The iPhone isn't a full smartphone yet

TreoCentral has an interesting conversation about the iPhone (or whatever it ends up being called) that leads to the following conclusion:
Michael Ducker: You getting an iPhone?
Dieter Bohn: Obviously. You?
Michael Ducker: Obviously. Keeping your Treo, though?
Dieter Bohn: Looks that way, yep. I'm no businessman, but I need productivity on the go.
The iPhone isn't going to address the main bugbears of power users - quick data entry, ability to read/edit Office documents, replaceable battery for battery life. Thus far, it looks like a phone maybe for the work culture of Silicon Valley. And that, I suppose, is the crux of the matter at the moment. Steve Jobs may have compared the iPhone to the Blackberry Pearl and the Palm Treo at his keynote speech, but it really seems to be creating its own category of new high-end phones - it's a high-end phone for those who want the high end in mobile multimedia and web browsing, which isn't quite the same as a high-end phone for power warriors. More like it takes what SonyEricsson's been doing with the Walkmen phones and brings it to another level altogether. (Although I presume someone might make a keyboard that connects to the iPod dock connector.)

And there's no implied criticism in that. Apple's been great at creating new high ends (the iPod blew away what we knew about MP3 players), and new categories to market to that you didn't know existed, and frankly the design leaves one cooing. And if I can send SMSs at any decent speed on that touchscreen keyboard I'll take one, please.

Incidentally, I hope it's got a flight mode! One of the annoyances of convergence is that my primary MP3 player these days is my K750i phone, which means no inflight music.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Ring ring, why dont you give me a call?
Ring ring, the happiest sound of them all ...
11 January 2007 at 20:55
T said…
Emirates will allow you to use your mobile phone onboard this year. Although this same factor could make people decide NOT to fly Emirates.
14 January 2007 at 12:29
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