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Jan 10, 2007 at 03:20 PM |
Apple entered the mobile phone market yesterday with its poorly kept secret, the iPhone. Though not out till mid-year in the good old U.S of A and a highly disappointing wait that could be up to a year in Europe, we will probably know what is actually inside the phone many months before we can actually buy it!
Indeed, speculation has already started as to what chips Apple is using and whether the phone will follow the success of the iPod. It looks good, that's for sure, and in Europe, form over function in phones is a big issue.
A topic yet to be covered is whether Apple can expand the range, an expansion which will be required to gain market share to determine whether lower priced phones emerge. Though Apple has proved itself with new iterations of the iPod on a timely basis, the mobile phone market will take a lot more engineering resources, and the competition with Nokia is something Apple has yet to face.
Is it better than everything else?
On paper, the answer has to be no. It has some excellent new features that are lacking in the current top-of-the-range phones from Nokia and SonyEricsson, but it's not yet 3G!
It is not small either, but that may mean a 3G version may not bulk-up compared to current form factors from rivals.
Will it sell?
Being priced at the high end of the market - roughly €400 - the market isn't actually very large. According to a communications financial analyst friend of mine, the sweet spot of volume sales is happening in the €150-200 price range. But saying that, he feels that Apple will be a tough competitor in the high-end market. Praise indeed from an ex-Nokia man!
Having been in the market for a new phone for a couple of months, I have been very disappointed with what is on offer. The SonyEricsson 950i has finally arrived and is just plain boring to look at. It's the first proper upgrade to the benchmark 750i that came out in Europe in May 2005! Not for me, and that means shopping for a different make, which I don't really want to do, as the SonyEricsson OS is good to use. Or is it just that I have become good at using it?
I do expect Nokia and SonyEricsson and, of course, Motorola to bring out phones that take away some of the edge from Apple later in the year, but ease of use with multiple functionality is a must-have requirement. The iPhone's OS, coupled with the automated and touchscreen apps, indicates to me that Apple knows that while phones have become technological Swiss army knifes, they can be a pain to use. Apple is targeting the others where it could hurt most: user friendliness.
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