhat misguided philosophy. The FreeRunner is so poorly designed in both hardware and software I just don’t understand how anyone can look at it and say that it’s an acceptable product. Claiming it to be good enough is accepting mediocrity based on a misguided belief over the use of open source software, which is something I absolutely refuse to do. Now, if it is perfectly acceptable to you then buy one and use it. If not, you will have no choice but to consider a proprietary phone. As it stands though I will likely never ever use anything that resembles the FreeRunner simply because it is mediocre. It it was something that actually came close to the iPhone I could see it, but otherwise I’ll pass.
Keep your piece of shit open phone. I’m perfectly happy with my proprietary phone, thank you very much.
Last week, someone over at the Free Software Foundation posted a blog entry called 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G. I’m all for free software and a big proponent of open source software. Hell, I help develop for MODx, which is open source. Although my Mac is my primary desktop, I have an OpenSuSE desktop server running that I use as my development environment. So, yeah, I understand the open source community quite a bit. So when I read this list of reasons to avoid the iPhone I found it laughable at best because the very reasons they claim are reasons to actually get it.
So, here’s my comments about what this guy has to say. Let’s start with reason #1:
1: iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can’t be on everyone’s phones.
Wait a minute…so what about all those free apps on the iTunes App Store? You mean that developers still have to pay Apple to distribute those apps? No sir, they don’t! Developers are only taxed on the apps they put price tags on. Even then Apple only gets a 30% cut. Now, you could say that that’s a rip off but, let’s face it, Apple is in the business of making money. And have you seen the apps on the App Store? Doesn’t look like Apple is playing the authority figure you claim it to be. If that was the case then I would estimate that at least two-thirds of the apps on there would have been rejected. As it stands though that is simply not the case. Apple nor anybody else in the iPhone community requires you or any other developer to put a price tag on an iPhone app. If you want to put an iPhone app on the App Store for free you’re more than welcome to do so. So your notion that Apple completely blocks free software is bullshit at best.
2: iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology.
Apple does NOT endorse and support DRM technology. It’s a well known fact that Steve Jobs is not all that fond of DRM systems. But, as you say, it’s been a year and half since BMI started allowing Apple to sell DRM free music:
With great hesitation, he allowed a handful of files to go DRM-free on iTunes, but kept in place the requirement that they be purchased using the proprietary, DRM-infected iTunes software. Since then, he has done absolutely nothing to act on those words.
It’s not Steve Jobs or Apple that’s the problem…it’s the big music and media houses that are the problem. Apple has no control over the decision to put DRM on the media they sell because they aren’t the ones controlling the publishing rights to the music and media. Only the music and media companies have those rights. If Apple could remove all DRM restrictions on the music and media they sell on iTunes tomorrow they would. Wanna know who you need to complain to? Complain to companies like Sony, BMG, Warner, Universal and others who are doing their best to maintain the status quo and keep the traditional business model of selling media by restricting what you can and can’t do with the media you buy. Don’t bitch at Apple, bitch at them!
The truth is that there are thousands of software, music, and media creators who want to share their work more freely.
Last I checked, there are tons of independent musicians, such as Jonathan Coulton, sharing and selling their work on iTunes. Same applies to media creators. The notion that Apple only cares about the big labels and doesn’t allow independent artist to distribute their work easily on iTunes is bullshit.
I get a lot of my music and media in plenty of different ways. iTunes is just one source. I get stuff from Amazon, podcasts, CDBaby, and other sites. Apple doesn’t pigeon-hole you. You do have a choice.
Plus, there are tons of developers offering free software to use on the Mac. It seems for every good paid app there’s an equally good free app as well. Not all of them are open source but, still, if it’s free how can you complain?
3: iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.
Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit! Have you even used an iPhone? Every app that accesses the GPS API is required to ask you for permission to use your current location. Even then, the coordinates are only used for that given app and aren’t transmitted for the world to see. The only way people can see where you are is if you allow for it. Loopt is a good example of this and, even with Loopt, you have to specifically give friends permission to see you before they can do anything. Based on that, if the iPhone is exposing your whereabouts it’s because you allowed it to, not because it just does it on its own.
4: iPhone won’t play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora.
Ok, so you’re partially correct…but only partially. Yes, it’s true that no iPhone or iPod will play Ogg Vorbis or Theora files natively. And, yes, it’s true that both MP3 and AAC are patented technologies. But, unlike MP3, no licenses or payments are required to be able to stream or distribute content in AAC format. However, to create AAC files does require a license since it is a proprietary format. Interestingly though it isn’t owned by a single company since it was developed by multiple organizations in an effort to develop a more standardize file format.
Neither MP3 or AAC are DRM formats in and of themselves. DRM can be added on to these formats, sure, but they’re not DRM formats natively. Apple and other companies add on DRM to these formats because they are required to do so by the media companies.
Apple and other organizations would likely embrace open formats like Ogg Vorbis if they truly felt that it would be cheaper and more beneficial than what they are predominantly using now. However, as it stands, that’s simply not the case. So what you say is only half right.
5: iPhone is not the only option. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don’t spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software — like the FreeRunner.
Yes, the iPhone is not the only option. There are other smart phones out there that have capabilities similar to the iPhone. And, honestly, if there was a phone better than the iPhone I would certainly buy it. Right now though, today, there is no equivalent of the iPhone anywhere.
Fortunately, we will soon be able to have all the convenience of a mobile computer that also makes phone calls without selling our freedom to Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, or anyone else. The Neo FreeRunner is a promising free-software phone, being developed in cooperation with the same worldwide community responsible for the GNU/Linux operating system.
Great but, really, is that the best the open source community can do? I’ll give them credit for coming up with a completely open solution. However, I’m far from being impressed with the design of the FreeRunner. It’s not inspiring and the software looks like shit, but that’s just my opinion.
About the only phones that could remotely compete with the iPhone are phones powered by Google Android. However, I hate to break it to you but even Google Android is not as open as people thought. Also, exactly how good Google Android powered phones will be remains to be seen. I wouldn’t be counting my chickens just yet.
iPhones can now also only be activated in stores — despite the fact that in the U.S., the Register of Copyrights ruled that consumers have the right to unlock their phones and switch to a different carrier.
Yes, you’re right, consumers have the right to unlock their phones and use them with other carriers and they are more than welcome to do so if they choose…but at a price. Although customers can reserve the right to unlock their phones, carriers can reserve the right to charge a fee to allow you out of your one or two year contract. Plus, most carriers subsidize the price of the phone so in order to get an iPhone (or any other phone for that matter) that is unlockable without a contract, be prepared to pay a lot more for it. This isn’t Apple’s doing though. This is the cell phone industry. AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, they all do this. If Apple could sell iPhones to every carrier without some bogus stipulations in their contracts they would. That day may come but right now Apple is tied to AT&T for contractual reasons.
I will say this though: If the FreeRunner or a Google Android phone were to beat out the iPhone on design, features, usability, and integration into my lifestyle I will gladly give up my iPhone for any one of these phones. My phone is a part of my everyday life. As an information worker, it’s absolutely necessary that I remain in touch with everyone I work with. As such, the iPhone give me that and much more. For any other phone to trump it will be difficult.
Personally, I don’t really care if the iPhone is completely open or not. I just care about good, solid product design that integrates into my life well. For now, the iPhone is my smart phone of choice, and not because Apple has tricked me with some David Copperfield illusion either. No sir, it’s because Apple created a good product that is well designed. If another phone does it for you then, great, buy it. Otherwise, shut up!
On January 9, 2007, at the Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs unveiled a product that would forever change the landscape for cellphones: the first iPhone. Speculators ran rampant saying that Apple would likely garnish at least a 7% market share by 2016! What’s funny is that Jobs said that Apple would be happy with just 1% of the market, a market which at the time was already selling a 100 million phones:
So game consoles. 26 million game consoles were sold in 2006 worldwide, actually a little smaller than you’d think. It’s not such a big market. Digital cameras dwarfed it at 94 million. MP3 players 135 million. And PCs, about 209. Mobile phones, just about a billion last year, worldwide. So what does this tell you? What this tells you is, that 1 percent market share equals 10 million units. This is a giant market. One percent market share, you’re going to sell 10 million phones. And this is exactly what we’re going to try to do in 2008, our first full year in the market, is grab 1 percent market share and go from there. So we’re going to enter a very competitive market, lot of players, we think we’re going to have the best product in the world, and we’re going to go for it and see if we can get 1 percent market share, 10 million units in 2008, and go from there.
What Jobs didn’t say was that the market was already dominated by the Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices. Many speculators wondered if the iPhone could even remotely compete since it didn’t have any enterprise support nor any Microsoft Exchange support, the two things all businesses require out of the smartphones they buy.
Even Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer couldn’t help but laugh at the iPhone:
Baller went on to say in a USAToday interview:
There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.
Ballmer would have to wait and see just how much market share Apple would get with the iPhone.
On June 29th, 2007, the first generation iPhone is released to the public. Right out of the gate, Apple sold an estimated 500,000 iPhones in just the first weekend, with one million iPhones sold by September. By the end of 2007, Apple sold nearly 4 million iPhones. Not only did they meet expectations, they exceeded them by capturing a 26.7% share of the smartphone market by the end of 2007. Keep in mind that they attained these numbers without enterprise support and on just a single carrier. It’s an amazing product launch on many levels!
Even then there were many who doubted the future success of the iPhone, still claiming that Apple could not keep up with their success without enterprise support and without the ability to install native applications. Well, their doubts were put to rest when, on March 6, 2008, Steve Jobs and company announced the beta release of the iPhone SDK as well as a first look of the iPhone 2.0 software. And what will the iPhone 2.0 software provide? You got it: native ActiveSync support for Microsoft Exchange!
By May 2008, Apple’s iPhone market share slipped a bit and fell to a 19.2% marketshare. My guess is that companies just aren’t ready to buy into the iPhone yet till they see the official release of the 2.0 software.
Another gripe about the iPhone was that it didn’t have 3G. Well, in true Apple fashion, they announced on January 15, 2008 at the Macworld Expo the release of the next generation iPhone, the iPhone 3G. Granted, the only things they added was support for 3G and built-in GPS, but it still pretty much closes the gap for any complaints that business users have.
So with all the hoopla, what is it about the iPhone? Why is this thing so darn popular? And does it really deserve all the hype and attention it’s getting?
As a fellow iPhone owner, I can tell you that it deserves all the hype. I used to administrate a good handful of Treo 700w’s and 750’s and I’ve played with quite a few Blackberry’s as well. None of them came close to the innovation and slickness of the iPhone. Simply put, Apple did indeed make one hell of a jump ahead of the competition. They created a phone that works unlike any other device of its kind.
Many other manufactures have tried to duplicate the success of the multi-touch interface of the iPhone but have failed. And why would they? Apple has had a history of creating really well designed interfaces for the past five years. Any company that even remotely wants to compete has to step up their game now and come up with something that is just as innovative. Even then, innovation is only a fraction of it. The other part is the fact that the iPhone just plain works.
The only real competition I see for Apple is Google Android, an open-source mobile operating system that some manufactures are already developing for. Android has plenty of potential but it remains to be seen whether it can capture the enterprise market. In many ways, Google Android will be the Linux of the smartphone market. I’m sure there will be developers creating apps that allow for such things as native Microsoft Exchange support.
So where does that leave the rest of the competition? Will Apple dominate the market and leave Windows Mobile and Blackberry in the dust? I don’t think so and I honestly don’t believe Apple will monopolize on the market either. After all, not everyone will find the iPhone to be the perfect fit for them. Some people will simply prefer a Blackberry, Treo, or some other smartphone over an iPhone.
I personally love the iPhone. And just because I’m an Apple fan doesn’t mean that I think the iPhone is the only good smartphone on the market. Again, I think Google Android holds a lot of promise. If someone was to come along with a phone that offers better features, a better interface, and more I might consider it. Apple doesn’t rule and know all; they just happen to be the one company who is designing some of the better products right now. Any company can come along and do it better. They just have to design something better.
As to what the future will hold for the iPhone and what the next big thing will be, no one really knows. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Update [June 24, 2008]:
I share John Guber’s sentiments on the expectations of Google Android and how it compares to the iPhone:
My obsession is with wonderful, thoughtful software and gadgetry. I love the iPhone because it’s fucking amazing, not because it’s from Apple. It’d be fantastic if even one Android-based phone is as good or better than the iPhone.
The openness of Google Android is what makes me think it’ll end up being the Linux of the mobile OS market. And John is right, Android does have the potential of being better than the iPhone in many ways. After all, anyone with both Mac and Linux experience can see the potential of both platforms and the strengths of each. I don’t see why Android would be any different. But one thing is for sure: unless developers embrace the platform Android won’t stand a chance, which we won’t see till the first Android phones are released on the market.
Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7
Recently, at the D6 Conference, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer unveiled some of the new features that will be going into Windows 7. A brief demo of Windows 7 showed off some features that are obviously taken from Microsoft Surface. You remember Microsoft Surface, don’t you?
It obvious that Microsoft is clearly going after Apple. This demo is clearly Microsoft’s take on the Multi-touch interface that is evident in the iPhone. Granted, part of how this is implemented is quite new and fresh…but there’s still quite a bit that feels like a rip-off of the iPhone interface.
The problem here is that it’s unclear as to how useful a Multi-touch interface like this will be in a real-world scenario. Bells, whistles, and eye-candy are all fine and dandy…but how much of this will prove to be truly useful in allowing folks to do the things they want? If something like this can boost productivity and cut the time it takes to accomplish certain tasks then, great, Microsoft might have themselves a success. If not then it’s just another good idea that was poorly implemented, which is pretty much what I’ve come to expect from Microsoft.
When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, he made it clear that Multi-touch was something new and exclaimed, “And, boy, have we patented it!”. What made the first iPhone demo so successful was that Jobs demonstrated how the touch interface was actually useful. In fact, Jobs was going out of his way to dissuade others into thinking they need a stylus for a touch interface saying, “We’re going to use the best pointing device in the world — our fingers.” He demonstrated an interface that was way ahead of the curve and proved that it was functional and useful in its implementation. All you have to do is pick up an iPhone and play with it and you’ll get a clear idea at just how good Multi-touch really works.
Obviously, Microsoft can’t use the same technology in Windows 7. Multi-touch is patented by Apple and it doesn’t look like Apple is too keen to license it out. Microsoft does need to be careful though. I’m not a lawyer and I don’t know how much of their interface Apple patented…but there sure does seem to be quite a bit in the Windows 7 demo that might cause alarms to go off with Apple’s legal department.
So how good is Microsoft’s touch interface? No one really knows. All we’ve seen is a flashy demo…nothing else. One thing is clear though: Until Microsoft can demonstrate real-world improvements with their touch-screen interface, much like Surface, it is still just a bogus concept. And given the Microsoft’s history with Vista, it looks like it will be a bogus concept.
So…with my first post on Steamd, I figured I should answer two questions that will invariably be asked: What is Steamd? and Why aren’t you eating your own dog food?
Whether I’m reading the news, I’m at work, coming into work, coming home from work, watching TV, listening to a podcast, or doing whatever it is that I do on a daily basis, eventually something will inspire me and cause me to want to tell people about it. Or it could just be something that pisses me off at the time. Either way, Steamd was born as a way to document my ideas and thoughts as well as vent some frustration should it arise.
This blog will be a no holds barred type of thing so if you’re easily offended and don’t like certain kinds of language usage then this blog won’t be for you. I feel I should be honest with my thoughts and as such will never filter them.
You’ll also notice that there is no way to post comments. The primary reason is that I simply don’t have time to moderate comments. Should you have a comment feel free to e-mail me. If I find it highly relevant I’ll be happy to update the post and add your comment.
As one of the developers for the MODx CMS and PHP Application Framework you might ask why I chose to use Movable Type for this blog. The reason? One word: iPhone! There simply isn’t a way to create blog posts with MODx and an iPhone yet. Movable Type has an excellent plugin that allows me to blog with my iPhone. I love MODx and it’s by far the best damn CMS I’ve ever used. But untll we can update it to where users can use it with an iPhone or similar PDA phone I’ll stick with Movable Type for the time being.
I probably won’t be posting to the blog daily…but I will be posting fairly frequently with various links, rants, raves, and any other bullshit that happens to cross my mind. Stay tuned! 
Jeff Whitfield
Update (July 27, 2008): Although this blog began on Movable Type, I have since migrated it to WordPress for better control over the templating and the use of the WordPress iPhone app.
