iPhone: A (Necessary) Evil?
By Jennifer Altavilla
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., (formerly Apple Computers) hopes his new technological baby, the iPhone, will change the way the world communicates even more than the first cell phone did thirty-three years ago. Jobs’ offspring is as svelte as Martin Cooper’s invention was hulking at 16 ounces, but Jobs feels the iPhone’s impact will be just as mighty. The innovative iPhone is marketed as a cell phone, but is really a glorified conglomeration of all of the latest technology.
The iPhone, a cell phone first and foremost, is unique in that its advanced software allows a person to place a phone call simply by pointing a finger at a number or name in the iPhone address book, favorites list, or call log on the 3.5 inch display window. According to the official Apple Web site, the touch screen also allows the user to listen to voice messages in any order he/she pleases, a convenience not offered by a common cell phone.
The iPhone also allows the user to sync one’s iTunes music library from a PC or Mac to the phone, thereby allowing full access to one’s personal music collection at all times and in any location. Albums can be viewed in the traditional scrolling manner of the iPod or can be accessed using Cover Flow, an inventive software program that allows the user to search for albums according to album artwork.
Another advancement from the traditional cell phone is that all iPhones are connected to the Safari search engine and also have Yahoo and Google search capabilities. All PC or Mac internet bookmarks can be synced to the iPhone just as music libraries and email address books can, and the iPhone is equipped with an “intelligent keyboard” that recognizes and corrects typing errors. Additionally, an accelerometer in the iPhone detects whether the phone is being held the portrait or landscape style and changes the display accordingly. Lastly, the iPhone makes a valiant effort at being energy efficient, a capability which is en vogue for new technology. Software in the phone senses when it is placed to the ear and shuts off the normal display in order to save battery power. The iPhone also adjusts the brightness of the display according the amount of ambient light; it will dim if there is an excess of light (thus saving battery power) or brighten when there is a lack of light.
The iPhone, as John Markoff of the New York Times reported, will go on sale in June through Apple and Cingular Wireless, both online and in stores. It will come in two models, a 4 gigabyte model which will sell for $499 and an 8 gigabyte model which will sell for $599. The first models will only be available with the Cingular Wireless network, but Jobs says he hopes to add more networks in the future, as many potential buyers are skeptical about Cingular’s reliability. If the iPhone is a success, Jobs hopes to market it to Europe by the end of 2007 and then to Asia by 2008. Job’s goal for the iPhone is for it to total 1% of total cell phone sales by 2008. That figure seems modest, but considering there were 1 billion cell phones sold worldwide in 2006 (according to the New York Times), 1% of those sales would still equal a sale of 10 million iPhones. Pending such commercial success, Jobs plans to add accessories to his progeny: a Blue-tooth headset that can go to “sleep” when not in use (in order to conserve battery power) and a set of stereo headphones and microphone.
Jobs hopes the success of the iPod is a prelude to the success of its brother the iPhone. Out of the almost 135 million MP3 players sold in 2006, 39 million of them were iPods. Out of the almost $20 million of Apple’s total net sales in 2006, between $7 and 8 million of those sales were iPods. The figures prove the iPod is thus responsible not only for changing the way the world listens to music, but also the image of the Apple company itself; the success of the iPod is responsible for the company’s recent name change from “Apple Computers” to “Apple Inc.,” a change that signals the company’s new emphasis on multimedia technology in general, not just computers.
The iPhone’s infiltration of American technology and culture will be a fascinating process to watch. By this time next year it will probably be seen photographed in the perfectly manicured hands of many celebrities. Whether the common citizen, neither celebrity or technology nerd, will ever take to the new gadget remains to be seen. Does a person really need a cell phone/ iPod/computer when that person already owns each gadget separately? Does one really need to send that email while stuck in traffic or listen to that song while walking across the parking lot to one’s car? Steve Jobs certainly thinks so. He yearns to make a computer geek out of everyone, to make his new creation ‘“so easy to use that everyone can use it.”’ Necessary or not, the iPhone will be the gadget of the future if Steve Jobs has his way.
Sources:
1. Honan, Mathew. “Apple Unveils iPhone.” 9 January 2007. 11 January 2007 <www.macworld.com>.
2. “iPhone.” 11 January 2007 <www.apple.com>.
3. Markoff, John. “Apple, Hoping for Another iPod, Introduces Innovative Cellphone.” New York Times. 9 January 2007. pg A-1, C-6.
4. “Martin Cooper—History of Cellphone.” 11 January 2007 <http://inventors.about.com>.
