Some people have been writing about the iPhone, and there are complaints as expected with any new device (or old for that matter). So I decided to write about them, and show what's really behind all this.
Price is the thing that hits you first when getting a new tech toy (unless, of course, you recieve the device as a gift). So it's not surprising that people don't like the price of the iPhone. I don't think it's too bad, especially considering that it's a widescreen iPod, and the price will likely come down. However, it's not going to be so fast. The iPhone isn't even going to be around for a few months, so if you're willing to wait, it's going to be a long time if you don't think the price is right.
The actual name is a problem, although not for us. For the lovely name "iPhone", they happened to pick a name that existed already and is owned by Cisco for already 6 years. That's before the iPod was released. Well, for one thing Apple isn't likely to let the name go. They're probably going to do what it takes, even if this means bribing Cisco. Anyway, I think this whole "i" prefix thing has run its course. It's over. Find a new naming system, or another company will. It's called Innovation.
Another thing that hits consumers hard is Apple's FairPlay Digital Rights Management, which is present in the iPhone just like the iPod. Although people seemed to accept the iPod fairly well, it seems to be a dirty trick that Apple's doing right now by forcing you to buy an iPod/iPhone if you want to play your songs on a device, and forcing you to buy from the iTunes store if you want to play songs on your iPod/iPhone. You could call it a lose-lose situation for some. Apple again claims it's not their fault, and that "the record labels forced them to do it". Well, obviously they were forced to apply some sort of DRM scheme to the songs, but certainly they could open up this technology to other companies?
Lastly, the iPhone isn't going to be released until June. Steve Jobs says it's "because of the FCC". Not entirely dissimilar to new operating systems that Apple releases, there's a huge display of it to get the media all worked up. This is actually interesting, since Apple has the reputation of being a secretive company. But lately, we've seen the iTV (now simply called the "Apple TV") and a number of Macs being announced far ahead of schedule. I'm not entirely sure about this latest practice of Apple's; it's sort of like having presents and not unwrapping them until the right moment. Spoiling the surprise takes away from the fun.
So does this mean that the iPhone is going to be a failure. Probably not. But it'll be interesting to see how Apple eventually reacts to these problems in the long run.
