Apple and the iPhone
Matt pontificates on the rumoured iPhone, and concludes:
To be honest, an N91-like device with the iTunes store hookup would probably slaughter the music/cellphone crossover market.
It would also slaughter Apple’s margins. They would have to pay licensing to Symbian (also true with UIQ3), and maybe Nokia.
Plus, if they go their own way and make a “pure” apple phone, they would have to deal with carriers and regulators too. Apple is too small for this. Even Microsoft only provides software for phones, and lets the companies that actually manufacture the phones take care of the hassle of certifying the devices.
The Microsoft way means lots of confusing brand names for the same phones, and a trickle of licensing to Redmond. But MS is the richest company on the face of the planet. They won’t crush Nokia and Motorola now, rightly seeing that the digital living room is more important at the moment. Those pesky phone companies can be bought or out-competed later.
But Apple doesn’t have those kinds of resources.
Also, consider a key use of an “iPhone” — using the stored music files as ringtones. Do you think any carrier would offer this phone on contract, if it’d mean that everyone that bought it wouldn’t buy expensive ringtones over the air?
(Update: found this piece by Ewan that explains the carrier’s position in better detail than I’ve laid out.)
For this and other reasons, I’m betting we won’t see an iPhone (or a phone with viable iTunes support) any time soon.
Updated on Saturday, 2005-09-03.
Posted at 09:02,
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