Apple iPhone

The long wait for the Apple iPhone officially ended today at MacWorld when Steve Jobs announced details of the new Apple iPhone. And yes, you did read that correctly. Despite Linksys recently launching the WIP320 under the iPhone name, Apple are calling their smartphone the iPhone. A products of years of development in the Apple labs, the iPhone will combine the functionality of the iPod, mobile phone and internet communicator in one device.

First of all, what does it look like? In my opinion this is the single most stunning mobile on the market today. It has all the hallmarks of Apple’s market leading industrial design. This might be a smartphone, but there isn’t a single button in sight except the single ‘Home’ button because it handles everything via it’s touch sensitive screen. Unlike other touch sensitive devices such as the Nintendo DS you don’t even need a stylus, everything is handled via multifinger touch. This is what makes the iPhone look so clean and easy to use.

At 160ppi, the iPhone display is the highest resolution 3.5 inch screen Apple has ever shipped according to Jobs.
So what OS does it run? OS X! Apple have engineered a version of Mac OS X specifically for the iPhone with everything included that you will need from Core Animation to Coca. Reports from MacWorld are that Apple refuse to comment on whether developers will be able to create their own applications to run on the iPhone. Included with the current iteration of the iPhone are 11 applications including Google Maps, free Yahoo! push IMAP email, widgets, email and a version of Safari that allows you to browse in portrait and landscape.

It may not be 3G right now, butt Jobs was quoted as saying they have plans for going 3G. In the meantime we’ll just have to put up with WiFi, Bluetooth and EDGE. To be honest, this is more than I would need because I already have a high speed wireless broadband network at work, at home and at various hotspots in my area. If When I do get my hands on one, I would be definitely using it for email and possibly browsing.

Priced at $499 and $599 for the 4GB and 5GB model respectively with a 2 year contract exclusive to Cingular, the iPhone won’t come cheap. That’s music to the ears of analysts who would not like to see the iPhone become a commodity quickly. When the iPhone does go on sale in the US this June, followed by Europe in Q4 this year and Asia in 2008 there will inevitably be a degree of iPod marketshare cannibalization. Apple are making sure they are leaving a big enough gap in terms of pricing and features between the low-end 4GB iPhone and the high-end 80GB iPod, so this cannibalization should be far from financially crippling.

So all in all, I personally think that the iPhone will change the market. It will not dominate the market as the iPod has done, but it will take a slice. As prices fall we can expect to see more and more people start using them because they will be able to ditch their iPod and mobile for a single device. I really would not like to be Blackberry right now, or Treo, Palm. Nor would I particularly enjoy being Nokia who just released their new Nokia N800 Series smartphone only hours before Apple came into the market.