As I've written in my blogs and in response to other Mercury articles, the introduction of Apple's iPhone by Steve Jobs at MacWorld was a marketing strategy to pre-announce Apple's first mobile device quickly, then tantalize potential buyers for six months before its release.
When Jobs and Apple realized they wouldn't make the June deadline, thousands of programmers, who otherwise would have continued working on Leopard, Apple's new operating system, were diverted to iPhone development. Meanwhile, HTC was developing its Touch phone, approved by the FCC in July, concurrent with other handset makers, furiously designing innovative Windows, Linux and Symbian-based smartphones.
Tim Bajarin from Creative Strategies, whom the Mercury News quoted as saying " ' Apple proved they could deliver the Internet in your pocket, ' " is greatly overstated. Once iPhone buyers learned that Job's MacWorld web surfing demo used WIFI rather than AT&T's slow EDGE data network, the balloon began to burst. That's why FLASH was not designed into the first release. AT&T's EDGE data network can't support the required broadband connection.
After new iPhone users complained about slow browsing, including David Pogue of the New York Times, Jobs tried to wiggle his way out of the dilemma claiming correctly that 3G chipsets would have increased battery drain, a sore point with iPhone customers because its battery requires factory replacement.
That Apple has met its quota of iPhone sales is based on customer loyalty and price reductions. Meanwhile, Apple and AT&T attempted, until recently, to restrict third-party developers, who would bring innovative mobile applications to the iPhone.
Despite serious concerns about Google's entry into wireless with its support of the Open Handset Alliance and Android/Linux-based mobile devices, Google had "the most impact this year on business and technology" in mobile space--not Apple.
As I've written in my MarketingBeyond blog, Android-based mobile devices in 2008 will dominate the mobisphere, while Apple, at best, will release a 3G iPhone globally, competing with Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and others. Whether Apple can pull it off is a question mark.
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