iPhone has been announced.

Woz is a really funny guy. He prank-called the Vatican once, he gets uncut $2 bills from the US Treasury and makes “pads” out of them so that he can rip out the money, and on airplane flights he likes to cut his steak using a metal business card.
 
Actually, my dad suprised me today. He walked in and walked out with an iphone-- no wait because he knows some people at the apple store.

I'll have to wait for tommorow to find out if he got me one too. Lol.
 
Getting one here is pretty much a no-go. Cingular's service is awful. My friend constantly gets his calls dropped.
 
iPhone also doesn't support 3G at the moment. My guess is that 3 million iPhones would destroy the 3G network. I'm sure it will become available in future upgrades.
 
I believe Steve Jobs said EDGE was good enough. Makes no sense to me.

The combo-breaker for me with the iPhone was the camera. A 2MP sensor with no video recording is a downgrade for me and I use my phone as a camera a lot.
 
No easy to access battery either. :lol: It's a good exercise in marketing and design but in pretty much all practical situations it's bettered by competitors.
 
The best thing it has going for it is the fact that it has OSX built in.
 
My next door neighbor picked an iPhone up Friday night, he said there were only about 40 people in line, so wasn't nearly as crazy as the Cupertino and NYC stores.

I messed around with it for about an hour and while some of the features are very nice, and the OS as expected is VERY intuitive and unlike most phones, it is very easy to use without ever even referring to the manual.

I was also pleasantly surprised how small it was. It was even smaller than my BlackJack, and a good deal smaller than my previous Blackberry!

I also like the feel of it in my hand, which I didn't expect do to its "brick" like shape, but the edges are very smoothly rounded off, and it just feels nice to hold.

Unfortunately browsing and downloading files was painfully slow, but I'm used to that already as my BlackJack is also with Cingular/ATT.

The only thing that I really disliked was the keyboard. I can type so much faster and more accurately with both my previous Blackberry and my current BlackJack. I suppose with practice this could improve over time, but no amount of practice and Apple keystroke intuitive software design can make up for that small keyboard, and not having a wide real touch keyboard.

I would not be the least bit surprised to hear that in a year or so Apple comes out with a version of the iPhone with a slide out keyboard, similar to Samsung's F700:

4060-UltraSmartF7005.jpg




I only recently got my new phone, but even if I was in the market for a new phone, and despite how much I enjoyed much of what the iPhone has to offer, for the cost, being 1st gen, remembering all the problems with the 1st gen iPods, the low bandwidth of Cingular's internet service, the lack of some promised features, and the lack of a real keyboard, I wouldn't get this version. Instead I'd wait to see what Apple comes out with next round... that's when I expect the iPhone to truly shine. 👍
 
Now that my dad's phone has been activated, I think the coolest thing about the phone is that it hooks into any wifi networks in the area. If you live in the city, that makes up for the Edge network.

Safari and Google maps are just awesome. We were able to find the address to a restaurant, plot it on google maps, and determine traffic at that.

It's a great phone and its intuitiveness is what makes it stand out. Other phones with more features may have been useful, but they are very clunky and not as efficient, adaptive, and, most importantly, simple.

I'd like to see how the F700 compares, though. My best guess is that iPhone 2 will have a camera on the front for video conferencing like the Samsung. The F700 looks like a very well thought-out phone... I just hope it's as intuitive and simple. OSX is just amazing.
 
So the two reviews I read essentially said 'it sucks, as a phone.' Please keep in mind the name: iPhone.

It lacks the simplest features that are often not even thought about.. No MMS? No custom ringers? No voice dialing?

Both reviews said the reception blows, voice clarity on both ends was worse than some Blackberry.. I don't know.

What they say was that it by far the best iPod ever. That's great, I guess.
 
Blame ATT, then, not Apple. ATT is one of the best, most clear providers in my area, and the iPhone sounds great.
 
Apple is having a VERY nice day today!

Portelligent published yesterday their teardown report on the iPhone build costs, estimating that it costs Apple only $200 for the 4GB iPhone and $220 for the 8GB iPhone.

While there are other costs associated with iPhone sales, because Apple gets 100% of the sale price in terms of revenue this puts Apple in a fantastic position. This is especially true when you then combine that information with recent sales estimates showing that they sold 200,000 iPhones on the first day and just over 500,000 to date.

So not only does it look like Apple has a real financial winner on their hands, but in terms of their stock, they are making a real killing.

In response to these reports on the iPhone's costs & sales, in just the first three hours of trading this morning, Apple's stock rose above $127 per share, a $6 increase... That's $5 billion dollars in just three hours... and has been holding steady between $126 and $127 throughout the day. :)👍



Here is an article from Business Week on Portelligent's teardown report of Apple's iPhone:

Taking the iPhone Apart
An analysis from teardown firm Portelligent estimates that the new smartphone costs Apple a mere $220 to make
by Arik Hesseldahl of Business Week published on July 2, 2007

As the creator of the iPhone, the most highly anticipated piece of consumer-electronics equipment in a decade or more, Apple (AAPL) certainly has much riding on the device's success. So too, in turn, do Apple's many, mostly anonymous suppliers.

Apple, always secretive and tight-lipped about its supply-chain and manufacturing arrangements, almost never says anything in public about its suppliers, not even to disclose names. The exceptions are Intel (INTC), the chipmaker that supplies the microprocessors for Apple's Macintosh computers, and NVIDA (NVDA) and ATI (AMD), which supply the graphics chips for those same computers.

So it's left to teardown firms such as Austin-based Portelligent, to sleuth out not only who supplies all the parts but what it costs to make a device. And David Carey, Portelligent's CEO, did something that few others in the country did after buying an iPhone: He took it apart.

A Hearty Margin
Portelligent estimates that the cost of the materials used in the iPhone add up to about $200 for the 4-gigabyte version, which sells for $499 and about $220 for the 8-gigabyte version, which sells for $599. Their estimate doesn't include costs of final assembly, but it does give some insight into the gross margin on the device. Historically Apple's gross margins have run ball park of 50% plus or minus a few points. "We had taken a speculative stab at what the costs would be back in January, when the phone was first announced and we were pretty close to the mark," Carey says (see BusinessWeek.com, 9/20/06, "The Skinny on Apple's New nanos").

The most expensive component on the phone, Carey says, is the touch screen, for which Apple tapped a little-known German concern called Balda (see BusinessWeek.com, 4/5/07, "Balda: The iPhone's German Accent"). The estimated cost of $60 per unit is mostly an educated guess. "This screen is like nothing I've ever seen before," says Carey.

Even the fact that Balda made it, is in fact, an educated guess. Carey told BusinessWeek that his analysis found no apparent markings that identified the screen's origin. But Balda's role in the screen has been something of an open secret in the wireless industry since the iPhone was first announced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs in January. Even so, Apple apparently took steps to make the source of the screen hard to identity.

How the Chips Fall
Another big winner is Samsung, which supplied the main microprocessor chip. It was stamped with an Apple logo, but with a serial number that matches closely a chip that Samsung sells. Samsung also supplied the NAND-type flash memory that stores data on the phone, including songs, video, and pictures.

Samsung's microprocessor chip, interestingly, is based on a core design that is owned by the British chip technology licensing firm ARM Holdings (ARMHY), which is another big winner among the iPhone suppliers. Instead of selling chips, ARM licenses its patented designs for "cores," or the central working brain of a chip. Customers take those core designs and then build their own chips around them. At least one other ARM-based chip, from NXP Semiconductor, the former chip division of Royal Philips Electronics (PHG), shows up in the iPhone. Other chips might have some ARM technology on them as well, Carey says Apple recently announced that it had improved the talk time on the iPhone's battery to eight hours. At least some of this improvement was accomplished by paying close attention to power management. Three chips are involved in that function: one from Philips, one from Texas Instruments (TXN), and one from Linear Technology (LLTC).

Handling various aspects of the wireless communications on the iPhone, from connection of AT&T's (T) wireless voice and data network to local Wi-Fi networks, are components from Infineon (IFX), Skyworks (SWKS), RF Micro Devices (RFMD), and Marvell Technology Group (MRVL). Cambridge Silicon Radio supplied chips that connect the iPhone to wireless headsets.

An accelerometer—a chip that senses motion—from STMicroelectronics (STM) helps the iPhone sense when its orientation has changed, which causes the orientation of pictures and video being displayed on the screen to change accordingly. Also handling various aspects of the display are chips from National Semiconductor (NSM), Broadcom (BRCM), and NXP. Idaho-based Micron Technology (MU) supplied the imaging chip that is central to the camera.

Mysterious Maker
Carey points out that the chip-packed iPhone offers "a very calm and serene user experience" that belies its internal complexity. "A great deal went into the internal mechanics and how it all came together," he observes. "There are lots of tiny nooks and crannies where things have to be very precisely tucked in to make it all fit together."

The complex design calls for equally complex manufacturing, which dictated that the iPhone be made outside of the U.S. "You have to build something like this in a place where labor is inexpensive," says Carey, which in this case means China. But Carey says it's unclear who manufactured the iPhone: "There are no markings indicating exactly who built it."

Apple's iPods have been built by Hon Hai Precision Industry and its Foxconn operating unit. BusinessWeek reported in January that Hon Hai had won the contract to manufacture the iPhone (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/10/07, "Apple iPhone: Sweet Ring Tone for Hon Hai"). But last month Samuel Chin, CEO of Foxconn, told investors that the company would not be making the iPhone. "Previous devices that Foxconn had made for Apple had their markings stamped all over the place," Carey says. "We just don't know who's making this one yet."

Apple had come under fire in 2006 for doing business with Hon Hai after allegations emerged in a British newspaper that its employees worked under sweatshop conditions (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/29/06, "Fixing Apple's 'Sweatshop' Woes"). Subsequent Apple investigations found some problems that it insisted be fixed and were fixed (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/21/06, "Hon Hai: Vindicated by Apple Report?").
Click to expand...
 
Burnout
It lacks the simplest features that are often not even thought about.. No MMS? No custom ringers? No voice dialing?
Click to expand...

How often do you honestly send pictures? And I'm thrilled about the lack of custom ringers, as much as I love class being interrupted by obnoxious midi file of "Fergilicious" coming from a girl's purse.
 
Zrow
How often do you honestly send pictures? And I'm thrilled about the lack of custom ringers, as much as I love class being interrupted by obnoxious midi file of "Fergilicious" coming from a girl's purse.
Click to expand...
I don't use MMS or Voice Dialing on my phone, but it's better to have those available if I need it eventually. And it's not something new either so it's a bit surprising the iPhone doesn't feature those.

I appreciate custom ringers though.
 
Digital-Nitrate
Apple is having a VERY nice day today!

*snip*

In response to these reports on the iPhone's costs & sales, in just the first three hours of trading this morning, Apple's stock rose above $127 per share, a $6 increase... That's $5 billion dollars in just three hours... and has been holding steady between $126 and $127 throughout the day. :)👍
Click to expand...
Another great day for Apple. Their stock shot up to over $131 this morning, adding an additional $3 billion dollars to their market capital! I bet another stock split is in the mix. 👍

To put this in perspective, 1,000 shares of Apple less than three years ago would have cost only $30,000. Today, they would be worth over $250,000. That's nearly a ten fold increase in value in just three years. 👍

Go iPhone GO!

(although I am still going to hold on to my BlackJack until iPhone v2) :)
 
A couple weeks ago I told my dad to buy some stock in Apple to turn a quick profit, but did he listen? Nooooo…
 
Last year I bought Apple stock virtually. I had no real money. I would be rich as hell right now though.
 
I don't like touch screen phones and I don't like the fact you cant put your own ring tones on the phone or even customize it. I'm used to Nokia phones. Highly customizable phones.
 
Nokiafan07
I don't like touch screen phones and I don't like the fact you cant put your own ring tones on the phone or even customize it. I'm used to Nokia phones. Highly customizable phones.
Click to expand...
So why are you in this thread then?
 
Steve Jobs Girds for the Long iPhone War
Posted on September 27, 2007 @ 7:01 pm by Saul Hansell, New York Times
There is something futile about the way Apple appears to be fighting some of its most ardent fans, those who want to use the full capabilities of the iPhone.

Thursday afternoon, Apple released the scheduled update to the iPhone software. And the gadget blogs confirm that it does, as Apple threatened, wreak havoc on modified iPhones. Some phones have indeed been “bricked.” In others, unofficial applications have been disabled. And there are worries that hacking the updated phone will be harder.

The result: Serious hackers will keep finding new ways to break in. Less technically inclined may well find themselves chastened into technological submission, assuming they can get their pricey toys to work at all. Will Apple really refuse to help people with iBricks?

Speaking in London last week, Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, said the company is in a “cat and mouse” game with hackers.

“People will try to break in, and it’s our job to stop them breaking in,” he said.

David Pogue, our technology reviewer, received a cautionary message Wednesday night from a person familiar with Apple’s plans after he posted a video showing some unofficial, but entertaining, applications that can be installed on the iPhone. Take those applications off your phones now, David was warned, or a software update scheduled for Thursday afternoon could turn your phone into a brick.

[David takes a closer look at the iPhone update here.]

On Monday, Apple had issued a press release warning of “irreparable damage” to iPhones that have been modified or unlocked from the AT&T network. It also threatened users that “the permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone’s warranty.”

This caused a scurry by hackers to develop software that will relock iPhones before software updates. It’s like kids at the slumber party turning out the lights and jumping under the covers each time mom thumps up the stairs.

Apple may well be justified using tough tactics against people who modify their phones so they no longer use the AT&T network. Apple stands to receive several hundred dollars for each phone over the course of two years from AT&T’s service fees.

Some people—actually a lot of people—don’t much like AT&T. Or they don’t want to pay AT&T’s roaming fees overseas and would rather use a local cellular company. And these people will always be looking for ways to defeat Apple’s locking system. The simple way to defuse this fight, of course, would simply be for Apple to sell an unlocked iPhone for, say, $300 more than the locked version.

But this gets at Apple’s propensity for control. The phone is, in some ways, a better experience on AT&T because of its links to voice mail and so on. But does that mean if Apple’s way is better it should always prevent people from using its products in some less optimal way?

Since the iPhone is a very sleek, capable handheld computer, people are going to want to run programs on it. They are going to want to hack and see what they can build. It’s a law of nature. And Apple might as well be fighting gravity.

Many other cell phones are locked down, of course. But few other phones capture the imagination of programmers the way the iPhone does.

Apple did allow for some application development inside its Safari browser. But it is not supporting Java or Flash, the two environments that allow the most flexible applications. And there is no official way to write applications that run on the phone’s operating system. Apple has said that it is worried that some applications could cause trouble for the AT&T network. But it’s hard to imagine that there isn’t a way to wall off and limit network usage without preventing people from developing well-mannered programs.

Apple essentially has two choices. Either it exposes most of the iPhone’s capabilities to developers. Or it will have to gird for an ever escalating war in which it will have to send ever more electronic brick-bombs to its best customers who don’t follow its strict rules.
Click to expand...





More on Apple’s Latest Product, the iBrick
Posted on September 28, 2007 @ 3:13 pm by Saul Hansell, New York Times
Around the country iPhone owners continue to confront the effects of the software update Apple introduced yesterday. The lucky ones see a new icon for a wireless iTunes Music Store and a host of tweaks to the user interface. The unlucky ones own a shiny black piece of glass.

Many iPhone owners who unlocked their phones so they could use them with a wireless carrier other than AT&T, as well as those who simply installed application programs that were not authorized by apple, have found their phones unusable. (One maker of iPhone unlocking software, iPhone SimFree, says that the upgrade doesn’t fully disable iPhones that have used its product. But they can no longer be used on networks other than that of AT&T.)

There have even been reports that some phones have been disabled that had no unauthorized software on them.

It is not clear what can be done for those with what have been called iBricks. Apple has said its warranty does not cover phones that have been modified. Still, The Unofficial Apple Weblog, reports that some iPhone users have found that the “geniuses”—customer service representatives at Apple stores—have fixed some people’s blocked iPhones. But some people commenting on that blog report that other Apple stores refused to help iPhone owners with frozen phones, even though they had not made any modifications.

Engadget summarizes the state of things so far for iPhone owners. Simply put there is a choice: Do things Apple’s way, not installing rouge software, and upgrading to get the latest features. Or, don’t upgrade your phone and use whatever hacks have been created so far. The iPhone hackers are trying diligently to create programs to unlock the upgraded phones and install new software, but they have yet to report any success.
Click to expand...
 
This is going to be so much like the PSP it isn't even funny. Quite a shame, too, as AT&T totally blows; and I was seriously considering splurging to replace my dying SCH-A310 with an iPhone when I found out that the iPhone had been unlocked.
 
Apple = Epic Fail. And this just re affirms why I hate Apple's business practices. I like their products, honest, but this kind of crap just lets me know why I like windows and such.

Of course, they are going to lose, horribly in the long run.
 
Azuremen
Apple = Epic Fail.
Click to expand...
Huh?

APPL20070928.jpg


In just the last month Apple's market capital has risen by $25 billion dollars... hardly a sign of any immanent epic failure. :)

In fact, in just three years, Apple has seen it's market capital rise from just over $10 billion dollars to over $130 billion dollars.... and on the way has made many investors extremely wealthy, with one private investor making over a billion dollars on just his Apple stock. However, even a small $10,000 investment in Apple three or four years ago would be worth $100,000-$150,000 today.

Of course, with Apple's skyrocketing stock value and strong sales revenue, they are financially very secure... so again, I certainly don't expect to see any epic failure any time soon, at least one that would significantly put the company at risk.


Of course, they are going to lose, horribly in the long run.
Click to expand...
Why and when?
 

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