New Apple iPhone
In case you haven’t heard all the buzz from today (of course you haven’t you sub-human rock dweller) Apple, you know the company that brought us iPod; they have now officially announced the Apple iPhone. First, let’s look at the Pics and the specs:
Hardware Features
- 3.5″ Widescreen touch-sensitive display
- 11.6 mm thin
- 2 megapixel camera
- proximity sensor, accelerometer, and ambient light sensors
- Quad-band GSM/EDGE + WiFi + Bluetooth 2.0
- Battery Life: 16 hours audio, 5 hour talk/video/browse time
Software Features
- Runs version of OSX. “Full desktop-class applications”
- conference call support with up to 3 participants
- multiple SMS session support (iChat-like interface)
- Safari: first fully useable HTML browser on a phone
- “coolest photo management app ever”
- Widget support
- Yahoo IMAP mail
- Google Maps (with satellite image) integration
The phone will be offered exclusively through Cingular in the US in June, and will come to Europe in Q4 2007, and Asia in 2008. A 4 GB model will be offered for $499 with a 2 year contract, and an 8 GB model will fetch $599 with similar contract provisions. The phone can be purchased through Cingular’s website or via the Apple Store.
Ok so that is pretty impressive, but what does it all mean? Well it means that Apple has once again, single handedly, revolutionized another industry. This is all great and we are all excited, but let’s delve a little deeper and look at the implications this has for marketing and more specifically internet and affiliate marketing. There are about a million possibilities that could come from this a few that first come to mind are:
The End Of Ringtones… Maybe: With the iPhone having iPod integration what use do we have for joining ring tone services when we can simply use the real song? What use could we possibly have for wallpaper services when we can use the FULLY FUNCTIONAL BROWSER!!!! and just download our own background of anything we want. (no more predetermined images for us to “express” ourselves with). Blackbeard wrote a nice article on this.
The End Of Mobile Advertising… Maybe: Since there will be a fully functional browser integrated what use will SMS messaging be for advertising when we can just go to websites and see the same ads? It is all the more reason for us not to pay attention to some new form of crappy advertising that was an “overnight sensation”. With iPhone and all its functionality mobile advertising will become as useless AltaVista.
iPhone Will Control The Cell Phone Industry With 80% Marketshare… Maybe: This is probably a blatant lie that I just made up but seriously it is going to make a huge dent, and to all you other cell phone makers out there, you had best get your act together and put out some really cool phones that shoot lasers or make holograms the new way of communication. iPhone is going to reshape the way people make and use cell phones. Look out RAZR, BlackBerry, Stylus, Pocket PC, Palm Pilot, etc…
Apple Will Become The Google Of The Tangible World… Maybe: Think about it, Apple has been slowly creeping their way into people’s lives ever since their first computer. Apple’s first really mass market (and I mean mass as in MASS) product was the iPod; it has become one of the hottest products and probably one of the best inventions in a long, long time. Now they are moving on to cell phones. So think about all the areas they are delving into, handheld hardware, music services, cell phones, and possibly cell phone services and hell I’ll even throw in the rumor about their “gaming system”. Now that is a diverse portfolio.
This is going to be something to keep an eye on, can you imagine a team-up between Google and Apple to deliver exclusive YouTube content over iPhone or a daily video blog delivered to your mailbox so that you can watch it every morning (now that’s real RSS). As I said earlier the possibilities are endless, especially with the open source widgets, the amazing amount of user generated content will making for some interesting applications. (changing stoplights from your car with your iPhone >: )
While I am on this tangent about how iPhone is going to completely change the face of the earth lets visit how it actually will. iPhone will be the first step toward the goal of a handheld computer, that little digital piece of hardware that we see in all the Sci-Fi movies and movies about the future is finally becoming a reality.
And as any good essay ends… and that’s what I did on my summer vacation
