Apple+Phone?

image care of: http://21talks.net/voip/apple-iphone-confirmed

[|Macworld]is only a few weeks ago and Apple Computers is expected to announce the release of the much rumoured iPhone. According to some reports its been speculated that it will have a slide-out keyboard, and similiar to that of the current ipod Nano will carry 4GB or 8GB of storage, and work with GSM and CDMA cellular networks. Although the price hasn't been officially stated, many rumors and reports have claimed that the phone will start 249US without any contract rebates. As a fellow employee at Apple I feel that sales for the phone will skyrocket at first and will level off and decrease. Remember the Mac Mini? It was supposed to ignite a revolution for small computers. It didn't. Similiar with the iPhone, I dont feel that it will ignite any revolution with phones or be all that successful. Why? Well when the iPod first came out, it provided solutions to many issues with MP3 players. During that time, mp3 players came with a small amount of flash memory, like 64MB or 12MB. Sony still continued to be in love with the portable CD players. Fortunately, Apple turned to the 1.8 inch hard drive. The 1.8 inch allowed Apple to store huge amounts into a small form. Even the first iPod store 5g of storage. Apple was known to have even locked up the all supplies of 1.8 inch hard drives for a long time so no one was able to duplicate it. The iPod solved the problem of navigation issues and small screen sizes, and became so popular that music publishers began to agree to its terms. The problem for the iPhone is that, problems like this don't really exist in the cell phone business. Its not like cell phones suffer from issues with its functionality and aesthetics. Rather, they are quite good, really good actually. Samsung has scoured the world's design schools and hired artists on three continents to keep its phones looking good. Motorola has revived its fortunes with design. KDDI, a Japanese carrier, has a design showcase in the teen shopping area of Tokyo just to be close to trends. And Sharp doesn't skimp when it comes to putting LCD TVs on its phones. Apple, in other words, won't be competing against rather doltish, unstylish companies. The handset companies move pretty quick and put out new models every few weeks. Second, Apple has to face the issue of trust. Music players are fairly easy. Songs come out of memory and must be amplified. With cell phones, I find that consumers care mostly about quality of service. Who, really, doesn't expect a new company to conquer all the static and connection issues with their phones? Granted, Apple will use contract manufacturers to assemble their phones, but designing these phones takes experience and talent. And the cell carriers are far deeper into it here. So when consumers get to that counter at Telus, Rogers or Futureshop, they will debate buying the Apple phone, and even hold it up for a look. But when they whip out the credit card, they'll probably opt for a Motorola.

Sources: http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/22/benq-confirms-iphone/