As someone who is constantly surrounded by technology, I feel that I have a pretty good knowledge of the type of technology that would be considered consumable for "alpha geeks." In general, this technology is not ready for prime time and is often the precursor to the actual product that is released to the general public.
To give you a better idea of what i mean, I've actually had the honor or rather dishonor of being a product tester for a cellphone made by IBM called the "Simon." The Simon was what I would consider the very first "smartphone." The Simon had wonderful capabilities for its time, it was a cellphone, a fax machine, a pda and had hand writing recognition (very rudimentary). It was a good idea, the only drawback was that it was HUGE. I mean literally, this thing would not fit in your pocket, i don't know how i carried it around.
In any case, since then, i've had a number of phones, many of them just plain old cell phones, but most recently I had a HTC Windows Mobile 5 so called "smart-phone." It was a slider phone with a touch screen interface (pen input) and you could customize it to your needs. It worked ok i guess, but after a while, it got clunky and I lost the stylus and since then it didn't work so well because some of the dialog boxes and user interface elements were so darn small.
Now fast forward to my iPhone. I just can't believe how much a game changer being always connected is. I am constantly receiving email, checking stocks and even seeing how the weather will be for the rest of the week. I really enjoy looking up restaurants in the Google maps application and the phone numbers next to the listing is a PLUS.
Then, one day, I actually had a chance to go back to my WM5 device, just to turn it on to see if I had transferred all my contacts over to the iPhone. I flipped thru some menus and programs and i just remember saying to myself...I used to use this??? I can't believe how anyone can put up with this kind of interface.
There are a lot of naysayers and a lot of people who believe the iPhone won't do well in Japan because that market is at such a sophisticated level. The Japanese expect a lot of their phones and guess what? I feel that the iPhone will be able to teach that market a thing or two. Did you know that shares of DoCoMo actually went up upon rumors of talk between the two companies? That my friends is simply amazing...
A lot of people I feel are missing the point about the iPhone. Yes, it doesn't have the camera with the most megapixels and no it doesn't have 3G (but wouldn't u want a webpage looking like its supposed to instead of just junk?), but it does raise the bar and definitely gives the industry a much needed kick in the pants...
Now if apple could only kick start the TV industry and shake them up too...we'll see, maybe 2008 will be AppleTVs year...who know...
Happy Holidays All
To give you a better idea of what i mean, I've actually had the honor or rather dishonor of being a product tester for a cellphone made by IBM called the "Simon." The Simon was what I would consider the very first "smartphone." The Simon had wonderful capabilities for its time, it was a cellphone, a fax machine, a pda and had hand writing recognition (very rudimentary). It was a good idea, the only drawback was that it was HUGE. I mean literally, this thing would not fit in your pocket, i don't know how i carried it around.
In any case, since then, i've had a number of phones, many of them just plain old cell phones, but most recently I had a HTC Windows Mobile 5 so called "smart-phone." It was a slider phone with a touch screen interface (pen input) and you could customize it to your needs. It worked ok i guess, but after a while, it got clunky and I lost the stylus and since then it didn't work so well because some of the dialog boxes and user interface elements were so darn small.
Now fast forward to my iPhone. I just can't believe how much a game changer being always connected is. I am constantly receiving email, checking stocks and even seeing how the weather will be for the rest of the week. I really enjoy looking up restaurants in the Google maps application and the phone numbers next to the listing is a PLUS.
Then, one day, I actually had a chance to go back to my WM5 device, just to turn it on to see if I had transferred all my contacts over to the iPhone. I flipped thru some menus and programs and i just remember saying to myself...I used to use this??? I can't believe how anyone can put up with this kind of interface.
There are a lot of naysayers and a lot of people who believe the iPhone won't do well in Japan because that market is at such a sophisticated level. The Japanese expect a lot of their phones and guess what? I feel that the iPhone will be able to teach that market a thing or two. Did you know that shares of DoCoMo actually went up upon rumors of talk between the two companies? That my friends is simply amazing...
A lot of people I feel are missing the point about the iPhone. Yes, it doesn't have the camera with the most megapixels and no it doesn't have 3G (but wouldn't u want a webpage looking like its supposed to instead of just junk?), but it does raise the bar and definitely gives the industry a much needed kick in the pants...
Now if apple could only kick start the TV industry and shake them up too...we'll see, maybe 2008 will be AppleTVs year...who know...
Happy Holidays All
