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.