Gregory Szorc's blog

Obligatory Post on the iPhone

First off, congratulations to Apple and Steve Jobs for creating such a frenzy over a device that only few have actually seen being operated. There are few companies in the world that can generate this much anticipation for a product. Hats off to you.

Because I live in Silicon Valley, everything tech is amplified about 100x compared to most parts of the country/world. And, since Apple's headquarters are only a few miles away (I think it is less than 3 miles from my apartment), the iPhone hype here has been almost untolerable. Everywhere you look, iPhone this, iPhone that. Every blog. iPhone. iPhone. iPhone.

June 29 is almost here. Cingular (I guess it is the "new AT&T" now), is preparing for people to be camping out overnight to be the first to get their hands on the devices. It is sheer madness. All of this excitement over a portable electronic device!

Fortunately for my sanity, I've managed to remain calm about the iPhone. The reason is I don't want one. Well, technically, I'd like one, but I won't be buying one. My reasons are plentiful. Here are the top three:

• The iPhone doesn't have a detachable battery -- Seriously, WTF? It is one thing for my iPod to run out of battery (which it does very often since I have almost exhausted the usable life out of the battery), it is another to run out of battery on my phone. Even if the battery life is great (I'm a little skeptic about the advertised battery life), I still want the ability to change the battery. When the battery eventually loses its charge capacity, I want the freedom to replace it without replacing the whole device.
• No 3G -- The non-WIFI network speed of the non-3G iPhone will be pathetic. Currently, most of AT&T's EDGE network averages about 40kbps -- slower than a 56k dial-up modem! AT&T has been upgrading their network lately to try to boost performance to 80kbps -- slightly faster than a 56k modem. Even if they max out, they can only get max performance at about 4x 56k speeds. The WIFI connection is a different story. It will probably be able to go over 1Mbps (5x faster than max EDGE speed). Of course, when you are in the store doing all the cool online activities with the iPhone, it will be going over WIFI. I picture many customers walking out of the store and saying, "why is the network so slow now?". They will find out that they have to use WIFI for a better browsing experience. Of course, WIFI will drain your battery like nothing else. So, you will either get great network performance or longer battery life. I don't want to make that decision! It will be interesting to see how many initial buyers complain about the EDGE network speed. With Google Maps on EDGE now, I find it barely usable. Will it be the same on iPhone? Time will tell.
• It is the first model -- If I've learned anything about Apple products, it is to wait for the second model. There will be so many software refinements and hardware improvements, that you will be glad you waited. I wouldn't be surprised if a second generation was available by February 2008.

In summary, being an early adopted of this product is just too risky or foolish for me. I commend Apple at designing an amazing product and building anticipation, but I just can't buy one just yet. Once the dust settles and iPhone survives the test of time (and adds a few more features, like 3G), I will probably be in the market for an iPhone, or any of the numerous competitors that are quickly entering the market. Finally, I wish the early adopters good luck. You will drop and good chunk of change on the device and service plan. I hope you get a great return on your investment.

You can ping this entry by using http://blog.case.edu/gps10/mt-tb.cgi/14252 .

Ok - i am like a total early adoptor. the one thing i hated about the iphone was they sealed the battery insidde the device. I mean, how dumb is that. but i just learned that you can actually get a new iphone battery from ipodjuice. they also sell batteries for iPods (remember those things!). have fun and don't drive and text at the same time.

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Hi Greg, I write a 21st century camping in my video blog at www.joyofcamping.com. iPhones are allowed.

Watch fun and instructional videos on camping tips, shortcuts, camp skills, camp cooking and gear reviews. I even have ghost stories for those campfire evenings.

Say hi if you drop by. --Myrtha

great

I really like reading your blog about the iphone. It needs to be published more so that other people can read about the disadvantages of the device. I know they are also a lot of disadvantages, not only the 3 you pointed out. And even though you pointed out 3, it already hurts a lot for apple. They need to consider these issues as well as others not pointed out here. By the way, If you're interested I know some easy ways on how to make money online.

The problem with most first and second generation technology products is the big rich companies want us poor peasants to fault them. It seems that making us pay large sums of money to keep a head in the world is is a good way for them to save money on testing. On numerous occasions I have bought cutting edge technology only to find that after all the faults and bugs one year latter a better quality free of all the little annoying faults product appears at a tenth the price I paid. But this life is it not.

thanks