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Inside Apple's iPhone
DECS writes "Despite CNET's wild claims, Roughly Drafted is reporting that Apple's market position and recent performance show the company has the ability, capacity, and interest in shaking up the mobile phone industry. Something that service providers, manufacturers, and consumers desperately need."
It wont be called iPhone because Cisco/Linksys has already released one and owns the trademark for iPhone. The Canadian trademark is controlled by Comwave, I believe (someone linked to them defending the trademark against Apple in another article but I can't find it now).
MacPhone perhaps? That seems to be more in line with some of their recent naming conventions as well.
The RAZR is the most popular cell phone in the US, and the newest version (available in the US through Cingular) interfaces directly with iTunes. This is a much nicer phone than the ROKR and comes with a 512MB microsd card (see review). Although it has the restriction of only holding 100 songs, this is about what will fit on the included memory card. I have one and I find it a compelling alternative to carrying around a separate nano. I'm not sure why people are so dismissive of this.
It must be a US only problem then...
:-) But no carrier is forcing them to pay for anything, they're paying because they just don't know that there are ways to get the same things for free.
Around here at Brazil I'm able to upload and download photos/ringtones to my mobile using the provided data-cable, no fees attached. Also there are tons of phones with IR or Bluetooth conectivity, you can use both to transfer data to these phones. Not to mention the new phones that have expandable memory using SDCards and MemorySticks...
So, the only people that pays for things like picture downloading and ringtones here are the ones that don't know better, that is, most of them
---- You know how some doctors have the Messiah complex - they need to save the world? You've got the "Rubik's" complex
Apple has numerous patents and uses DRM on their iTunes Also there are countless time where Apple has to pay Patent holders for other companies to keep their products. (For example Creative had a patent that was used in the iPods after proving to apple they have the patent Apple agreed to pay royalties to Creative for their patent.)
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I haven't read the CNET article, but I have little doubt it's a flame fanning puff piece. However the "Apple iPhone Rumors Off the Hook" rebuttal hits a foul ball as early as its "Strike 1" paragraph. As someone who has owned an Airport, as well as various 3rd party routers, it does not stand "miles ahead" of its competition. Not only is it doubly, or often triply expensive when compared to solid competitors, it lacks a dead-simple web interface to administrate the device, replaced instead by an application. This is great, if you're using an Apple client, but if you have a mixed network, it a huge pain in the neck to require an Apple app to make a change to the device, as opposed to pointing your web browser towards it. The fact that it has a USB print server built in is a plus. I'll grant, although these are a dime a dozen. As for iSight, it seems the author doesn't realize that the product has been discontinued in the US. Sure, Apple has been integrating the revamped "iSight" into many of its new portables, and iMacs, but the fact that it has been yanked as a standalone product makes it difficult to defend as such a "hit". It sure is a great webcam, no doubt, but if you can't buy it, it's not a "homerun", but rather Apple took the ball and ran home.
I could suggest the Motorola C116...
No camera, no games, no color screen... But it has great reception, nice UI, a battery that lasts a week, and is small enough to fit my pocket (but not small enough to get lost easily)
No sig for the moment.
In reading published US patent application 20060268528 filed back in 2004 - Handheld Computing Device - Apple
In the description, section 0111
"In one embodiment, the device is or includes functionality for supporting cellular or mobile phone usage. In this embodiment, the device includes processors, transmitters, receivers, and antennas for supporting RF, and more particularly GSM, DCS and/or PCS wireless communications in the range of about 850 to about 1900 MHz."
In the claims, they detail the invention as a handheld computing device that is a cell phone made of a non-plastic material to have better wireless signal reception (claims 1, 6, 7).
and not all the providers, and not all of the same.
For instance, Cingular took the hardware that performs the WiFi functions out of their HTC based 2125 phone while T-Mobile leaves it active in their version of the same HTC based phone. Verizon has a long history of disabling DUN in its phones, both bluetooth and datacable.
sometimes it is the phones though, for many phones you need special software to be able to transfer pictures and ringtones, so you still have to pay to get them there either way.
- Disclaimer: Information in this post deemed reliable but not guaranteed.