14 DAY TRIAL // When Steve Jobs finally announced what everybody was waiting and shown the future to the world packed inside a 135 grams, 115X61X11.6mm aluminum case, labeled as the long-awaited iPhone, things finally settled - we got it, it's the iPhone, "it has that, that and that", "we'll get it this summer". Cute, isn't it? The really funny part is that what seems to be simple at a time can become inexplicably complicated in an instant, and the same happened with the iPhone. Let's walk through some facts related to this device and see what could have gone not quite as expected...
First of all, it's the name. Don't get me wrong, "iPhone" sounds really good to me, but there's a problem with this name - the rights over it. It's really funny to know that Apple filed over 200 patents related to the technology behind the iPhone but didn't make sure about the rights to use this name, isn't it?
In less than 24 hours after Steve Job's keynote, there were voices that talked about a peaceful agreement between Apple and Cisco concerning the use of this name, but it seems that in a matter of hours, things have changed, and Apple found themselves engaged in a legal battle with Cisco, that seeks to prevent them from "infringing upon and deliberately copying and using Cisco's registered iPhone trademark".
What can I say? How can we judge this situation, especially after the press release that saw Cisco's senior vice president and general counsel, Mark Chandler, saying that "Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name"? Well, it seems that good faith is not enough in many cases, and this is one of those situations. No worries, as soon as something new pops up about the evolution of this lawsuit, I'll let you know about it!
The iPhone (or whatever the final name of the device will be) is going to be a device that will help some companies move forward a lot this year, but especially in 2008. The problem is that - if you were thinking about the opportunities offered to the mobile software producers - then you'd better think again, because that is not going to happen anytime soon.
According to a Macworld UK report, Apple's vice president of worldwide iPod marketing, greg Joswiak, confirmed that the third parties can benefit from the iPhone's success only by designing and marketing accessories, and the door to software producers remains closed. "Right now the opportunities are limited to the accessory market", said Joswiak.
While some may see this as a smart move, I can't say that I am delighted with it; but I am also sure that Apple has its own reasons for doing such a thing, and one of them is that in over 6 months - the time that we should wait until the iPhone becomes available to the public - they have enough time to create a nice pack of applications to bundle with the device. I am not just talking about it, I also have the proof!
According to CNET, Apple is looking for 33 specialists to add to the personnel already working on the iPhone. The positions open at this time range from electronic engineers to an engineering project manager for its camera feature, and a telephony embedded software engineer has been included as well. I wasn't able to check the entire positions list, but I am sure that there will be more than a dozen people working to develop iPhone applications...
What about any additional wishes for your future iPhone? The only thing I can think about at this time is how to get another browser for it (strange enough for most people around me, I don't like Safari) that should have support for Java and Flash, since these seem to be absent at this time.
Before I finish this article, I must give you a financial hint for the future - bet on Samsung! Previous reports said that the processor inside the iPhone is manufactured by Intel, but those were wrong. While Intel manufactures the processors used in the entire line of Apple computers produced at this time and those under Apple TV's hood, the processor of the iPhone is coming from Samsung.
The Macworld doors are now closed, in a couple of years from now on we'll have an AppleWorld expo going on and the Macworld will be nothing else than a memory, but the iPhone and its future generations I am sure will be a reality, no matter their names and the companies manufacturing their components. To bring the future to the present, you don't need a time machine, since Apple is enough. At this time, the iPhone is their catalyst, and the countdown to a new age is on...
