Valleywag
So, how should a competitor respond to the iPhone, Apple's imminent jesusphone? Let's be honest: no spin can counter the new gadget's momentum; the anticipation of the media and potential customers, ahead of the June 29th launch, is just too intense. But Steve Jobs, Apple's product visionary, has one weak spot. The The contention of Microsoft's chief exec, Steve Ballmer, that the iPhone has "no chance" of significant market share? That might impress the analysts, but it won't kill the enthusiasm of early adopters, who yearn for the device precisely because it's outside the mass-market mainstream. For a more promising riff, take this quote from Sky Dayton, Scientologist founder of Helio, a youth-oriented smartphone threatened by Apple's debut. In an otherwise mundane article in the New York Times, Dayton notes there's one important group of consumers the zen-simple iPhone may miss. "There is a generation of users who are always online and who don't communicate the way their parents did," he says. "They're e-mailing; they're texting; they're I.M.-ing." Translation: Steve Jobs, once the hip trendsetter of the tech industry, is now 52, and doesn't understand the kids of today. That meme is mean and, if the iPhone's on-screen keyboard proves frustrating to avid texters, could prove quite effective.
Steve Jobs doesn't get the kids of today
So, how should a competitor respond to the iPhone, Apple's imminent jesusphone? Let's be honest: no spin can counter the new gadget's momentum; the anticipation of the media and potential customers, ahead of the June 29th launch, is just too intense. But Steve Jobs, Apple's product visionary, has one weak spot. The The contention of Microsoft's chief exec, Steve Ballmer, that the iPhone has "no chance" of significant market share? That might impress the analysts, but it won't kill the enthusiasm of early adopters, who yearn for the device precisely because it's outside the mass-market mainstream. For a more promising riff, take this quote from Sky Dayton, Scientologist founder of Helio, a youth-oriented smartphone threatened by Apple's debut. In an otherwise mundane article in the New York Times, Dayton notes there's one important group of consumers the zen-simple iPhone may miss. "There is a generation of users who are always online and who don't communicate the way their parents did," he says. "They're e-mailing; they're texting; they're I.M.-ing." Translation: Steve Jobs, once the hip trendsetter of the tech industry, is now 52, and doesn't understand the kids of today. That meme is mean and, if the iPhone's on-screen keyboard proves frustrating to avid texters, could prove quite effective.
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8:37 AM on Wed Jun 13 2007
By Nick Denton
5,967 views
11 comments
Comments
Yup. No jebusfone for me until there's some decent querty implementation. Or they dig up and dust off their handwriting recognition. My Helio Ocean sucks for a variety of reasons, but at least i can get text into it at a reasonable rate.
Still missing my Newton 2100.
SkyBoy is obviously in fear of Helio's imminent demise (or at best relegation to an even smaller niche). Does he know that Steve has kids of his own, and thus gets the most direct and honest feedback there is? Does he know that a 52-year old executive may actually deal with more emails in a normal day than a 14-year old kid, and thus may end up inputting more characters each day as a result? And that therefore Steve would already know if the touch screen keyboard wasn't working. Lastly, does he know that typing accuracy is even more important to someone of that age and position because you don't want to end up looking like a fool who makes a half dozen typos on every single line? Good try anyway...
I've been told that the onscreen keyboard is actually pretty quick to use in dvorak mode. It's barely tolerable in querty though, I only managed 11wpm when fiddling with it.
What'll really kill the iphone is the absence of HSDPA capability. Who the hell pays $600 for a smartphone without HSDPA?
@monkeyrotica: I, too miss my Newton. It's in the top of my closet with its 2400bps modem and external keyboard, hopefully not being corroded by its AA batteries. I was hoping for a reincarnation of the platform, but this is good.
If the iPhone works with a bluetooth keyboard, or Apple releases some reasonable accessory thumb-board for the iPod connector, then it's got a much better chance with the kids. There are too many easy fixes for this to be a real problem, and barring all else, it could just be added in the second generation. It's ONE model, pundits!
Speaking of Jesus - Steve is looking VERY Hot Jesus in that archival pic.
Never buy a 1.0 Apple product. Or any product for that matter. So far we've heard that the Jesus-phone is going to revolutionize mobile web surfing via it's super hot-tottie Safari browser (which you Mr Developer can now write apps for). Apple has been pretty silent (at least I haven't seen anything) on what web formats the MobileGodBrowser will support...Flash? PDF? Various Video formats? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone? If it doesn't support those....well it's going to be just as wank as surfing the web on Ye Olde Blackberry.
I personally have a Nokia n800 for goofing around with on the couch. I can attest that its touchscreen keyboard is hardly any different than fiddling with my Treo.
The fact that the iPhone will ostensibly have corrective typing software that looks at what keys you "meant" to hit will probably make its keyboard more usable than any of the current thumb-boards out there, whether Helio, RIM, Treo, or otherwise.
Blackberry's new "Curve" just raised the bar with a spellchecker, but this is substantially different than inline correction as it happen.
Ultimately Dayton's spin is pretty limp.
Jmdecombe points out that the "smartphone" market already has two segments: media-addicted social teenagers and crackberry-addicted corporate adults. If the rest of the market remains focused on these two segments, they'll be missing Apple's efforts to mainstream the product.
Conversely, the translation could be: focusing on metro-based Korean teens will not save you in an expanding market.
since when do we call it a "querty" keyboard? I really hope this isn't the 1337 spelling
I knew he didn't get this generation when he said iTunes would never offer a subscription service, saying "People want to own their music". The way I see it, artists own their music (and most certainly NOT the recording labels). I just want more access to it.
I can honestly suggest a proof-read the next time a story even remotely similar to this one crosses through the brain of an editor.
It flows like a brick down a river.
Helio and Microsoft can both do a couple of things. They can talk and they can watch. You know, the same things so many people did while the iPod became the failure it is today for Apple.
At $600 it's not likely a phone I'll buy, but it stands head and shoulders above all other phones in that price segment and most of those that cost far more (there are enough of them).
Is it likely to have 1.0-itis? Probably. Is that going to hurt its sales? Maybe. Will it sell into the millions anyway? Definitely.
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