Apple to Cell Phones?
What is hot these days in the Apple Land? Looking at some of the other Apple blogs (yes, there are others), it appears that Apple has announced some rate plans for some sort of cell phone they are releasing Friday the 29th. After further research we found the following:
- Apple continues to impress with another iPhone video. The most recent video describes activation and syncing. Rumors began circulating a few weeks ago that activation would be performed at home, but no one was expecting the process to run through iTunes. The video makes the activation process look incredibly simple. Also, the iTunes application appears to be easier and faster than the systems used by the carriers themselves. In the future AT&T sales people might setup accounts using iTunes.
- Another video was released today covering the usage of the keyboard and intelligent correction features. Very nice.
- David Pogue from the New York Times and Walt Mossberg from The Wall Street Journal reviewed the iPhone. The Pogue review shows a quick view of the clock application. Pretty cool. No major surprises in their reviews. Oh, except that Walt says there is no cut, copy, or paste! That definitely means that you want to keep your email and notes as short as possible. Also, this was going to be my fourth bullet point, but I decided to cut and paste it in this position. Poor planning on my part. We should probably get in the habit of writing our notes, email, and blog posts on paper before entering them in the iPhone!
- Reviewers also state that the Edge network used by the iPhone is slow when compared to the networks available from Verizon, Sprint, and even AT&T. Yes, AT&T has a network named 3G that is much faster than Edge. This will not be a huge deal for many iPhone owners because 3G has extremely limited coverage area, and there is a good chance it is not available anyway (it isn't for me). Those areas that have 3G available also have WiFi galore. Check out the WiFi available in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago. iPhone 2.0 will likely have 3G capabilities.
- The rate plan announced today will likely fit into many more budgets than the rumored $45 to $99 data plans. Hurrah! Will the more affordable rates translate to additional sales and more competition to get a phone on launch day? Our guess -- yes.
- There are reports that Apple will distribute more iPhones to areas where they have had the best iPod sales. Apple has never shared sales data at a state or city level, so we can just hope that our local iPod sales have been good.
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