Apple COO Timothy Cook was recently quoted as saying the iPhone wouldn’t have any problem selling because the populace at large feels that free cell phones are “worthless.” Those are the cell phones you get with the $29.99 limited-minutes basic cell phone plan that the guy in the Verizon store is trained to talk you out of.
Now those phones don’t have what the iPhone does. No cool touch display, no music or movie playing ability, no ability to easily sync with your email reader or your contact database, and darn sure no way to surf the Web. But is that what people who look at these plans are really seeking? I don’t think so. I think all they want is a phone they can put in their pocket.
And what do these phones do nowadays–still more than a basic cell phone 10 years ago, that’s what. Cell phone clarity is good, coverage is…well, let’s say better than 10 years ago, and most of them have an internal contact database, advanced phone features like caller ID and call waiting. And some of the $49.99 jobs also have a camera, the ability to surf the cell provider’s internal wireless data network (not the Web, but it’s got stuff on it) and if you buy a third-party syncing program, you can even sync them to the calendar and contact software on your PC.
Frankly, that’s quite a bit for $50. Now here comes the Apple iPhone and its competitors from companies like Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and more. All these phones sport way cool media features and PDA-style abilities. They also sport price tags from $199 to $499. And that’s just the base phone. Add on an extra long-life battery, a car charger and hands-free set, a Bluetooth headset and a decent carrying case and you’re up between $300 and $600.
So which would you choose. I’m a geek, so I’m naturally drawn to the data-type phone. But if I could suppress my nerd-like nature, I’d realize that the times I use my data phone for real data purposes are still fairly rare. And that if I actually use its media abilities for an hour or so I’d better have an extra battery in my pocket or I won’t be talking to anybody.
So is that kind of reality going to catch up to the iPhone? I predict a wash. The Apple name will carry its sales in the short term, right after its release. But if it doesn’t solve the battery problem and doesn’t really offer anything that a $199 smart phone doesn’t then it’s going to have problems long-term.
