the air

This is a continuation of my previous post, The iPhone Folly.

Now that everyone has had 24 hours to relax and let the news of the iPhone settle in, its time to talk about why this new device from Apple just plain sucks. Here’s a rundown of my reasons:

• Price
• Only on Cingular
• No 3G
• Limited Wifi
• Memory
• Battery life
• No MS Exchange or equivalent support
• Limited 3rd Party Support

The Lofty Prices

The phone comes in two different models with different price-tags. The 4GB model debuts at $499 and the 8GB model will rob you of $599. The caveat here is that you must sign a 2 year contract with Cingular. And reports are that Cingular will NOT sell this phone without service. Not only is this price tag astronomically high, Apple is now setting up their iPhone against more capable and more feature ridden smart phones from Motorola, Nokia, RIM, and others. In addition, at these price points, many consumers can purchase cell phones that are not SIM locked to any carrier. Knowing Apple, I will not expect the price of this device to fall, however, you will see increased storage capacity. It is highly unlikely that you will find this phone available SIM unlocked. In addition, consumers of CDMA/TDMA (e.g. Sprint, Verizon, Alltel, etc) and iDEN (Nextel) are completely out of luck; probably forever. Good job Apple.

Raising the Bar…Not Quite

As I mentioned earlier, the iPhone will be available exclusively from Cingular. If you are on any other network, too bad for you. The people on the orange side will be enjoying this nifty device long before you can even switch. In addition, Cingular will also politely lock you into a two year service agreement filled with stiff early termination penalties. And let us not forget, Cingular is also home to the “network with the fewest dropped calls.” Being a Cingular customer for the past year, I can safely say that I agree with their claim. I have never had a dropped call while on Cingular. That level of quality, sadly, cannot be found amongst their customer care representatives. Some of them are downright rude and plain ignorant. Nevertheless, if you call back, the chances of you finding a much favorable service representative are quite high. Good job Cingular.

Old Skool

The iPhone does not have any 3G capability. This is a hardware issue that will most likely be remedied once the second or third generations debut. What exactly does this all mean? It means you will not be able to download songs from iTunes while on the go, conduct video conferencing, and other high speed data intensive applications. Is that really essential? For most people, it does not matter. However, if you are a corporate customer, you definitely might want to look elsewhere or have another device with you.

LoFi WiFi

So the iPhone has WiFi. I’m not quite sure what it can really be used for. You might be able to surf the internet while in a WiFi area. Or the iPhone may harness the power of UMA which will literally give you limitless coverage anywhere there is a broadband WiFi connection. However, at this time, you will NOT be able to wirelessly sync your iPod to your computer. This is mostly a software issue that could be changed at any time with a firmware update. But what is the point of WiFi if you can’t really use it for anything useful? Maybe like the Zune, you’ll be able to share songs. Although I have to say that in the Zune, it is poorly implemented.

Error 33: Low Memory

I think the memory sizes that the iPhone comes in is a huge blunder on Apple’s part. Why would you offer small amounts of memory (comparable to the Nano) and charge over twice the price? Apple should have implemented larger flash memory into the device, say 10 or 20 gigs. That would actually make the device more appealing and the price more justifiable. I can easily fill the 4GB or the 8GB with just a few movie files and some songs. It definitely will outlast the battery, but it’ll force me to make sure that I am near my computer regularly so that I can update the songs. This brings us to the next part…

Not Again…Low Battery

With all these new features in the iPhone, I cannot see it having great battery life. Apple has suggested that the phone will provide 5 hours of talk time or video watching time or 16 hours of non-stop tunes. That is assuming you only do one task for the entire time. However, most of us will use all possible features with this device. That means you can expect about 5 to 12 hours of actual time under real world conditions. In addition, the battery is not user replaceable. That means, once the phone is dead, you can’t make any calls or do anything. This is in contrast to most other phones on the market which have user replaceable batteries and can accept external battery power. Maybe Apple will get its act together and realize that phone batteries should last the entire day (minimum of 24 hours) to give the user enough time to actually have the phone handy and ready to go.

Bye Bye Microsoft

No MS Exchange support basically means that most corporate customers are out of luck. Apple has not announced any support for other email servers as well. The iPhone will most likely be shunned by prospective corporate clients because of this issue. Does it really matter? I don’t think so.

Limited Support

Apple’s platform has not been known to be friendly to developers. There is a possibility that Apple will lock down the OS on the iPhone to prevent many 3rd party vendors to develop software. It could also ensure that any prospective vendor go through an Apple sponsored program that validates developers and accrues licensing fees for Apple. The iPhone may support MIDP/J2ME, but I don’t think that will really matter. The iPhone is similar to the Windows Mobile cellular devices. For Apple consumers, this is great news. However, if you are on Windows or Linux, you are in for some troubling times. The reason why Nokia and Motorola have been highly successful is because of their support for 3rd party vendors. These vendors and developers are the life-blood of the mobile communication industry and if Apple shuns them, I cannot see the iPhone being very successful.

Many of these issues are trivial and will most likely be remedied by Apple in the coming months after the launch and in future generations of the device. I do not anticipate this incarnation of the iPhone to be a commercial failure, however, I am expecting many consumers to be surprised to its limited capabilities. Along the way, Apple will learn from its mistakes and will mold the iPhone into a strong competitor. Do not expect Apple to supplant Nokia as the leader in mobile hand-held devices, however, Apple will carve itself a niche in the huge market. Many questions and concerns will be addressed once the phone launches. Apple does have a few months left to tweak the product if necessary. Apple is on its way to a very rosy and beautiful financial outlook; all thanks to the iPhone

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