Why Apple needs to produce mother of all phones
I was chatting with Ed earlier about Apple and DRM — it didn’t take long before we both stopped and agreed that Apple really need to knock something up pronto — an iPod nano with a bit more diskspace won’t cut it, neither will a bog standard iPod with Wi-Fi.
So I asked Ed to comment on his dream Apple phone…. and blue-sky a bit with a few thoughts.
Here we go:
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As we were just discussing around Apple’s use of DRM inhibiting my ability to put MY music on my phone to create a better converged gadget proposition. I concluded that it is likely to be an accelerator as to iTunes demise (not death, just reduction in sales / usage), unless, Apple can create ‘the mother of all phones’ and entice me across. Actually, that’s an interesting question, what does the holy grail entail?
Here is what I think it needs to include:
- 5 mpxl Camera
- Full connectivity – Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, 3G, HSDPA, IrDA, EV-DO (for the US) etc
- QVGA 2.2inch+ screen
- 10GB Flash Drive (to reduce battery consumption over hard drives)
- Intuitive Music / Media Management System supporting MP3, AAC, AAC+, and WMA music files + (something I’d expect them to excel at)
- Full QWERTY keyboard
- Opera Browser and full internet connectivity (none of that walled garden stuff)
- Microsoft Office Document management support
- Personal Scheduling, full synchronisation and push email support
- And all in a size no greater than the new Nokia n73!
I know that’s what I’d like to see in a phone and that it’s different for different people e.g. mainstreamers will not want that much functionality. But it does highlight the gargantuan task ahead of Apple if it is to win over consumers used to having (nearly as) high spec devices coming out of Nokia, Samsung et al on a monthly basis creating the fiercest of competition.
Having created this exquisite phone (no doubt with Apple designers’ deft touch), I wonder how they’d keep the cost down enough to entice network operators to stock their phones in countries where mobile phones are expected to be subsidised? After all, there is little upside for the operator to subsidise an expensive converged device that rips a precious music collection off a PC.
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What do you think?
