91热爆

Really? Who cares?

Seriously though, why are we adding two different models together to get 21 million sales? By the same logic we should add all the N series - or at least the sliders on one hand and the candy bars on the other -
together as they're variations on a theme too.

Personally I don't give a hoot about the iPhone now - WWDC should be focused on Snow Leopard and whether or not Apple are entering the netbook market. The iPhone's had its day in the sun and is old news. Move on.

I'm really looking forward to this years WWDC. The new iPhone OS looks like it's going to be a success, and since it'll be a free upgrade for all iPhone users I'm sure it will further cement iPhone's status as a leader in the Smartphone market.

An Apple NetBook might make an appearance, after all, developers of iPhone and iPod touch Apps have been told to make sure their Apps able to be scaled up to a bigger screen... who knows what they have in store? With OS 3.0 Devs now have access to the Dock Conector and Bluetooth, the WWDC demos have iPhones linked up to HD Projectors so they can show the audience what they are doing. I'm sure this will be a possibility. So instead of taking a laptop, hooking it up to a projector, just plug your iPhone in and run your presentation from there.

Snow Leopard will I'm sure be given a release date, after all, Windows 07 has been given an October release date, we wouldn't want to be left wanting...

"Seriously though, why are we adding two different models"

It's because they all run the same OS. It's to do with the software, not the hardware. They all run exactly the same version of iPhone OS X and Apple have never sold the two models at the same time, so technically they have only ever had one iPhone in the market - over 24 months (not two and a half years) = 21 million. Not bad.

If you wanted to break it down even more, you could split it into 4GB, 8GB and 16GB sales, since they are all different capacities... ;-)

"...iPhone, which has sold around 21 million handsets in its roughly two-and-a-half short years."

Come on Maggie, a little bit of research always helps. The iPhone was released in the US on June 29th 2007, so it's not even 2 years old.

@ Mark_MWFC

Why are they adding 2 models together d-huh! Because even though it's essentially 2 skus it's really just an evolution of a single product. Unlike the big boys who sell different types of phone Apple really at the mo has only 1 (not 2 as the orig ones aren't available). And when you factor in that this 'single' model in gen 1 and 2 has sold 21m units it's quite impressive. With regards to the N-series, they're all different phones with varying technologies on-board and capabilities and target markets.

As for not giving a hoot about the iPhone - well this along with the bondai blue iMac and the iPod its has been the shot in the arm Apple needed and without these products the Apple developer community would have been much much much smaller and quite possibly not there at all. Don't you remembered the dark days?

So fair dues to their commercially successful mainstream products, they need the support and deserve it (there's whole industries built on iPods and iPhones) and if you think that the iPhone has had it's day in the sun just wait till the 3rd gen hardware ships and as for moving on, if something is that popular wouldn't you be a bit stooopid to ignore one of the golden geese?

Snow Leopard will get it's moment and all the nerds and journos and pros will love it but it's the consumer hardware sales that keeps Apple healthy.

"Why are they adding 2 models together d-huh! Because even though it's essentially 2 skus it's really just an evolution of a single product."

And the N series from Nokia nearly all run S60v3. Sorry, I don't buy the iPhone as a single heterogenous product - it's quite clearly two variants (with the only further differentiation in terms of memory which really is just a variant of the same product) with similar but different feature sets which is, again, analogous to the N series.

Don't get me wrong - the sales are impressive but it's wrong to add them together and claim it's one product. This will be even more so should Apple release further variants (iPhone Nano?).

Celebrate success for what it is. Not what it's spun to be.

Which doesn't detract from the main point - OS 3.0 is a great addition but we've known about it for months. I expect Apple to confirm the new model will have 32GB storage, a better camera and perhaps an OLED screen. I'm struggling to see any new 'Wow!' factor though.

Apple are in danger of being marginalised as a phone company. I don't own an iPhone so that doesn't matter to me. I do, however, own an unibody Macbook so things like Snow Leopard do. That's what I want to hear about, not the latest version of a phone that we already know everything important about. Apple hype used to be fun. Now it's just boring.

Are the 91热爆 commissioned to blog the iPhone or something?

I have lost track of how many iPhone stories there have been...most other makes of phone barely seem to get a mention here.

Mark man, it is one product currently, the iPhone is a single phone, the only difference being memory capacity and very little else (apart from the move to 3G between version 1 & 2).

As for bundling them together, when something is so similar as to be almost the same as the original excepting the network it uses(and they don't appear together in the market because one replaces the other) it makes perfect sense. It's like the original VW beetle, essentially it's the same car now as it's always been but the new cars complaining out of Mexico do have slight changes to the original but essentially they are the same car and when people say how many have been built they don't fart around defining specific variants within the general model.

"Celebrate success for what it is. Not what it's spun to be." and that means what?

As for Apple becoming marginalised as merely a phone company this sounds like the same dumb a55 coment banded about when they started making money from iPods and people were wailing and crying to their mommy that they turned into new-fangled music box company. Come ON! Be serious man, how many years have you actually used an Apple for? Can you actually remember when the market share was next to nowt and their survival pretty much depended on the Graphics industries to keep them alive?

Apple has NEVER and I repeat NEVER been in better shape. They've got a great OS which stands up well against the likes of Ubuntu/UNIX and Windows. It has a dominant 80% share of the global MP3 player market and they have the most successful digital music delivery product ever in iTunes (oooh they're just a music shop now) and they have made the smartphone an attractive proposition to people who didn't know they wanted/needed one. They're trying real hard to get into the living room with iTV, they promoting cloud computing and have been doing so for more than a few years now, they're building one of the worlds largest data centres over the next few years, I mean come one man, marginalized how? And they're doing high-street retail that covers all the ground.

If anything they are the least marginalized company out there. They have market leading products that everyone and their dog copies (iMac, iPod and iPhone all copied to death). The desktop os and phone os have been copied or used as "inspiration" by everyone - anyone want some aqua looking buttons? No, how about brushed metal -what about Coverflow-esque navs? I mean the list goes on.

They're more popular now than ever before, accept that the crApple庐 of old is dead and gone and this multi-headed uberApple is hear to stay for the foreseeable future with it's fingers in not just a nice hot OS & Hardware pie but ones in entertainment, telephony and education (in the Sates they're taking over in the classroom BIG time).

The only reason that the iPhone gets so much mainstream press attention is for that simple reason:- PHONES ARE MAINSTREAM PRODUCTS. Everyone has one and if a new player with their first product manages to shift 20 odd million units in less than 2 years with only 1 product refresh then that pretty spectacular - especially when you factor in that the iPhone is not cheap, in fact it's one of the most expensive options out there.

Want WOW factor on a phone - how about on the fly video editing and touch control focus - sounds pretty WOW to me.

:)

"Mark man, it is one product currently, the iPhone is a single phone, the only difference being memory capacity and very little else"

Aside from the change to the materials for the back, the heaphone socket and the GPS and 3G radios that is. Sorry, it's not the same thing. If we're going to do it for the iPhone then we should be doing it for the N series as well in comparison.

"Come ON! Be serious man, how many years have you actually used an Apple for? Can you actually remember when the market share was next to nowt and their survival pretty much depended on the Graphics industries to keep them alive?"

Since 1982 so yes.

Apple are in good shape but no market lasts forever. The PMP market is pretty secure but it's pretty evident that the phone market is going to be harder to crack and, frankly, it looks like they've hit a plateau.

"The only reason that the iPhone gets so much mainstream press attention is for that simple reason:- PHONES ARE MAINSTREAM PRODUCTS."

Fine. When Maggie starts blogging about Palm, Samsung, Nokia, LG or SE then you may have a point.

"Want WOW factor on a phone - how about on the fly video editing and touch control focus - sounds pretty WOW to me."

Nokia has had on the fly video editing for years. No wow there.

Well Mark, you're on your own with the whole different iPhones thing, the design and component changes make it a refresh not a completely new stand alone unit. Same form factor, same button layout, same OS etc and a replacement of the orig (v.2.0) not an addition to.

been there since 82 - so you should understand the point I'm making quite vividly.

No market lasts forever - obviously. Who said anything about a 1000 year Apple-Reich? They are just another company making stuff. But with regards to plateauing, they are outperforming the competition in a recession - go figure. If anything their iPod business had reached saturation as they themselves have stated but the iPhone has only just got started. 1st gen: hardcore apple adopters, 2nd gen tech savvy mainstream market penetration and brand awareness, 3rd gen, mass market acceptance and lower price point products. It's a snowball just waiting to go down hill.

She blogs about Apple because they capture the markets attention. The other guys just blend into one another. Apple have a stand out product in terms of public visibility and perception. Nokia et all have too many products on their books to allow sharp focus on any one product.

Nokia on the fly editing, yes, they've had it for a while but it's no fun and not the most enjoyable to use because they've only just got round to having a proper touch screen product (Well done Nokia - welcome to the party, nibbles are over there). Apple will make it easy to use, simple to understand and therefore a popular extension of mobile phone use. There's the wow - they'll make it feel like we should have been doing it for years.

I look forward to hearing lots about the upcoming Nokia N97 in the coming weeks, as this will completely blow the iPhone out of the water.

And since the 91热爆 is so keen on *balance*, I'm hoping it treats technology as it does politics, and will give fair and equal coverage to all manufacturers!

@spaccaboy

Ok, we're not going to agree on the product differentiation bit so I'll leave it there.

Apple catch the attention because people blog about them. It's kind of a chicken and egg. That's fine when there's something worth reporting but let's be honest - unless Apple pull out something extraordinary like the original iPhone and the App store is there anything really worthy of major coverage here? A screen, storage and camera update do not a hype machine make.

As for the video editing, I find the Nokia stuff really easy to use. I wish I could agree with your comment about Apple taking things and making them better but having seen the complete mess they've made of the Shuffle I'm not really that optimistic.

Like I said, I've used Apple products for years and for every shining star there's been a turkey to match it. For every iMac an Apple III, for every iPhone a Newton, for every OS X a LISA, for every iPod Touch a Pippin.

@Mark

I understand where you are coming from regarding the hype aspect. Regarding other phones, well, I have owned S60 Nokias and they were bad to not very good (at best). I know what I should be able to do with it, but they sucked, and doing anything beyond texting was a chore. I tried to do all that they claimed to do (I didn't have a computer at the time so I was using my phone as my computer (Nokia even referred to it, not as a smortphone, but a "Multimedia Computer")).

The reason Apple gets this hype isn't just because Apple gets blogged on the 91热爆 or a few websites. The reason is because they made something good, when all else sucked (as I say, I've tried Nokia, Sony (couldn't face RIM or Windows as they are too boring once you get beyond the home screen) so I know). My Nokia N73 crashed every other day and although Nokia occassional released fixes, the networks wouldn't allow them to be installed. With this, Apple also changed the game. That's why the iPhone has been so important. The hype is also because Verizon and every other company said "Ooh, look, we have an iPhone killer" and by doing so they essentially pointed out that the iPhone was important enough to want dead.

Your argument about no market lasting forever doesn't make sense. What should they do? Give up, because one day in the future that market will disappear?

Actually the iPhone is 4th, Windows mobile as a platform has sold more than iPhone OS as a platform, but then the 91热爆 seems to hate WinMo, almost never mentioning it. If you include all Windows CE devices its old over 50 million, winmo itself well over 25 million.

@brengla

No, I'm saying that Apple's focus seems to be primarily on the iPhone which, as it's one of their - if not the - main revenue streams that's understandable. My concern is that they overfocus on the iPhone and drop the ball on the Mac. Leopard was delayed to allow the release of the phone and was buggy when issued for example.

As for your phones, YMMV - I found the iPhone to be too big and clumsy and didn't like the restrictions on what you could do with it whereas I accept that Nokias aren't as user friendly but let you do more. At the moment I have a 5800 which is a great little phone. Previously it was an N95 which was awesome. It all comes down to the user's preferences.

Unless Apple really pull the cat out of the bag then I'm struggling to see why anyone would buy a new one outwith the normal contract renewal period especially since OS 3.0 is available to current owners. Of course, they could bring out 'Nano' variants and tha would be interesting but no more so than the offerings of any of the other big manufacturers.

What annoys me though is Maggie's hype article. That might fly in the US market where the choice of carrier subsidised smartphones is awful. It just doesn't work here.

@Rovex33,

"Actually the iPhone is 4th, Windows mobile as a platform has sold more than iPhone OS as a platform..."

Got any proof for your statement? Or are you Steve Ballmer in disguise?

Love it.

First off - I hate Apple. Actually I take that back, I hate Apple "fans" because they're so over self righteous.

It's great to see the cracks coming in and the "true" long-time users such as Mark_MWFC realising that Apple is a commercial operation that will exploit any market opportunity it can.

Apple won't do netbooks per the Beeb's own article ( and I quote: "In April, Apple boss Tim Cook said the firm wasn't interested in netbooks as they did not represent "a good consumer experience"." Hmmmm. The fastest growing segment of the computing market isn't a good consumer experience. You mean you can't make enough money from it mate.

The iphone is a case in point. It is still ridiculously overpriced for what it is.......and what it is, is a crappy phone (its raison d'etre) saved by the App Store add-on's. This second point is openly publicized by Apple in its advertising (in the US anyway). THE APP STORE IS 3RD PARTY PEOPLE. THAT'S LIKE IBM CLAIMING CREDIT FOR WINDOWS BECAUSE IT'S THEIR HARDWARE.

I'm off for a lie down to recover. Vive la difference.

@Stramash

Actually I have never been under any illusions about Apple. They make some great products and some truly awful ones.

@ spaccaboy
Hold on, so there is no reason to buy an iphone 3g if you have an original iphone?
Interesting point, no changes in the spec then, no 'innovations' just a new case was it?
Also, how can you get excited about 'video editing on the fly' when apple fans have spent so long not complaining about the lack of video recording on the iphone?
As usual, apple fanatics fall foul to hypocrisy, changing their opinions as they go.
All hail 'copy and paste' an innovative firmware update from apple.

@Strammash:
"THAT'S LIKE IBM CLAIMING CREDIT FOR WINDOWS BECAUSE IT'S THEIR HARDWARE."

Or like Microsoft claiming credit for all the things you can do with a PC, 99.9% of which require 3rd party software and 100% of which require 3rd party hardware?

Also, comparisons between Nokia, RIM, and the iPhone (and yes, even WinMo) all fail to take into account one single fact: Apple has (so far) only had one major handset at a time on the market, whereas every other manufacturer always has multiple variants - be it a handful, dozens, or even hundreds. For a supplier to take 3rd place in a global market with only a single offering and in such a short time surely has to be some kind of accomplishment, whether or not it appeals to your personal preferences?

As someone who uses an N95, the camera it's great but it's slow, the volume button has broken (common fault) and a pain to use. If I can get the new iPhone on contract for less then 拢30 a month then I will. Otherwise I'm thinking of buying a simple phone and going pay as you go.

@stramash_city:

What, businesses are out to make money? You're kidding! In other news, the sky is blue.

(Actually Apple is a publicly-traded company so their primary duty is to make money for shareholders)

People forget the Iphone.

Nokia via the N97 and N86 are going to blow it out of the water big time.

The I phone has always been the poorer option for performance against other smart phones. I always thought of it as an I pod with a phone, its a gimmic. Unless apple get some serious push email function and better camera with increased storage it will die a slow painful death. Supported only bar a hard core group of fans.

Consumers a fickle creatures and will soon turn to the next big thing. It happened to Nokia in the late 90's early 00's. Its just evolution in technology.

Apple did make other manufactorers look at design better as obvioulsy the I phone is very good on the eye and uses top end materials not cheap rubbish plastic. This has driven othe manufactorers with better functionality to improve design. i thik this will be the way the I phone is remebered. It never pushed technolgical boundry's but design it most certinaly did.

In summary buy the N97!!!!

Essentially all of the blogs end up with the usual "I hate Microsoft!" "Well I hate Apple" "Oh yeah!?! I hate Nokia more than all of you".

I still find it entertaining that some, and I do mean some not all, Apple users feel that Apple are just swell and on the market to make their lives better. Get real. All of them are after your money and the next company to get people caught up on the gravy train will be the sweetest flavour then.

Lets face facts people are for and against all forms of mobile phone. Frankly I am not paying 拢100 or more for a phone, Pre or iPhone, when I wont use half the features. Especially when I can get my choice of phone for free from tens of models.

Anyway well done to the 91热爆 for another impartial advert for the Apple corporation. Bang up job folks as usual! big pats on the back all round etc... Honestly covering a developers conference?

Sigh.. people complaining about Apple being in the news again. The iPhone is big and still newsworthy two and half years on. It fact, its relevance is even bigger now and will continue to grow, the more copycats lazy rival manufacturers make.

Let's not forget here, what product is responsible for the billions of capacitative touch screen phones now flooding the market? For the conversation style SMS that every one now has, the many app stores and marketplaces, plus the general sexiness of new phones?

Apple woke up the yawning music industry and then tossed egg in the face of the mobile executives who said that with the iPhone Apple should "stick to its knitting!"

The Palm Pre may have launched on Saturday but unfortunately for them, Apple will raise the bar again today. It would be a brave executive who predicts that this new product won't continue to pave the future.

One more thing... I wouldn't be surprised if "you know who" pops out to do the keynote today. Just a gut feeling.

As the big time approaches, the rumours are starting trickle out. Not so tight lipped this time around. The new phone is likely to be known as the Pi, and frankly most consumers would love to get a slice of it.

Also new is likely to be a wide area network system known as the Crumble.

I expect Apple's turnover to increase greatly with the introduction of these innovative products.

Please, please, please can we have more Apple exposure so we can have more of these blogs/debates as they are such great fun.

At the end of the day it's personal choice in whatever tech/brand the end consumer chooses. If the 91热爆 (or whoever) offers up impartial news coverage then surly it's better to be informed. I have read all the coverage regarding the Pre but I'm certainly not complaining as I have an idea of what the device is about.

Nokia make great phones (as many of the Nokia fanboy's here explain), but to totally disregard the iPhone because of a badge or hype is very shortsighted.

Regarding the WWDC - mark_MWFC is spot on - I want to know what's happening to the Mac. At the end of the day my iPhone does not make me money, my Mac is my breadwinner, so lets talk up Snow Leopard and not lose sight of that.........

I've enjoyed reading everyones comments about the iPhone fever, it gave me something to do on my lunch hour!

At the end of the day, apple have done themselves proud. They launched a product, the iPhone less than two years ago, and are already 3rd in regards market share. This may have taken other manufacturers decades with a catalogue of handsets. Apple has sold over 21 million iPhones, thats just the one / two models. People buy into it, they must have for the figures to do the talking. Apple products are easy to use, generally dont come with manuals, its a hands on approach which the consumer can adapt to very easily. Yes they come with a high price tag, but what you pay is what you get - outstanding products.

In regards the iPhone "hype" lets just wait until later this evening to see what happens. Everything you will read on any website or blog is all rumoured. Nothing is set in stone, so people can talk on "this might happen" or "this software will do that" or "theres a new screen in the iphone" but who knows? Nobody knows. Some of us will be excited to see what apple have up their sleeve, others wont.

On the windows mobile note, someone said they have sold over 50 million copies of their OS? I wonder how many years that took them, they are on their 6th version now I believe? Maybe 10 years to get to 50 million? I'd love to see the sales figures for apples phone OS in 10 years time......!

Over and out

Well that was nice in parts but a bit disappointing.

Think it'll be the N97 for me.

Good to see more info on Snow Leopard. It's starting to look like a very powerful upgrade and a sniff @ $29.00.
I'd be a bit annoyed if I'd a shelled out two and a half grand on a quad G5 a few years ago for it now to be obsolete....

New iPhone looks good and yes Nokia fanboy's you have had all these features for ages blah,blah. I sure some of the new iPhone features will turn up on Nokia soon.

Hoping that 02 offers a good upgrade path from current 3G phones to the new 3GS (S for speed apparently, we'll see). Could be a very sticky wicket if they don't.