Gesture Different

So we have this story about how much of the Apple deal is over hyped and they're going to get spanked when marketing the iPhone globally. Read it for yourself and see my comments below:

http://www.thestreet.com/_mktw/markets/activetraderupdate/10333199.html

First off, the author talks of it's "limited" ability. I feel that it's usability is makes its abilities much greater than other phones on the market. The ability to actually USE the phone to browse the web in a meaningful way

Next, the author speaks about how the iPod is peanuts compared to cell phones on a global scale. The iPhone isn't a global product. This is merely Apple's first foray into the cell phone market. They have a small volume cell phone (it's price puts it out of the hands of the average user) that allows them to get real feedback from "power cell phone users" that they'll be able to take back to Cupertino and release a smaller, cheaper phone that they can market on a more global scale to users who are looking for a more reasonably priced phone.

Let's look at the car industry for comparison. What happens when they release a new redesigned model line. They start at the top (for example, BMW's 7-series) as to hone the new designs and features that you'll see a year or two down the way in the "every man's car" (like th 3-series). It's part of the evolution of using R&D products on a high end and then allow the technology to come down in price and trickle to the average user.

My next point has to do with serivce providers. They aren't marketing the phone globally and it shows with the fact that Cingular (a wholly US wireless provider) is the exclusive marketer of the phone. No other market could have the phone if they wanted (without hardware "unlocks"). I think it's merely testing the waters to see how much of the US corporate environment they could steal away from RIMM (with their BlackBerry system) and to replace what growth they are losing with the slowing of iPod sales in the US.

Lastly, the iPhone is Apple's first showcase of what is, in my opinion, it's most important technology since OS X: the iPhone's user interface. The ability for people to use a touch screen to gesture in intuitive ways is HUGE. To allow a person to merely "tap" in any area of a screen and "do the right thing" makes the mouse almost antiquated. Suppose in a few years we're given just huge flat screens to work with. No mouse. No keyboard. We dictate text instead of typing and use our fingers to move things around the screen and navigate. We use gestures to maximize, minimize, size, move, edit forms, draw and generally interact with a computer in ways we haven't before. In the same way the wireless hand held controller of the Nintendo Wii will change what gamers expect from console controls, the iPhone is going to be the beginning of a change of user interfaces for PC use.

People should know by now not to underestimate Apple or Thinking Differently.