At the price of what you are getting .. I will wait. It does little more then other applications in practicality uses. It is still just a phone and web browser. But it looks good doing it. There are phones out there that are much better in my opinion right now with better service company’s for half the cost.

They have a good market position and thier marketing mix was stratagized with a strong distribution channel. Like Sony and other game makers…. they are holding back saturation to keep demand high until the next release.

I’m sure we will see a competitive edge of new products brake out this year in a rush for market share. The iPhone may be a market leader - but consumers are not as brand loyal as they were 10 years ago. Staying the leader will be the hard part - and Apple hasn’t been able to stay in the running in the past.

It will be interesting to watch this products developments.

Hi Dawn,
Thanks for your comments and for sharing your thoughts.
Ron

Ron, as someone who worked in the cell phone industry for years, I just don’t see some of this stuff happening, directly.

The upfront price will go down [actually this always happens as the NEW wears off] but, it will be ‘reassigned’ to charges elsewhere, usually ending up in either higher monthly rates, or some arcane access fee.

The battery problem is something I’m sure they already know about, but I suspect the battery was designed to not be user replaceable, so that the case itself can be inspected, and to allow easy nullification of warranties on those units suspected of being opened. This has the side benefit of discouraging the casual tinkerers.

Terms of service and early termination fees are why we don’t pay more upfront than we already do. Unless people are willing to pay approximately $200 more upfront, these charges and terms will stay.

Negatives aside, I’d get one if it was CDMA and could be used on Verizon. Few people realize how technically superior CDMA is, and usually point to the ubiquity of GSM. This is analogous to VHS-Beta. Beta was clearly superior, as anyone with better than 20-40 vision could attest to, but VHS won out, because no one wanted to pay the royalties to Sony.

Hi Marc,
Maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part. I just think $89 for a battery, plus the downtime is a steep price to pay. With all of the battery recalls recently, Apple would find themselves in a pickle if those batteries starting failing prematurely. Which could cripple Apple.

MS has the money to spend on $1bn in repair costs for their X-Box. But with Nintendo taking off like wild fire, the X-Box may turn out to be another MS money loser. Maybe they should of called the X-Box the X-Bob!

Later, Ron

Well the only reason I don’t have an iPhone now is because verizon will charge me $700 dollars to end my family share contract now. If it weren’t for that, I’d leave verizon’s network in the dust. Their network maybe good, or maybe not I don’t know. For voice, in Los angeles and Orange Counties, I have dropped calls every day. For data, I just can’t comment because I don’t use it. But the main reason why I’m not loyal to Verizon is because of Terrible customer service and massive over charging. And does anyone really agree with Verizon’s advertising that “It’s the Network.” I think I can speak for a lot of us and in saying the it should be the network, as well as great phones, excellent customer service, great features and great prices. It’s gotta be the whole package not just the network. And please lets do with out the two year agreements, early cancellation fees and proration costs. I wouldn’t hestitate to get the iPhone now because it’s just that good. It’s much better than I thought. No one will say, why go to Black Angus when you can get the same thing at Mc Donalds and for cheaper. Other phones have similar features but, on most phones, there is just no comparsion. Finally, Apple excels at quality. My point is Apple’s attention to detail and quality for a first Revision Device will in my opinion, excel past the quality found in other companies. So for me, there’ I’m getting one as soon as I get my chance.

Hello techguy,
Thanks for your comments and for sharing your experience with us.
Ron

I’m definetly waiting for the iPhone II but will admit it’s a tough wait. I don’t want to spend $400 on a phone that will be obsolete in < 1 year. With the wireless features, 3G network is a must.

Too bad it won’t incorporate with business users. This is where I’m almost tempted to go blackberry.

Sign .. just come down in price where I will definetly buy it!