 |
iPod |
| Send FReepmail if you want on/off iPing list WARNING: This is a high-volume Ping list. Turn your headphones down |
|
| The List of Ping Lists | |
Posted on 01/09/2007 7:30:11 PM PST by martin_fierro
Apple unveils iPhone
Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:01 AM GMT
By Duncan Martell
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple on Tuesday debuted its much-anticipated take on the smart phone, a sleek device with a large screen that combines a phone, an iPod and instant messaging, sending its shares to a record high.
Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO and chief showman, pulled an iPhone from his jeans pocket at the annual Macworld conference and drew a standing ovation at the end of his speech.
Investors also cheered, pushing Apple shares 8 percent higher, while those of rival high-end phone makers Palm Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. fell.
Lacking the diminutive keypads found on other smart phones, Apple's iPhone has a single button and a 3.5-inch (9-cm) touch screen to navigate between playing songs and videos, displaying pictures, typing instant messages or making phone calls.
In a nod to Apple's widening influence in consumer electronics, Jobs said it would drop "Computer" from its name.
Most of what Apple Inc. sells now is mobile technology, whether it be iPods or notebooks, which now outsell desktop Macs.
The iPhone is thinner than some of the cell phone industry's sleekest devices, such as Motorola Inc.'s RAZR.
It will cost $499(258 pounds) to $599 when it debuts in the United States in June. Sales are expected to start in Europe in the fourth quarter and in Asia in 2008.
Cingular Wireless, the No. 1 U.S. wireless network and a unit of AT&T Inc., has a multiyear, exclusive agreement to provide U.S. service for the iPhone.
HUGE MARKET
Jobs said that in 2008 Apple could sell 10 million iPhones, representing roughly 1 percent of the current annual mobile phone market of 1 billion units a year.
Last year, the consumer electronics market globally was worth $145 billion.
"This is a huge market right here," Jobs said in an interview, calling the iPhone "a natural extension of what we've been doing."
Gartner analyst Mike McGuire said Apple seems to have backed up Jobs' claim that the company had "reinvented" the mobile phone.
"It's not just candy. These are entirely useful, new ways to use your phone," McGuire said.
The iPhone could hurt the market for other high-end phones such as the "Q", made by Motorola., models from Nokia and Sony Ericsson and music phones from the same makers, analysts said.
Jobs, speaking at the conference, predicted the iPhone would have a similar impact on Apple's fortunes as two previous blockbusters: the Macintosh and iPod.
"Apple has been very fortunate that it has been able to introduce a few of these" hits, he said, referring to the introduction of the Macintosh computer in 1984 and the iPod in 2001. "We are advancing the state of the art in every aspect."
Apple shares rose $7.10 to close at a record $92.57.
The stock rose 18 percent in 2006, after more than doubling in 2005 and tripling in 2004, making it one of the best-performing technology stocks in recent years.
IPOD GROWTH MODERATING
Analysts said iPhone is a potentially huge source of growth as Apple seeks new revenue streams and ways to build on its 70-percent-plus U.S. market share for digital music players.
"I've already ordered two," said Nick Kaiser, president of Saturna Capital. "I don't know what the cost is and I don't care ... The higher it is the more I like it as a shareholder."
While iPods are still selling well, growth has moderated.
In the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2006, Apple sold 8.73 million iPods, up 35 percent from a year before.
In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005, Apple sold 6.5 million iPods, more than triple in the year-earlier period.
Analysts cautioned, however, that the comparatively high price would keep the iPhone from becoming a mass market hit soon, though the price would almost certainly drop, as with most consumer electronics devices over time.
"This (iPhone) does have the potential to shake up the competitive landscape even if it's not a device that's targeted to mass consumers," said Stanford Group analyst Michael Nelson.
"It's clearly targeted towards the highest-value subscribers and they are the most profitable subscribers."
The iPhone is 11.6-millimeters (0.5-inches) thick, has five hours of continuous talk time and 15 hours for playing music, and includes a camera.
It runs Apple's OS X operating system, has the Safari browser for Web access and e-mail functions that can handle graphics and work with external services.
The iPhone can connect to the Internet wirelessly via Wi-Fi and has Bluetooth, a short-range wireless technology that supports wireless headsets or links to devices like printers.
Separately, Jobs said AppleTV, the newly renamed device for streaming movies, music, photos, podcasts and TV shows to home entertainment systems, would ship in February. AppleTV, which comes with a 40-gigabyte internal hard drive, will cost $299.
Apple has now sold 70 million iPods and consumers have bought more than 2 billion songs for about 99 cents each on iTunes. More than 220 TV shows are also available on iTunes.
|
iPod |
| Send FReepmail if you want on/off iPing list WARNING: This is a high-volume Ping list. Turn your headphones down |
|
| The List of Ping Lists | |
I know, my son wants one today. my husband wants one this morning.
neat, maybe it will be better than those razors that keep getting dirt under the cover.
Laws vary from state to state.
And? I paid around half that for my phone, which has every feature that the Apple phone lists. And I got it a good six months ago. I guess the Apple phone is a little slimmer, but still - is there some incredible game-changing feature the press release just forgot to mention, or is this one of those things that's just "cool" because it'll have an Apple logo, even though the same thing is already available elsewhere for less money?
petronski and I got all excited about the iphone then...I'm not down with two year service agreements, the camera without a flash is worthless. Really it's the two year agreement thing...I can only imagine what it costs without the agreement (((shudder)))
Hi cy. Same thoughts here. I don't like doing any business with cellular phone carriers - especially for two year agreements.
Great minds! :-) I'm not a high powered business person and the service plan was a waste of money for me. I got minutes from Cingular whenever I needed it using a prepaid sim card in my treo. I think I'll wait for the 2nd gen iphone that will have all the things I want that this one doesn't. Have a line in my excel saving sheet alloted for two iphones next year though hehe.
I watched the part of the Keynote last night with my brother, and...it isn't the features, because most analysts agree there are few NEW features. But the same thing is most definitely NOT available elsewhere for less money.
It is HOW they have implemented those features that is stunning.
To compare the implementation of technology in the iPhone to less expensive existing alternatives is like saying you would rather have a 1975 Ford Mustang than a 2007 Lexus because it still has four wheels and gets from point A to point B. It isn't that some people would buy the Lexus because it IS cooler, it is because it is clearly and without question a better, more capable, easier and elegant solution than an underpowered, plastic interior 1975 Ford Mustang. Sure, they both have heating and four on the floor, but you have to rack your hand trying to move the sometimes inoperable heating levers in the Mustang (after leaning to the other side of the car to do it) and grind the gears. In the 2007 Lexus, you get in, it adjusts the seats to you, you verbally tell it what temperature you want the interior at, and the the four on the floor rests easily under your hand. Grinding of gears is physically impossible the way they designed it. You get the idea. (Although I would be the first to admit-for some people, simply getting from point A to point B is the primary purpose in a car...they simply do not care, are not interested and don't want to spend money on something like a Lexus, or cannot spend it. They see NO problem with ripping up the side of their hand trying to slide frozen temperature control levers, or driving with one shoulder below the other so they can reach the stickshift. Not to mention the injection molded plastic interior!)
He has done what Apple does best...look at the way something is being used, and find a better way implement it.
It is darned expensive, though.
Excellent analogy.
It was the same thing with an iPod. There were other solutions out there (I have a 20 Gig Archos Jukebox whose battery lasted through 5 generations of iPod - and are replaceable) - it was the cool factor.
But cool isn't just perception - it's slick controls, intuitive user interface and tight programming. These are all things that WinCE devices lack and Palm had to a less extent.
This thing really is iPod + Cell Phone + Mac mini. Most folks are ignoring the Bluetooth and WiFi and Edge capabilities of this - or the touchscreen UI.
Definitely a slick machine. Would that they were working with Verizon instead (the only one whose reception I really get.)
As always, it's not that it's new, it's the integration and presentation.
Watch the videos on the site and try not to be impressed. Go ahead.
I just don't get the exclusive tie to Cingular. I know Cingular paid out huge cash to get the deal but Apple will not have access to a large portion of the market. Honestly, the phone is the least interesting piece to me. I would love to have the device with everything except the phone. i would buy that now. With the tie to Cingular I will not.
Great screen name, by the way.
I felt the same way. I rarely USE a cell phone right now, but...if it runs OS X, and there is even a remote chance I might be able to run remote access VNC software of some kind...even a special iPhone version that would allow access to my desktop at work, I am there baby.
The interface was VERY compelling.
How's the battery life I wonder?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
