Another Day, Another iPhone Rumor
- September 5th, 2006
- Read 1807 times
- 12 Comments
I’ve been trying not to answer my phone if it’s another iPhone rumor, but it keeps ringing. I feel like every analyst on the planet is drunk dialing me at the same time. Eventually, you have to pick it up and allow them to ramble.
This week is no different. The on-again-off-again rumors of Steve and company phoning home come from Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research. Wu (without citing sources) is convinced that Apple’s working on a candy-bar style phone, roughly the size of an iPod Nano, that will ship in three unknown colors. He’s guessing white, black, and metallic. He goes on to declare that the product has moved past the prototype stage and is ready for production.
The real question, which Wu doesn’t touch on, is Apple’s carrier strategy. A cellphone is nothing without a network to support it. And because America has two competing technologies, unlike the rest of the world, a plug-n-play option isn’t really feasible. This leaves Apple in the unenviable position of either partnering with a carrier (Cingular comes to mind), or starting up their own MVNO, most likely branded with iTunes. They could also go the Nokia route and sell the phone in Apple stores as an unlocked GSM device, allowing consumers to pop in a SIM card and have all sorts of fun.
Apple has always shied away from arrangements it can’t control, and will be looking for killer market share from the get-go, so the partnership route doesn’t look appealing. MVNOs, in contrast, tend to be money pits, with most unable to turn a profit. That just isn’t the Apple way. But this doesn’t mean this isn’t what Apple plans on doing, as I’d expect nothing less from the Jobsians than a third, unexpected option that would blow us away.
In a related, if disturbing note, there is really no FCC mention of this device, and wireless devices should be cleared by the FCC before they go to market. Fishy fishy.
I read that (if the rumor is true) Apple would likely use an OEM to get past the FCC filing, which would require publicly available photos and specifications. The same tactic was used by Microsoft with Toshiba for its FCC clearance on the WiFi capabilities of the forthcoming Zune.
Nah - Its going to be and iPod and iPhone, and I’d agree with webonics if they had to go for an iPhone - and for heavens’ sake - please apple say no to motorola , may be a Sony Erricson (though it might never happen - apple working with sony)
“roughly the size of an iPod Nano”
just as thin too?
It’s interesting … that since we assume it’s a phone, we assume that of course it *must* be cellular!
Has anyone considered the fact that perhaps they do plan to release a phone, but a WiFi/VoIP type phone, with their own VoIP infrastructure much like Skype?
I think this would be a much smarter direction for Apple. Why try to crowd into the existing cellular carrier industry, with all of its regulations, red tape, and narrow bandwidth channels - when you can launch a simple WiFi-enabled iPod/iPhone hybrid, tie it into iChat, and let people use it for free for one-to-one calls and then build a back-end system for videoconferencing for a premium fee?
I’ve only just bought a Skype-In/Skype-Out account for myself in the past month, so perhaps there’s some obvious things that I am missing … but a new, almost-green-field technology (VoIP) area where Apple could dominate vs. the legacy carrier industry (cellular iPhone) … I guess it all depends on how far-forward thinking they are.
-Doug
-wifivoip-phones.com
bok