Is Apple’s iPhone too good to be true?
By John Pospisil
We now know that the iPhone will be launched in the US on June 29. Will the iPhone live up to the pre-launch hype, or are customers’ expectations too high, as some Apple executives fear?
At around US$500, the iPhone won’t be cheap, although that hasn’t stopped both Apple and US distributor AT&T from receiving more than 1 million iPhone-related inquiries each.
You can already buy the promise of an iPhone on eBay for a $1000, along with lots of accessories and even domain names (getmyfreeiPhone.com anyone?).
Analysts are raving about the iPhone, with Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research stating that the iPhone is the most anticipated phone since “Alexander Graham Bell’s first phone way back when”.
Robert Semple of Credit Suisse predicts that consumers will trade up to new iPhone because it’s cool, high-tech and multi purpose, despite the steep price tag. He even went as far to say that the iPhone would be more profitable than Apple expects, and that 5 million would be sold this year, and 15 million would be sold next year.
However, the hype is getting to the stage where Apple executives are worried that customers’ expectations may be too high, according to the New York Times. Executives are said to be concerned that the first generation of buyers will end up being disappointed.
The good news is that those who have managed to actually to play with the iPhone have been extremely impressed with it.
“I actually got my hands on one … I can safely say that the iPhone is even more impressive than it appeared during the Jobs keyote (in January), gushed PC Magazine’s Cade Metz.
Jason Snell of PC Advisor expressed similar sentiments:
“Let me tell you from personal experience, the iPhone is much more impressive in your hand – when your finger’s running across its multi-touch screen – than anything Steve Jobs’ performance could express.”
Of course technical excellence is just part of what the iPhone offers. What really sets the iPhone apart from other mobiles is that it is the ultimate über cool mobile phone. There is no question about that. Never has a mobile phone release generated so much interest, so much discussion, and so much excitement.
Apple has a track record of being able to create über cool products.
For example, with the iPod, Apple was able to take what was then a boring product – the MP3 player – and make it into a product that is desired by geeks and mainstream consumers alike. The prelaunch hype has already achieved this for the iPhone.
Will customers be disappointed with the iPhone? Not if they’re after the coolest mobile phone the world has ever seen.
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on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
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June 8th, 2007
To be frank, nothing is capable of living up to the hype that the iPhone is generating. It’s a nift little device, but I find it unlikely that the common consumer will pay the price premium. I am purposely excluding the Apple fanboys of thw world (of which I am certainly one). I will probably go down on day one to try and secure my iPhone, but of the many people in my immediate circle, I am the only one I know of who even plans on getting one. The real question of “will it be a hit” is to ask my siblings, friends and geeky but not fanatical parents. As of right now, many are simply not in the market for a massively expensive integrated device.
In a non-scientific poll I conducted, 15/20 people don’t want an integrated device which includes a phone. Simply: they often take their iPods into surroundings where they don’t want to be connected to the world or they don’t want to be interrupted (despite my pointing out that they can turn the phone functionality off). I received such responses even from people who own Apple stock and usually buy all things Apple.