Raw commentary on the iPhone announcement

I'll do a post tonight with thoughts on the iPhone announcement (update: now posted here), but in the meantime here are some tidbits. During the announcement, Chris Dunphy and I did an instant messaging session as we watched feeds of the announcement (we're on opposite sides of the continent right now). Chris and I worked together at Palm, so we're both mobile veterans, and we used to spend a lot of time talking about industry trends.

I thought you might like this transcript of our comments. It's sort of a color commentary on the presentation. It gives you a little insight into how a couple of tech industry people think, and which features stood out to us at first glance.

My only hesitation about posting this is that I feel like I'm participating in Apple's hype. But in this case, I think the impact of the announcement actually justifies the hype. Mostly.

Chris Dunphy says: Total lust.... Are you following the iPhone details?
Chris Dunphy says: wow.

Michael Mace says: This isn't a phone, it's a PDA reinvented for 2007.
Michael Mace says: Extremely nice job.
Michael Mace says: I wonder how long the batteries will last with Mac OS X in there.

Chris Dunphy says: My thought too.
Chris Dunphy says: I sure wish it had 3G data speed.... But I am willing to trade all that I think.
Chris Dunphy says: Awesome looking hardware and UI.
Chris Dunphy says: Face proximity sensor is a bit of obvious genius.
Chris Dunphy says: Dangit - visual voicemail interface... We were trying to get that idea worked on 4 years ago!
Chris Dunphy says: 160dpi screen. Wow.

Michael Mace says: I like the sensor that rotates the screen image depending on how you're holding it.

Chris Dunphy says: Simple elegant stuff. I love Apple.
Chris Dunphy says: Multi-finger touch interface UI. Sweet.

Michael Mace says: Yeah, that multi-touch stuff has always impressed me.

Chris Dunphy says: Gads - how can this thing actually have MacOS in it?!!? Egads.

Michael Mace says: Battery life, battery life, battery life.

Chris Dunphy says: Safari with a 160dpi 3.5" screen will blow all other mobile www out of the water.
Chris Dunphy says: Apple Fusion.

Michael Mace says: Plus you should be able to run the base of Mac OS apps. This should re-energize Mac OS apps development.

Chris Dunphy says: I am guessing it is actually just a set of API's - not the full OS. But still - the developer potential is enormous.
Chris Dunphy says: I wonder how open it will be?
Chris Dunphy says: And if they thought through the ecosystem issues?

Michael Mace says: Good questions.
Michael Mace says: Putting Mac OS X in there is freaking brilliant. It lets them leverage so much infrastructure, and it's already paid for.
Michael Mace says: Okay, widgets. So they are thinking about third party apps at least some.
Michael Mace says: Ya know, Jobs and his team just think further ahead than a lot of other people in the industry.

Chris Dunphy says: Google maps is location aware. YES!

Michael Mace says: This screws up a lot of companies that were planning map services in the future.

Chris Dunphy says: I bet the same widget architecture as on the desktop.

Michael Mace says: I'm sure the architecture is the same; no reason to make it incompatible.

Chris Dunphy says: Interpreted so CPU / platform independent.

Michael Mace says: Yup.

Chris Dunphy says: And simple enough even for amateurs to program.

Michael Mace says: They're getting so many things right...
Michael Mace says: Ahhhh, services tied to location. Another thing people have been talking about but not yet shipping.

Chris Dunphy says: I am not sure I have ever been so lustful for a gadget before. Egads....
Chris Dunphy says: Not since the preview of the twist/flip Clie...

Michael Mace says: This is far better than the Clie -- Apple has thought through the software. It's a solution, not just a gadget.
Michael Mace says: And yeah, I want one. I'm waiting to hear the price.

Chris Dunphy says: Yep. Amen!
Chris Dunphy says: They could name almost any price for me right now... If only it had 3G....
Chris Dunphy says: I've been dying for a decent phone.

Michael Mace says: You know a 3G version has to be in the works.

Chris Dunphy says: Absolutely. This was the smart call for now.

Michael Mace says: And then put this thing on WiMax in 18 months...

Chris Dunphy says: Cingular here I come.

Michael Mace says: Oh, now Eric Schmidt is on stage with him talking about WiMax. Sheesh!

Chris Dunphy says: EGADS!

Michael Mace says: Steve builds in Yahoo mail and Google gets on stage with him. What a great deal-maker.
Michael Mace says: He has totally shown up everything on display at CES.

Chris Dunphy says: I've made $850 in AAPL in the past few days. I wish I had bought LOTS more.

Michael Mace says: I wish I had my old options.

Chris Dunphy says: Yahoo is the search - egads!
Chris Dunphy says: What a way to play all sides.
Chris Dunphy says: Amazing dealmaking.

Michael Mace says: Since it has a full browser, the bundled search does not matter as much. But it's the optics.

Chris Dunphy says: Look at the size compared to a Treo: http://www.gizmodo.com/
Chris Dunphy says: AppleTV looked awesome too.
Chris Dunphy says: What a day for Apple.

Michael Mace says: Uhhh, five hours of battery life? Does that mean five hours of talk time?

Chris Dunphy says: I hope so!
Chris Dunphy says: That beats the Treo if it is.
Chris Dunphy says: Music playback time seems to indicate that.
Chris Dunphy says: EDGE radios can be VERY power efficient. Was smart to go 2.5G.

Michael Mace says: And here comes the price...

Chris Dunphy says: Tease

Michael Mace says: Yup, this is the crescendo, to be followed by the ship date.

Chris Dunphy says: A master at work.
Chris Dunphy says: Aigh - JUNE!

Michael Mace says: I wonder if that price is with a contract.
Michael Mace says: And now Steve, having done an exclusive with Cingular, will negotiate favorable contracts from every other GSM operator, one per country.

Chris Dunphy says: Yep - 2yr contract.
Chris Dunphy says: Ick.
Chris Dunphy says: I wonder how long the exclusive is...

Michael Mace says: Might depend on how cooperative the operator is.

Chris Dunphy says: "Cingular Exec on Stage 10:45 - ZZZzzzzzzzZZZZZzzzzzzz.–Brian Lam"

Michael Mace says: ;-)

Chris Dunphy says: You'd think they'd learn.

Michael Mace says: Might be exclusive for this device. But when WiMax is available, I can't believe they'd duck that.
Michael Mace says: Cingular's subsidy is helping Apple get this to an affordable price. They couldn't have launched this at an affordable price without it.