Apple Iphone

Tom Dunne

Looks like the Apple world is buzzing about a rumoured mobile phone/ipod device. News here.

What do you think?

Not being an ipod fan, but being a music and gadget fan, I certainly would give it a long hard look.

Opinions?

Linoge

An Apple phone does not excite me in the least. IMO Apple fluked it with the iPod.

However, this I find interesting enough

"Still others say the phone will be sold with an Apple-branded MVNO, or mobile virtual network operator, in which Apple effectively leases excess capacity from other mobile service providers and resells it to customers. "

This is a bit too far reaching for Apple I think, but one company that may be more interested is Nokia. Nokia are increasingly trying to find ways to connect directly to their customers without the service providers. Most service providers aren't making the most of mobile phones potential, like Push to Talk and Instant Messaging (which I can only imagine annoys the sh1t out of manufacturers!)

If Nokia got a chance I bet they would jump at it.

flogen

Linoge wrote:

An Apple phone does not excite me in the least. IMO Apple fluked it with the iPod.

However, this I find interesting enough

"Still others say the phone will be sold with an Apple-branded MVNO, or mobile virtual network operator, in which Apple effectively leases excess capacity from other mobile service providers and resells it to customers. "

This is a bit too far reaching for Apple I think, but one company that may be more interested is Nokia. Nokia are increasingly trying to find ways to connect directly to their customers without the service providers. Most service providers aren't making the most of mobile phones potential, like Push to Talk and Instant Messaging (which I can only imagine annoys the sh1t out of manufacturers!)

If Nokia got a chance I bet they would jump at it.

I'm surprised we have yet to see any 100% MVNO in Ireland; it's odd that big European players like Orange and T-Mobile haven't made the move yet (unless they're waiting for the market to settle down here - ie for Meteor to get the last 3g licence and possibly be sold again).

Would be odd to see Apple of all companies do MVNO though.
As for the phone, I'll certainly be giving it a long, hard look but there's little chance that I'll buy it.
I already have an ipod and a pretty decent phone and you can bet this offering will be very pricey (because of the brand more than its features).

I'm interested to see how they'll manage this product without canibalising their nano/shuffle sales, though.

Urban Weigl

I think they are talking about Apple doing a MVNO in the US, not Ireland.

Anyway, since when is this a rumour forum? By the way, don't get me wrong, I think Apple made a fantastic product wit the iPod, but I doubt they'll be able to keep up with the likes of Sony Ericsson making phones, because SE simply has more experience than Apple in this area.

Of course I could be wrong.

Linoge

Urban Weigl wrote:

I think they are talking about Apple doing a MVNO in the US, not Ireland..

lol, I think that Flogen was just making a general statement about MVNO in Ireland. Most of us agree that Apple wouldn't class Ireland as a market, nevermind move into unchartered terrority, as it is for them, here.

Urban Weigl wrote:

Anyway, since when is this a rumour forum? By the way, don't get me wrong, I think Apple made a fantastic product wit the iPod, but I doubt they'll be able to keep up with the likes of Sony Ericsson making phones, because SE simply has more experience than Apple in this area.

Of course I could be wrong.

I agree that it would be an uphill battle for them. An MP3 player is an accessory on your phone, I'm not sure how well a phone as an accessory to an MP3 player would work - or on any device for that matter (there was the the runaway success of the N-Gage of course... wasn't there??!!)

Apple would have to rely heavily on branding to get a foothold (they're not exactly the most innovative), but the big brands like Nokia and SE are already well established, both of which have serious contenders to the nano out at the moment.