July 3rd, 2007
iPhone Reality Check
I took a lot of flack for suggesting that iPhone buyers were blind to the significant impact the poor AT&T network would have on their experience and that, despite this (or rather because of it), iPhone would be so successful it would give Apple the leverage to fundamentally change the wireless industry.
So here’s a quick reality check. From iPhone user Staci Kramer at mocoNews:
– maps and directions that disappear from view when I lose a good signal.
– no step down (at least none that I’ve seen go into action) to formatted-for-mobile pages when the speed isn’t good enough. Several times, I’ve been able to load a perfectly usable page through the AT&T Edge network on my usual device while the iPhone is stuck in a loading loop.
– YouTube can be a lot of fun but it also can disappear, like the maps. I was in the middle of a demo over the weekend when the OK Go video refused to go. Then again, Go To My PC wouldn’t go either, surprising my mom, who assumed I’d be able to log right in and fix something with my trusty iPhone.
A next generation web browser and UI really DOES need a next generation network to deliver the next generation mobile web.
When I used AT&T and T-Mobile, I used to get poor or lost signals all the time. On Verizon, it NEVER happens — the iPhone would be positively transcendental on Verizon.
But how well is the iPhone selling despite this, relative to all those other “innovative” cell phones like the RAZR?
Apple over the weekend sold more than 700,000 iPhones to rocket past analyst predictions and shatter AT&T’s record by selling more iPhones in three days than Motorola’s RAZR did in its first month. Apple’s supply of iPhones depleted at more than half of its retail stores less than a week after the cellular handset hit shelves at 6:00 p.m. ET last Friday night. Buyers cleared out both Apple and AT&T stores in 10 states, with 95 of 164 stores selling out on Monday night, according to Bloomberg. Apple stores located in Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah, and Washington state sold their entire stock of iPhones yesterday, and AT&T sold its entire stock at almost all of its 1,800 stores.
Hmmm…a phone that sells out on the least desirable network, shattering its sales record. I wonder if Verizon is feeling just a wee bit of pressure.
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of it), iPhone would be so successful it would give Apple the leverage to fundamentally change the wireless … to all those other “innovative” cell phones like the RAZR? Apple over the weekend sold more than Visit Source
iPhone Reality Check A next generation web browser and UI really DOES need a next generation network to deliver the next generation mobile web.
Discussion: Deep Jive Interests, TechCrunch, Paul Colligan’s …, Publishing 2.0 and digg
Well, I predict that the iPhone will continue to surge past all sales expectations - all the infrastructure is there - even when a part of the Web doesn’t work, like YouTube, there are a plethora of alternatives …
I don’t think anyone can blame Apple for going with AT&T. If people are miffed that the iPhone isn’t on Verizon then those people should be blaming Verizon for not playing ball. As it is Apple have produced a device with the fewest compromises on a network that can only improve, rather than a compromised device on a ’superior’ network. Kudos to AT&T for giving Jobs what looks like near carte blanche. Of course Verizon et al should be worried — the iPhone 1.0 appears to be quite a remarkable thing and it will get better and better through software updates. It will be interesting to see just how soon Apple releases a significant firmware update for iPhone; Zuners have patiently been waiting 8 months for one. I can’t believe iPhone owners will have to wait that long. In fact, the launch last Friday reminded me of the launch of Microsoft’s Zune… only with people.
Scott, you can say “I told you so” all you want while the iPhone surpasses the iPod in total sales. The part you are forgetting is that the iPhone surpasses people’s current phone in nearly every way. We weren’t looking for perfection, we were looking for better. And we got it.
I just wish I had your experience with Verizon. I was on AT&T a couple of years ago, and I’ll grant that Verizon is better, but everything’s relative. I wouldn’t use positive adjectives to describe either one.