FEATURE iPHONE
iWatering
Love it or hate it, few would deny that the biggest device story of 2007 was the
arrival of Apple’s iPhone. But has it really changed the telecoms landscape?
By Sean Jackson
�o much has been said and written about
the iPhone in such a short space of time,
it is difficult to know where to start a
brief retrospective. The story dates back to
comments made by Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs,
at a conference in 2003. He publicly stated
that Apple had no interest in manufacturing
a PDA, but that mobile phones would play
an increasingly important role as portable
information devices.
Three years later and the snowball that
Jobs set rolling when he made those comments
had become a monster: A giant, spinning,
unstoppable ball of hype. Awareness
levels were sky-high. If nothing else, the
iPhone has been one of the finest examples of
product marketing witnessed by the mobile
industry, or indeed any other industry. And
there have been more than a few examples
of hype in this sector.
The difference, this time, is that the end
product is really rather good. When Jobs
demonstrated the device at Macworld in
January and Apple released videos showing
the phone in action, it was met with near
universal approval, not to mention slavish
desire. Doubts over whether the phone could
be that fast, sleek and sexy in the flesh were
quashed upon its release.
The handset looked great—and looks count
for an awful lot with handsets. And, even
though there are plenty of more affordable,
technically superior alternatives available, the
iPhone’s user interface is genuinely revolutionary.
Form and function in the handset sector
are mutually dependent if a handset is to succeed
and Apple delivered on both counts.
That’s not to say there aren’t shortcomings.
The absence of 3G access speeds would not
be tolerated by operators or consumers from
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a handset carrying any other brand that was
marketed on the strength of high end applications
and access. But with the sheer level of
anticipation that Apple managed to generate,
it sidestepped what would have been a stickier
issue for any of its more entrenched handset
competitors.
If those competitors are envious of the
performance leeway that gushing consumers
granted the iPhone, they will be equally
green-eyed over the nature of the deals that
Apple struck with its distribution and carrier
partners. A single carrier was chosen in each
of the iPhone’s launch markets, with operators
reported to be clamouring for the opportunity
to offer the device.
The exclusivity deals were certainly a masterstroke
for Apple, given the revenue share
arrangements that it is widely believed the
firm was able to strike with the carriers. While
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