Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Apple iPhone: Hype or Hoopla?

The dust has settled on Apple's announcement about its new 3G-enabled iPhone, the smart phone that has the tech world agog.

The iPhone has the digerati all abuzz with excitement about the new release, although the company has struggled with convincing the general public to shell out up to $600 dollars -- plus an expensive data plan -- for all the options.

Already, though, people are predicting that the new high-speed data capabilities and the support for business applications could pose a serious problem for Microsoft, which has traditionally owned the enterprise market.

But Apple has a long way to go when it comes to convincing businesses to switch systems, particularly since most IT professionals have been trained in the Windows environment (although some of that is changing). While Apple has released a developer kit for the iPhone, essentially allowing anyone to create software applications, customers are still locked into a deal with AT&T, hardly the type of choice most businesses -- or consumers -- are looking for.

Despite the drawbacks, the developer kit may solve many of the functionality problems if developers decide to create applications for the platform. People are already beginning to discuss the types of functionalities they'd like to see.

If that happens, customers -- at least U.S. customers -- will likely overlook the fact that Apple's new phone, like many U.S. offerings, is still years behind the Asian and European counterparts.

Posted By Brad King at 08:55 AM
Permanent Link: Apple iPhone: Hype or Hoopla? | Comments (2)

(2) Comments on Apple iPhone: Hype or Hoopla?

Brad:

While I agree with the general observations in your article as to how soon (or not) the iPhone will become a major player in the enterprise market, I do have to call into question your closing comment that the iPhone is years behind it's overseas counterparts.

Would like to hear specifics - as to which handsets you believe are superior to the iPhone and how they are. While I agree that 3G network deployment in the US has tremendously lagged that in other nations, it has been my impression that the handsets deployed to work on those platforms are not significantly different/better than those here in the US.

Comments by Gregg Gallagher : Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 10:25 AM

My opinion comes from what I've heard from my overseas friends, my cursory knowledge of the mobile networks in Japan and Europe and the link provided in the graf.

The U.S. market, primarily because of geographic size, makes it very difficult to compete with Japan -- for instance, which has to invest in mobile technologies.

Plus, we have neither a limited nor government monopoly, which means it takes much longer for protocols and systems to shake out in the market.

At least, that's my understanding from the industry.

Comments by Brad King : Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 05:23 PM

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