Well, reading the transcript of the MacWorld keynote, all I can say is: a jaw-dropped WOW!
They really, really get it. None of this “let’s join gadgets together with different protocols and string and stuff”… the iPhone just does the lot.
I don’t have an iPod. I’ve always thought that if I got one, I’d really want one of the models with lots and lots of Gb of space. The iPhone is only 4Gb or 8Gb… but runs OS X (which I salivate over whenever I pass an Apple store)… and it looks sooo nice, it hurts. What self-respecting gadget fan isn’t going to fall over him/herself to have one of these?
On a cynical note, I’ll be interested to see how much it sells for in the UK; what the various mobile operators do about letting UK users get hold of it; and how well the screen holds up to the use of the finger as a pointing device (scratched iPod nanos, anyone?).
I have to say that the difference between Apple and Microsoft is striking though. This thing is convergence.
I really agree with you. I do not want a cell phone or mobile music, but being able to connect (up & down) to the internet anywhere, any time is one giant step toward having my personal digital assistant. Add voice recognition and I can query for information, create to do lists with reminders or wake ups. We are so fortunate to be living in these times.
so you are a fan of monoliths and walled gardens now? SOA bad – monoliths good?
Art: absolutely – it does look nice to be able to do this in a single device. I can see other things like GPS being useful additions, too.
James: thanks for the comment. Actually that wasn’t what I meant… I suppose I intended more to be inferred from the title than I made plain.
The thing I’m impressed by is the apparent neatness of the device convergence… I absolutely still think that open standards are needed for e.g. the web interaction (see the Google Maps stuff on the iPhone, the gadgets, and I imagine all kinds of other stuff). I’m thinking about the way in which this particular device appears to combine the phone/music/camera/photos/browser in a elegant way (although just how seamlessly it all works remains to be seen). That was where the “convergence” angle came from.
I liked Eric Schmidt’s comment in the keynote about companies doing the best things they can. It seems to me (and I don’t actually own any) that Apple make nice devices; I’m not so sure about the services that they offer. I believe that the SOA style can enable these kinds of devices to make the use of the best services they can 🙂
By the way, in the cold light of day, I’m still wowed by the demos on the Apple site, but I’m considering it all a lot more carefully. I’ll be interested to see where they go with e.g. 3G in Europe; how well this works as a converged device; how well the Apple manufacturing, retail and support infrastructure can scale to support the possible demand; how well it works with other devices when it does need to interoperate (Bluetooth, Wifi etc.).
Thanks for asking me to clarify. I hope that helps.
you might want to see my blog again. i just called you out in the comments before reading your response to me. you might want to clarify… cut and paste this there.
To add some balance, now that James has helped to bring me back down to earth…
A couple of interesting links I read today that put a far less excited spin on things:
The five biggest issues with iPhone
… plus another four from Scoble
I think GPS is an obvious addition to the hardware stack that they missed. You could do really neat stuff with inbuilt GPS. You might not to be able to do it very fast in Europe without a wifi connection, of course…
Kelly is so going to kill me… for the record, I still think this thing is shiny…
It’s interesting how different people see different things in something like the iPhone announcement.
I’ve blogged my assessment at http://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/iphone-watch-for-version-2/ . Steve Jobs is a great pitchman … enough to hide the potential weaknesses of the iPhone version 1.
Jobs is certainly a good speaker and marketeer.
I’ll check out your view of the release 😉