Quote:
Originally Posted by Earthmover
I don't understand the negativity.
I watched all of the Keynote speech and I have to say I'm very very impressed with the iPhone. This is conditioned on real-life workability of their touchscreen system, but otherwise, this is what a lot of people wanted in terms of streamlining all their electronic devices. What it is is extremely convenient -- if you're ever on a long commute, an airport, waiting for friends, etc. this device will be the best integrated internet/phone/email system created thus far. And there's a lot of little things that also make this product better than what's been available so far. Things like random access voicemail, ability to listen to music and switch immediately to the phone without having to take off your earbuds, real IM-style text messaging, a real full web browser with easy zoom controls, etc. Once you appreciate the amount of useful ideas they've packed into this deviced on top of the obvious advantages of having all the functions integrated, it really is a bargain. I carry a blackberry for work, a Nano for music and a personal cell phone. It would be worth a couple hundred premium just to be able to integrated everything in a real satisfactory way, and this device allows that without a real cost differential than what you would have paid for already. I think there's a significant market for this because from everything I've seen, it's a very well-designed and easy to use machine.
Note, I agree with you almost wholeheartedly - the one thing I'm noticing people say, however.. is the ability for this thing to be a smartphone. It does not excel in that regard; it successfully has integrated a number of "lifestyle product" genres but the one I think it'll be the best at is of course, media playback. I would have LOVED for this thing to become my goto device.. unfortunately, it's just not feasible for me as my e-mail is Exchange-based.
brian, I am not suggesting that Apple targets business users specifically - I would like to think, however, that at the price point this thing is touted at (which is usually reserved for the smartphone crowd.. which generally is targeted at business users), it would be more capable in that regard. It would not have taken too much for them to throw a lite version of Thunderbird up there, or at least, given you the potential to do so. They've, in true Apple form, locked up the ability to utilize it outside of their propietary format/design/state and that seems almost like an injustice on a piece of machinery this beautifully designed.
