iPhone?

I want this!

do I need it?

no…

but I want it!


along with the Apple TV, all from from cnn.com:

Apple answers the call with iPhone, TV box
POSTED: 11:16 a.m. EST, January 11, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) — Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday made the company’s long-awaited jump into the mobile phone business, unveiling a gadget that’s controlled by touch, plays music, surfs the Internet and runs the Macintosh computer operating system.

Jobs also renamed the company “Apple Inc.” to reflect its increasing focus on consumer electronics.

The iPhone, which starts at $499, will “reinvent” the telecommunications sector and “leapfrog” past the current generation of hard-to-use smart phones, Jobs said. (Watch Jobs make a call on the iPhone Video)

“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,” he said during his keynote address at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo.

“It’s very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. … Apple’s been very fortunate in that it’s introduced a few of these.”

Jobs also unveiled a TV set-top box that allows people to send video from their computers to their televisions.

Jobs demonstrated the phone’s music capabilities by playing The Beatles.

IPhone uses a patented touch-screen technology Apple is calling “multi-touch.”

“We’re going to use a pointing device that we’re all born with,” Jobs said. “It works like magic. … It’s far more accurate than any touch display ever shipped. It ignores unintended touches. It’s super smart.”

The phone automatically synchs your media — movies, music, photos — through Apple’s iTunes Music Store. The device also synchs e-mail content, Web bookmarks and nearly any type of digital content stored on your computer.

“It’s just like an iPod,” Jobs said, “charge and synch.”

The phones, which will operate exclusively on AT&T Inc.’s Cingular wireless network, will start shipping in June. A 4-gigabyte model will cost $499, while an 8-gigabyte iPhone will be $599, Jobs said.

IPhone is less than a half-inch thin — less than almost any phone on the market today. It comes with a 2-megapixel digital camera built into the back, as well as a slot for headphones and a SIM card.

In a demonstration Tuesday, Jobs slid his finger across the display to reveal a home screen and then scrolled through a list of songs.

To make a call, users can tap out the number on an onscreen keypad or scroll through their contacts and dial with a single touch.

Apple is also introducing what it calls “visual voicemail,” so users can jump to the most important messages rather than have to listen to all of them in order.

The phone supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology and can detect location from Global Positioning System satellites. It also can send and display e-mail and text messages. Apple is partnering with Yahoo Inc. on Web-based e-mail and Google Inc. on maps.

With a few finger taps, Jobs demonstrated how to pull up a Google Maps site and find the closest Starbucks to the Moscone Center. He then prank-called the cafe and ordered 4,000 lattes to go before quickly hanging up.
Apple TV

Jobs also said the company will begin taking orders Tuesday for $299 video box, called Apple TV. It will be available in February.

The gadget is designed to bridge computers and television sets so users can more easily watch their downloaded movies on a big screen. A prototype of the gadget was displayed by Jobs in September when Apple announced it would sell TV shows and movies through its iTunes online store.

The product could be as revolutionary to digital movies as Apple’s iPod music player was to digital music. Both devices liberate media from the computer, allowing people to enjoy digital files without being chained to a desktop or laptop.

“It’s really, really easy to use,” Jobs told the crowd at San Francisco’s Moscone Center before demonstrating the system with a video clip of “The Good Shepherd.” “It’s got the processing horsepower to do the kinds of things we like to do.”

Apple TV will come with a 40-gigabyte hard drive that stores up to 50 hours of video. It features an Intel Corp. microprocessor and can handle videos, photos and music streamed from up to five computers within the wireless range.

Jobs also said Apple has sold more than 2 billion songs on its popular iTunes music download service, catapulting the company into the top ranks of music sellers worldwide.

Apple, which sells 58 songs per second, or 5 million songs a day, sells more songs than Amazon.com and ranks behind only Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target as a music retailer.

“We couldn’t be happier with the growth rate of iTunes,” Jobs said.

He said Apple will sell digital movies from Paramount. Apple has partnered with Disney for several months, offering about 100 movies on iTunes. With Paramount’s selection, it will have 250 movies available for downloading on the site.

With Tuesday’s launches, it remains to be seen whether the leading seller of digital music players can colonize an entirely new category of gadgets. Apple could use a megahit along the lines of its iconic iPod to divert investors’ attention from the stock options-backdating scandal that has tainted its reputation.

The backdating of stock options, which has been widespread among Silicon Valley companies, involves pegging stock options to favorable grant dates in the past to boost the recipients’ award. It isn’t necessarily illegal, but securities laws require companies to properly disclose the practice in their accounting and settle any charges that may result.

In a December filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple said Jobs was aware of, or recommended the selection of, some favorable grant dates but he neither benefited financially from them nor “appreciated the accounting implications.”

I can’t wait till Apple gets the balls to do an Xbox style video game consol. Then we’ll see who the big man on campus is, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates…

–Socram

8 thoughts on “iPhone?

  1. flammable says:

    It’s SO cool…too bad it hasn’t been released yet. And only Apple can make widgets and software for it. And it costs like $600.

    Am I crazy for trying to find a way to get one, anyway?

    A game system would be fun, but I’ve got a feeling that Apple would head more in the Nintendo direction than the Sony/Microsoft one.

  2. flammable says:

    Well, like making games for fun, not almost strictly for visual appeal.

    The new Nintendo Wii is old technology, for instance (except the controllers, which is not just new, but revolutionary). The processor, video card, all of the guys of the Wii…are the same parts that a Nintendo GameCube contains, just smaller because it’s been a few years since they debuted.

    This is why the Wii is so much cheaper than the Xbox 360 and PS3, Nintendo able to do that and make a profit! Microsoft and Sony are losing money for every Xbox 360 and PS3 sold, and they both cost around $600. The Wii costs about $250.

    I think if Apple were to make a gaming system, then they wouldn’t be afraid to do what Nintendo did…focus on making a better product, regardless of specs. The games would be fun, but maybe not necessarily breathtaking in terms of graphics.

    I guess this divide in the gaming industry is a lot like what’s happening in the movie industry – when a studio puts out a movie with lots and lots of CGI, but no plot.

  3. socramforever says:

    I don’t know, I really haven’t met that many older players that even want the Wii, they find the Wii an embarasment. Its like, why should we play this? For older gamers, the systems to own are the 360 and the PS3.

    But I guess, the cheaper the better in the eyes of parents who are buying their kids the system…and where the parents are the money is…usually at least.

  4. flammable says:

    I see what you mean. Price is definitely something parents need to consider.

    I just think Microsoft and Sony are all about adding more features, without making games that much more fun. Nintendo recognizes that “fun” is exactly why people play video games.

    Heck, I still play Tetris…and it’s no less fun just because it’s almost as old as I am. 🙂

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