I had hoped to be done with iPhone blogs but Julie on her blog, The Dozen, made a request for opinions and as I pondered mine I decided it was too much to put in a comment. I also like trackbacks because it then allows me to make a comment and at the same time have that comment fed to readers via Feedburner.
There are those, like Paul Paetz of the Disruption Group, who feel the iPhone is not a phone at all but a portable computer that allows you to also make calls. If you wanted to you could put a card in your laptop and use it in a very similar fashion - not as conveniently.
I personally don't know that I want everything on one device. If the battery or some other critical piece goes out, you have nothing. As I have said on my own blog - I would prefer a way to seamlessly integrate each of my devices so that I can listen to music through my phone, stereo, or computer regardless of which device has the files. The same goes for making calls and viewing movies.
The egg image is an example of the fantastic work you can find at
The opportunity for the next generation of personal entertainment "units" looks to be shaping up just as the personal computer did...
The Apple Business Model Repeated (not Updated)
Apple leads the way with a device full of proprietary technology and the rest of the world did what it wanted and made a unit that was less elegant but more practical. This can be said of the Apple II, the Macintosh, and now the iPhone.
This is a consistent problem with innovators in general and Apple in particular. Because they have the vision for the future, they feel they should be able to take us all there and that we will reward them for it by buying only their product. It might be a nice sentiment but it rarely happens.
Why does Apple have 4 or 5% of the market share for personal computers when it was one of the first to properly market such a device? Why are there no more RIO MP3 players when they were a leader in the development and expansion of the portable MP3 player market? Because that is what happens when you try to control a technology and market with products that are priced to maximize earning and self-centered control of proprietary technology. The pricing allows others to come in below you and leech marketshare. As for the technology, there is always a work around, legal or not.
So, the iPhone will raise the bar, introduce a new wave of personal portable devices, but it will not dominate unless Apple changes it's standard mode of operation. the change the iPhone will bring is neither transformational or incremental, but it is substantial and I am glad to see it. I still will not get one but that is just my opinion.
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