Archive for iPhone
by Paul Ruppert
July 12, 2008 at 8:42 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, iPhone, iPhone 3G
CURRENTLY China Represents 20% of the iPhone’s Market
Everyone is gaga about the iPhone–summer silly season–even in China where it is available only on the black market. Although Apple has no deal with a Chinese operator. Kevin Li, an analyst at In-Stat China estimates there are over 1 million of them in the middle kingdom. With 5.4 million iPhones sold since introduction, 19% of production is going to China–where the iPhone isn’t legally sold.
On February 3, 2008, I reported at my blog Mobile Point View that there was a revenue gap between Apple and ATT, and roughly 25% of iPhones were being hacked or hijacked to overseas markets–the consensus at the time was 400,000 iPhones were in China. That number has grown significantly. Notwithsanding the price. An IHT artilce reports that in Bangkok, Patpong’s vendors are selling the eight gigabyte iPhone for 29,000 baht, or US$ 860. In China, along Huaihai Road in Shanghai, at the Cybermart mall you can get an unlocked non-3g iPhone for 3,000 yuan, or $438. If you’re willing to go with the Chinese knock-off copy, only 1,000 yuan, or US$146.
One of the access points for China’s iPhones is now Hong Kong, where Hutchison Telecommunications (3HK) has been overcome with requests from internet applications to become iPhone-istas. All mobile handsets are unlocked in Hong Kong–no subsidization there. So it will be a growing channel point for iPhones into mainland China. An unlocked iPhone costs 4,680 Hong Kong dollars, or US$600, but customers must sign up for a two-year contract, with the least-expensive monthly plan costing HK$ 188 dollars or US$ 24. No word on early deactiviation penalty. Given the travel flow between the mainland and HKSAR, Hong Kong in some form will become a main entry point.
iPhone Wi-Fi as China’s Great Firewall Killer?
If and when the iPhone comes to China, the Chinese government has a dilemma. iPhone’s wi-fi feature will have to be removed. Otherwise web surfers will be able to circumvent China’s restrictive internet access security. Moreover, China Mobile has it’s own full music download service which iTunes would be a head to head competitor of. iPhone with no wi-fi dimenishes the user experience, which may drive more iPhone wannabes to seek out the pirated version over an eventual CMCC version.
China Mobile now in new Talks with Apple: When will iPhone legally be Available in China?
Speculation abounds whether China Mobile (CMCC) will succomb to Apple’s shared revenue business model. According to Market Watch on July 9, China Mobile has re-entered talks with Apple. Supposedly Apple has dropped its requirement of revenue sharing of services and airtime.
At this point, my earlier prediction of no iPhone in China looks pretty good. Additional rumors in the Chinese internet are that now China Unicom (CUNC) has signed and will introduce the 3G iPhone in August. RIGHT. Don’t hold your breadth. From all my contacts there, everything from IT deals to just plain business meetings are being put off until “After the Olympics.”
Ox iPhone
Whether it is China Mobile or China Unicom, here’s a refined prediction for legal iPhone sales in China…look for the iPhone to enter China during the Chinese New Year in 2009, the year of the Ox-enduring prosperity and strength. A natural fit…gift giving, cash flowing, iPhone buying.
by Darla Mack
July 11, 2008 at 7:37 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, iPhone, iPhone 3G
Anyone who has children or can remember their youth on Christmas day can understand where I’m getting at with this.
On Christmas day the adrenaline is pumping. You eagerly get ready to tear apart those gifts. Nothing else matters… no breakfast, still in pj’s, making a mad dash to the Christmas tree to claim what’s yours and once you’ve unwrapped everything and sit in a huge pile of glittery paper admiring your treasures the high seems to die down. Why? Your task is accomplished. You play around with some of the items and then push them to the side to move onto the next one and so on and so on. Then the unexpected happens… you return to your room where your old toys are and begin to play with them. That my friends, is the Christmas affect. I’ve seen it happen, and I remember doing it myself.
I can see the same thing happening on Friday. You wait on that long line and share in the enthusiasm of your new found friends to the left and right of you (depending on how the line is formed). You share stories of last years iPhone triumphs and plan on the accessories that you will by and what you would like to see from the App store. Then it happens. The doors open. The flood rushes in. It’s your turn on line. You look at the sales rep in total excitement hoping to see a glimpse of the same in return. (Hey the guy/gal is just there to do his/her job)
You’ve picked your rate plan!!! You’ve made your purchase without any kinks during the process!!! You celebrate your new purchase by maybe buying an accessory. Then your off to examine your treasure!! You turn it on and begin to explore. If this is your very first iPhone your explore time will take longer than those existing users. You seem to grasp the hang of it a bit. You call your friends, family, other iPhone users. You HAVE to check out the video voicemail just to see how it works. Then suddenly things began to die down a bit.
You get home and start setting it up so that you can sync your info, download your music, etc. The adrenaline is wearing off. You try and get some sleep… but wait, the internet awaits you. You have to see how others experiences went. So that’s about another 2-3 hours of surfing, responding to message boards… blah blah blah.
A few days goes by and the excitement has worn off… your left thinking to yourself “what was all the excitement about”.
Notice any similarities to the Christmas affect?
by Darla Mack
June 28, 2008 at 9:35 pm · Filed under Devices, iPhone, ATT, Apple
According to Engadget, if you purchased your 2G iPhone after May you can trade it in for the new 3G model. How nice of AT&T and Apple.
So if I bought an original iPhone, I can trade it in for an iPhone 3G?
Yes, but only if you bought it AFTER May 27th, 2008. Anyone who bought theirs before that has to live with their purchase — not that anyone can stop you from showing up to your local Apple store and raising a ruckus.
Engadget also confirmed my suspicions on the dissappearance of the current iPhone plan. Rumors speculated that the plan would be discontinued, which didn’t make sense to me, but I’m happy to know that it’s being kept.
by Imran Ali
June 9, 2008 at 7:43 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, iPhone, iPhone 3G
I love the return to the signature white plastic of the classic iPods, iBooks and Macbooks; the addition of GPS enables a new generation of locative media and of course the more accessible price points…but, like the crushed anticipation of a new Star Wars or Indiana Jones movie, I can’t help but feel a little unfulfilled by Apple’s iPhone 3G…
- Where’s iChat? Nevermind the lack of a forward-facing camera or videochat…how about basic instant messaging!
- Wah! I want a 32GB iPod touch! With the new lower price points for the iPhone 3G, there’s still room for a market-busting, high-end 32GB iPhone 3G. Maybe we’ll see another Valentine’s surprise from His Steveness.
- What’s with the antique 2-megapixel camera, lack of a flash and - for Pete’s sake - still no MMS?!
- Black & White? You know most of us are Brown or Yellow Steve
And yet she bewitches me…she’s crazy, dumb, expensive and maddening - but she makes me feel. She’s a bimbo, but each touch of her milky white skin is a revelatory, swooping journey into haptic insanity.
I want her.
by Ewan Spence
June 9, 2008 at 6:37 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, ARPU, iPhone, ATT, Apple
Everyone (including Darla) has latched on to the upfront cost - the big headline… the new iPhone is only $199!!! Isn’t that fantastic, amazing, a third of the launch price of the now on the scrap-heap 2G model… Wait a minute though…
3G iphone, 8gb… $199
Plus…
Data plan: $30/month (up from $10 a month)
Voice plan: $39/month
…and that’s every month…
($30 + $39) x 24 = $1656
Total 3G iPhone price: $1855
So the long term commitment is almost as much as the MacBook Air’s $1899. What I find interesting is the price, and the extra dollars that AT&T are going to get. First up, the revenue sharing of the monthly bill that Apple attempted to pioneer with the mk1 has been dropped. Quite frankly that’s not a surprise, the rest of the networks worldwide didn’t want it, and AT&T are going to make more money now that it’s gone. I wonder if the ‘must make 10 million sales’ promise left Apple in a weaker position. And then there’s the data plan. It has went up from the first iPhone as well by $10 a month.
While everyone is used to paying a monthly bill, it’s worth pointing out that the small print is always the killer, and that the mobile market, certainly in terms of selling hardware, hasn’t been reinvented by Apple; which is a shame, last year they were in a position to do so if they had truly thought different - now shareholders won’t have it any other way than the norm.
So AT&T have the increase in data plan, and get 100% of the pie. Yet the hardware cost has dropped and Apple have lost their network Rev share. Where’s their increased profit coming from?
The app store.
With a 30% cut of every application sale going straight to them, no middle man (plus interest on the accumulated sales each month before cutting cheques) and I suspect they’ll be making more from the 3G iPhone than the 2G. After all, network rev share is just one fixed stream. Rev share on every application on the planet is potentially tens of thousands of long tail streams, constantly evolving and changing.
Not a case of thinking different, more a case of traditional sales and commission dressed up as only a Steve Jobs keynote can do it.
by Darla Mack
June 9, 2008 at 3:43 pm · Filed under iPhone, Apple, WWDC
Ok so I’m not a complete Apple fanboy yet. But like many others who have virtually been attending the WWDC this morning (afternoon in my case) we have just been graced with the news that we have heard in rumored blogs across the net. The 3G Apple iPhone.
Of course 3G network being AT&T here in the US. With compared speeds of the Treo 750 and Nokia N95, the 3G iPhone ranked in at 36% faster. The battery life is said to offer 5 hours of 3G talk-time, 300 hours of standby, 5 to 6 hours of high-speed browsing, 7 hours of video, 24 hours of audio, and 10 hours of 2G talk-time.
GPS has also been built in to the new model. As well as support for third-party applications. Looks like Steve has given the people what they wanted.
Paying close attention to the live stream on MacRumors, the announcement brings relief to new users. Apple’s job this time around was to make the iPhone more affordable. Something they should have done in the first place. When researched as to why consumers didn’t purchase an iPhone, price was the number one factor.
The good news is that Apple learned from their initial mistake. The new versions of the iPhone to be released July 12th nationwide will be much more reasonable. The 16GB version (which will also be available in white) will retail for $299. The 8GB version (in shiny black) will retail at $199. Now that sounds more like something consumers can afford.
by Paul Ruppert
June 8, 2008 at 7:07 am · Filed under iPhone
Tomorrow Apple is holding the Apple World Wide Developers Conference, and there is the obvious expectation and buzz of the blogosphere that an iPhone 2.0 will be released.
All the iPhone-istas are frothed up about the next tsunami which an improved iPhone will cause—secret photos of stashed products being stacked in Freemont warehouses, rumours of different color schemes for the phone, new functionality–up to a point–excluding 3G capability such as a text friendly key pad and clam shell cover, are all floating through the inosphere. Of course lest we forget the true believers–MacBook users and what new features and benefits they might be hoping for.
Stay tuned, more to come tomorrow.
by Imran Ali
May 26, 2008 at 6:58 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, User Interface, Usage + Usability, iPhone, Design
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of arranging and attending an evening talk by one of the mobile industry’s unsung heroes, Clive Grinyer.
Until the beginning of May, and for the last several years Clive was alternately the Director of Customer Experience and Design & Usability at France Telecom’s mobile operator, Orange.
Prior to this, Clive’s led the UK’s Design Council, Samsung’s design group, roles at TAG McLaren, IDEO and also co-founded a design practice with Apple’s Jonathan Ive.
With such a stellar pedigree, Clive was tasked with imagining France Telecom’s new era of converged mobile, broadband, TV and fixed telephony services.
The focus of Clive’s talk was the poor application of design processes as an afterthought in technology. Design is often appled too late as a ’skinning’ activity rather than early on where design can impact the decisions that deeply affect the user experience; and for Clive user experience encompasses everything from retail stores to packaging, product design, devices & service interfaces as well as customer support.
Though the talk took place a day before Clive left Orange for the consultancy wing of Cisco, joining as their Director of Customer Experience, he touched upon some of the legacy of his time at one of the world’s largest cellcos and alluded to somequite exciting products and services, due to be launched in the next few weeks.
I thoroughly recommend Clive’s three talks, downloadable as PDFs from his website…
- Lipstick On A Pig - the focus of the talks earlier this month.
- The Silence Of Design - exploring the gulf of understanding between designer’s work and user’s experiences.
- The Design Toolbox - covering the basic elements of design for products, user interfaces and service design; notably elements that are applicable for designers and non-designers.
As design-centric companies like Apple pull ahead of their competitors in sectors such as mobility, computing and service design, it’s becoming increasingly important for companies to understand how to understand, replicate employ such practices in their own philosophies. Clive’s work is a great starting point in this journey.
by Imran Ali
May 17, 2008 at 2:42 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, iPhone, Conferences, Development
A few hours ago, Raven Zachary announced the second iPhoneDevCamp, taking place at Adobe’s San Francisco offices during the first weekend of August.
Styled around the BarCamp unconference format, the weekend’s events will focus on the development of applications for iPhone and iPod touch, using Apple’s own SDK for native applications as well as web-based applications.
In Raven’s own words…
Attendees will include Cocoa Touch developers, web developers, UI designers, and testers, all working together over the weekend. Development projects will include both solo and team efforts. While some attendees will wish to work solo during the event, we encourage attendees to team up, based on expertise, to work in ad-hoc project development teams. All attendees should be prepared to work on a development project during the event. Attendees will be able to:
- Create new applications for iPhone and iPod touch.
- Migrate Mac OS X applications to iPhone and iPod touch.
- Test and optimize applications for iPhone and iPod touch.
Interestingly, iPhoneDevCamp2 will take place shortly after the much-anticipated launch of the second generation iPhone and, more significantly, the launch of the iPhone App Store. Providing attendees with not only the means to innovate, but also an environment within which to distribute.
Last year’s event was indirectly responsible for the upsurge in demand for unlocked iPhones. Let’s hope Apple is paying attention and looking to see unlocked handsets right from the get go.
by Ewan Spence
May 6, 2008 at 5:36 am · Filed under Mobile Tech, News, iPhone
Should it be news when a popular website launches a ‘mobile’ version of their site? I ask this as a flurry of sites pick up the press release from Associated Press that around 100 of their member newspapers will ‘make available’ stories on a website for the iPhone and other mobile devices.
Come on! This is the 21st century, the principle of web design where content is divorced from layout has been entrenched for years, there shouldn’t need to be a big song and dance that a web service is ‘now available’ for a certain browser. We should be in a position where everything just works, the browser is detected as the site loads, and the appropriate style sheet is selected (or ajax code delivered, or flash disabled as required, etc, etc, etc).
But we’re not, and yes I do live in the real world, and these announcements are a good thing. Because it means that the usage of mobile browsers is leaving the realms of the geekerati, and moving into the real world. Which is exactly what should be happening.
And even though I live in the real world, and think that ‘iPhone and other mobile devices’ does a huge disservice to the hundreds of other mobile browsers out there - and yet again elevates the iPhone into an interesting position where the perception of it being a game changer actually makes it a game changer.
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