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back to article Steve Jobs unveils iPhone 4

Steve Jobs has introduced the next-generation iPhone, prosaically known as the iPhone 4. This wasn't unexpected, but the Apple chief did reveal a number of features not mentioned in pre-release leaks. Jobs unveiled the handset at the company's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, and since the man won't actually …

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  1. James Hughes 1

    Not a Apple fan

    But seems like a pretty good spec. However, with the number of people developing Android handsets (HTC are not the only ones you know) and the need to distinguish between manufacturers is likely to lead to a high development rate for new features for Android phones vs the single company Apple devices. The multiple source for Android phones WILL lead to a higher market share for the OS, and in turn a higher number of developers writing Apps for Android. Apple will need to keep up a high rate of development to compete in that arena.

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    1. ThomH
      Reply Icon

      Greater development rate = more fragmentation

      And even putting that aside (and there's a nice article on Ars right now about why Android fragmentation isn't as bad as you think), when Android overtakes the iPhone it'll almost certainly do so by eating Symbian, BlackBerry and WinMo market share and by getting into the pockets of those same consumers. For many apps, the iPhone profit may remain higher than the Android profit even when the numbers are skewed in Androids favour, just as the stats from indie game makers are that they do 72% of sales to Windows users, 22% to Mac and 6% to Linux versus a 93% 6% 1% worldwide market split according to browser usage statistics. Apple's audience are more affluent and skewed towards entertainment products.

      Besides, Apple have — since 2001 — produced substantial profit in two areas: being the foremost seller of MP3 players and being a niche seller of high value computers. The iPhone is somewhere in between and I don't see it going away even if it ends up more Mac than iPod.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      @James Hughes 1

      I agree with your logic all the way up to your conclusion that more Android phones will lead to more developers. The problem is all the different handsets, which means coding to different hardware, different screens, etc. The nice thing about the iPhone is you can guarantee to write one app and it'll work on all the various flavours (which is one).

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    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      You're right.

      That worked out exactly as planned in the Linux arena.

      Oh, wait...

      I think that what you're missing is the fact that Apple don't normally compete in that arena and they don't look like they're about to start. They make products that appeal design-wise to their target demographic and they try to couple that with software that makes the device operate the way that their buyers expect, which may or may not be the way techies like us expect.

      I'd say they have managed to hit their target almost dead on with the iPhone and if they're any kind of business at all they'll try to keep on hitting that target as long as it keeps paying out for them.

      TBH, Nokia are the ones who should be most worried, they scatter-gun the market with products and now they're in a race to the bottom.

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  2. Him over there

    The title is too long.

    I think most people have overlooked the major selling point of the new iPhone - I'd imagine a lot of Facebook tards are wetting themselves this morning at the prospect of having Farmville on a mobile with "crop failure push updates", or whatever has been promised on this. Add the millions of Facebook/Farmville saddos to the list of iPhone wanters and hey presto, instant huge market.

    That could actually be a fine way for controlling the population - plant a subliminal suggestion within iPhone Farmville to get the weak minded drones to carry out your bidding, instant super army of millions!

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      @Him too close

      "plant a subliminal suggestion within iPhone Farmville to get the weak minded drones to carry out your bidding"

      Why not? It worked with the Windows and Linux/Google crowd already.

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  3. Andrew S
    Badgers

    Moisture sensors?

    Most important question remains - will iPhone 4 have sweaty-palm-warranty-invalidating external moisture sensors?

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  4. NightFox

    No Win

    Pity poor Apple, it doesn't include video calling on its phones and everyone cries "Where's the video calling? I've had this on my Motorola since 1995?", so Apple listens to the consumers, adds video calling, and everyone cries "Why bother with video calling? I've had this on my Motorola since 1995 and never used it once"

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  5. mmm mmm

    What

    Will this (presumably) over-priced, under-specced piece of crap have that any decent phone won't have? Come on now, even my Sony Ericcson (forget the model) had MMS 3 years before the Crapple iPhone came out. Get real people. It's shit. All of it. Who needs craps? (sorry, apps). What good is a fart button anyway if you can't make a decent phone call or send some pics to your mates?

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      @yuck yuck

      Well, you've got it all figured out. To equal things out I just went over the Sony Ericcson fanboi forum and told everyone there how stupid they are, what crap devices they buy and use and consider useful, and how only *my* decisions in life are correct, everyone else is stupid, stupid, stupid.

      When I left that forum I was on such a high - I feel so good about myself now.

      FOAD soupman.

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  6. Pessable
    Unhappy

    Good, but not good enough...

    I sold my iPhone 3G last week (they do hold their value remarkably well), but there was nothing in the iPhone4 announcements to get me to stick with Apple for my next device. The iPhone has been one of the best pieces of technology I've owned (second only to my TiVo), mainly because its just so easy to use (in fact it is genuinely a pleasure to use). However, the performance of the 3G was beginning to frustrate me a bit, along with the closed nature of Apple thinking.

    So although I suspect the experience won't be quite as slick, I shall be swapping the rock-solid stabiility and beautiful software design of the iPhone for Android. Probably for the HTC Desire, which is pretty much on a par with Apple hardware-wise. And I hope Google will match iOS4 in terms of OS development and apps, and in a much more open way (although I'm under no illusions about Google's motives either).

    The iPhone made (and continues to make) other phone manufacturers up their game, and long may that continue. But it's now time to move on...

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  7. Urbanpanda
    Thumb Up

    can't wait

    Oh man, I knew this thread would be gold and it hasn't failed to deliver, Plenty of people moaning about the new iPhone but I for one can't wait for it! I use/used all of the phones mentioned so far on a pretty much daily basis and whilst alot of them had features still missing in the new iPhone the key point is that none of them are/were as pleasant or easy to use. This is the iPhone's strength, accessability, and this is the reason why I'd be surprised to see HTC or any other android handset overtake it in the near future. I also prefer Apple's tendancy to release new models on a yearly basis to that of their competitors who will release updated models on a bi yearly or even quarterly schedule, it means they actually end up supporting their products far more than everyone else.

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  8. MyHeadIsSpinning

    Ease of use

    I love Apple's TV advert for the i-Pad, it also kind of unintentionally describes the i-Phone and one of the reasons why it is so successful: "you already know how to use it".

    This might not be completely true, but it is largely true.

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Video Calling

    For those asking "who uses video calling anymore"; deaf people do. Sign language works over mobile phones and even works on the old style 3G mobile video calls. In Sweden you can even make a call to a voice phone using a video call on a mobile through video relay service (with a BSL interpreter in the middle of the call).

    And history should have taught us that many of these things don't take off until implemented on an Apple device. Symbian could run 3rd party programs and I had a version of Lemmings on my old phone but no-one cared until Apple "innovated" it. Soon you won't be able to move for iPhone fanboys holding the damn thing in front of them and shouting at it. Maybe that's one reason for the no-3G decision. Otherwise it'd be a muggers paradise.

    Front facing camera and better resolution; So, major win for deaf people? It would be if you could use 3G for the connection and as long as Apple put in some kind of gateway in the network to let people connect to legacy mobile video codecs (unlikely knowing their business model).

    I'm generally an Apple hater (biased by the PR and the preference of form over function) but it looks like a good phone. I just hope it still seems that way when the news of all the things Apple have crippled to protect their business model come out.

    And that battery life of an iPhone isn't that much worse then the battery life of most other smart phones it's just that Apple users generally have everything running. If you turn off functions til you need them (like GPS) it will last a lot longer.

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Looks nice, but...

    I couldn't help think that if the videophone and internet performance was so flaky in a room Apple must surely have loaded up with access points and made sure there was ample bandwidth beforehand, it'll be terrible in the real world, and maybe Jobs's slightly panicky demands for everyone to switch their wifi off were a sign that he realises this. I could be wrong, of course. Thinking of how bad wifi performance often is in hotels (surely one of their target users of such technology is the travelling employee wanting to phone home) in my experience it could be as bad as video calling was back when I had a Sony Ericsson K800.

    As for the rest of the new features I personally didn't see anything to make me prick up my ears and consider getting one. I mainly use my phone as a phone, you see, so all this talk of HD video editing and so many more pixels was frankly a little wasted on me. Granted, there are people who will find a need for these features, but when I look around the train each morning and see dozens of people prodding at their iPhones they seem to be texting, playing music, or surfing the net rather than anything else, so although the phone will doubtless be a hit with the "it's Apple so I NEED IT" crowd (and I can't help but think that if the exact same phone had been made by, say, Samsung this thread would have had a tenth as many posts on it and the launch wouldn't be in the BBC news site headlines) but how much will they really use those features?

    Still, it looks pretty. I'm staying elsewhere though - my current handset does everything I need, ta.

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