Comments on: KPN CEO says iPhone stinks, still wants to sell it

By: Azaello

Azaello — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:42:26 +0000

Read: KPN was NOT selected by Apple as the exclusive seller of the iPhone — prince Scheepbouwer (love the picture) was not told officially but the rumors from the competing telco had reached him.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:05:08 +0000

Just a not from the Netherlands: KPN is famous for being utterly clueless about anything else but pure telecom. This is the same clown that though the crappy NEC phones with the crippled walled garden iMode were a great invention.

By: Peter Ha

Peter Ha — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:23:27 +0000

That’s a very good point, Trae.

By: Trae Dorn

Trae Dorn — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:17:33 +0000

A relative of mine who has worked as an executive in the cellphone industry for quite some time (no one famous or super-important, but who I doubt would want me identifying him in a blog comment) and I were talking about the iPhone at thanksgiving this last November.

He had tried one out and absolutely hated it — but from what I found out it was completely because of the input method for text (via the touch screen). He was so accustomed to the Blackberry keyboard, and does so much e-mail via his phone, that the iPhone wasn’t the right fit for him.

What he didn’t understand is that the average user who hasn’t been using “smart phones,” Treos, Blackberries, etc. for the last nine years not only doesn’t need to send the volume of e-mails via their phone that he does, but that this interface is much easier for them as they haven’t been trained into the old one.

I suspect it’s the same perspective bleeding in with the KPN CEO as well.