Hello iPhone!
Yesterday was the Macworld Expo keynote address, the annual event where Steve Jobs presents Apple’s newest products. Unlike previous keynotes, Jobs didn’t talk about the Mac, and he didn’t even talk about software. He merely presented two products: the Apple TV and the iPhone.
By talking about only two products, Apple has given Mac users only two products to talk about. Nothing that is shipping today, no new specs for Macs, no new software, nothing even to demo in the hall. In addition, for the first time in donkeys’ years, there was no "one more thing", Steve Jobs’ catch-phrase for the most important item on the agenda, which is usually presented last.
No, this time there were two products, in a two-hour presentation (usually, the keynote last 90 minutes), and the Apple TV only got about 15 minutes, leaving more than an hour and a half to show off the iPhone. Jobs went into great detail when discussing the iPhone, more than what he usually does when presenting hardware. But, then again, with that being the main focus of the keynote, he could.There was a lot he didn’t say about the iPhone. It has no replaceable battery, no memory card slot (so you can’t put more than a few movies on it, unless you have no music), and third-party developers will not be able to write software for it (for now). In addition, it looks as though it is not possible to download files directly onto the iPhone and listen to them immediately. This means that users will not be able to access iTunes from the iPhone, nor will they be able to purchase content from online vendors such as Audible.com. The iPhone is expensive, and the prices quoted, $499 for the 4 GB model and $599 8 GB model don’t include the cost of an obligatory two-year contract with Cingular.
The iPhone will be popular with people who already use smartphones, and its revolutionary interface will certainly attract new users. However, it is unlikely that iPod users will buy the iPhone just for its new iPod features. Apple will undoubtedly be releasing new iPod models later this year in the same form factor using this new interface. What Steve Jobs presented yesterday was a glimpse into the future of the iPod, but also, perhaps, the future of portable computing devices. By releasing a portable device which uses an embedded version of Mac OS X, Apple has indeed taken its first steps toward the future of computing.
Apple is hoping to sell 10 million iPhones by 2008, which may be a tad optimistic when you consider the cost of the device and the feature set which, while powerful and interesting to many users, isn’t what everyone is looking for. But this device certainly does merit the adjective "revolutionary".
Yes, I agree the iPhone is revolutionary; it ushers in the era of touch-screen computing for the masses. Even though its cost is high and the Cingular bundle requirement will be very pricey (note that the monthly commitment will require a heavy-duty data service as well as the cell phone service, likely ~$100/month), the use of Mac OS X for a touch screen device is the key. When looked at in the context of Jeff Han’s touch screen research the possibility of sculptural 3D modeling, an Aperture like light board photo organizer, and the scalable virtual keyboard, it feels like computing will be transformed on an even higher order of magnitude than occurred with the shift from command-line to mouse, pointer, and GUI.
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Digital Storyteller