Ed Colligan Laughs At Apple Phone

[bigwalton]

size:
Someone mentioned this after seeing it in person and I had to pull out a ruler to convince myself, but the front view size of this thing is barely over the size of my 650 WITHOUT the antenna (tech specs on Apple's site). The photo on Apple's site appeared larger than actual size on my screen. Until I noticed that, i was thinking it was going to be too large.

two key issues
Everything will rest on two issues in my mind as to how much this will or won't kill Palm (supposing they don't quickly come out with new models): the utility of the touch-screen keyboard (I love my 650's keys) and how quickly they get developers to build out apps (Office documents especially for the business user).

storage space
The other thing that I've not seen mentioned is that this isn't a video iPod replacement necessarily, it's more like a video iPod shuffle. People keep commenting on the storage space being that of a nano, and it is, but that's why it syncs with your computer and iTunes already has the function to auto-fill a certain amount of space at random.

Like with a shuffle and music... you can't have all of your music on it at once, but you can put enough on it for a good long while before your next sync puts something else on there automatically or you put things on there manually. Same with the iPhone exept it's video and music now.

Apple has a HUGE iTunes/iPod customer base out there with stuff on their computer that they can swap out on the iphone all they want. They don't have to have it ALL on there, these folks are already used to syncing and it's not daunting for them to think about moving music and videos back and forth.... also, since it's a phone, you'll be interacting with it more often and will have it handy. I leave my iPod in my Jeep for weeks at a time, I'd be more apt to update an iphone a lot more often.

two-finger actions
We all should have seen this coming... anyone with a Mac laptop with the two-finger scrolling function tried using another laptop? I HATE having to deal without this.

I will be in the store the first day they have these to play and play. Thank you SunCom for sucking so bad that I switched to Cingular for my 650!!!!

coolest thing
I can't wait to see what happens to this market now that all of the other companies will have to try to keep up. BRING ON THE COOL GADETS!!!

 

[IIJBII]

size:

two key issues
Everything will rest on two issues in my mind as to how much this will or won't kill Palm (supposing they don't quickly come out with new models): the utility of the touch-screen keyboard (I love my 650's keys) and how quickly they get developers to build out apps (Office documents especially for the business user).

It seems we all keep forgetting this isn't geared towards "business" users initially. I think eventually it will grow to that, but the initial launch isn't targeted for that market. I think it's for consumers who like or wanted a Treo or BB but didn't make the jump yet.

 

[bigwalton]

It seems we all keep forgetting this isn't geared towards "business" users initially. I think eventually it will grow to that, but the initial launch isn't targeted for that market. I think it's for consumers who like or wanted a Treo or BB but didn't make the jump yet.

I know that, but it's so close in all other respects, why wouldn't you go after that too as a big secondary market?

IMHO, the fact that it will have Wifi makes it almost STUPID not to go after business users with the lack of that particular feature on most phones, Palms and BBs. I'm around wifi almost all day except in the car. Wifi speed all day long makes me smile and remember about the only cool part about my old Tungsten C other than the keyboard.

With the iphone running some flavor of OSX, I'm assuming that VPNs and corporate mail access won't be a big problem... so what else is there that would stop it from being perfect for a business user? My biggest personal need would be Office apps (I'm assuming PDFs wouldn't be an issue either with OSX as an OS)

 

[IIJBII]

I know that, but it's so close in all other respects, why wouldn't you go after that too as a big secondary market?

IMHO, the fact that it will have Wifi makes it almost STUPID not to go after business users with the lack of that particular feature on most phones, Palms and BBs. I'm around wifi almost all day except in the car. Wifi speed all day long makes me smile and remember about the only cool part about my old Tungsten C other than the keyboard.

With the iphone running some flavor of OSX, I'm assuming that VPNs and corporate mail access won't be a big problem... so what else is there that would stop it from being perfect for a business user? My biggest personal need would be Office apps (I'm assuming PDFs wouldn't be an issue either with OSX as an OS)

I agree that in the future they should make a model geared at business users... if they want to go into that market with this device. My opinion of this current device is that some folks are compairing it to devices that arent geared for the same use. Clearly its not an Enterprise geared device. Corp america won't be trading in their Treos and BB to make a massive move to the iPhone. This isn't what Apple built the device around.... Therefore; compairing it to a Treo or a BB is difficult (again my opnion). It's like trying to make the Pink Razr fit a business need/requirement....You can try, but its going to be difficult to do. This is because thats not the market it has been designed for. I feel we need to keep this in mind when compairing devices. Otherwise I think expectations and preceptions can be skewed.

Again this is totally my opnion on this, I may be WAY off-Base all together. I'm not trying to offend anyone either, I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents to the iPhone.

 

[Trevante]

I know that, but it's so close in all other respects, why wouldn't you go after that too as a big secondary market?

IMHO, the fact that it will have Wifi makes it almost STUPID not to go after business users with the lack of that particular feature on most phones, Palms and BBs. I'm around wifi almost all day except in the car. Wifi speed all day long makes me smile and remember about the only cool part about my old Tungsten C other than the keyboard.

With the iphone running some flavor of OSX, I'm assuming that VPNs and corporate mail access won't be a big problem... so what else is there that would stop it from being perfect for a business user? My biggest personal need would be Office apps (I'm assuming PDFs wouldn't be an issue either with OSX as an OS)

Having wifi does not necesarily mean it's geared to or will appeal towards business users

For starters, how is a business user going to sync his iPhone with his corporate Exchange server? If everything we've read about third party apps not being available and Apple hasnt put in Exchange support themselves, then how will people access Exchange servers?

How is a business user going to have office productivity on the go?

Where's the high speed data connection? A real business user would rather go for a TyTn (8525) or a 750 because of the faster data speeds. EDGE, or UMTS/HSDPA....which would you rather have if you're trying to get things done quicker?

I'm quite sure the main reason they put wifi on it was because of the lack of 3G data, and because their targer market (the consumer market) may not want to pay Cingular's high data rates (I believe it's something like $40 a month for unlimited data)

Not to mention that most corporations wouldn't want to spend $500 or $600 on phones for their employees, when they could get more functional, more practical devices for less than that.

If they want business users to get interested in the iPhone, remove the 4GB/8GB of storage and put in an external memory slot (SD), put on a real keyboard, and proper Exchange support and Office productivity. It would probably be a good idea to also open up to third parties so people can use Goodlink and Blackberry Exchange if they need to.

 

[Pearl_Diva]

They could put out 2 versions, one for the consumer and another for business users?

 

[bigwalton]

First, a point of clarification: I take "business user" and "enterprise user" to be two very different things. I'm a business user and nothing at all to do with an enterprise user. I'm talking about people doing buisness "stuff" on it as a main use as opposed to a kid using it to call their buddies, IMiing and watching videos. I'm not talking corporations deploying them worldwide.

Did you see the original post that started that conversation?

I said that the exchange email access would have to be handled and Office apps needed to be added. I pointed out that since it's running at least some flavor of OSX that this should be able to be handled. I don't think I explicitly mentioned it, but my assumption was that this could be 3rd party, which would require Apple opening up the platform.


I mentioned Wifi only because it was a particular differentiator between it and other smartphones. Notice that everyone around here seems to be saying that "my Treo already does all that"? That's meant to be a negative comment about the features of the iphone, but it also means it has everything (capability-wise, not the keyboard, removable battery, SD slot, etc) that makes, say the 650 a good business phone.

So I do not think that this is a buisness phone by your definition and no, that's not the main target market at all. But if you use my definition of "business user" and not "enterprise user", don't you think it's pretty close?

 

[bigwalton]

They could put out 2 versions, one for the consumer and another for business users?

I could totally see this.

The MacBook and PowerBook are exactly that idea, right?

 

[bruckwine]

size:
Someone mentioned this after seeing it in person and I had to pull out a ruler to convince myself, but the front view size of this thing is barely over the size of my 650 WITHOUT the antenna (tech specs on Apple's site). The photo on Apple's site appeared larger than actual size on my screen. Until I noticed that, i was thinking it was going to be too large.

two key issues
Everything will rest on two issues in my mind as to how much this will or won't kill Palm (supposing they don't quickly come out with new models): the utility of the touch-screen keyboard (I love my 650's keys) and how quickly they get developers to build out apps (Office documents especially for the business user).

storage space
The other thing that I've not seen mentioned is that this isn't a video iPod replacement necessarily, it's more like a video iPod shuffle. People keep commenting on the storage space being that of a nano, and it is, but that's why it syncs with your computer and iTunes already has the function to auto-fill a certain amount of space at random.

Like with a shuffle and music... you can't have all of your music on it at once, but you can put enough on it for a good long while before your next sync puts something else on there automatically or you put things on there manually. Same with the iPhone exept it's video and music now.

Apple has a HUGE iTunes/iPod customer base out there with stuff on their computer that they can swap out on the iphone all they want. They don't have to have it ALL on there, these folks are already used to syncing and it's not daunting for them to think about moving music and videos back and forth.... also, since it's a phone, you'll be interacting with it more often and will have it handy. I leave my iPod in my Jeep for weeks at a time, I'd be more apt to update an iphone a lot more often.

two-finger actions
We all should have seen this coming... anyone with a Mac laptop with the two-finger scrolling function tried using another laptop? I HATE having to deal without this.

I will be in the store the first day they have these to play and play. Thank you SunCom for sucking so bad that I switched to Cingular for my 650!!!!

coolest thing
I can't wait to see what happens to this market now that all of the other companies will have to try to keep up. BRING ON THE COOL GADETS!!!

You forgot the battery - non-user replaceable (w/o headaches,plastic tools or a big fee to Apple) and will probably die in a year like a lot of iPods...but for sure it'll have a huge fanbase - me included - as an iPod rather than a smartphone replacement!

 

[bigwalton]

You forgot the battery - non-user replaceable (w/o headaches,plastic tools or a big fee to Apple) and will probably die in a year like a lot of iPods...but for sure it'll have a huge fanbase - me included - as an iPod rather than a smartphone replacement!

Good point, should have mentioned that. But if (I know... I'm skeptical/hopeful) the battery lasts the 5 hours they claim, I could charge it every night like I do the Treo and be plenty happy. The longevity of the battery in the unit will just be something where time will tell.

The review of the Cingular 750 puts talk time at 4 hours...

Not that it makes it any better at all, but I replaced the battery in my iPod myself with very little hassle. I still wish it had a removable battery obviously though



Did anyone else read that they might have put two batteries in it, one for the phone and one for the iPod side? I can't remember where I saw that... maybe just someone fantasizing, but it would be a good reason as to why they didn't/couldn't do a removable battery.

 

[Minarets#IM]

i have never owned a TREO, currently a Dash user....but love the Treo line mainly for the touch screen. what frustrates me is the lack of a thin device by Palm. i remember when the 680 was being rumored people were asking if it would be substantially thinner then current Teos. in one of the vids released, i remember some project manager saying the software needed for touch screen was what caused the Treos to be so thick....the iphone has obviously figured something out.

 

[copernicus]

NYT - Pogue

More discussion on Colligan's comments.

 

[whmurray]

More discussion on Colligan's comments.

When I first began to speak in public, I used to read the press reports to find out what I had been heard to say. It usually differed from what I remembered having said.

Good report. Colligan did not say much and was neither terse nor coherent. On the other hand, he skillfully did not say much. More specifically, he skillfully did not dismiss Apple's iPhone announcement in the manner suggested by earlier reports.

 

[specimen38]

More discussion on Colligan's comments.

Thanks for that update copernicus. Enlightening to say the least. I think we get frustrated with our Treo devices and "fly off the handle" as it were and jump on the media's coloring of the facts. Unfortunately, I participated in this transgression. It was good that we got the story in context.

 

[whmurray]

Thanks for that update copernicus. Enlightening to say the least. I think we get frustrated with our Treo devices and "fly off the handle" as it were and jump on the media's coloring of the facts. Unfortunately, I participated in this transgression. It was good that we got the story in context.

Agreed, except the part about "frustrated with our Treo devices." I do not get frustrated with my 650 (though I think my 680 is a piece of crap). Rather, I get frustrated with Palm.

 

[copernicus]

Great! Glad you folks liked it.

 

[specimen38]

Agreed, except the part about "frustrated with our Treo devices." I do not get frustrated with my 650 (though I think my 680 is a piece of crap). Rather, I get frustrated with Palm.

Yes, it's Palm. And their development cycle -- that's my "frustration."