It has been a few months now since the release of the iPhone. Enough time has passed now that an objective review might finally be possible. Here we review the biggest hot and not features of the device. Then we focus on some of the challenges that lay ahead.
Wifi immediately stands out among the feature set as a differentiating “wow” in a phone. Can you name any other phone that has a legitimate internet connection and a real browser? Probably not. There are a few, but none rival the iPhone’s user experience.
One thing that is quite striking is that it could have been so much more revolutionary. One only needs to take a cursory glance at the unlocked iPhone marketplace to see that something was indeed missing. What is the missing piece? It’s a software development kit or SDK in industry lingo.
Failing to provide access to the development community has cost Apple the opportunity at a much higher adoption rates. The logic at play is derived from a misguided desire for fatter profit margins at the expense of a market share. This strategy is short sited and fails to recognize the substantial advantage of grabbing an early lead in market share of the fledgling convergent devices market.
That may soon be the least of Apple’s worries. There have been a spate of class action lawsuits springing up recently. Most of which target the company for failing to offer an unlocked version. Apple has also run into some problems with regulations in France. The problem is similar. Apple’s business model calls for a locked down device. This is in direct conflict with French law which a) requires the service provider to unlock a phone when a customer asks and b) requires an unlocked version of the phone to be available for purchase. All of this may force Apple to break its exclusive 5 year contract with AT&T.
You’d think Apple would have learned their lesson regarding market share by now. The iPhone may still prove to be a great success, sadly it seems unlikely to be as revolutionary as the iPod or as widely adapted. If they don’t get their act together soon they may find themselves in some tough competition from the likes of Google.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 hoshofburden // Oct 12, 2007 at 9:48 am
Although though current French law ‘encourages’ companies to de-block phones when customers ask, most currently do not. If I want to change mobile services, I have to go to a dodgy shop & get them to do it for 10 euros. This is done all the time.
I am currently considering buying an IPhone when I’m in Florida in November, but I know only one company offers service in France- “Orange”, the mobile section of France Telecom. I just met two guys who can hack it for me, thus allowing me to use my current mobile service.
2 JP // Oct 12, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Here’s another good preview of the google endevour into mobile devices: http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=1536
3 Shillagan // Oct 12, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I agree with the lack of market share for the i-phone its not so revolutionary that it will make me change my good plan to a shitty atnt plan. The development tools are also a good point, even the console videogame market has expanded to this idea of user generated content that the cpu world has been doing for over a decade.
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