As regular readers will know, we dont concern ourselves too much with devices here at Mobile Marketing. There are plenty of gadget mags and sites for those how need their mobile phone fix. But we couldnt let the launch of the iPhone pass without a mention. Unveiled yesterday at Macworld expo in San Francisco, the iPhones appearance marks the end of months of speculation, and will doubtless have established handset makers quivering in their boots if the success of the iPod is anything to go by.
The device itself looks suitably sexy. 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches of sleek, shiny black convergence, weighing in at 135g, with a 3.5-inch screen with touch-screen controls. Like the iPod, it has been designed by British designer Jonathan Ives.
Apart from its phone and music capabilities, the iPhone also offers a calendar and email facilities, and can be used to download and view movies and also to store and view photos. It uses Apples OSX operating system and comes complete with a Safari web browser, Google Maps, and a 2 megapixel camera. The battery will give five hours of talk time, watching video or web browsing, or 16 hours of music playback. On the comms side of things, its a quad-band GSM phone which also features EDGE and wi-fi for data networking. In launching the iPhone, Apple CEO Steve Jobs described it as the ultimate digital device.
The iPhone launches in the US in June, in Europe in October, and in Asia in 2008. The 4GB version will cost $499 (257), an 8GB version $599 (309). Apple has chosen Cingular, which has over 58 million subscribers, as its exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the US.
Apple says it hopes to secure 1% of the global handset market by 2008, which would translate to sales of 10m iPhones. Given the success of the iPod, you wouldnt put it past Apple to achieve, or even better this figure.