[quote]pookie wrote:
Freaky Styley wrote:
I take it you’re referring to the product that brought Apple back into the mainstream consciousness and started the company on the road to recovery in the late 90’s? I don’t think Apple would have a problem with a product that merely increases mindshare while exceeding sales expectations. They don’t need outright dominance of the market.
Exactly. I just find it both funny and annoying that every time Apple announces something new, all the fanboy predict they will repeat the success of the iPod. I’m sure they will sell plenty of iPhones; I’m just not convinced that it’ll be as ubiquitous as fanboys predict.
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Unlike other Apple fans, I can see things rationally on occasion I don’t think the iPhone has a prayer of enjoying iPod-like success…at least initially. The price point is far too high in the mind of the average person looking to buy a phone. Apple will, however, sell them about as fast as they can produce them considering their goal is only 12 million in 2008. And when prices drop, as they did on the iPod, it should go up from there.
[quote]pookie wrote:
Freaky Styley wrote:
I take it you’re referring to the product that brought Apple back into the mainstream consciousness and started the company on the road to recovery in the late 90’s? I don’t think Apple would have a problem with a product that merely increases mindshare while exceeding sales expectations. They don’t need outright dominance of the market.
Exactly. I just find it both funny and annoying that every time Apple announces something new, all the fanboy predict they will repeat the success of the iPod. I’m sure they will sell plenty of iPhones; I’m just not convinced that it’ll be as ubiquitous as fanboys predict.
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Just like Apple’s Mac lines aren’t ubiquitous, the iPhone won’t be either; however, if it (like the Mac) can trickle down to the rest of the industry, that’ll be a good thing.
I hope it spurs more innovation. That’s half the reason I like Apple. You better believe that the iPhone intro lit a fire under the engineers at Palm and others…
But…it is possible that the iPhone will eventually make its stake in the cell industry, as prices come down and more models/refinements get rolled out.
Let’s just come back to this thread in 2 years or so and see where everything stands.
I dont know that I agree with that statement. Apple controls a 90% share of the hard drive player market. Its saturated with iPods.The iPod, without something revolutionary, has peaked.
But the cell phone market is a whole nother story. at 1B, yes B, phones sold worldwide every year it doesn’t take much of a market share to see huge sales number for Apple. they also have the right market theyre catering too. anyone that has an iPod and likes it, will want this phone.
The initial price is for the “impulse” buyers as with the debut with anything. (ever heard of someone paying 100k over sticker price for the first Ford GT, similiar situation.) 12 million phones a year compared to a TOTAL sales of a modest 67M iPods means big numbers for Apple. and we haven’t even made it to the iTv. anyone got a Cramer style BOOYAH for Apple. it was on his best stocks of '07 BTW.
I’d like to see a version without a goddamned camera. Some of us work in locations where we aren’t allowed to take cameras, and there aren’t many good cellphone options for us.
[quote]dhuge67 wrote:
Just like Apple’s Mac lines aren’t ubiquitous, the iPhone won’t be either; however, if it (like the Mac) can trickle down to the rest of the industry, that’ll be a good thing.
I hope it spurs more innovation. That’s half the reason I like Apple. You better believe that the iPhone intro lit a fire under the engineers at Palm and others…
But…it is possible that the iPhone will eventually make its stake in the cell industry, as prices come down and more models/refinements get rolled out.
Let’s just come back to this thread in 2 years or so and see where everything stands.
Interesting times ahead!
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See? That’ post is a lot more reasonable than the one that started “The iPhone is the most revolutionary device of our lifetime…”
I don’t know about you, but I intend to stick around for quite few decades more. If the iPhone is the technological high point of my life, things are looking bleak.
[quote]nephorm wrote:
I’d like to see a version without a goddamned camera. Some of us work in locations where we aren’t allowed to take cameras, and there aren’t many good cellphone options for us.[/quote]
Get a Blackberry Pearl it has a camera but your company can disable the feature
[quote]nephorm wrote:
I’d like to see a version without a goddamned camera. Some of us work in locations where we aren’t allowed to take cameras, and there aren’t many good cellphone options for us.[/quote]
Doesn’t taking a picture of yourself break the camera?
[quote]superpimp wrote:
nephorm wrote:
I’d like to see a version without a goddamned camera. Some of us work in locations where we aren’t allowed to take cameras, and there aren’t many good cellphone options for us.
Get a Blackberry Pearl it has a camera but your company can disable the feature
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Doesn’t count. I had a phone I physically removed the camera from, and I was told that was not sufficient. The phone can have no apertures or openings of any kind that could hold/could’ve held a camera.
I don’t know about you, but I intend to stick around for quite few decades more. If the iPhone is the technological high point of my life, things are looking bleak.
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Agree 1000%. I am amazed how people get wrapped up in useless gadgetry.
decent margin but its a new product. compare that to Microsofts 89% OPERATING margin and apples looks like childsplay. or hell even compare it to any pop bottling companies. pennies on the dollar
iPhone will probably do very well. Cell Phones are one of the most notoriously worthless pieces of tech in the world. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t gripe about their phone(except, of course, when they are trying to wave their techno-cock around on an online forum).
In real life, however, people hate their phones, people hate how cheaply they are made, how many ridiculous features they have, or how hard they are to use, or the call quality, or what features they’re missing…etc.
In the States, cell phones are made cheaper than happy meals. The bread and butter of the industry is in accessories and contracts. You get a ‘free’ phone at first, but then it breaks and you have to buy a new one.
If Apple had their way, the phone would cost more, but it would be worth more. The technology in it would actually work, it would not break easily, it would feel sturdy and operate easily…etc.
In short. It’s not about the features. It’s about how well the piece of technology functions in the real world.
Many of my friends still swear by the old monochrome nokia bricks from ~2000. Why? they have shit for features, but they were damn well made; durable, easy to use…etc.
I don’t think iPhone will revolutionize the industry or define the market like the iPod did with music players. But, if it is a well built phone, with solid functionality, it will do well.
I don’t think the iPhone has a prayer of enjoying iPod-like success…at least initially. The price point is far too high in the mind of the average person looking to buy a phone. Apple will, however, sell them about as fast as they can produce them considering their goal is only 12 million in 2008. And when prices drop, as they did on the iPod, it should go up from there.