Get ready for a FLOOD of iPhone news starting in 10 hours, the Keynote
is at 9am California time, so time to fasten seat belts.
Apple will continue to transform the Cell Industry into its own image
with the 2nd coming of the Jesus phone.
A great article below.... It's going to be a fun day for Cell Phone
users!
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By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES ‹ Wouldn't it be cool if you could use your cellphone to
monitor activities in your home, say, to zoom in for an audio/video
check of the baby's room while you were at work, or even adjust the heat?
Or how about going to a theme park and checking your phone to discover
if other friends are there, and arrange a meeting place?
Such concepts are not pie in the sky, but actual programs that have been
developed for Apple's iPhone, the combination iPod/phone and Internet
device first introduced to acclaim a year ago.
Consumers and reviewers alike gushed about its compact, futuristic
design and sensitive touch-screen. But even its biggest fans have had
one persistent chief complaint: The iPhone's Internet network from
partner AT&T was too slow. (although not on regular WiFi)
So get ready for iPhone 2.0: On Monday Apple (AAPL) is widely expected
to introduce a zippier version that will operate on both a faster AT&T
network, and speedier networks internationally. The price also will
rock: $199, according to people with knowledge of the matter, down from
the current $399 and $499. Sources declined to be cited by name or
affiliation because Apple and AT&T haven't authorized anybody to speak
publicly about pricing until after Monday's announcement. The $199 price
is being subsidized, though USA TODAY could not confirm details.
A new iPhone could go a long way toward fulfilling Apple CEO Steve Jobs'
prediction that he'd sell 10 million iPhones in its first 18 months. So
far, Apple has sold just over 5 million phones. Analysts who follow the
company think a lower price and new international markets make it a sure
bet that another 5 million will be snapped up this year.
Apple stopped taking orders for the iPhone in May, presumably to make
way for the new model. Sales could substantially beef up Apple's bottom
line, Munster says. Apple re****ted revenue of $24.0 billion in 2007.
Munster sees sales growing to $34 billion this year, and $46.9 billion
in 2009, thanks to the iPhone.
Beyond the new hardware, the biggest buzz around the iPhone this week
will be the new uses being dreamed up for it. The software add-ons have
the potential to turn the iPhone into the pocket computer of the future,
as essential, Apple hopes, as the keys in your pocket or purse.
The iPhone economy
Apple's sold-out Worldwide Developer's Conference in San Francisco is
the setting for Monday's iPhone lovefest, where software developers will
convene to hear about the new iPhone. They're eager to hear CEO Jobs
talk about how they can participate in what independent analyst Richard
Doherty calls the "iPhone economy."
Earlier this year, instead of controlling everything that went on the
iPhone, Apple released what's called an SDK ‹ for "software developer's
kit" ‹ a road map that allows programmers to create applications for the
iPhone. The first of those outside programs is expected to be released
Monday, and made available on the iPhone and iPod Touch ‹ the iPod
that's just like the iPhone, except without a phone.
"Opening the pot of gold to developers is as im****tant as the iPhone
itself," Doherty says.
Once Apple approves a piece of software from an independent developer,
it provides distribution ‹ via a new "App" store on the iPhone and iPod
Touch ‹ and takes a 30% cut of revenue. "This means that anyone, whether
you're 14 years old or 40, if you're a large company with 300 employees
or a guy in a garage, has access to Apple's customers," Doherty says.
"You don't have to make a presentation to a series of different handset
manufacturers or wireless carriers. This is unheard of in software."
Access to the iPhone App store means that "we have a way to reach
millions of consumers," says Darren Vengroff, the co-founder of Pelago,
which developed Whrrl, a social network application.
Whrrl takes the online review phenomenon and marries it to the iPhone.
The idea is that if you're searching for a restaurant, with a few clicks
you can see which ones your friends ‹ who are also Whrrl members ‹
recommend. Whrrl is currently available for two BlackBerry phones and
the Nokia N95.
The iPhone App store will "get so much traffic," adds Paul Dawes, CEO of
iControl Networks, another iPhone developer. "It's not random traffic,
but consumers who are actively looking for our types of applications."
The iControl application is the aforementioned home-monitoring system,
or as Dawes calls it, "next-generation home security." With iControl, a
device is plugged into your home network and connects to security
panels, webcams and home-automation devices, allowing the homeowner
control away from home. You can keep up with the action while at work on
your desktop, or with the iPhone out in the field.
The iControl monitoring system is sold via home-security companies and a
monthly subscription, but the iPhone application will be available for
free.
Video game company Sega, best known for the old Sonic the Hedgehog video
game, wowed attendees at a March meeting for developers when it showed
off the Super Monkey Ball game for the iPhone.
There's no joystick controller for the iPhone to move the characters
from left to right, so developer Ethan Einhorn came up with a novel
idea: Just move the phone up or down, left or right, and the characters
respond to the movement.
"What's great for a company like ours is that Apple has already defined
the iPhone as a place to acquire and enjoy entertainment," Sega's
Einhorn says. "Video games are the next natural step."
Earlier this year, legendary Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner
Perkins Caufield & Byers (which had a role in funding Google, Amazon and
AOL) started what it calls the "iFund," a $100 million pot looking to
invest in iPhone application start-ups.
Kleiner Perkins invested in both iControl and Pelago, and is actively
looking at 50 other start-ups, partner Matt Murphy says.
"We received about 2,000 proposals so far, and that's more than a factor
of 20 of what we would have received from the general mobile sector,"
Murphy says. "What Apple has done is brought a lot of entrepreneurs off
the sidelines. They feel 'open mobile' is here."
Historically, if you had an idea you wanted to sell to the mobile
industry, you had to pay a visit to Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon.
All have huge customer bases, but their phones work on different
wireless systems. This requires a programmer to construct the program in
different ways.
Apple isn't the only company pu****ng open mobile. To great fanfare
earlier this year, Google introduced "Android," which it describes as a
new wireless operating system that can be used with multiple carriers.
Google has been shy about releasing much Android information, but says
we'll see phones in the second half of the year.
Unlike Apple, which produces its phone and has AT&T as the wireless
network customers have to work with in the USA, Google is reaching out
to many. Wireless manufacturers HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung are all
participating in Google's "Open Handset Alliance," along with carriers
Sprint, T-Mobile and Japan's NTT DoCoMo.
A home run?
When the iPhone was released last year, eager consumers waited on line
for days to get a crack at buying one of the first ones. A year later,
Apple says it's sold over 5 million iPhones.
That pales in comparison with competitors. Windows Mobile, which
provides software for phones from HTC, Samsung, Palm and others, says it
will sell 20 million phones this year.
About 1 billion cellphones are sold every year. No. 1 manufacturer
Nokia, for instance, sells more cellphones in a week than Apple has
****pped to date. According to researcher Gartner, Nokia sold 435 million
cellphones in 2007. Munster says the "real verdict" on the iPhone's
success hasn't been reached. "The numbers are too small to call a home
run."
Charles Golvin, an analyst at market tracker Forrester Research, says
iPhone's impact has been felt by the entire wireless industry, which has
been trying in vain for several years to sell lucrative add-on data
plans.
"They have done a very poor job marketing these services," he says.
"What Apple and the iPhone did was really communicate in a very simple
way what the data plan could do for you. It's the Internet, but on your
phone."
With a data plan, consumers pay an additional monthly charge ‹ usually
$15 to $25 ‹ for access to the Internet on their phones, adding greatly
to the carrier's bottom line.
Golvin says handset competitors such as LG, Sony Ericsson and Nokia are
"really blatant" about how their new phones are clones of the iPhone.
"The iPhone has raised awareness of what's possible."
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2008-06-08-apple-iphone_N.ht
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