Answering your iPhone questions
Posted
Jun 10 2008, 12:53 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
We've had time to sleep on Apple's iPhone announcements, and today people are coming out of their Steve Jobs-induced euphoria and looking a little closer at the news. Apple shares steadily crept up today but have recently begun falling to $185.03 at last check. I'll round up the latest iPhone discussions and answer some of your questions below.
Barron's has a collection of analyst reaction to the 3G iPhone. Most of them say that buying AAPL is still a good idea. Analysts were mainly concerned about Apple dropping its revenue-sharing model with carriers, which could bring lower profits. Bernstein Research estimates Apple will sell the iPhone to carriers for between $350 to $700 each. PiperJaffray expects 12.9 million iPhone unit sales in 2008 and 45 million in 2009.
The EE Times notes that Apple could still profit on the iPhone despite cutting prices to $200 and $300. One analyst said the new phone could cost Apple as little as $100 to make. That compares to $170 for the first-generation iPhone handset. The analyst suspects that Apple reduced costs through volume pricing and engineering changes to the phone's touch-screen display.
Gizmodo looks at AT&T's activation pricing for the iPhone. It'll cost $30 for an unlimited data plan ($45 for business users), and that's on top of what you'll already pay for voice. Users have to sign one of those wretched two-year contracts, and AT&T will only activate the phone in-store, which Gizmodo says takes up to 12 minutes. In other words, don't even think about trying to buy an iPhone on Day 1 (July 11), because the line will be long and impatient.
TechCrunch notes that the iPhone has no physical keyboard and the battery life isn't great. And the iPhone is a closed system, in which Apple controls what programs are available and how they will work. Apple has strict rules for developers to follow. But that's not bad, TechCrunch says. "Users will trade price and flexibility in exchange for simplicity and elegance."
Now, on to some reader questions from yesterday's post:
1. Will I be able to upgrade an existing iPhone to the 3G technology? No. A 3G phone uses an entirely different chipset, and it's not as easy as a simple upgrade to get all the new bells and whistles.
2. When will the iPhone be available from companies other than AT&T? Not anytime soon in the U.S. AT&T reportedly has a five-year deal for exclusive distribution rights for the iPhone. There are four years left. Internationally, a number of carriers are lined up to offer the iPhone. But some people are speculating that ending the revenue-sharing deal might let Apple out of the exclusivity contract earlier.
3. I recently bought my two iPhones two months ago thinking that this phone is the best. If I knew that Apple was coming out with this new phone I would have waited. I've been hearing this one a lot. Apple could have disclosed that a new iPhone was in the works, but if the company did that all sales of iPhones would have immediately stopped. It was a business decision and a competitive strategy, but some iPhone owners are now left with devices that suddenly seem much slower and outdated. Update: Gizmodo reports that if you bought an iPhone after May 27 you can exchange it for a 3G model for free.
4. Is there any information out regarding the rate plans for the 3G iPhone yet? See above in this post. Data plan is increasing from $20 to $30 a month.
5. Does the new iPhone have picture messaging? A huge selling point for me!! Can you believe Apple still hasn't included that? You'll just have to use e-mail. The Crave blog has a list of other features the new iPhones don't have. They include copy-and-paste ability, video recording and voice command.
6. Why not have a bigger version for battery life? I for one would sacrifice a little weight for more life. Ahh, but then Apple would lose some style points. And if a customer is in the store, holding an iPhone in one hand and a BlackBerry in the other, style points could go a long way for Apple.
7. With hands-free cellular becoming law in California, will the iPhone have a voice dialing feature? No. And with hands-free laws becoming more prevalent Apple may feel more pressure to add this feature.
8. Terrible article not to mention the competitors, HTC and Samsung i900, and compare them for us. Well, well, well, would you like a martini and a foot massage also? You can find some comparison articles here and here.
Related reading:
To see all posts about Apple and links to related subjects, click here.
Disclosures: I don't own shares of any companies mentioned in
this post. And while Microsoft owns this blog, Microsoft does not
control, censor or otherwise have any editorial influence over what I
write.
