Monday, June 4, 2007

Can you hear me now?


I want an iPhone.

It is truly another beautifully designed piece of hardware from Jonathan Ive and team offering what looks to be brilliantly integrated functionality.

While I realize there are other phones that have comparable capabilities. And I know there are other phones with touch screens that are beautifully designed. And I know that Apple and its Mac OS aren't the only game in town. As a matter of fact, we just bought Hol an HP with Vista and having never worked on a PC up to that point I was surprised to find I absolutely love it. Well, maybe ‘love’ is a bit strong but I certainly don’t have the sense that I’ve been sullied by the ’dark side’. The HP is an attractive, well-crafted piece of hardware and Vista, from my perspective at least, is an intuitive, easy to use OS. However, having acknowledged all of that – I still want an iPhone.

As for The price. Well, $499 for the 4GB and $599 for the 8GB is what technology like this should cost. It’s a sophisticated piece of technology – not a pizza. And, speaking of which, it should never end up in the sorry position LG’s chocolate ended up thanks to the flagrant disregard the carriers seem to have for the value of of the hardware in this industry. [Full Disclosure: At one time I worked on marketing for Nokia but have no residual allegiance of any sort. – Ed.] From what I’ve seen of it the chocolate is a sexy little mobile phone confection that deserved better. [BlackBerry had a phone end up in a similar sad, pathetic position with a different pie slinger. Almost, but not quite as sad. – Ed.] But I digress.

I want an iPhone. Check out the new TV spots then tell me if you don’t want one too.

2 comments:

Sanity said...

Hmmm... I am curious as to how the carriers have left the device manufacturers hanging. I don't doubt it but as an AT&T minion and with so much riding on the iPhone deployment, I think we are very concerned with our relationship with Apple at least.

Unknown said...

LG certainly couldn't have thought it was a good idea to give away the chocolate, their hot new flagship music phone, with a f*cking pizza. That's all carrier. The carriers, generally, see the hardware, even a technologically sophisticated, category changing, beautifully designed piece of hardware, as a commodity at best. The carriers use (abuse?) their position as service providers to dictate the value of the phones – as opposed to the market.

At least that was the impression I developed, and would be hard pressed to shake, while working on the hardware side of the category for Nokia. In leading the development of marketing efforts for th brand and its product, I was exposed to many of the carriers and their expectations of a hardware maker.

Even the RAZR with its recent juggernautical (?) dominance of the category did fare much better than the rest. It should have/could have been the iPod of the category but instead it ended up derided for its ubiquity. Because it became completely stripped of its perceived value by the carriers' lack of concern for maintaining the value of the hardware.

That said, I do think the relationship Apple has Cingular (Excuse me. I mean The New AT&T) could very well be an exception.

/End Rant.