Last Thoughts About iPhone

OK, because everyone else had talked the iPhone to death and I'm getting sick of all the hype and speculation, this will be the last time I blog about the iPhone until it actually comes out and we aggregate the reviews on the main site. I'm only discussing this post because like I've stated in previous posts, it might be a good idea to doubt the hype you read from CES.

CNET's gadget blog, Crave, has an entry entitled "Thirteen reasons to doubt the iPhone hype". Here is a summary of the thirteen points:

1. No 3G compatibility
2. Does Wifi overcome lack of 3G?
3. What's under the hood?
4. Download from iTunes?
5. OSX and multitasking?
6. "iPhone" name?
7. Who's the phone for? Who can afford it?
8. Will the user have any freedom?
9. Extra costs?
10. Another iLock-in strategy?
11. Is the touch screen useful?
12. What's after early adopters?
13. Other factors involved in a cell phone purchase

I believe that there are definitely "hype" elements to all this iPhone talk. Specifically, I'll discuss a few of the points I find valid. My opinion is that the other points I don't discuss are a case of grasping at straws just to get "Thirteen doubts".

Numbers 1 and 2 are key doubts I have. Together with my main concern about the battery and battery life in my original iPhone post, I think this could be a deal-breaker for the iPhone and will prevent it from moving past early adopters. For a "next-gen" phone, it must have 3G if it's going to allow streaming of video! More importantly, 3G and Wifi both eat up the battery quickly. If this is really going to be a "next-gen" phone, you're going to need it to connect up via Wifi and have ability to get speeds to stream video...even if you don't want to stream video.

The other key issue for me is the cost of the phone (#'s 7 and 9). I fully expect regular cell phone manufacturers to continually lower their handset prices until they are essentially free (like the once sexy Motorola RAZR). Will Steve Jobs allow that of an Apple product? When launched, the handset will cost $600 in addition to the contract. I'm sure people will pay that but if it doesn't come down in price as quickly as other phones, I don't believe it will get the support of the next wave of buyers after the initial early adopters.

The final interesting point that Crave's blog entry notes is that point #3 notes the similarity between what's inside the iPhone and the Samsung Blackjack (which received a ProductCritic Score of 74). Still, given the other features, look, and overall sexiness of the iPhone, I'm not sure who really cares about what's inside the iPhone.

CES 2007: Should You Listen To CNET's Hype?

CES 2007, the largest consumer electronics tradeshow in the world, is taking place right now in Las Vegas. Each year, CNET does extensive coverage of the products they see at the show. This year is no different with their coverage of CES 2007.

Since most of the products covered are not yet available for purchase, I thought it'd be interesting to look back at CES 2006 and see what CNET chose as their "CES Best in Show" for last year and what the ProductCritic Scores are for some of those products.

In their Cameras and Camcorders category, they chose the Sanyo Xacti HD1 which gets a ProductCritic Score of 61.

In their Cell Phone category, they chose the Samsung ZX20 which fares better with a ProductCritic Score of 72.

What's the moral of this post? Don't get caught in the hype of all the reports coming out of CES. What looks like a "Best in Show" during the show may actually be a dud when the product actually gets released and people get a longer time to review!