I'll be honest - the iPhone really worries me
05 Sep 2007 - Windows Phones - By Leigh Geary |
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We're a Windows Mobile website. However, unless you've been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, you'll probably be aware of yet another attack from the iPhone platoon.
What's happening ? Well, there's a new multi-touch handset called the iPod Touch (oh, that sounds familiar) which is just like the existing iPhone - minus the "phone" aspect. Next, the 4Gb version of the iPhone has been unceremoniously ditched. Yes, dumped. Gone. Goodbye. If this was any other company in the world there'd be masses of customers throwing their phones at shop windows right now, but Apple gets away with dropping the lower-priced and arguably more popular handset so soon after launch. Finally, the 8Gb version has just been reduced in price - from $599 to just $399.. oh, and you can now add ringtones from the iTunes store too.
So why are we mentioning it? Well, we might ask why Apple have decided to do all this. It's a huge change to their pricing and product line-up, and it's been done just weeks after the iPhone launch madness. Why? This is a phone that's selling faster than anything else at the moment. Why drop the price when it's selling like hot cakes at the current price? Well, speculation is mounting that the European launch is drawing near and the price drop is to make room for a 3G-enabled iPhone here in Europe. If true this better-connected European iPhone would have the 8Gb, possibly even 16Gb of storage and would have the ringtone editor and the established music store that everyone and his Gran uses.
So more questions. Why mention it here? Well, this is my open request to Microsoft. Guys, it's time to worry. It's time to really worry. That iPhone is outselling all smartphone competitors and there's a real danger of losing a huge amount of the current consumer market here in Europe. Zune Phones, HTC Touch II, new Smartphones (and we mean Windows Mobile Standard), multi-touch screens, new GUI's, new plug-ins, better interfaces, faster processors, more storage. It's now or never guys. Throw it all together or there's a real danger of only ever getting interest from the business customers.
I feel that I have to post something - look at what's happening at the marketplace. Within a few months the iPhone has dropped in price, the lower model has been ditched, they've launched a ringtone editor / maker and there's heavy rumours of a 3G version coming to Europe. It's reasonable to expect that Apple will chuck in an MMS client too.
When I started this site in 2002 people were buying the Orange SPV because it stood for "Sound, Pictures and Video" - it was an innovative handset for the masses, but now there's real danger that the "masses" will completely ignore Windows Mobile and plumb for an Apple iPhone which is developing at a much faster rate.
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