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Nokia's iPhone, No Seriously
Several readers have written to tell us that Engadget has a look at Nokia's visions for the future. "It was presented during Nokia's GoPlay event this morning as a glimpse into the future of Nokia interface design. Oh, and it's due out next year. When pressed during the Q&A about the striking similarity to the little Cupertino device, Anssi Vanjoki — Nokia's Executive VP & General Manager of Multimedia — said, 'If there is something good in the world then we copy with pride.' Well, ok then."
Not even a Stanza...
But maybe I can mod this, and make a trade for a refurbed Segway.
Well, in any case, I'm holding out for the ZunePhone...
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
This will be based on Symbian's S60 4.0 new version btw, not Linux. It's just the evolution of their S60 smartphone platform.
I guess that beats everyone else's motto; "If there is something good in the world, aquire dubious IP then SUE SUE SUE!".
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
I think you are forgetting the N-Gage!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage
If you play this name backwards you hear Steve Job's voice saying "I buried Paul."
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
I'm actually pretty excited to see iPhone features make their way into non Apple products. Sure it is blatant idea theft. Sure Nokia is leeching whatever "coolness" they can from Apples form factor. Who cares? We have PCs that aren't proprietary because of blatant idea theft. Hell, we really wouldn't have spinning cubes in Linux were it not for ideas presented in other operating systems. Noah Wylie, while playing Steve Jobs said that "good artists copy, great artists steal". I do not mind getting quality (if Apple like) features at a lower price than Apple is willing to offer.
load "$",8,1
Umm, someone just took a video editing program, and replaced the Apple with Nokia. People on Slashdot AND Digg seem to not be picking up on this yet.
It's clearly a poke at Nokia saying, "They are simply going to rip off Apple after the iPhone, and we think they'd go this far". Come on people! Apple DID file a handful of patents on this.
Tibbon
tibbon.com
I'm not so sure that the finished model will end up looking like this; the European iPhone launch is seemingly due to happen shortly, and it makes perfect sense for Nokia to remind people that there is something better just around the corner.
Nokia's high-end products have always been head and shoulders above the rest. Its current top of the range models are arguably better than the iPhone, possibly excepting the design and touchscreen. When Nokia do launch this device, or a similar one, I've no doubt it will support technologies such as HSDPA (3.5G), multimedia messages, uPnP media sharing, third party (unsigned) applications and all the multimedia functions us Europeans have come to expect from Nokia's "multimedia computers".
There is no doubt in my mind that Apple are the proverbial Rolls Royce of desktop computing, however I'm not too sure of their credentials in the global mobile telephony market - I just don't believe they "get it".
Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
Slashdot stories are like digits of pi*. Every so often you'll get two in a row that are the same...
(*digits of pi in base 4)
Didn't Apple file a bunch of patents related to the iPhone and specifically the touch screen?
How long before we see Apple's lawyers get on Nokia for patent infringement?
and then there's carbon-copying. Which this is. It doesn't just resemble the iPhone or steal ideas from it - everything I saw in the technology demo was EXACTLY the same.
So not dubious - shameless. Yeesh.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Come on what is the big deal about this thing. The iPhone has a touch-screen interface, which is really its great innovation. Nokia has made a touch-screen interface to their OS, the iPhone has shown its a great way to have a small communication device with a small footprint. What do you expect for a touch-screen phone other one big display? Granted this will probably be much better in many ways for, more hackable, more bleeding edge hardware/features, but its just the inevitable, big screen with few buttons, buttons are wasted space on very small form-factor devices. Touch screens are where little phones with lots of usability are going.
Sometimes I think the discussions on Slashdot are pretty dumb, but that Engadget discussion is a whole order of magnitude more dumb. I guess it's because it involves Apple.
It's not the hardware that makes this an iPhone clone, it's the look and feel of the interface. Hell from that poor quality video they posted even the UI colours seem to be the same.
Also Apple have patents on the UI behaviour up the wazoo.
On the other hand Nokia won't lock their device to particular networks, make it unlockable, and sell it with 2G EDGE only. On the other hand, it isn't out yet. If this is as early as Apple's previews, then Nokia won't have anything on the market for at least 6 months.
What this does show is the market moving on from rather static 2D PDA-style interfaces. Apple are a bit player right now, but Nokia are pretty major. This puts pressure on Microsoft, who have just released their WM2006 product - a classic 2D PDA-like OS, when the competition is moving to slicker, smoother, easier-to-use and intuitive interfaces that are far more function centric than application centric.
Nokia: More mature interface with features and market experience vs. historical cruft to deal with, and Symbian.
Apple: No cruft to deal with, but lack market experience and features, which will be made up by system updates possibly. Very small marketshare currently, US-only. Too restrictive right now.
Microsoft: Let's hope that some of our OEMs develop fancy interfaces on top of our base OS. Very flexible. ActiveSync nightmare.
And it's the "pinnacle of human achievement".
I'm just waiting for OpenMoko to finish their beta.
Frankly, for the last two years I've kept a Razr and a video iPod crammed in my pocket, and I'm happy to have one device, that also gives me internet when I need it, in a single device. I wish it had 3G and some other things, but it's also a first generation device. The first iPod kinda sucked too, but not so bad it didn't make a big impact.
Regarding price, AT&T, and other 'problems' people talk about, get over it. If T-mobile is better for you, go with 'em. Nobody is forcing you to use an iPhone if you don't want to.
By analogy: When I was shopping for a car recently I looked at cool 50K sports car that only seats 2. Well, I drive around with friends a lot and a 4 seater is much more my speed, and I got one with lots of power for about $30K. I could say, as some do with the iPhone, "It only seats two and costs $50K! I can get a 4 seater for half that." So get the freakin' 4 seater.
The iPhone is clearly a luxury device designed for a certain market, but not all markets. Is all the griping over this to protect a moron from going into and Apple store, dropping $600 and saying, "WAit, this isn't what I wanted at all." People aren't that dumb, and if they are and have that kind of money, let 'em. Frankly, no cell phone could be perfect, especially with this group. Someone did an analysis on Slashdot I think of the 'ideal' mobile device and then proved it couldn't be made by any one manufacturer because of patent and licensing issues. Go get the phone with the features you want. I showed my iPhone to my parents and they said, "Hmm, we just need a phone that makes phone calls." So I helped them find a simple phone with big buttons because that's what they needed.
Or is all the griping because you secretly want an iPhone and are frustrated because you can't justify the cost because it doesn't have a feature you truly need. Hmm. I think a lot of the bitching about the AT&T lockout is becuase people still have contracts they can't cancel and really want one. Life's not fair (and yeah, as an AT&T customer for some time now they kinda suck, but what tradeoffs are you willing to make?) IF you're not willing, nobody is forcing you to.
Would that be the same Engadget that is mentioned in the first line of the story. The same Engadget that is linked to?
While copying virtually the entire story into the summary seems a bit much I don't really think your statement is profound or informative. Thanks for the link though, it would have been useful if I'd missed the great big blue one in the article.
If this isn't the truth, I don't know what is.
The funny thing is that Nokia offers several great devices which should compete with the iPhone at half the price, but the iPhone defenders immediately point to the UI as justifying the cost. Once the UI is similar (and perhaps improved) in the Nokia product, what will the defense be then?
Apple didn't invent the smart phone. They didn't invent the MP3 player, or camera. You could argue that the Newton was a huge innovator, except it flopped.
Apple is not above copying the technology of someone else and claiming they invented it. Look at Spaces. I saw an interview with Jobs where he flat out claimed to have invented this huge innovation in multiple desktops, never mind this technology has been around for near a decade. I wouldn't be shocked if Apple's implementation is different, but they certainly don't innovate nearly as much as the fanatics would have you believe.
The primary reason I switched from Windows to Linux as opposed to OS X was how much I am put off by the deception of Apple's marketing, and the ardent OS X fanatics who can't see any reason. Microsoft and Linux also have fanatics no doubt, but I suppose I find the Linux camp the most reasonable.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Nokia has had touch-sensitive smartphones / PDAs for ages. The same goes for Qtek and a lot of other Asian and European brands. I was always amazed at the success the Blackberry had in the USA (by European / Asian standards it seems like something out of the early 90s) until I went to the USA and saw what crappy sell phones you people have been living with. No wonder the iPhone was such a big deal in the US.
But the fact is, pretty much any Qtek PDA or Nokia "tablet" cellphone beats it in specifications, features, battery life and audio quality (and they're unlocked by default, and cheaper). The only interesting thing the iPhone adds is the multi-touch screen (you still can't type on it quickly, though).
The Nokia model shown in this article isn't very different from models they've had for over 3 years now (and some Asian brands have had for 5).
I agree. My favorite interface for a phone seemingly died ages ago, though I hear iPods offer it. I miss the jog-dial. With it, I could easily operate my phone with my left hand while doing something else. I really love my Samsung slider, though I wish the buttons offered even more in the way of tactile feedback. For instance some phones have tiny ridges on some of the numeric keys to act almost as home-keys, so it is easier to avoid mis-dialing a phone number when you're not looking.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Sir Isaac Newton on Intellectual Property: "If I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants".
Q.E.D.
You've probably never used a Nokia Communicator, an N800 or even an N70, let alone a high-end Qtek PDA (ex., Qtek 9000), right? Thought so.
The iPhone might look very impressive in the USA, where cell phones seem to have been stuck in the early 90s (your theory that Motorola was ever "the cellphone of choice" confirms this), but it's a joke compared to any modern european or asian smartphone. Why do you think Apple is limiting it to the US? Because that's the only place where they'll be able to sell something so underpowered for such a high price. Sure, there are some Apple fanbois in Europe too, but there's also real competition (phones come unlocked, and there are lots of operators). The iPhone needs to go through at least three iterations until it is ready to be sold in Europe and Asia, and the competition (Nokia, Qtek, Sony-Ericsson, etc.) aren't exactly sitting still.
It seems that you don't understand how Nokia works. Nokias competitive advantage isn't design or superior technology, it's main competitive advantage is mass production of phones and phone models. Yes, Nokia doesn't just produce massive amounts of phones, it produces massive amounts of different phone models. The idea is simple, produce as many phone models as quickly as you can, and hope that at least few will be big hits and the others will just do.
It also seems that you really don't have a grasp of mobile phone markets. Nokia isn't just top at the moment, they have been for almost the last 10 years at the top. They currently have 37% market share globally. They are the most profitable mobile phone company not just now, but have been for the long time being. When we look at technology, production and marketing abilities, there really isn't any other phone company as Nokia.
On technology wise Symbian is the number one mobile OS. It was originally developed for the handhelds and has been powering them from the days of Psion. Most of the smart phones in the world are powered by Symbian and the platform has support not just from Nokia and Sony-Ericsson, but from other handset manufacturers also. As what comes to interface, yes the iPhone has a pretty interface which polished to death, but news flash, that same polishing can be found from the newer phones. Also it should be noted, it just isn't one interface Nokia is catering, they have Series 60, they are Series 40, they customize and try quite a lot. They may not be as innovative as Apple, but why be when they can just copy, imitate and mass produce.
As to your question about what happens when and if Apple will produce its low market version of iPhone, the answer to that one is easy: Nokia will just copy it, produce handful of new models, drop margins if needed for those phones and make sure that there is no way for Apple to succeed in the market. Actually I would argue that for now it's even impossible for Apple to try to gain any strong foothold from the markets, they have shown their cards are they are being copied and out imitated. It should also be noted that Apple isn't known to play in the mass production league, they are a company serving niche segments and are to do that with a bigger gross margin.
I would suggest that you take a visit to a Nokia NYCs Store or maybe visit their European pages to see on just what and how much they offer. Nokias European homepage
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It can't do multi-touch, but the iPhone won't even let me select a song as my ringtone. Some multimedia phone.
The iPhone won't let me replace the battery, it isn't 3G, Flash doesn't work on the web, CSS doesn't display correctly, it has a low resolution, and the latest PC World (which normally loves Apple products) ranked it fifth out of the 5 smart phones they tested. They said video quality was shockingly low, and the only real praise they had for it was audio output.
As a typical cell phone, it lacks most of the features that free phones offer these days like song ringtones, multimedia messaging, etc.
For $600, some of the real basic missing features are just flat-out shocking. And when you compare it to smart-phones, I'd much rather have a phone where I can add apps, but maybe that is just me.
However, that multi-touch function sure makes it all worthwhile.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
We find this argument again and again from Apple advocates. It goes: choice is painful and people do not want it and cannot exercise it intelligently. Apple's product line, is better because it does not give this choice.
The argument has usually been applied to hardware. It is better to have less hardware choice - graphics card, keyboards, processors. In the present case it is being applied to features.
It ignores the way markets and products actually work. Nokia or whoever produces all these different models because they sell in competition with the offerings from all the other suppliers. If they stop selling, they stop making them. The same goes for Dell, Acer etc. If, from the product range on offer from all the different phone suppliers, you can't find what you want, it is not that they are idiots or manipulative, nor is it that your needs are not real and legitimate. It is just that you are in a very small minority.
It is a quite legitimate business strategy to focus on one particular set of needs in the market, as Apple does. Its called niche marketing. It is the reason why Porter is able to plot profitability versus market share, and show that it is U shaped. Profitability typically rises as share falls below a certain point - because you are in a profitable niche. If you like, you no longer have to try out all these different models in order to find out which will hit the mass buyer's hot spot, because that does not interest you. All that interests you is a small subset.
However, the basic mistake of the argument, both on the iPhone and on the Mac product range, is to assume that everyone in a mass market can practice a niche strategy. They cannot. Niches exist in large markets. It is only because of the large market that they exist. There may be a niche in computers and phones which consists among other things of people whose heads hurt when they have to choose among too many = more than three alternatives. But it is not the market as a whole. Most people actually like the choice, the competition otherwise would not produce it.
And no they are not stupid, and yes, they do pretty much know what they are buying. Whether its computers, refridgerators, washing machines, stereos...or even cars. As Detroit has been finding out over the last 10 or 20 years.
I have always been interested in the choice argument because it has echoes of political arguments. You find, for instance, in the UK, people arguing that choice in health care providers is bad. What I want is one good hospital, not a choice between 3 or 4. In the UK, this argument usually appears in the Guardian (coincidentally, an Apple computing environment...) where the assumption is that this hospital will naturally be State run. Choice in education is also deeply upsetting to people. What they really want is one good school, not a choice between half a dozen.
One suspects that the argument that lurks underneath is about politics. You really do not want all these confusing political parties. What you want is one nice, good one. It wouldn't be New Labour by any chance?
The analogy is correct in this respect: the argument in both cases ignores that the way, the only way, to get one or two or more good ones, cars, phones, computers, political parties, is by the mechanism of consumer choice. Back in the sixties, the argument might have been made, why does the UK need all these car imports? All we need is one or two good ones made by Rover (or British Leyland as it was then). Ah yes. And how exactly were you going to get Rover to produce even one halfway decent one?
Giving that feature is a child's game, others do it, why they fail to do so is incomprehensible.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Webkit passed Acid2 before KHTML... some of the changes are still in dev builds I think though.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Gunmaker Smith & Wesson is planning to come out with their own take on convergence devices: the !Phone (pronounced bang-phone). When the firearm feature is discharged, it automatically calls 911 and uses GPS to report its location. Also included are orientation sensors to record its position and orientation when discharged for ballistic trajectory analysis (similar to features of the Nintendo Wii) and a fingerprint reader embedded in the trigger.
Shooting ranges will be equipped with devices that communicate with the firearm to inhibit the calling of 911 and instead log the information to your PDA or other portable computing device to analyze your shooting proficiency.
Of course. the !Phone can also be used to make phone calls. The keypad will be located on the left side of the grip (or right side for the left-handed model), the microphone at the base of the grip, and the speaker just below the tip of the barrel. Flipping the safety answers the call.
The !Phone accepts multiple batteries which are loaded in the clip. You can install more batteries for longer charge duration at the expense of ammunition at launch, but they are continuing development of a dual-purpose battery-bullet that can be fired once fully discharged.
A variety of !Phone holsters will be available.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?