Speaking Engagements & Private Workshops - Get Dean Bubley to present or chair your event

Need an experienced, provocative & influential telecoms keynote speaker, moderator/chair or workshop facilitator?
To see recent presentations, and discuss Dean Bubley's appearance at a specific event, click here

Friday, June 29, 2007

Oh, OK, my pre-iPhone opinion too....

Seeing as every other mobile analyst & blogger has been pontificating about the iPhone, I might as well add my opinion as well.

1) Yes, it's very cool
2) Apple seems to have done a great job getting AT&T to agree to its own private activation & application strategy
3) Apple fans will love obviously it
4) Fashionistas will love it for about 3.5 weeks and then move onto the next shiny thing
5) Nearly everyone who buys one will probably use a second device, probably a "boringphone"
6) The US mobile market may be galvanised by Apple's "game-changing" approach
7) SMS will be a pain with the touchscreen
8) Success in Europe & Asia is dependent on iPhone v2 and v3
9) If it launches in current form in Europe, it stacks up badly feature-for-feature against its high-end peers (camera, no 3G or GPS etc)
10) Distribution in Europe is still up for grabs. Voda might make sense, given it's professed desire for better PC/mobile integration - the iPhone looks classleading in that respect
11) It damn expensive, especially on a 2-year (!) contract
12) Enterprise users - only if bought for personal use & then used for work. Forget about corporate email support and especially VoWLAN / FMC for at least 12 months
13) OK OK OK I was wrong when I guess that Apple wouldn't put music in it. I'd thought they'd want to sell you a phone AND an musicplayer, but they've succumbed to the convergence hype.... (wrong move Steve - the future's about lots of devices & multiplicity)


Bottom line: I'd say it'll be a winner in the US, do OK in Europe - but that I'm waiting for Apple's 2nd move to see if it's actually got a real strategy rather than just a pretty product.

And me? I wouldn't swap my main, personal, SonyEricsson K800i for an iPhone as I like the 3MP camera with a flash, and the ultra-quick UI. But I would use it as my 2nd/3rd/phone if it offered a better email/Internet experience (and maybe 'content' although personally I think video isn't of use to me)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

re item 10, distribution in Europe... apparently discussions with Vodafone already in progress if you believe the rumors...

http://www.smh.com.au/news/phones--pdas/vodafone-iphone-deal-hinges-partly-on-subsidies/2007/06/28/1182624036459.html?s_cid=rss_technology

Anonymous said...

Hi,
what I am considering now is the huge momentum Apple and Stevie has created over something that is half-way innovative (as far as EU is concerned, as you rightly pointed out).. quite generally Cupertino has been pretty cool in stirring the market up, setting new directions and having the entire gaslaxy screaming "kudos!!!".. but THAT is not revolutionising the industry.. or video will make it, since iPod has delivered poorly on the video thing and the investment Stevie did recently have to fit somewhere above and beyond is (already hefty I suppose) wallet??

PS Do you remember the ol' days in DM?? CIAO!