Mobile Industry Review - Latest Comments in Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

whatleydude — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:09:17 -0000

Julian - That whole 'NOT FREE' point is something I was not aware of.

*applauds apple*

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

juliancooling — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:48:42 -0000

I think there are three things:
1. Apple has traditionally supported careful contents creation - even their free tools on the Mac are not point and shoot. MacMe provides a gallary for happy snaps
2. This is a platform - the pretty toys with higher spec cameras or tiny form factors will come out over the next year but the fundamentals of the platform are now announced to the developers (i.e. hardware target and cash flows)
3. The iPhone is (I have asserted lots of times) truely a consumer device for professional people who want their personal phone to be as good as their work Blackberry but, well, personal. Apple have historically had 'Pro' lines and 'Consumer' lines (even the iPod). So the pro-line may well be very content creation oriented. The Apple Communicator maybe?
The announcement was about setting expectations of the great unwashed that the iPhone world costs money to play in and, for the first time in my memory, garage developers sell their programs for NOT FREE. That is why I think Steve had the music player guy on stage. You too can sell your cool idea for $10 - this is not Symbian or the Web or the PC where freeware is the only thing that will sell.

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

AJ — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:11:13 -0000

I agree. Yesterday's keynote was all in the boring stuff at the beginning and the price announcement at the end. The hardware improvements were just playing catch-up and were all very predictable. The SDK is going to widen the playing field in the long run so much more than the hardware upgrades.

Mobileme sounds brilliant but I have a real issue in paying for email - I wouldn't mind it it was a few quid but £59 seems quite a commitment. I am such a cheapskate.

By the way, the iPhone does have a video application for jailbreaked phones - I haven't tried it but I know it exists. Also, the camera would be OKish if only there was a flash.

I remember in the 1990's everyone was talking about convergence - something that in practice has appeared to be quite elusive. However, occasionally I get a glimpse and yesterday was one of those days.

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

James Burland — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:40:30 -0000

Band by Moo Cow Music can certainly be defined as content creation on the iPhone. Sure, it's not video or photos but it's certainly creative!

http://tinyurl.com/574x3y

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

James Burland — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:38:25 -0000

Band by Moo Cow Music can certainly be defined as content creation on the iPhone - just a different kind of content.

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

jonmul — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:44:31 -0000

The key thing Julian has hit on here is that Apple have now got a way of making money across the whole iPhone eco system. They have built the iPhone into a platform that creates value for the user - and therefore makes money for Apple - in multiple ways -

1. At point of sale (consumer gets the hardware, Apple get paid for the device sale).
2. At network connection (consumers get a usable phone, Apple get paid by the network - and potentialy get a lifetime customer revenue share as well if you belive some reports).
3. Consumer buys iTunes content (consumers get music, video etc, Apple get a share of these transactions).
4. Consumer buys software, games etc from AppStore (consumers get added utility from upgrading their device, Apple get 30% of software purchase price).

It is very, very clever stuff. IMHO, Nokia are the only device manufactuer that have spotted the same oppoutunity, they just don't seem to be able to pul it off with Apple's style/spin at the moment. ALL the networks would love to be able to do the same thing. All the more remakable that Apple have entered the market and done all this in under a year!

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

TerenceEden — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:07:48 -0000

Voice recording (podacsts), video, high(er) res images, documents, spreadsheets, printing (via bluetooth printers), image and video editing.

Not to mention that you can write your own programs - and run any you like - without getting the approval of Apple.

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

bensmith — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:41:52 -0000

I love the thing so much it hurts, but the it it more consumer than it is producer... the keyboard is OK but only in short bursts (for text / blogging), the camera's OK but can't cope in low light (others cope better, only the N82 performs well AFAIK) and it doesn't do videos at all.

Not a disaster - most want to consume primarily anyway - but I'll be carrying a S60 device too for Qik, a QWERTY pad etc etc.... the E71 you were so excited about in the podcast :-)

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

smstextnews — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:35:05 -0000

So the iPhone does 75% of that reliably -- ergo, is it not classed a content
creator device?

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

bensmith — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:25:26 -0000

No, but if the categories are (broadly) text, static images, audio and video it's 25% of the types of media...

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

smstextnews — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:05:07 -0000

Is that it? Are we defining 'content creation' as taking videos then?

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

bensmith — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:57:17 -0000

Videos?

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

smstextnews — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:40:06 -0000

What content do people 'create' on their Nokias that they can't create on
their iPhones?

Re: Julian Cooling: The iPhone 2.0 - platform as a service?

TerenceEden — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:36:28 -0000

Exactly! At the moment, Nokia only makes money on the hardware. Maybe a few quid from maps, but their revenue is based around shifting SKUs - 700 million of them a year.

Apple want to create a world where people buy services. Music, software, applications, SyncML servers.

Imagine that, next year Apple announce iPhone OS v3. It'll add video recording and all that other fancy stuff to your Gen I iPhone. And it'll only cost you €25. It's what they do with their other hardware. Nokia, by contrast, give away fir,ware updates (maybe that's why they're so lacklustre?).

As Whatley pointed out, iPhones are for consuming and Nokias are for creating. And it will probably stay that way until Apple figure out a good way to get people to create.

If MobileMe can act like flickr, YouTube and Jaiku - are people going to be happy paying €$£ if their phone is limited to 2MP?