Interestingly people focus on the phone part of the device rather than the other features. I believe that Apple recognise that in this "stay connected" world the user has many more options to communicate than the mobile phone. The iPhone gives people access to connectivity alternatives in a highly usable package. Mr Lynn has really missed the point and has focused on the very much commodity driven mobile phones from Nokia and Motorola etc..as it's competition. Mac Users will "get this" difference first because they understand and trust Apple to deliver the best user experience and to respond to the changes in this market... By the time that we are able to buy an iPhone in the UK I expect there to be quite a few variants to choose from - in the meantime Mr Lynn can lament the sorry state of choice that he believes can't be changed....

Graham (London)

quite right Bryan - the fact that Matthew doesn't even exist on MySpace means that he shouldn't be commenting on anything technological - perhaps he should write an article about converting his entire life to Mac for a year and then trying to go back - sadly you can't comment on his views on his page, so if you're reading this Matthew - comments appreciated.

I bought Apple at $25 and now its $90 - long may this continue and long it shall.

Rox

Mr. Lynn apparently forgot that Apple was late to the MP3 party and now there iPod and iTunes Stores are number 1. Being late to the party doesn't mean anything and there was plenty of MP3 players when Apple released the iPod and just about everyone was writing that Apple would fail here too. Well Apple has analyized the weaknesses in the market and then now they have developed the iPhone. So to declare a product a failure before it has even been released in this case is nonsense. Now if you were talking about the Zune everyone knew that would be the case.

The iPhone will fail because geeks and dorks won't buy it. With only one button and everything easy to understand they will not be enthralled by it. What fun is something that you can't jimmy-rig, hotwire, soup-up, etc.? Geeks and dorks want something with a 590 page owner's manual, more buttons that a MIG-29, and features that only a geek could ever figure out how to use.
By the way, if you're a Microsoft Engineer reading this, Bill Gates told me to tell you to get that iPod off your desk.

I'd like to see what Mr Lynn had to say about the iPod when it was first unveiled.

The weaknesses of Apple's forthcoming phone, including (1) high price, (2) limited memory for music, and (3) awkward method of text entry . . . could be overcome with a new KILLER APP, which would be DICTATION SOFTWARE . . . to permit a user the ability to dictate Email and also text material into some simple word processor, like TEXTEDIT . . . that could be transmitted, any number of ways, to a printer . . . . and the device could be renamed POCKET MAC !

Mr. Lynn is a poopie head. For now anyway. But if he turns out to be right about anything, he'll just be a footnote on the death knell counter. Sucks to be him.

From an email I sent to Matthew Lynn:

Interesting article.

I will never own an iPhone, so I don't have a puppy in this tussle.

Still, I believe you've bumped your nose into a tree and missed the forrest. The iPhone is not about the phone. Anyone can, and has, made a phone. The iPhone is about the experience. Here is where tech pundits often misread Apple — Apple anthropomorphizes technology turning robots into warm, fuzzy little creatures. They're fun to hold, fun to talk to, fun to own. That the iPhone will be a hit with people who actually spend their own money to purchase technology is a given. Corporations will try to keep them out, but will fail because their valued employees will want them. It may be that Corporations will wait until the iPhone interface is ripped off by more acceptable vendors, but the iPhone by this name, or by another, produced by Apple, or by another, is the phone you will be using within a few years.

But not me, because I hate cellphones and I'm thinking of getting rid of the one I have.

Best wishes,

Richard Taylor

Thankyou, Richard. When you opened your comment with "From an email..." my heart sank, but then you showed how nicely a rebuttal can be done over the wire. Good on you. Too many Macsters go the other way, using vitriole, and it's not good for the rest of us.

I know, I've done it.

Aye, that's a great note, Richard. Thanks for sharing it here.

I agree with one of his comments: "How about a phone with fewer gadgets but better at making calls".

Agreed. How nice would it be to have Apple's iPhone interface for just making calls? With few features it would be cheaper to produce and surely it would have a market? I hear this "I just want a phone that makes calls" lament every week from a new source.

Get a "Jitterbug". Looks like a super easy way for the non-technical to just make calls. And probably be happier than the rest of us that have the patience to screw with these gadgets, future iPhone included.

At this point, I'm not sure the iPhone — at least the first generation — will succeed. You can get a Blackberry, or similar competitors, for $199 with a 2-year contract; the iPhone looks like a better gadget, but 2-1/2 to 3 times better?

No third-party development, huge price tag (upfront and ongoing), unproven durability (although I don't expect that to be a problem), and the good old value proposition, are going to be factors after the initial run. On the other hand, there could be features that we haven't seen yet that could change the equation.

You know, for me, the ichat scrolling is a big sell. I like the idea of using txting with the ability to see what I wrote.

The thing I'm most worried about with the iphone is nobuttons slick screen. I had a phone once without buttons and it really sucked. Here's why;

1. Constantly greasy face made it hard to read. It's not like my hands or ears are covered in oil, but they make a slick faced phone pretty greasy in not time.

2. No tactile feedback. Without REAL buttons, It makes it very hard to do things without looking at the phone. I try not to be an obnoxious cell phone user, but sometimes you just gotta take a call in the car

3. More difficult for text entry. Without buttons it makes it tough to txt very fast because you can't slide your fingers across to the next button. With buttons you have to press them a bit before they activate, with touch sensitive screen, it's easier to "press" a button, therefore you have to remove your fingers after each press, rather than just sliding them around.

Apparently this tech is pretty sophisticated, and they've done some new stuff with the touch screen, but I guess the proof is in the pudding. I'm definitely anxiously awaiting the iphone's release, but still, you'll have to color me skeptical.

The major cut to the jugular is . . . Cingular. I have spoken to many people from New York to L.A. and "NO ONE" has "ANYTHING" good to say about Cingular. And all the reviews and discussions of the iPhone I have read recently all end up talking about how those that have Cingular hate them and those that don't know them as the worst in service and customer service. My family has a family plan with them and can never use their phones. I have TMobile, because they have a tower 1/2 a mile away and just bought several billions, and the largest quantity of, in the last Federal frequency auction.

I looked at Cingular's coverage map for my area and it looks like a bad weather map. The "cells" and coverage areas make no sense, and all the wealthy areas where every kid on the block could easily get one of these, do not have service.

Partnering with Cingular was mistake #1 and may haunt them severely. If we see things change quickly, like additional carriers or unlocked phones for sale, that will be an indicator that they figured it out. I pray.

I was part of the founding cell company (1990) for a 14 state Western US region that is now Verizon. I had to dump them after 15 years and free service for life. The quality of their service went to pot and their commercial about their network is so wrong. What happened to "can you hear me, now?"? We couldn't. And Cingular's claim of the least dropped calls. Well that may be true. But you have to get the call placed first. There's the kicker.

So as to not playing well with others? That remains to be seen. But they picked a bad playmate to start with. Good Luck. I had many clients that the minute they saw the iPhone were willing to pay anything to get one. Once they heard that the carrier is Cingular, they all went Blackberry Pearl. TMobile says that they can take the iPhone on their network right now and if I were to get and unlocked one just let them know and they will help me get up and running.

Also I read that Cingular's Internet speed is 100kbps, whereas, the other carriers are around 1400kbps. What is going to support the enhanced Internet services at 100kbps?

So the Death Knell is for all the wrong reasons. The phone is amazing. The service is abysmal. Is that a bell I hear tolling in the distance?

My problem with Cingular is personal. My 80-some year old grandmother is a Cingular subscriber. Why? Because it's the old AT&T and she didn't figure out 20 years ago that you trust AT&T as much as you trust anyone other company, i.e. as far as you can throw them and only as much as you need to. So they called her one day and offered her a free RAZR with supposedly no commitment and no additional fees. Then the bill came. Then it took her two days and repeated phone calls to "the manager" (read: "the guy in the next cubicle covering the other guy's ass that day") to get it resolved. And she still had to pay to ship it back. So guys, that's why I hate Cingular . But I won't let my grandmother become a Sprint customer, because I'm sure I'd hate them just as much in a couple months .

The biggest disappointment in all of this, for me, is that the service issues are not any better. I had been holding out hope that Apple would rescue me and countless others from the demons of the cell phone industry. No such luck.

I have been with T-Mobile since it was Voicestream. (I praised T-Mobile for eliminating Jamie Lee Curtis as a spokesperson.) I had fantastic customer service for many years.

Then we signed my wife up. Over the phone because the website was down for service and I hate cell phone stores. It took 6 months of hour-long weekly calls to customer service (who has time for that?!?!) to get what we were promised from day one. And now, because we've protested so much, my value to T-Mobile has dropped and I can no longer get even remotely acceptable service, much less the exceptional service we used to have.

I've been using a Nokia 6010 (basic among basic phones) for 2.5 years, hoping for Apple to release something worth buying. Given that we're stuck (costs as much to get out of our contract as to continue service), and that the iPhone likely won't be available to me for at least a couple years, I will settle on a Blackberry. And an iPod. And a camera. And 3 chargers. And all sorts of software. And a host of usability issues.

Disappointing to say the least.


- Jon

I have no idea what entrez-nouz is supposed to mean. I initially thought you meant "entre nous", but that means "between us" which makes no sense. Then I thought "entres-nez" might be some hip french slang the kids are using ("nose entry" or "stick your nose in"), but that's not a found anywhere. Is it possibly "entrenez", which means "to submit"? Not really appropriate in this sense, but closest I could come up with.

This article, and the original article, are both fairly boring, as they hold little real details and (by necessity) almost entirely based on speculation. But the few minutes of trying to decipher the pseudo-french were interesting, so thanks for that.

Quote

Guest wrote:
I have no idea what entrez-nouz is supposed to mean. I initially thought you meant "entre nous", but that means "between us" which makes no sense. Then I thought "entres-nez" might be some hip french slang the kids are using ("nose entry" or "stick your nose in"), but that's not a found anywhere. Is it possibly "entrenez", which means "to submit"? Not really appropriate in this sense, but closest I could come up with.

entres nous might be neologism for "new entries" I'm guessing.