How Steve Jobs duped the world into thinking that the new iPhone is cheaper

Okay so the title might be a tad dramatic but after reading on how much the new iPhone actually costs, I couldn’t hold myself back.  After hearing Jobs keynote yesterday where the audience practically treated the event like a rock concert, I was shocked by the price reduction of $200.  The new iPhone 3G will cost $199 which is significantly cheaper than the previous model.

What Apple doesn’t tell you, however, is the added costs that come right after you sign up for a contract.  For an average user, here is the extra features they will have to pay for:

• 3G network – $30 (previously, an iPhone user paid $20 for an EDGE data plan)
• 200 Text Messages – $5 (previously an iPhone user got it for free)
• Mobile Me Push/Sync program – $8/month ($100 / year) – if you want to sync your mail with MSFT Exchange/Outlook – you need this program

When it’s all said and done, you’ll need to pay $43 on top of your AT&T minute plan to take full advantage of your iPhone 3G.  Well lets quickly do the math.  For the $200 you are “saving” from buying the new iPhone, you’re actually going to be paying that amount back to AT&T in about 9-10 months.   Now that AT&T requires you to lock into a 2 year contract, you’re basically going to pay $1000 for a new iPhone during your next two years when you add it to your minutes.

It’s a genius move by Apple on making the device significantly cheaper but its a model that is used by most smartphones.  There is a reason why AT&T advertises Blackberry Curves for $99 these days.  They make money on the variable cost, not just the fixed cost.

That being said, I think the average consumer will be drawn to the beautiful devices sitting in the shopping malls fully functional.  Once they go through the first sign up flow and look at their first AT&T bill after the first month, they may sing a different tune.

I think I might look at this picture in a different way now….

Just my $.02…

-SD

Multi-touch 2.0

Apple just filed a patent to expand on its ever popular multi-touch technology.  Rumor has it that the Macbook Air will be turned into some sort of tablet surface where the user can do significantly more types of movements on the actual trackpad area.  It’s meant to easily draw pictures and navigate through the OS system using your entire hand versus simply your fingers.  The patent filed is shown below:

Can someone say getting ready for MacWorld in August?

Would you buy an Apple Tablet PC?  I don’t think I would but if this technology was really responsive, I might consider it…

My $.02..

 -SD

The next step in the iPod product line

With all of the hoopla with the changes in the iPod line, I figured we could begin to go one step further to predict the next line…..

Behold:

Quick $.02…

-SD

Say hello to the new iPod

UPDATED: I wrote this while Steve Jobs was still announcing his product line.  Latest news: iPhone Price cut – $399 for an 8GB.  I think they’ll be getting rid of the 4GB model now.  $200 price cut within 2 months of the release….is someone a little tense about selling a million units by the end of Q3?

UPDATED: I’m going to update this post but I wanted to quickly put down what came out @ Apple today. For those of you that didn’t want to shell out $500 for a cool iPhone, you can now get essentially the same hardware without the phone for $200 less. This by the way, is absolutely genius. Jobs makes sure to rope people in with the unveiling of the iPhone and gains consumer interest. He sets a price point high enough so that pioneers will buy it but normal folks will be intrigued. Finally – he unveils a similar hardware product that gives people the choice to choose between phone and mp3 player. Not to mention, he makes sure that the price is consistent what it always has been.

I think the reason why the iPod is so successful is because there has been no change in pricing since its unveiling. As a result, when new updates come about, users get very excited because of the new technology it integrates. The iPod went from black and white, to color, to enabling photos, to enabling videos, and now, to enable YouTube.

The other thing that was announced today was the Apple ITunes WiFi. Essentially with this product, you’ll be able to download/purchase songs from the music store straight onto your iPod (look out Zune). They’ve also partnered with Starbucks so that you can go into a Starbucks store and use their wireless for free to download songs. This allows starbucks to get incremental users to their homepage to drive traffic, and allows iTunes to create effective partnerships.

The new iPod is called the iPod Touch

Here are the price points for the new items:

 

 

Gizmodo.com photos

As the rumors were true, the iPod Nano came out today as well….the fat nano.

Not too shabby….too bad the stock is taking a beating…I guess everyone expected it…

Just my $.02..

-SD

GPhone vs. iPhone?

A lot of this post will be based on a rumor proliferated by rediff news, a popular Indian news source, which claimed that Google will be releasing the new GPhone in 2 weeks.  They even provided a picture to go along with their claim which shows that Google has taken an iPhone approach in their user interface.

Now we have to ask the question who would realistically win in a battle of the GPhone versus the iPhone.  Granted the iPhone has already gotten a headstart and there has been no confirmation that Google is even coming out with a phone, although numerous sources indicate that Google has hired a plethora of people to work on this “secret” project.  But what’s with all the secrecy.  Steve Jobs was secret about the iPhone until his keynote when he indicated that it won’t be available for another 6 months or so.  As a result, it garnered a ton of people getting interest, companies began to develop apps, and the rest was history.

I had a chance to open an iPhone yesterday and sync it up and I must say, I was thoroughly impressed.  Apple and AT&T created such an amazing integration with the product, that you may begin to believe that cellular technology in America is actually getting pretty good.  Here are some of the key highlights:

• Uses iTunes as a platform -  Apple was extremely smart in sticking to their core products.  They know that they have a ton of people using iTunes both on Windows/Mac consequently resulting in placing the entire integration on that platform.  I.E. you plug in your iPhone and activate your SIM card, sign up for a data plan, all on iTunes
• SIM Cards come preinstalled - This was an interesting move in that they simply disable your current SIM card and start from scratch.  It solves any integration issues with new technology – i.e. if you had a razr 2G sim card and then transfer to a 3G phone.  A bit more expensive for AT&T but with the iPhone’s margin’s and royalty fees, I’m sure it’s not a big issue
• Activation takes 3 minutes - Speed with activation is key.  One of the things I hate about lithium battery’s is that you have to charge it – you can’t use it out of the box.  The iPhone comes charged well with everything at your fingertips

So how can the GPhone compete?  What does Google have in it’s arsenal that makes it superior to the iPhone.  Well, if Google can come up with an OS is as visually appealing, easy to use, and cheaper it would be a better product.  Additionally, if it can utilize its user base with Gtalk, Gmail and finally get some traction on their office suite products, the GPhone could be ideal.  But the biggest factor would be if it can be compatible with any carrier.  The iPhone was revolutionary as a device, not as a phone in my opinion.  It did not change the way we use our phone or change the way America used cell phones.  If the GPhone can change the way cell phone technology works/handled, I can see this thing really taking off….

Even though this is for Microsoft…I thought this was funny:

Just my $.02…

-SD

The new iPod Nano leaked…

Apparently some visual designers were playing around with some possible nano mockups and posted a couple on the internet. Essentially, they got one of them right because Apple told them to take it down.

So if you’re currently thinking about purchasing an ipod and don’t want to shell out $500 for an iPhone, the nano will begin to have video capability and is looking like it will be much wider than usual. Personally, I’m not a fan at all. If they patented multi-touch technology, they should begin to properly utilize them in all of their core products.

Here it is:

Just my $.02…

-SD

What is a media center?

Microsoft introduced the term “media center” when they launched Windows media player to try and mesh together entertainment with computers.  A decade ago, our society was very segregated in the way that we viewed computer entertainment.  At the purest sense, entertainment generally focused itself around a living room with two couches and a large CRT TV set.  The computer was generally meant solely for computation purposes or office use.  Today, we find ourselves perusing the internet and watching short YouTube clips of last nights TV shows that we may have missed.  The literal and metaphorical boundaries between the entertainment “center” in the living room and the computer in the office room cease to exist in today’s world. 

Yet there are still some limitations that exist between watching a youtube clip versus watching a full HD Blu-ray DVD of James Bond’s Casino Royale on a 70 inch plasma screen.  Given the very nature of the computer, will we ever see a full transition to a completely integrated office/living room entertainment center?  We can look in the past and see some failed attempts at integration in determining possible successes in the future. 

WebTV

WebTV came out in the 90’s and was integrated into Microsoft’s product line to attempt to connect your TV to the internet.  Needless to say, simply checking your email on a much larger TV did not really appeal to the mass public.  Perhaps it was the funky wireless keyboard or the proximity of the screen, this never really took off.  After all, when you can hook up a $400 desktop to a 32″ LCD screen, why not just do that?  Oracle had also attempted to integrate a low cost web surfing device from your living room.  Both of these solutions failed to gain mass approval.

So how do you rectify a failed product like WebTV?  How can you effectively integrate the internet into an entertainment center in the living room.  Microsoft believes that it exists in the gaming consoles.  They launched the XBox360 with full browser capabilities and online marketplaces (which I wrote about in an earlier post) to attempt to bring together the a integrated solution. 

But the real question is…where is apple in all of this?

The reason for this post was to speak about Apple’s iTV.  This was announced at MacWorld and was definitely a bit overshadowed by the iPhone.  Nonetheless, the product streams all of your media content from your network into your living room.  This means that all of your “legal” downloaded content that you got from iTunes/BitTorrent can be viewed on your living room TV.  If your willing to hedge out the money for Apple’s HD content on iTunes, you can stream it onto your HD screen which is the real advantage.  Here is what it looks like:

Let’s see how this does….but it should be interesting if this is the first step to really changing the landscape of media entertainment.

Just my $.02…

-SD

The start of a revolution

Before I begin this post, I apologize for being unable to blog as frequently as I should. I know I’ve said it before, but I was really waiting for some sort of ground breaking technology to shake up the industry to come out of hibernation. The tech guns have made some noteworthy news during the holiday season (especially in the realm of video game consoles) but nothing like the announcement made by Apple today. So without further adieu, let me break down simply why today will be remembered for years to come.

The iPhone

The idea of an all in one device has been tossed around by companies for years. RIM’s Blackberry, Palm’s Treo, Motorola’s Q, and Samsung’s blackjack all have taken steps to create a device that can replace multiple gadgets in your pocket. Most analysts discounted the thought of being able to create a single device for the consumer because no company does each facet of the technology properly.

That being said, Apple has come to blow away the competition with the all in one device that can truly do it all. Why is it superior to every other brand that I had mentioned above? Apple succeeds because:

• It has the brand recognition with the iPod to associate media music with phone capabilities
• It developed relationships with cingular early on (with the Motorola Rokr/SLVR) because they knew it was in the future. Jobs looks like a genius right now because of the 100 song cap placed on all motorola phones.
• It has the software set up to easily sync up with the computer and manage all of your contacts and music into a single transfer

Let me show you some pictures so that you can get a better idea of why this phone is different than any other:

 More to come later….

 

Just my $.02

 

–SD

Microsoft announces XBox marketplace for living rooms

Microsoft made huge waves yesterday after announcing that they will be offering XBox Live Marketplace to users in late 2006- early 2007.  The XBox 360, which has done reasonably well across the United States, will have the ability to download movies and TV shows from a browser straight onto its hard drive.  Microsoft plans on adding this content after it has made partnerships with most studios and such.

Microsoft made a great move in announcing this product at the time that it did.  Apple iTV has been very vocal about that fact that it will release in early 2007 for $299.  The iTV plans on bringing iTunes to the living room by being able to download shows and movies straight onto your hard drive.

Microsoft has set the stage however by indicating that 20% of its content will be provided in High Def.  It will be interesting to see how Apple responds to this.  They’ve indicated that rentals will be around 2 dollars and purchasing shows will be around 3-7 dollars.

Just my $.02…

 SD

Let the recall’s roll….

Apple Computer has just announced a recall of over 1.8 million lithium ion batteries…which puts the grand total recalled batteries at 5.8 million.

Apparently, Dell, Lenovo (formerly IBM Thinkpad), and Apple met at a summit regarding these batteries and realized “HEY!…we all get our batteries from the same supplier…so I’m pretty sure our computers are affected as well.”

Well…it makes sense that Apple calls the recall at this time since there was one report of a powerbook exploding versus the 6 dells….but isn’t that interesting….that’s probably the ratio of people that have a dell computer to an apple.

In any case – go to apple.com and support to determine if your computer is affected.

Here is what msnbc reported:

“Apple’s recall covers 1.1 million lithium-ion batteries in the 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4 laptops sold in the United States from October 2003 through August 2006.”

New batteries = longer lifespan…so it’s probably a good idea to get one anyway.

Just my $.02

–SD