Apple Phone.

[stomachmonkey]

Actually the iPod was late to market. They saw an existing market, applied their Human Interface Doctrine to it, determined what was needed to create a killer device and executed it to the letter. Jobs does not allow the engineers to give up when faced with the "impossible". He does not settle and pushes till they figure it out. Inovation is not about compromise.

The timing on the phone could not be better. The US lags the rest of the global market when it comes to the cellular space and emerging technologies. Asia 1st, Europe right behind them and then sooner or later the US.

A year ago a phone like this had no place in the US market, lack of hi speed infrastucture being the biggest barrier to entry.

Cingular is a natural choice since they are aggresively rolling out a real national 3g network.

In terms of the iTunes DRM I am continually baffled as to why people blame Apple for the restrictions. Apples DRM was the only way to get the paranoid record labels to buy into the iTunes Store concept. You can't sell the stuff if you have no rights and you don't get rights unless you protect the labels IP.

I'd guess that most of us here have some sort of cable service that comes with a set top box. If you try to grab the HD stream from anything other than public beroadcast you're out of luck. The signal is encypted to prevent copying. Blaming Apple is like blaming the cable operator who is relaying the signal and not the network that is actually sending the signal.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by islandmanpa
visit apple.com and learn!

I did that earlier today. I was being serious.

The voice-mail being "selectable" like e-mail was neat.

[Porsche]

It's quite cool - runs OS X so theoretically desktop Mac apps and definitely widgets can run on it. Functions as an iPod and PDA, with phone. The downside is that there is no stylus and no card slot, so you touch type with fingers on the screen and you can't go above 8 Gb memory (which is a lot btw). It won't get to us in Australia until 2008 apparently, but I would love to get one (being a Mac user). It's targetted I think at iPod and Mac users in general.

[Gene Wilkes]

I wasn't being smart in my answer. I'm not a technological guru and surely limited in my knowledge of phones and their capabilities, but what I do know is this phone actually excites me to the point of wanting one, and that is "RARE"!

[turbo6bar]

It does look wicked nice, but the pricepoint is a big turnoff for me. It sounds like Apple is going to make beacoup bucks on this one.

[Gene Wilkes]

Their stock jumped 7 points after the introduction of the Iphone! I hope this wakes up the rest of the phone producers!

[msk1986911]

The phone does look nice, although I'm more interested in the iTV that Apple will be releasing in he next few months...looks pretty cool as a way to view TV shows and movies purchased on iTunes.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally posted by Porsche
It's quite cool - runs OS X so theoretically desktop Mac apps and definitely widgets can run on it. Functions as an iPod and PDA, with phone. The downside is that there is no stylus and no card slot, so you touch type with fingers on the screen and you can't go above 8 Gb memory (which is a lot btw). It won't get to us in Australia until 2008 apparently, but I would love to get one (being a Mac user). It's targetted I think at iPod and Mac users in general.

Actually it looks like there may be a card slot. Or it could be volume buttons. Can't really tell if that's a recess or not.

[red-beard]

Originally posted by Aurel
If you can run Skype on this, you would have a free videophone anywhere there is a wireless network to hook to. Sounds cool. I`ll have to study this puppy...

Aurel

My Lifedrive runs Vonage...Anywhere I can access a wireless network, I can make and recieve calls. I do believe it will run Skype.

VOYP - Voice over your Palm

http://www.palmvoip.ca/

So, someone tell me what this thing can do that my Lifedrive doesn't already do.

[nostatic]

the downside is it apparently is not a 3G phone. v2 likely will be.

Len, the difference will be in usability and elegance. I'm running PocketPC on one of my phones and while it does a lot, it is klunky. It also does not really multitask, and does not have a multitouch screen.

[red-beard]

Oh, and the Lifedrive has been out for Almost 2 years. (4GB Storage and 4 GB more with a removable SD card). And Yep, I play Movies, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, MP3, E-mail (Including Push).

Yep, Apple is still playing Catch-up. Great marketing though.

You might find better, but you'll never pay more!

[nostatic]

Originally posted by red-beard
My Lifedrive runs Vonage...Anywhere I can access a wireless network, I can make and recieve calls. I do believe it will run Skype.

VOYP - Voice over your Palm

http://www.palmvoip.ca/

So, someone tell me what this thing can do that my Lifedrive doesn't already do.

not suck?

Palm is dead as an OS. In 3 years the iPhone will be at v3 or v4, and will be seriously killer. Palm might still be in business, and if it is, might actually have real multitasking by then. But that would require them to actually have software developers on staff

[swa911]

I totally don't know what that is..........but I want it.

[Gene Wilkes]

I want her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nostatic]

Lifedrive does email without 802.11? And PalmOS is not OS X. Not even in the same galaxy.

The other thing is the UI on this device. The contextual multitouch display should be pretty amazing. You only have a keyboard when you need a keyboard. This looks to be a ridiculously amazing device.

[red-beard]

Apple Phone (This device has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.)

Technical Specifications
Screen size 3.5 inches
Screen resolution 320 by 480 at 160 ppi
Input method Multi-touch
Operating system OS X
Storage 4GB or 8GB
GSM Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
Wireless data Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
Camera 2.0 megapixels
Battery Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing Up to 16 hours Audio playback
Dimensions 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
Weight 4.8 ounces / 135 grams

LifeDrive - Released 2005

320x480 Transflective TFT color touchscreen
Palm OS® 5.4 (Garnet)
4.76h x 2.87w x 0.74t in.
4GB hard drive (3.85GB accessible to user)
6.8 oz. / 190 grams
Bluetooth® 1.1 wireless
Wi-Fi® 802.11b wireless
Expansion Card Slot (SD/SDIO up to 4GB)
Infrared Port
Internal Speaker
Mic

Comes with:
Addit!
Blazer® 4.1 Web Browser
Calculator
Calendar
Camera Companion
Contacts
DataViz® Documents To Go® Office Suite (Excel, Powerpoint, Word and PDF)
Expense
Media (Movies/Pictures)
Memos
NotePad
Phone Dialer
Pocket Tunes (MP3 PLayer)
Security
SMS Messaging
Solitaire
VersaMail® 3.1 Email Client
Voice Memo
World Clock

[red-beard]

Hardware vs. Vaporware

[nostatic]

red, apple ships what they say they will. No way you can call this vaporware. This isn't microsoft...

when was the last serious update of the Palm OS? And how do you check your email when you're away from an 802.11 signal?

Come on man...it is a cool device. Don't hate

[stomachmonkey]

I hardly consider an official announcement from Apple vaporware. That's a bit of a stretch given their track record in delivering what they say they will.

[msk1986911]

If the #2 cell phone manufacturer announced a product release by any near-term date, I would then be skeptical, not so with Apple.