Sorry, mostly crossposted from Engadget's main site:
Personally, I can't see why so many people think an "iPhone" would be a regular cell phone. I don't see Apple making a phone just for the US market (that means no MNVO), and I can't see them marketing handsets direct to the consumer (ala. SonyEricsson). It seems more likely to me that Apple will announce a VoIP enabled smart device, maybe something like a media-centric analogue of the Nokia 7710 that will ship with a built-in VoIP client that runs over a WiFi connection. I could imagine that the service would be further Apple branded with direct tie-ins with hot-spot providers for telephony on the go. Give it a VoiP to POTS bridge, with a nominal fee, and you might just have a winner.
Keep in mind, that Apple and Softbank announced a "mobile lifestyles" collaboration this last April, after Softbank took over Vodafone's Japanese subsidiary. Softbank runs one of the major ISPs in Japan, and is rapidly building out their public WiFi network. They also have an IP-phone service that works well, and have expressed an interest of creating a deeper synergy between their phone and internet business units. Which might make them a roll-out partner.
This gives apple the entry into the mobile space with out having to rely on they type of big-corporate partner (read verizon) that is unlikely to "get" their products. It also allows Apple to take a nascent technology (mobile VoiP) and define it with that special Apple goodness, like they did with the iPod / iTunes/ iTunes Music Store.
Of course, that is just my personal take on it, and undoubtedly Apple would do a more clever job of it than I could imagine. Nevertheless, if Apple released a device with that type of mobile VoIP functinality, that also added in iTunes, a web browser, and email client (sort of a roaming iLife suite), I would seriously consider buying it.
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Sorry, mostly crossposted from Engadget's main site:
Personally, I can't see why so many people think an "iPhone" would be a regular cell phone. I don't see Apple making a phone just for the US market (that means no MNVO), and I can't see them marketing handsets direct to the consumer (ala. SonyEricsson). It seems more likely to me that Apple will announce a VoIP enabled smart device, maybe something like a media-centric analogue of the Nokia 7710 that will ship with a built-in VoIP client that runs over a WiFi connection. I could imagine that the service would be further Apple branded with direct tie-ins with hot-spot providers for telephony on the go. Give it a VoiP to POTS bridge, with a nominal fee, and you might just have a winner.
Keep in mind, that Apple and Softbank announced a "mobile lifestyles" collaboration this last April, after Softbank took over Vodafone's Japanese subsidiary. Softbank runs one of the major ISPs in Japan, and is rapidly building out their public WiFi network. They also have an IP-phone service that works well, and have expressed an interest of creating a deeper synergy between their phone and internet business units. Which might make them a roll-out partner.
This gives apple the entry into the mobile space with out having to rely on they type of big-corporate partner (read verizon) that is unlikely to "get" their products. It also allows Apple to take a nascent technology (mobile VoiP) and define it with that special Apple goodness, like they did with the iPod / iTunes/ iTunes Music Store.
Of course, that is just my personal take on it, and undoubtedly Apple would do a more clever job of it than I could imagine. Nevertheless, if Apple released a device with that type of mobile VoIP functinality, that also added in iTunes, a web browser, and email client (sort of a roaming iLife suite), I would seriously consider buying it.