The Apple iPhone - Why I Think it's the Real Deal

Rumors have been circulating for months (years?) that Apple will be announcing an 'iPhone' in the near future (perhaps as soon as next Monday, January 8). I believe that the time is ripe for an announcement for the following reasons:

1. Steve Jobs himself hinted last summer that some sort of phone was under development.

2. Rumors have circulated for some time of a number of iPhone prototypes that have been commissioned; one potential design appears below:



3. Apple is in a perfect position to capitalize on the convergence of entertainment devices and mobile phones, and the integration of the iPod, which already has many PDA-like features (including a calendar and contact list), with a phone is a natural. I believe that very few companies other than Apple could successfully pull this off, but Apple's history of stellar design (hardware, software and user interface), coupled with the tremendous brand pull-through of the iPod line, could very well create another smash hit.

4. Apple has already dabbled in this market with 2005's partnership with Motorola that produced the ROKR, which was the first mobile phone that could play music from iTunes. An iPod it was not, but clearly Apple was testing the waters to see if that sort of device would "play" (pun intended) in the market. While the ROKR was basically a failure, I don't blame Motorola--Apple intentionally handicapped the ROKR's music storage ability so that it would not compete with the iPod line.

I do have some tripidation about the design of the iPhone, however. Hopefully Apple thought of the following:

1. Global coverage: the iPhone should be a quad-band GSM "world phone", which will provide a global market. There are rumors that Apple may enter into an agreement to resell another carrier's service (much like Virgin Mobile, which resells Sprint)--I think this would be a serious mistake on Apple's part. They should focus on making the best darn phone they can--and let the mobile carriers do what they do best--running wireless networks and selling handsets.

2. Audio: of course, the phone needs to have audio playback capabilities. Since the device will be in constant motion, a flash device (similar to the iPod Nano) would be a necessity. Capacity should be at least 4GB, and 8-10GB would be even better.

3. Video: a screen that's at least able to display some video (vis a vis the iPod Video) would be desirable. While the device would not have a lot of memory to store video, this would leave the door open for streaming video--particularly with 2.5G and 3G data network adoption finally on the uptake.

4. PDA: the ability to store calendar and address book entries is a necessity. Since the iPods already do this via iTunes, this shouldn't be a problem. One more PDA function that the iPods lack is "memo pad" capability--the ability to store free-form notes, and ideally sync them with email programs like Outlook, would be a really good feature.

5. Connectivity: Bluetooth is a must, both for wireless headset support as well as the ability to use Bluetooth for synchronization with iTunes. Ideally, the iPhone would support the latest Bluetooth profiles, which include support for the latest generation of combined stereo headphones and headsets like the Jabra BT620S .

6. Size and weight: based on the success of the Motorola RAZR, smaller is definitely better--and so is thinner. An iPhone should have a similar size and weight to a PDA phone, such as the Blackberry Pearl.

7. Battery life: this is of the essence. Obviously, iPhone buyers will want long talk time coupled with long listening time...and the phone should have some sort of mechanism that would prevent audio/video playback from completely draining the phone to the point where it is unusable.

8. Price: this is crucial. If Apple can price the iPhone such that the total price, with a 2 year contract, comes in around the $300 mark, then they will capture the attention of people that are considering the purchase of an iPod (and have budgeted the money).


We'll see how close predictions/advice come to reality when Apple (hopefully) announces the iPhone next week! If Apple can pull this off, the iPhone (or whatever they call it) could wind up being the hottest mobility gadget since the cell phone first hit the market!