Thusfar (2:10pm EDT) Iphone sales are ZERO! They go on sale at 6pm. And I have no doubt they'll be a big seller for a few days, until the geeks get 'em. They may be multimedia marvels, but from what I've heard they're mediocre PHONES.
Cranky Geeks (
http://www.crankygeeks.com), the same people who bring us PC Magazine, says you have to go through SIX STEPS on menus before you can begin dialing a phone number! A SIX HUNDRED DOLLAR PHONE that is very complex to use for phone calls, can ONLY work with AT&T, doesn't sound like a long-term big seller to me.
But it has AMAZING multimedia qualities, right? Well, yes and no. From what I've read the screen is a marvel...the kind of screen Ipod Video SHOULD have had. But there's no hard drive, or facility for adding one, so you're limited to (at most...on the much more expensive version) 8GB. Not very much if you're planning on actually watching movies on that gorgeous screen.
To me the Iphone looks like a bunch of devices "glued together". You have PDA functionality (man didn't those things sell well!), a media player (but with far less storage than a "real" media player), a complex and LIMITED phone (only available for AT&T), and the requirement for an expensive data plan to use many of it's features. I keep hearing people say "nothing's ever been able to do all this before!" Well that's perfectly true...if one is willing to overlook THE FACTS! My Dell Axim X51v can do EVERYTHING the Iphone can do. It has a full VGA video screen, 3d graphics processor, Wi-Fi, VAST codec support (with Core Media Player), and full duplex audio so I can (in the presence of a Wi-Fi connection) make Skype calls for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I'd have to giggle in a coffee shop at the guy with his Iphone making calls on his 80 dollar a month data plan, while I make calls with far better audio quality for "nuttin' honey".
To me Iphones are like HD radios in that, at the moment, they're "for geeks, by geeks". Most people who want a cell phone already have one, and are locked into a long-term commitment, so they can't change providers if they want one...until their contract expires. The rest (people like me...who have never owned a cell phone, though my wife has had one for many years) won't likely be swayed no matter what the appeal. Who's left? Tech-geeks that have to have the latest toy. They'll line up around the corner and down the block (and already have) for an Iphone. The real test of sales is how many of 'em are moving in two months. Or six, when the geeks all have one.
It may be pretty, shiny, and new. It may do some things better than most anything that's come before. But honestly...just between you and me, are you REALLY going to spend 600-800 dollars FOR A CELL PHONE? I mean you can get a simple, cheap, easy to use cell phone for 50 bucks, and a PDA or portable media player for half to a third as much, and have as much, or more capability. Media players have hard drives with ten times the storage, built in radio tuners, the ability to record audio AND video, and new ones have the same wi-fi connectivity as an Iphone. Models from Archos have larger, higher resolution screens as well.
There's a helluva case to be made against this gadget. Of course people are talking now. Apple is GREAT at selling sizzle. What remains to be seen is if anybody's going to wait around to see if there's any steak.
