Just got done with an interview with some folks from Cingular on the iPhone and they tipped their hand just enough for us to compile a quick FAQ on the parasitic relationship that is the Apple-Cingular partnership.
I’m a X subscriber. Can I get an iPhone?
If X=Cingular then
true
else
false;
Will there be other iPhones?
Probably. Think in terms of Nano vs. Video vs. Shuffle. It will happen.
Can I get an iPhone without the phone i.e. Get the touchscreen video iPod?
Cingular doesn’t know, but don’t expect them to put up a very big fight if it happens.
Who approached who in the initial stages?
Jobs approached Cingular after working with their teams on the ROKR, one of the shining examples of partnerships gone horribly wrong. However, it was Motorola’s fault with the ROKR, and we can assume his Jobness forgave the carrier.
How many iPhones will be available at launch?
Jobs said he expects to sell 10 million units in the first year. Will it happen? No, but it’s not like they won’t try. Will you be able to buy one on June 1st? Probably not. Expect the waiting list to be huge.
So they’re really launching on June 1, 2007?
As far as Cingular knows, they will. Apple rarely announces things it can’t deliver, although they’ve been “pre-releasing” things like Apple TV recently, which gives us pause.
Does it sync via Wi-Fi?
Not yet, but they’re not ruling that out. As of now it’s “side-loading” which means you plug in a USB cable.
I’m pretty resourceful. I’ll unlock it and make it work with carrier X. But what will I be missing?
Apparently you’ll only miss the visual voicemail tool. Presume that there will be also carrier specific data coming down the pipe that may or may not be usable on an unlocked phone.
Is this phone for my grandma?
Nope, unless your grandma makes $100K a year and drives an SUV. This is a high end product.
So when the iPhone Nano comes out, it will be on T-Mob…
Nope. Sorry to cut you off, but it’s Apple+Cingular=iPhone for the foreseeable future.
What does Cingular get out of this?
Billions in revenue and a shot in the arm after a number of slow years. They are now the big monkey in the tree when it comes to the smartphone consumer. Watch sales of smartphones between now and June – they will be as flat as the Nevada desert.
What does Apple get out of this?
A nice gift basket from the Cingular CEO. What else, in all honesty, could Cingular offer them?
Will they call it the iPhone even though they haven’t hashed things out with Cisco?
That’s a very good questions. Look at the iTV. They can always fall back to the Apple Phone if all goes south. Again, the ball is in Apple’s court.
OS X on a phone? What’s all this then?
OS X’s underlying OS, Darwin, is based on BSD. The BSD kernel is small enough to fit on MP3 players and potentially electronic toothbrushes. So generally the iPhone will run OS X, albeit with a completely different UI layer. Therefore, instead of a half-assed lumpy OS like MS Mobile 5.0, it will have a real version of OS X.
You mention waitlist… They are taking names?
You mentioned that there would likely be other versions of the iPhone (nano, mini, etc). I don’t see that happening, especially since Jobs was so excited about having “one SKU”. Maybe it will happen, but I don’t think so.
lame…total BS
one SKU? That’ll be hard with a 4GB and 8GB model…
I see that they have a sleep/wake switch. That’s fine, but how do you actually turn the thing OFF (as in POWER OFF, not sleeping – just off)?
Also, does it have a vibrate feature instead of audible ringing?
And finally, will it have an airplane more that turns off the cell portion so I can use the iPod portion during plane flights?
I see that they have a sleep/wake switch. That’s fine, but how do you actually turn the thing OFF (as in POWER OFF, not sleeping – just off like is required at locations like certain rooms in hospitals, etc)?
Also, does it have a vibrate feature instead of audible ringing?
And finally, will it have an airplane more that turns off the cell portion so I can use the iPod portion during plane flights?
You didn’t close your tag at “What does Cingular get out of this”. All the bold text was starting to annoy me on the last big. (Sorry, I’m weird)
BS this is fake
In response to the POWER OFF question, I don’t know of a single smartphone that you can turn completely off short of taking out the battery, or holding down a power button for several minutes.
This phone will never come over to T-Mobile. It would be in direct competition with T-Mobile’s Sidekick. A phony company may like business, but their not going to canabalize the sale of their own invention just to promote apple.
Complete BS
Can I ask who you got this information from considering I work for Cingular and a lot of this does seem like BS and not quotes from Cingular employees? Was this your buddy who works in a Cingular store down the street saying this?
To comment on the name, if Cisco sues them to change the name, it won’t really matter what the new name is, everybody will know it as the iPhone. Go to the store (that has no mention of “iPhone”, only “Apple Phone” in their catalog) and say “I want an iPhone please” and the seller will know which phone you’re talking about. Steve Jobs wins again.
bjp,
Go back to your support desk or low end sales position. Most of these facts are verified elsewhere.
I’m ready to get one.. this looks pretty cool
Mac OS X uses lots of BSD underpinnings, but the BSD kernel isn’t one of them. It uses the Mach microkernel.
Since it’s a microkernel, it’ll easily fit on just about anything, like you say, but it’s not BSD. :)
who the fuck is writing this? this article sucks
LOL! Half assed lumpy OS – that’s the best description I’ve ever heard for windows mobile.
Windows mobile’s ui is so appallingly finnicky, it is second only to symbian series 60 in abject unusability.
MATT- although the Sidekick is a Tmobile/danger production, it is still 2nd to the MDA in terms of features. I’ll give u the Sidekick is more popular, but placing the iphone on Tmobile will only increase new contracts, extend current ones, and make more money by getting a percentage of the phone sales. it wouldn’t be cannabailzation, just more for them
A slight correction. OSX runs on the XNU microkernel…which is even smaller than your average BSD kernel. What I’m interested in is what architecture the phone runs on…
Don,
Mac OS X uses a monolithic kernel which includes code derived from Mach 3.0, Mach 2.5, FreeBSD and other sources, as well as an enormous amount of Apple-original work. It is not in any way a “microkernel” (see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microkernel )
Also, given that the current BSD-derived systems are all using derivatives of the Mach 2.5 VM subsystem it can fairly be said that Darwin is *quite* closely related.
= Mike
who is this guy?? What a useless article.
Ive actually found a better article comparing iPhone to Treo 750, blackjack & Moto q.
http://www.zolved.com/blog/view_entry/20146/Is_the_iPhone_better_than_Moto_Q_Blackjack__Treo_a_quick_
you forgot a
[/bold]
I don’t want a PDA With a phone i just want a phone thanks.
I can’t figure it out…is there GPS or not?
I’m wondering how it happens that such unsubstantiated stuff gets pushed up the heap and climbs to top of ‘digg’ or other such places….
well, since it’s here, I wanted to add that my dead uncle also told me that the iPhone runs a 64-bit core2 duo and can be a stand in for an xserver and host mail/DNS with microkernel patches and further has already been seen in a clip on youtube running linux with mythTV hooked up to a slingbox being watched over the internet from Signapore, broadcasting a private feed of the keynote Jobs gave. It’s cool, go check it out… sorry, no links, just go look for it k? along with more info ELSEWHERE about the iphone. BTW, i heard it’ll be back to ATT not cingular… hmm.. wonder if that makes a difference here?
Josh:
Then get a phone. Nobody is pinning you to the iPhone, so go find something else.
This isn’t a FAQ, it’s just one guys opinion.
The iPhone version of OSX sounds like a hacked up version of OSX – why hasn’t there been an anouncement of an SDK? It could be running Hal but if you can’t code for it then any underlying goodness is worthless.
Symbian series may have it’s problems but it’s one of the best mobile OSes around.
Checklist for the ideal cellphone at Mediavidea.
http://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2007/01/notes-on-ideal-cellphone.html
The one feature that I haven’t seen, which is the whole reason I have my T-Mobile SideKick, is that it contains a usable SSH client. That way I can connect to my servers via a bash shell, do what I need to do, all without disrupting lunch.
Adding in the
Did you pull this entire article out of your ass? It’s all either public knowledge (eg, Apple+Cingular) or speculation (eg, there will be other iPhone models).
The only thing that i know is that i will buy this phone because is fantastic. I don’t care if it is from cingular or any company. I just wish the iphone come out earlier.
looks amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgW7or1TuFk&eurl=
Regarding getting an iPhone in the first place (question 1), the answer appears misleading. My understanding is that the iPhone will be sold both by Cingular /and/ Apple. While Cingular may only sell them with a two-year contract, Apple may sell them sans Cingular subscription.
The question then becomes whether or not the phones are all locked to Cingular. Since the iPhone will be released to the European market in late 2007 and to the Asian market in 2008, will these phones be locked to specific carriers also, or will they be unlocked versions to come out later? Or, are all the phones unlocked, and the exclusivity agreement limited to which carriers can sell them directly? Right now, for all we know, using an iPhone on /any/ GSM network may be feasible.
and i just wish for the iPhone to comes to asia sooner than 2008 …
a whole year to wait … sheesh … :(
I think it was a nice move for apple to come out with the apple iPhone. The iPhone has most features consumers have been waiting to have. I also think the price will not deter people from buying the Apple iPhone. I even think they will sell more then the 10 million Apple iPhones they expect to sell within the next year.
iPhone is available with Cingular ONLY!? And what if I am stuck under contract with a carrier OTHER than Cingular but still want a iPhone?
Well, the only solution I could fine was http://www.Cellswapper.com – they get you out of any cell phone contract!
iPhone is available with Cingular ONLY!?
And what if I am stuck under contract with a carrier OTHER
than Cingular but still want a iPhone?
Well, the only solution
I could fine was http://www.Cellswapper.com -
they get you out of any cell phone contract!
will there be multimedia messaging available? such as sound and picture messaging, and instant messaging, such as AIM or YAHOO?
jobs said you can sleep and wake the iphone do u think this is the power switch and will you be able to answer calls when its in sleep mode ?
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how much is it gone to cost?
I heard the release date for the iphone is June 13th? Anyone else hear this? Anyone hear any other release date?
It get’s better looking every time I see it!
Does anyone know when or if the Iphone will be available to other carriers like t-mobile.
so they are taking names? every time ive asked apple bout that they sed they were not
HOW MUCH WILL THE IPHONE COAST?