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iPhone Price Drop Is A Bad Sign

I think it's just a simple application of clever business practice following the introduction of new models. The new iPod touch is seriously undercutting the iPhone. It's basically the same thing except for the phone part. So people could get the iPod Touch and a cell phone for much less than the iPhone. So they reduce the price of the iPhone significantly to keep demand levels up. I also think sales of the iPhone probably aren't going as well as first thought.

Thomas's prediction of the downfall of Nokia is so ridiculous it made me laugh. It's like saying Mercedes are going to topple Toyota's as the world biggest carmakers.

Apple's Playing The EuroOperators For Fools

And that's no doubt why Vodafone lost the contract. They probably didn't want to budge on their terms where as the others are like dogs who will do anything to please their owner. Good on Vodafone I say. How much do you really think that it will effect their bottom line? Especially as we don't know how much Apple are getting from O2.

Apple's iPhone Rocks the Cell Phone Industry

Tommo_UK, that has to be just about the most ridiculous comment I've ever heard on this website. Nokia are a far bigger company than Apple and if you think one phone that costs $600 and therefore twice the price everywhere else in the world will put even the slightest dent in Nokia then you are sorely misunderstood.

By the time the iPhone comes out in Europe every other manufacturer of mobile phones will have already realeased a phone of similar spec but at 20% of the price.

I just don't see how you guys think that this is going to replace your laptop, your blackberry, your mobile phone, your mp3 player and everything else in your home. It does all of the above but not nearly as well because it's battery life won't be as good as stand alone products, it's screen is smaller than your laptop and mp3 player, the memory is smaller than you ipod.

Yet it's still bigger and heavier than all other mobile phones out there.

This is not going to kill any mobile phone companies. In fact I doubt they are that worried.

Apple's iPhone: It's Not About the Phone, It's About the Revolution

"Yeah, that's what everyone said about the iPod you fool. The combined might of every CE company (ie. SOny, Philips, Samsung et al), and Muicrosoft, did NOTHING to stop the iPod becoming the worlds' dominant MP3 player."

You're comparing apples with pears here (pardon the pun). The iPod became the world dominant mp3 player simply because the market had just been born. The pie was huge and no one had even taken a bite yet (apart from Creatives very small nibble). So Apple happily came in and took all of what was available. The mobile market on the other hand is already saturated. Growth markets remain in developing countries where people can't afford the iPhone so Apple are going to have to take market share. That is completely different to what they have ever done before. In fact they've never even been successful at taking market share and the Macs are a case in point. If it wasn't for the iPod then Macs would still be limited to designers.

People buy phones first and foremost to phone people. That is why I think $500 for a phone instead of $0 for one that does even more is ridiculous.

And to Dan Poarch. You would happily pay $500 for a phone just because it has an accesible address book? What?! that has to be the most stupid thing I've ever heard. You may as well higher a personal secretary while you're at it. People won't pay $500 for an accessible address book.

I've had enough of all of this hype. That's all it is. Hype. Well done Steve Jobs that's all I can say. I tell you one thing though. Don't expect manufacturers who have been doing this for years and have production factories across the globe that generate economies of scale that Apple can only dream of in mobile phone land to take this lying down.

Nokia are a bigger company than Apple will ever be.

Apple's iPhone: It's Not About the Phone, It's About the Revolution

How on this green and blue earth do you know that it'll be the first phone that we'll be happy to use for three years? Have you tried it?

The reason people buy new phones is because they're free with new contracts. Plus technology advances slightly giving them better cameras and more features. But it's mainly about them being free.

The iPhone on the other hand costs $500. For that reason alone people will think twice about upgrading. But that's the thing. Within a year of the iPhone coming out the other manufacturers will have so far surpassed the iPhone that people will want the new phones.

$500 is the sticking point for the iPhone.

iPhone Versus the Rest: More Evidence Smartphone Makers Are in Trouble

$500 for an iPhone which "could" have a great interface and has 4gb memory but that's just about it?

Or $0 for the Nokia N95 which has 5mp camera, GPS mapping, up to 2GB of changeable memory, smaller and lighter than the iPhone, and 3G?

The iPhone may look better and will probably have a better interface. But if that's all I cared about then I'd be happy to put up with a worse interface considering everything else you get with the N95. And I'd spend the $500 I saved on a Hugo Boss suit or coat to make me look cool.

Money money money. That's what it's all about. The iPod is successful because not only is it the best but it's also damn good value for money. It's isn't infinitely more expensive than it's rivals where as the iPhone is.

Some people say a phone is just a phone. Well then save your $500 to!

The key feature on a phone now a days is the camera which is why the iPhone is poor. But the key features of the near term future are mp3 playback capability and internet access. The iPhone may be fine with one but it's not with the other. It can't access iTunes on the move? That is a big advantage to the competition because they have already set up agreements to provide music downloads on the move as part of the contract.

Apple: Six Factors To Watch Beside The iPhone

And why is the iPhone insignificant to whether you buy Apple stock or not? Are you missing the boat completely here or what?

What drives Apple's profits, business, and stock? The Mac? Don't so foolish. The iPod is the only reason Apple is now one of the worlds biggest companies. But this is where Apple have a problem. They know that in a few years time stand a lone mp3 players will be all but dead. You will have you mp3 player on your phone. Research has already shown a growing number of European and Japanese consumers who are using mp3 players on their phones. But once battery life is sorted and 8gb+ is standard on phones (which is only a year or so away) then the iPod is dead.

The problem is that Apple sell their iPods for a lot of money. These phones will come free from mobile phone operators while Apple try and flog theirs for $500.

I see a continuing good upward trend of AAPL for the next year but the iPhone will not continue that trend in it's current form. For $500 it should not only be shinier than it's rivals but it should be better spec'd. And that's where it fails.

Compare the new Nokia N95 to the new iPhone and you have a one horse race. Particularly when you consider that a few months after the N95's release it will be free on contract. Let me see...

5 megapixel, mp3 playing, 3g, GPS navigating phone that is smaller, lighter and much cheaper than a phone with 2 megapixel camera, 8gb mp3 player and is shiny. And that's even before we go into the fact that Nokia phones are almost indestructible and will last years compared to a company who has never made a phone in it's history.

Apple's iPhone Pricing: What You See Is What You Get

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This phone will not be anywhere near as successful as Apple expect. Not least because of the price. But also because of so many other things. It's also HUGE!!! This isn't going to replace 30-80gb iPods so why do they care if it is cheaper than them? At 8gb it could replace the nano but the nano is 4 times lighter and probably 6 times smaller.

Musicphones: iPod's Fall from Grace? - Follow-Up

Personally I think 10% for the uk is an overestimate. But this is a growing market and to be honest the phones haven't been great with mp3 so far. They are quickly getting better though. I think the new generation Sony Ericsson phones released later this year will be much better.

Here's the ironic thing. Sony completely missed out on the mp3 market but they find themselves in the driving seat to become the dominant force in the mobile phone/mp3 player market. The iPhone is way overpriced, too big, and lacks a lot of features to really threaten mobile manufactuters in 2007 and 2008 and by that time Sony Ericsson will have realsed mp3 player phones that are even smaller, lighter, have better battery life and more memory.

I would say by the end of 2008 we will see the digital camera market and the mp3 player market start to decline as mobile phones become good enough to replace them.

Not only do exciting times lie ahead but cheaper and pocket saving times lie ahead for consumers.

Why Apple's iPhone Will Succeed

Lol Dan. You sound like someone who really doesn't have a clue about the mobile phone market.

How on earth could you say the mp3 player market is more competitive than the mobile phone market. For one the very word competition means that there is one competitor. Apple have the mp3 player sewn up. The only thing that will destroy their lead is when people stop buying dedicated mp3 players and use their phones instead. The mobile phone market on the other hand is competitive to the core. Nokia has a 35% market share followed by Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson who have just under 15% each. I cannot actually believe you just told me that the mp3 market is more competitive. Ridiculous.

As for people not wanting cameras in their phone. Where have you been for the past two years?!!! Obviously using your pathetic RAZR which apart from it's design has nothing else desirable about it at all. Come back to me when you get a phone with half decent features and then tell me how you like it. Say the Sony Ericsson K800i or the Samsung D900.

As for Apple's proven leverage experience. Well, fair enough their sat on the fence for about 18 months with mp3 players. But they've been sitting on the fence for a whole 16 years with mobile phones. Don't for a minute think that this is using the wait and see approach. They just had to wait until people wanted mp3 capability in their phones but he's underestimated the rest of the manufacturers and overestimated the Apple brand.

Don't get me wrong, I love Apple and think they deserve to have monopolised the mp3 industry. But that's all that they've done. They would be nowhere without the ipod. The Mac was always successful enough to keep them ticking over but nothing more. The ipod was their saviour but don't think that because of the ipod they'll win with everything else they ever release.

My predicted world wide market share for the iPhone by the end of 2008? 2-3%.

Why Apple's iPhone Will Succeed

Lol! I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

But your argument is severely flawed here Will. In fact it's so flawed that I'm struggling to believe that you would publish something like this.

You say that Cingular will ship 35m phones in 2007. This I would probably agree with if they have 60m customers (and that's contract customers and not pay as you go customers I assume). That's where our agreements end.

- How on earth will a third of these replacement phones go to the iPhone? What you first of all say is that the price is in line with the new Blackberrry. So what you're telling me is the iPhone's target market are Blackberry users? Rubbish! Palm top users want a phone that can do every thing that they need and is proven to do so. The iPhone may yet do that but I doubt you will find many palm top users becoming early adopters of the iPhone. It's too much of a risk to they everyday business life. So the iPhone is in the same price bracket as the Blackberrs but seeing as how it's not Blackberry users who will be buying this thing I think it's a bit much to ask your everyday Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung users to spend all that extra money on something that has a rubbish camera and is bigger and bulkier than their current phone. And even if it were palm top users who were buying this phone how much of a market share do palm top mobiles have in the US? 5%? It's just such a silly idea to start bracketing the iPhone with palm tops as far as I'm concerned.

- Then you go on to contradict yourself by saying that it isn't Blackberry users who will buy these 10m phones but people looking to replace their ipods? Again this is ridiculous. Most of the 20 million iPods shipped in the last Q of 2006 won't have been replacement mp3 players but first tie buyers. So I doubt you'll be finding many people getting rid of their 30+gb iPods to get a measly 8gb phone with a worse battery. Or, for that matter, people with 40 gram nanos getting rid of a super tiny mp3 player in order to get a bulky 140g iPhone that will never be able to strap around their arm in the gym and has a much worse battery. Plus the iPhone costs a hell of a lot more than both.

- You say it's lack of 3g is a good thing? Why? Not in Europe it won't be. Nor in Japan. The new Nokia N95 has the iPod right where it wants it as far as this is concerned.

To be honest I'm not sure where in the market Apple are aiming the iPhone for. It's the same price as a palm top but surely they want more of a market share than just palm top users. It bigger and bulkier than and more expensive than normal phones. It has a limited camera which most people would regard as a more important function on their phones than an mp3 player. I think Apple has just built this without knowing which part of the market they're aiming for.

Put it this way. You could get the Samsung D900 which weighs 82 grams and a nano which weighs 40 odd grams. They would both cost less than the iPhone and weigh less. Plus you wouldn't always need to take both out of the house. Plus the battery life on both is better. Plus the D900 has a far superior camera. Plus you can strap the nano to your arm when exercising.

I'll eat my hat if the first gen iPhone sells 10m in 2007 and 30m in 2008. Weight, size, cost, poor camera, and lack of specific target market count against it.

The iPod is successful because it has very little competition. The iPhone is entering into the Lions den. The mobile phone market is a far bigger fish than the mp3 market so don't expect the Apple name to carry it all the way to the top of the podium any time soon.

iPhone: On A More Sober Note...

I personally don't see people paying the huge premium for this device. Most people will only replace their stand alone mp3 player once the mobile phone is small enough and has a long enough battery life. The new iPhone looks rather big and bulky to me. And it's battery life is no where near as big as a normal mp3 player. What people want from a mobile first and foremost is to make calls. But the other main redeming feature is the camera. Most of the other mobiles on the market will trounce the iPhone as far as pictures are concerned.

What do people want from a mobile in terms of features (in order of importance):

To make calls
To text people (will it be as easy to send texts with the new touch screen?)
To take pictures
To access the web
To use as an mp3 player
To use to watching tv
To use as a GPS system

What do people want from a mobile in terms of form (in order of importance):

Looks
Size
Weight

The iPhone may look amazing but it's bigger than the rest in terms of size and weight. People would be better off just getting the best current phone (either the Sony Ericsson W810i or the Samsung D900) and a Nano iPod. Plus it would be cheaper!

We are going in the right direction though. It just depends whether Apple can start delivering phones that are cheap enough for people to not only want them but also buy them.

Survey Shows There May Be Hope for Microsoft's Zune After All

Your blog title is pretty misleading to say the least. Wow, Microsoft came second after one week of sales. As Andrew Corn highlighted in his blog Steve Zune was only up there for a week. After two weeks it's already dead. I just feel sorry for those who bought it who will never find anyone to share songs with via wifi. Biggest mp3 flop in history!

Microsoft's Zzzune (The Sound Of iPods Flying Off The Shelf)

I don't think you read the article properly Mark. It says that the Zune was in the top ten for several days after it's release but as of the 27th Nov it was down to 76.

Microsoft's Zzzune (The Sound Of iPods Flying Off The Shelf)

I have to say that I do find it really hard to believe how bad at getting it right with hardware product Microsoft are. It's not as if they actually come up with bad technology or bad products. It's just that they don't seem to do their research well enough. In fact to be honest if Windows wasn't so well entrenched and marketed and their were alternatives then I doubt they would even play that one right.

There are obviously some people at Microsoft getting paid an awful lot of money but are just not performing their jobs properly. For a start they often don't listen to what the analysts say about the products. And while I'm sure they do a lot of market research you have to realise that market research is often clouded in the technology market. You get the old "oh yeah that's a great idea" answer that when the person really finds out more about the product (quite often they won't be able to do side by side comparisons with competing products) then they don't like it as much.

Microsoft have a great deal of money burning holes in their accounts but if they continue to bring our duds like this then it won't last long. And they're guaranteed to get burnt by the PS3 and Wii so there's another failure. Add to that the ever increasing presence of Google in the software stakes and I think Microsoft should think twice about falling asleep on their throne.