iphone announced tomorrow?

[jæd]

They've been selling movies and tv shows through itunes for a year now in the states, and it's doing good business.

Yes... I've used the USA iTunes store, and I just wish that they would open up the TV/Movies section here...! No more having to spend ages uploading stuff just so you keep a good ratio...

Though here the big competition is the BBC allowing you to download many programmes (or just sometimes clips) direct...

 

[editor]

Nothing.
He's just got a 'thing' about Apple.
Give it a rest eh, ed.

That's unfair. I haven't got a 'thing' about Apple, I'm just frustrated that their crappy player won't let me see the phone that's being discussed in this thread, despite many efforts on two different machines.

I've given up trying now anyway.

Back to the phone, it reminds me of a infinitely better version of Nokia's 800 tablet (which also holds no appeal for me) although Apple's version kicks its ass in just about every department (it's got a phone for starters!).
Seeing as the 800 has just been announced, I imagine they'll be some mighty miffed faces in Nokia-land.

Despite its impressive technical achievements, the iphone's not for me - I loathe soft keyboards and prefer more rugged phones, but I reckon Apple will do a fine job of kicking the phone industry up the arse (just like the iPOd did).

I'll be really looking forward to seeing how the industry reacts and what new products come out in response.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

I'll be really looking forward to seeing how the industry reacts and what new products come out in response.

Indeed, critical point that. Palm could start by adding wifi to it's Treo line. It must be the only smartphone maker now that doesn't have it...

 

[Lazy Llama]

Some bits are becoming clearer as a few people get hands on with the iPhone after the hype and expectation.

1) The soft keyboard is a problem. David Pogue (NYT) says it's just about workable with the auto-correction but the keyboard's not as easy to use as the Blackberry buttons.

2) The machine is locked down. No 3rd party apps can be installed, with a possible exception of widgets. So despite the iPhone running some form of OS X, you can't run any of your OS X apps on it. That makes it a less flexible option. You're stuck with the apps Apple give you.

Is the keyboard a big issue? Well that depends on what you'll be doing with the iPhone. It'll be fine for the odd email and text messaging, and entering addresses into a browser, probably not great for lots of text input though. Then again, few small devices are much cop for entering lots of text, the smallest usable keyboard for typing was probably the old Psion Series 5, anything else is button pushing, not typing.

It's not going to be all things to all people, but it's going to do what it aims to pretty well. The UI is attractive and seems to be intuitive, and the styling of the device makes most mobile phones look like they were carved from the ugly stick.

As a replacement for my existing phone and iPod nano, it looks like a possibiliy. It'll integrate nicely (I'm sure) with my Mac, but it certainly won't replace my laptop.

 

[gabi]

Im quite happy with my blackberry - as someone else above said, i like *real* buttons goddamnit...

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

Does it work on Apple's site?

well it does on my machine, not sure about one yours...

 

[dogmatique]

2) The machine is locked down. No 3rd party apps can be installed, with a possible exception of widgets. So despite the iPhone running some form of OS X, you can't run any of your OS X apps on it. That makes it a less flexible option. You're stuck with the apps Apple give you.

I'd be interested to hear if Cingular and the iPhone allows VoIP using Wifi via a widget or similar. Doesn't T-Mobile specifically block this traffic already in Europe?

 

[sleaterkinney]

Im quite happy with my blackberry - as someone else above said, i like *real* buttons goddamnit...

I'm surprised they didn't try and do a clam or sliding thing with buttons on.

However, with the amount of hype Apple generate these days it's bound to be a success.