Pretty, but slow: is iPhone a beauty queen?
Nett Administrator
15 April 2008
15 April 2008
It’s pretty, but is Apple’s new iPhone special enough to tempt business owners away from their Blackberries? Gadget Guy Peter Blasina gets hold of a much-coveted iPhone, ‘unbricks’ it and takes it home.
Aussie tech-addicts are waiting, not very patiently, for Apple and the Australian Government to end their stand-off and bring the iPhone to Australia. I mean, who wants to carry a phone, an iPod and a Blackberry when maybe, just maybe, one
device can do the whole lot?
The iPhone is a single button, completely screen-operated device that looks and feels like a very well executed piece of industrial design. Last month I was visiting the US and, in the interests of the Nett audience, I decided to purchase one,
use it and offer an opinion. That was noble of me, wasn’t it?
Apple does what is known as ‘bricking’ the phone which, in simple terms, ties the iPhone to a particular service provider. This enables Apple to net a percentage of the ongoing revenue from the phone, not just the margin from the initial
handset sale.
Our Aussie pollies (quite rightly) say that’s just not fair. Hence the hold-up. But the rest of us are hating this tie-up, and it goes part way to explaining the abundance of iPhones already being hacked – or ‘unbricked’ so they can be used
locally. I know of at least 20 iPhones in use among my circle of friends and business acquaintances.
The downside of writing this piece is that Apple Australia will probably put me on its ‘10 Most Hated Journalists’ list for even mentioning that I’m using an unbricked iPhone locally. But, hey Apple, there are plenty of business people who want
to know whether it’s worth the effort, so it’s only in the public interest – and for the purposes of bona fide research – that I write this column.
Unbricking the latest iPhone software is not fun, but there’s a hero group of hackers with websites who really do a great job of explaining how to do it.
The best I’ve found include www.iphone-hacks.com and www.hackthatphone.com. American Technology Research analyst, Shaw Wu, estimates that out of the four million iPhones shipped into the market, at least one million, and possibly as many as 1.5
million, may be hacked.
So why did I wait so long to grab an iPhone? It’s simple. The Australian mobile networks and the phones that operate on them are among the best in the world. The US is still migrating its networks from 2G to 2.5G.
Australia’s 3G and NextG networks are streets ahead of what’s on offer in the US in terms of coverage, functionality and available applications. The iPhone is a 2G phone that works on the EDGE network in Australia. Downloads take around three
times longer than similar applications on the current NextG network.
For functionality and user interface, the closest iPhone rival in the Australian market is probably the new 3G HTC Touch Dual 850. While the Touch is a great workhorse and blisteringly fast on the NextG network, the touchscreen interface and
elements of the Windows mobile operating system it uses are somewhat clunky in comparison to the iPhone.
There is something else too, and it’s not nearly as tangible as screen operation. For some reason, the iPhone connects at an emotional level with the user. Also, the iPhone universe is ever-expanding, with new applications appearing every day
for this device. This ecosystem of development hasn’t occurred with any other phone.
The burning question is whether the iPhone is tempting enough to entice Blackberry addicts away from their drug of choice.
In its current incarnation? I don’t think so, but a 3G iPhone delivered by a local carrier? That would be another story…
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Peter, you are very correct to say that the iPhone is indeed very pretty. There are lots of cute screen buttons to push and games to play and I think serious business people would get behind on their work just fiddling around with it. Or maybe that would just be me...
Peter, Apple have lead the development of the Graphical User Interface for years. It is no woner that the iPhone has a superior look and feel. This has attracted the many users who have now unlocked their phones from the US Celluar Networks.
The success of a device is determined by what it does and its ease of use by the market. The PC and Lotus 1-2-3 is a classic example.
The use of phones for more than voice and text is the future and this is tied to the applications that are IP enabled. VOIP on mobile phones is an early example of a network centric application. Unified Communications which provide PABX like functions are in the early stages of adoption. Group Conferencing is an example.
The development of a more effective Web Browser and applications interface is key. The Nokia N95's use of widgets is a good example of the richness of Web applications currently evolving.
The Apple iPhone has a pretty face but until it adopts 3G and IMS it won't deliver the next generation of applications.
BTW What is the best way to contact you?
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