The Apple of my ear
Apple computer has finally launched their long-awaited phone. Oops, as of this week they're now Apple, Inc., not Apple computer. I really liked the AppleTV among the other announcements, but more about that another time.
The phone. It looks sleek, almost museum-quality with the style that we've come to expect from Apple. It appears to have a stripped-down version of OS X built in, which, if so, will make the phone potentially compatible with a great deal of software. It's an iPod. It's from Cingular and right now, only from Cingular. It usees a built-in battery and works on the GSM network with Edge capabilities.
So, the good news is that this will probably be the coolest phone of the year (released: June).
The bad news is that there are some design considerations that might be problematic.
The built-in battery is a bad idea. The bane of the modern Apple has always been their batteries and this will probably prove to be in the same vein.
GSM/Edge makes business sense, but it's slow compared to 3G. For those of us who travel outside the US, it will be problematic. For those who haven't used a Blackberry or something similar, Edge provides fast enough Web access to make you try to download something, but still slow enough to be annoying.
I question whether the phone/MP3 combo is something that consumers really want. Maybe. It would be nice to carry one gadget, but it would be bad if the MP3 player jammed up, locking up your phone.
I'll probably get one this summer and see. If nothing else, kudos to Jobs and Apple for still pushing the edge. Their name change is both timely and appropriate.
Posted on January 10, 2007
