Osnabrueck

The portable music player market has capped for Apple, and the "convergence device" is now poised to erode its market share and sales. The iPhone is the ultimate coup de gras for Apple: they have become their own competition. They've passed the batton to themselves. The convergence phone was the ordained device for consumers after the age of the iPod - and now Apple has been able to successfully channel all of the popularity and public good will that's associated with the iPod into their own product! It's such a silver bullet, it boggles the mind to think that, only 10 years ago, Apple teetered on the brink of insolvency.

So yes, the iPhone will definitely cannibalize iPod sales, but the magnatude at which that happens will be quite gradual.

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Centurion

It will increase with the decrease of the iPhone's pricetag.

Osnabrueck

You got it. It's quite subversive how all this has gone down. Apple's consumer electronics arm is morphing into a virtual cell carrier, like Helio or Amp'ed Mobile. If they really, really wanted, or had to, Apple could go it alone without being offered at AT&T retail, and something tells me that may be the end-game here once the contract expires.

enzo354

All i know is that I want one, the all touch screen is cool but u need a protective covering

The Artist

well we have a date now.. 29th
lol they really took it seriously when they said end of june..lol

anyways here are 3 new kick ass ads

- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Osnabrueck

I don't know if you'll need or want one. The coating on the screen is meant to be touched and is being touted as smudge and scratch resistant.

Mirage77

If you ask me, less convergence devices and more task-specific products work so much better. I had a HP Jornada PDA phone, it was great and all, but battery life and being the jack of all trades and master of none ultimately made it a compromised decice.

Osnabrueck

They are compromised, and the iPhone will be no different. No doubt, the battery life will be a serious issue, even if the iPhone is "best in class." Thing is, with everybody's storage and performance needs easily met by even a lowly iPod shuffle, there's nowhere to go but convergence. Unless you make such a shift, your product becomes so commoditised that profits erode to the point where you're giving it away.

It happened with cell phones over the past 5 years. The basic phone that did ordinary things like... make calls and store numbers had been mastered. Makers like Nokia had to start piling on features to keep the market turnover, and profits, going - least their lucrative, high-margin product become a low-profit widget. So the crazy features came, and fortunately for them, we responded. We wanted color LCD displays, cameras and video games, despite the fact that none of us needed or even wanted those things in a phone until they were brought to market.

The iPhone is interesting because, from a consumer's perspective, it's like a deluxe iPod with cell phone capability, not the other way around. Helio's campaign centers around changing our thinking - they don't want us to believe it's a phone, they want us to think of it as a multifaceted device. Apple has it easy - we already have ascribed everything we know about the iPod to the iPhone. All they'll have to do is keep the technical snafus to a minimum and they're set.

The Artist

lol this is so stupid.. nerds making ads..almost make me not wanna buy one

notic

from what i've read in mac forums so far, the smudges can't been seen until the screen is turned off.and as for the screen itself, it's made of the same material as the ipod but with improvements in the coating, so don't count on it being as scratch proof as say...synthetic corundum watch faces, but it's nice to know that your $600 investment is somewhat safe from your house keys.

also if anyones interested, david pogue (nytimes) has a great faq about the iphone here: - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER don't forget to check out part 2

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