Monthly Archives: June 2009

Joe has posted a comment on 247 which is pretty damning about the iPhone 3GS. Always good to see both sides…

“I’m extremely disappointed with the 3GS. After the Os 3.0 update I am getting fantastic battery life on my 3G but the 3GS drains fast with everything turned off. The 3G battery is lasting longer with everything including push turned on.  Almost everytime I reach for the 3GS there’s a no connection warning and when I go to browse I often get a ‘no connection’ message. Pages load 8 times slower on the 3 GS. I’ve never ever seen them load so slow even not load at all!! Nothing seems snappier at all. Where’s this speed ncrease supposed to be? Charging the battery is very slow on the 3GS but very fast on my 3G.

And voice dialling is terrible. I said call Mandalay and it couldn’t. My Nokia can call Timbuktoo. Many times I voice dialled it reported it couldn’t find anything. Even the Google search dial is heaps better. So what gives here? I am still trying to find even one thing better than my 3G but cannot. My faithful 3G was a friend to me but this 3GS is a nightmare with it’s call drop outs and poor voice dialling and slow page loading. I can’t understand what the S is for here.”

Focus on Mobile Platforms: iPhone

Introduced: 2007

History:  As you will well know, the iPhone history is very short in comparison to its peers and is one that has blown all of the traditional methods of determining how successful a smartphone is out of the water.

From its launch to today, the iPhone has managed to keep itself in the headlines and every little change is greeted with lots of enthusiasm by people who seem a little too enthused by a piece of plastic. The thing is that the iPhone does bring out a passion in users that few other platforms can command and it is the way it works that stands out.

Apple broke the network operator monopoly by ensuring that it would take a larger than normal cut from sales and also ensured that only its preferred suppliers sold the iPhone i.e. AT&T in the US and O2 in the UK. This was not a good move for consumers, particularly in Europe, who are used to having lots of choice, but in hindsight it may have been a necessary evil with the data demands the iPhone and similar devices now put on the mobile networks. At least a provider can now gauge how much capacity they need and not have to worry about people using another network.

Jailbreaking has been a source of much contention and there have been many estimates as to how many users are using jailbroken phones, but there is certainly a sizable proportion out there.

Hardware partners: None

Notable devices: iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS

Current Position: The iPhone was most recently positioned at 10.8% of the smartphone market which compares well with the 5.3% held the previous year. iPhone users tend to use mobile data more and most definitely use third-party applications more than on any other platform. With over 1 billion apps downloaded so far, the App Store is quickly becoming the number one reason to use the iPhone platform.

Apple as a company is doing very well and it seems that it has managed to brush some of its gold dust onto the iPhone as well, and at this time it is in a good place.

Likely users: Anyone- power users may not like.

Potential: All it needs is for Apple to pull another selection of tricks out of the bag, and to address the needs of power users who need good PIM and a hardware keyboard, and it will look set to truly dominate this market.

The market is volatile and Nokia has proved that no-one is immune to a downturn, but unless something drastic happens the iPhone should continue to grow at a fierce rate. The main risk for Apple is that Steve Jobs commands most of the major decisions and, even putting health issues aside, one person cannot be responsible for so much without a myriad of risks being considered.

Discussions rage on regarding the benefits of hardware and screen keyboarded devices, and to this date each group of people will fiercely defend their preference. I am still firmly in the hardware keyboard category, but my view ‘may’ be changing slightly…

After continually moaning about the iPhone onscreen keyboard, I have somehow started to get used to it. I made no special effort, but for some reason things have started to click into place and now I can type fairly fast on it. Maybe it is just familiarity and maybe some people are quicker to become familiar with such a setup than I am, but either way I am now tapping away at a fair old rate.

Don’t get me wrong. I would still rather use a hardware keyboard any day, but am prepared to put up with the lack of feeling from a software keyboard until something better comes along.