The Great iPhone Disappointment

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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