iPhone FAQ

[mattstick]

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/the-ultimate-iphone-frequently-asked-questions/

Also, did anyone see Colbert's rant about the iPhone and Apple dropping Computer from their name?  Colbert is awsome.

January 11, 2007,  2:40 pm
The Ultimate iPhone Frequently Asked Questions

Wow. Predictably, the torrent — and I do mean torrent — of iPhone commentary from the citizens of the Web is practically outflooding spam this week. Most of it comes from people whose shirt fronts are practically drenched in drool. Plenty is negative and bitter.

Another huge category is iPhone questions. Never mind that many of these questions either (a) have been answered by Apple, either on its elaborate, interactive Web site or the free video of Steve Jobs's speech, or (b) come from people who fantasize about fitting the iPhone into their own particular wish lists.

(My favorite sarcastic comment, which was a response to these responses, which were in response to my last blog entry: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but can you use it underwater? And can you recharge it using solar power? And does it have an optical scanner that detects your eyeball movements so that you merely have to look at a name in your contacts list and blink in order to choose and call him? Apple, you have a long way to go...")

Anyway, here it is: the ultimate iPhone Frequently Asked Questions list, complete with answers.

ANSWERS TO ALL YOUR QUESTIONS:

Can it be used with anything but Cingular? –No.

Is it an "unlocked" phone, so I can use it with a carrier other than Cingular? –No.

Will there be a non-Cingular version? –Not within the first two years.

Can I put my T-Mobile SIM card in it instead of Cingular? –No.

But what if I keep asking? Then will it be available beyond Cingular? –No.

Can it run Mac OS X programs? –No.

Can I add new programs to it? –No. Apple wants to control the look and feel and behavior of every aspect of the phone.

Does it run programs from Palm, Symbian, Windows? –No.

Does it connect to iChat? –No.

Does it have games? –No.

Is it ambidextrous? –No.

Does it have GPS? –No.

Voice recognition? Voice dialing? Voice memos? –No, although this could change by June when the phone ships.

Does it get onto the HSDPA (3G) high-speed Internet network that Cingular has rolled out in a few cities? –No. But Steve Jobs said a later version of the iPhone will — once there's enough HSDPA coverage in this country to justify it.

Does the Web browser support Flash or Java? –No.

Will it play music over Bluetooth? –Unknown.

Can you change the battery yourself? –No. You'll have to send the phone in to Apple for battery replacement, just as with the iPods.

Can it open Word and Excel documents? –No. (Steve Jobs says it can open PDF files, though.)

Can you use it one-handed? –Yes, for some functions. But overall, it's less convenient than on a phone with physical keys.

Can I make a call while driving a car? –Not as easily as on a regular cellphone with programmed speed-dial keys. (Besides–MUST you?)

Does the camera record video? –Not yet. Apple may add this feature by June.

Does it connect to standard iPod accessories like car docks and speaker systems? –Yes!

Does it work overseas? –Yes. It's a quad-band GSM phone, meaning you can use it in almost any country (for an added fee, of course).

Is there a Verizon version? –NO!!!!

Will they make a non-cellphone version–a widescreen touch iPod? –Nobody knows. Apple doesn't leak product info until it's good and ready.

That scrolling through lists thing is glitzy, but what if I have 3,000 names in my address book? –There's also an alphabet "index tab" down the right side of the screen, so you can jump to another spot in the list.

Is there a calendar? –Yes.

Will it sync with Outlook? –No.

What about airplane use? –It has a airplane mode (wireless off), just like any cellphone.

Won't the screen get smudgy? –It does, but you don't see it except when the screen is off. The one I played with was pretty streaky, but wiping it on my sleeve cleaned it completely.

Who on earth would buy this thing? –Obviously not people who ask this question. But that's OK–there's no requirement that everyone buy the iPhone. More for the rest of us!

[jedifunk]

saw this earlier today... not much of a FAQ... none of those questions were ones i was wondering about...

[jephrey]

I thought about it for a while...  I don't really want to switch to Cingular so I won't be getting it.  IMO, it's really really cool and I think it has a great future but for the short term, I think there's some things that aren't great about it.  I can understand not wanting to be able to add other software...  And I believe Apple will put out enough basic stuff for this first go-around, so I think even this version will be sweet, but not unbelievably awesome.  I think of the first iPod and remember some of the things it lacked, and I think Apple did a good job at upgrading over time, as well as selling "lesser" versions (nano/shuffle).  I'll bet the stock dips for a while (started going down today), but that will be a good time to buy.  Because...  I truly believe that Apple will add, and be more definitive about features that are available as the release approaches.  Apple seems to underpromise and overdeliver early whereas MS seems to overpromise and underdeliver at a later date.  This isn't the final answer, but I hope this is the device that gets apple a better toehold to where they will eventually be.  I believe that will be a handheld computer with a built in phone.  To be fair, I'll comment on the Zune in a similar fashion even though there's a BIG difference.  MS DID get wi-fi in it and that holds great future promise.  However, the difference is that the device is competing with something that has too much power.  The "smartphone" realm is still convoluted, with nobody that has a true stronghold.  Apple actually has a good chance of becoming a leader in that market.

Anyway, my wish is for a version of this without the phone, but still with wifi for the internet and chat.  If not that, at least just a great ipod video.

That's enough from me...  I can't wait to see what happens over the next few months with other apple stuff.  Maybe it was a plan to keep the stock prices up by making surprise announcements the first half of this year about iWork/iLife and leopard.

J

[mattstick]

If I'm living in Europe and can choose any provider I may get one - if I'm living in Canada and have to use Rogers, fuckit.

I'm patient enough to wait for the iPhone Nano sometime in late 2008.   :-D

[jedifunk]

not me!  i'll be a 1st gen geek because

a) i love apple products
b) i need a new phone and have been waiting for this
c) been thinking of switching to cingular for a while (roll over would be huge for my family)
d) i feel like apple always has me in mind when they make products... this phone is exactly what i'm looking for (feature wise)... no more and no less... there are a few things that i think would be cool to have, but wouldnt need necesarily... but it is already offering all the things i would use a lot and none of the things i would.

[mattstick]

Does the iPhone support iPod games?

[jedifunk]

i dont believe so

[mattstick]

That's too bad - I've become quite addicted to Texas Hold 'Em on my iPod. 

It would be nice if you could play the games on the Nano too.

[jedifunk]

here's part 2

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/01/13/ultimate-iphone-faqs-list-part-2/

[jedifunk]

here's an interesting development for free VoIP calls on the iPhone...  this would be sweet.
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/10111/53/

[tmwsiy]

Conan's iPhone Commercial


:-D

[jedifunk]

heres some interesting new apple tidbits from steves interview with the WSJ today.

looking forward the joint steve jobs/bill gates interview later tonight!

http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/05/30/steveatd/index.php

Our coverage of Walt Mossberg's interview with Steve Jobs at the D: All Things Digital event has concluded.

Apple CEO Jobs sat down on Wednesday with Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg to discuss the state of Apple, new products and more at the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital event in Carlsbad, Calif.

Apple TV "a DVD player for the Internet"

Mossberg asked Jobs what kind of businesses Apple is in. Jobs told him that Apple is in two businesses today -- the Mac business, and the music business. And that Apple is entering a third business with the forthcoming release of the iPhone. The Apple TV represents a fourth opportunity for Apple, said Jobs, but he described it more as a hobby.

"The reason I call it a hobby is, a lot of people have tried and failed to make it a business. And it's a hard problem. So we're trying. I think if we work on it and improve things over the next year, 18 months, we can crack that," said Jobs.

"What everybody's tried, and where we've come from, too, is coming from the personal computer market, you first think about getting content from PC to widescreen TV. And I'm not sure that's what consumers want," mused Jobs. "Yeah, it's great to get that all on there, but we tend to think of that as the entree. And the more we think about it, we think that that stuff is the peas on the side. And the entree might be content on the Internet."

Mossberg referred to the Apple TV as a "set-top box," and Jobs corrected him.

"We thought of it as a set-top box replacement, but the minute you do that you get into a gnarly set of problems because you have to have the cable cards, and go through the cable companies, and they use this very strange software so you can implement their billing systems, and that's just never something we would choose to do ourselves. We want to be a DVD player for the new Internet age. That's our motto for the Apple TV: a DVD player for the Internet," said Jobs.

Some have criticized Apple's decision not to sell HD-quality video from the iTunes Store, especially when the downloaded video can look pixelated or displays artifact on HDTVs connected to the Apple TV.

"We're not selling HD yet, because of the tradeoffs between download time and quality. But that might change in the future," said Jobs.

Jobs acknowledged the popularity of the Google-owned Internet video site, YouTube. "Wouldn't it be great if you could see YouTube in your living room? So we've had a great opportunity to work with the YouTube folks, and we're putting YouTube in the main menu," he said.

YouTube support in the Apple TV will be available to users as a free software download in mid-June, Jobs added.

Still committed to the Mac

Jobs explained that Apple is "steadily trying to improve things" in the Mac market, and suggested that Apple makes the best notebooks and desktop computers in the world.

"Our share in notebooks is ahead of the industry, two-thirds notebooks. I can see a time when notebooks are 80, 90 percent of what we sell. We're also always improving our OS, generally have a release 18 months or so. And we had a big release we didn't get much credit for, which is Mac OS X Tiger for Intel," he said.

Jobs pushed aside criticism that with Apple's name change from Apple Computer to Apple Inc., it was setting aside the personal computer business for good. When asked by Mossberg if Apple remained committed to the Mac, Jobs responded enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah, totally. At WWDC, we'll have the largest attended we've had," he said. Jobs said that Apple is making "massive investments in that business."

What's more, thanks to the popularity of iTunes on PCs, Apple has become a major Windows software developer. "We've got cards and letters from lots of people who say that iTunes is their favorite app on Windows," noted Jobs. "It's like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in Hell."

The iPod and the iPhone

"You haven't updated the iPod in a while," Mossberg noted.

"We're working on the best iPods that we've ever done, and they're awesome," said Jobs.

Turning his attention to Apple's hotly anticipated iPhone, Jobs said that Apple is on track to deliver them in late June. "I think we'll ship a lot of them," he added. "Will it be enough? I don't know. I hope not."

Jobs admitted that Apple is a new player in the cell phone business, saying "We're newcomers. People have forgotten more than we know about this." Jobs noted that the operating system to run the iPhone -- Mac OS X itself -- has been in develop for more than a decade (its roots like in NeXT's Nextstep operating system). Mossberg suggested that the iPhone doesn't have the entire operating system on it, but Jobs protested.

"Yes it does. The entire OS is gigabytes, but it's data. We don't need desktop patterns, sound files. If you take out the data, the OS isn't that huge. It's got real OS X, real Safari, real desktop e-mail. And we can take Safari and put a different user interface on it, to work with the multitouch screen. And if you don't own a browser, you can't do that," said Jobs.

Jobs also noted in an audience question and answer session following Mossberg's prepared queries that access to the Internet through the iPhone is unfettered by AT&T, using AT&T's network.

Jobs told Mossberg that Cingular -- now AT&T -- did a deal with Apple differently from the arrangements that it's made with other cell phone makers. He attributes this to two major benefits Apple brings to the table -- one is music, which Jobs says hasn't been successful on phones so far, and the other is the '3G' cell phone network. "They have spent a fortune building these 3G networks, and so far there ain't a lot to do with them," Jobs said wryly. Apple promises a richer multimedia and Internet experience with the iPhone than many of its competitors are capable of.

Jobs said the iPhone is much like Apple's iPod and the Mac itself -- it's "a software product in beautiful hardware." That's a conceptual leap that Jobs said Japanese manufacturers were incapable of making. "They've got their hardware down, but they haven't been able to make the leap to software," he explained.

Many developers have expressed an interest in creating software to run on the iPhone after it was revealed that the iPhone runs Mac OS X. Jobs told Mossberg that users shouldn't expect straightforward Mac OS X conversions, or ports, to run on the iPhone. Theoretically, could the iPhone run Mac OS X apps? Mossberg asked.

"We don't think that's a good idea," said Jobs. "We don't have a mouse on our phone, or pull-down menus. We think there's a different UI for the phone."

Later asked by an audience member about writing applications for the iPhone, Jobs said that Apple ultimately wants both the iPhone to be secure and open without compromising either attribute. The last thing Apple wants, he suggested, is an iPhone that can be easily hacked or that crashes as a result of installing third party software.

"I think sometime later this year we will find a way to let third parties write apps and still preserve security. But until we can find that way, we can't compromise the security of the phone. Nobody's perfect, but we sure don't want our phone to crash. We would like to solve this problem, if you could be just a little more patient with us, I think everyone can get what they want," he said.

Jobs admitted to being wrong about video on the iPod -- a concept he initially scoffed at. "I was definitely more skeptical than customers," he said. "I think video's here to stay on portable devices."

iTunes Plus and DRM

Apple on Wednesday also introduced its long awaited "iTunes Plus" feature on the iTunes Store, offering customers the ability to purchase and download DRM-free music at higher bit rates than was previously offered. While EMI is the first major commercial music publisher to offer its catalog in iTunes Plus format, Jobs said the next group will be independent music labels.

"There's zillions of independents jumping on this bandwagon, so as they get their stuff encoded you'll be seeing more of them. Half of all the songs on iTunes will be available on iTunes Plus by the end of the year," Jobs said, reiterating a milestone he mentioned when the news of DRM-free music for sale from iTunes first appeared in April.

Apple is negotiating to bring other record companies in line, too. Benefits to the record companies include higher revenue, as the tracks cost moderately more, and the resolution of interoperability problems, as the songs are no longer limited to playback on iTunes or through an iPod ("iTunes Plus" is encoded using 256Kbps AAC format, so it's playable by any music player or portable device that supports the AAC format).

"We were successful in persuading EMI and hopefully over the rest of the year we'll be successful with the rest of them," said Jobs.

On Fake Steve Jobs and Apple talent

After Mossberg opened the Q&A session to the audience, questions rolled in that covered the gamut of Steve Jobs' Apple experience. Many attendees had questions about the upcoming iPhone. Others wanted to know more about Steve himself.

Jobs confided to the audience after one question that he's read some items on The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, a "fake Steve" Weblog.

"I have read some of those Fake Steve Jobs blog entries lately, and I thought they were pretty funny. And I get asked a lot if I know who it is, but I don't. And it is pretty funny," he said.

Jobs said that the secret to Apple's success isn't in building huge factories. "All we are is our ideas, or people. That's what keeps us going to work in the morning, to hang around these great bright people. I've always thought that recruiting is the heart and soul of what we do," he said.

"We make tools for people. Tools to create, tools to communicate. This age we're living in, these tools surprise you. We didn't think about education when we launched iTunes, but we launched iTunes U today. That's why I love what we do. Because we make these tools, and we're constantly surprised with what people do with them," Jobs said.

Coordinated by the Wall Street Journal, D: All Things Digital is an executive conference set at the Four Seasons Resort Avaria in Carlsbad, Calif. This is the fifth edition of the D event, dubbed D5. The interviews are being done by the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

Among this year's speakers are Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Palm founder Jeff Hawkins, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, founders of Youtube, filmmaker George Lucas and many others.

Jobs is slated to appear with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates at another D session later Wednesday. Macworld will have full coverage of that event.

[jephrey]

I'll be checking in often to see what is discussed.  I hope Steve rains on Bill's parade and surprise announces a mac tablet with multi-touch for consumers, instead of this MS 5000-10000 dollar multi-touch desktop that's out of reach.  Bring IT.  I was looking at Apple stock at $65 a share and it's around $115 and climbing  :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

J

[jedifunk]

iphone is coming on JUNE 29!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:banana:  how many bananas can i post at once, cuz thats how many i would post!

[jedifunk]

i'm so ready for this!  what about everyone else?  anyone else planning to buy one?

i'll have mine on June 29th