iPhone: A list of questions and concerns
I was truly interested and excited about what Apple announced yesterday. But after that glow faded, I’m left with questions and concerns:
1. What protects that screen? Imagine using this thing. I have an iPod now that I have the lockdown on with a protective cover. Only the controls can be accessed when it is protected. How do you protect the iPhone when the screen = the controls. You can’t just slide it into a protective case. Think about all the phone design of late… flips, sliders, etc… all built for protection and ease of use. That big beautiful iPhone screen will be a mess after a few weeks of use.
2. What keeps the screen clean? Anyone who has spent time using touch kiosks knows how disgusting they get in a short period of time. With me dragging and fat-fingering onto an iPhone I’m going to need to clean it constantly.
3. Where do I carry it? Is it big enough to fit in a pocket? Part of my last choice in phones was influenced by the need for portability. Thin isn’t everything. To me the ultimate factor of portability is if the device is obtrusive or not in my front pocket. iPhone isn’t going to fit. So then what? How do I carry it around? I don’t want to haul a manbag around everywhere.
4. How long will it be exclusive with Cingular? In any market (geographical area) one provider may provide better coverage and clarity than another. iPods are ubiquitous and require no extra layer to provide the content and connection (unless you count iTunes as the syncing mechanism… which is limiting to say the least). What happens when I buy an unlocked version? How much of the firmware is built for a specific carrier?
5. What do I do with my old phone? When I got an iPod it didn’t really replace anything. I had stopped lugging around my discman… In the case of the iPhone it replaces something that is usable for me. What do I do with it?
6. What do I do with my iPod? I currently have 30+ GB of music (no video) on my iPod. I like having all that at my fingertips. I don’t want to pare down my collection in smart lists to sync with the iPhone. Which means, even with the iPhone, I’m caring around the iPod still…
7. If I’m listening to music on iPhone how do I know I have an incoming call?
8. How does the device comply with FCC E911 Phase II requirements? Or more simply — how does the iPhone determine location of the user?
9. Will the multi-touch scroll be usable in lists of 1000 artists? Even the current iPod dial UI is reaching the limits of usability. I really think this one of the biggest weaknesses of the device. In the Smart Phone category the thumb wheel and scrolling orb are about as simple as it gets. The only thing you could add to them them is a “fast-foward” style feature–shift the scroll into different gears… especially when navigating lists and many pages.
10. How usable is the multi-touch keyboard? Those keys look pretty small. I guess not much different than a Blackberry… Just no tactile difference between the keys…
11. Am I really going to spin, flip, and zoom web pages like the NYTimes to read them?
12. What’s the global rollout plan?
13. What are the specifics of the Google, Yahoo, and Cingular partnerships?
I’ll add more if I think of them or run across good questions from other people. No matter my concerns, this should be real progress for users. Hopefully Nokia and Motorola come back to table with something better, different, more focused, etc. Lot’s of ways left to innovate.
And the more I think about this — at least from the US perspective, I imagine if we had this much innovation and competition among the carriers… and not marketing, sales, pricing competition, but innovation around the experience. If anything limits iPhone adoption it will be unsupportive or archaic carriers built to squeeze as much revenue out of their exisiting taxing of users model.
Where do I want to put my money? New innovation around protocols that circumvent the circus that is the US carrier network industry.
February 7th, 2007 at 2:42 am
I agree with you man! My biggest concern though is the carrier, I a second term sprint customer and I’m happy. I loved the video of steve jobs and his new toy and I think i’m a fan, BUT with be exclusive? I mean not fair, and only those 58 million or so customer and new customer get this new technology by Apple, that BS. I tell you what steve job I’m not about to go pay a $250 contract cancelation fee to buy this 499-599 phone that I know will not only cost 40-200 for cell phone plans but they must include internet,sms, and other services that this iPhone will have and that cost some extra dough. I know because I tried sprints web,email service and I liked it but I was not going to pay for extras, I think sales I going to be low because users will not need all, these services…. and the service will cost much more then wow the phone in the first month.. and no I wil not contract for two years what happened to 1 year? I don’t think there will be a nintendo Wii or even a PS3 like drive to GET this new phone ….. I mean iPhone. I hate that cell phone manufactors do this exclusive crap and leave consumers like me to switch and switch for what a phone stop it please. I really want that Nokia N95 yet, when my contract was ending I had to settle for another (ok) phone, don’t get me wrong i love my samsung A900. I just saying Apple welcome to the cut throut communications business, You just singled out the other 2 billion customers at being exclusive, good job!