Apple execs admit to iPhone anxiety
By Peter Rojas 
posted Jun 4th 2007 6:41AM
posted Jun 4th 2007 6:41AM
The hype over the iPhone is almost deafening right now, but there's an article in today's New York Times today that captures a rare moment of self-doubt from Apple regarding the impending launch:"The anticipation, which is intense even by Jobsian standards, has led to some quiet, behind-the-scenes anxiety at Apple. Some Apple executives worry privately that expectations for the one-button phones may be too high and that first-generation buyers will end up disappointed."
They're right to be a bit nervous. We don't doubt that the iPhone will sell like crazy when it first comes out and be hard to find in stores for months, but it's rare for anything this highly anticipated to completely live up to everyone's expectations. The iPhone's on pretty much the most massive pedestal that any gadget has ever been on, and if there are any issues with it -- like with its touchscreen, battery life, call quality, or software stability -- you can expect the backlash to be severe.
Yepper! They should be. This is the price you pay when you have the kind of Marketing Machine that Apple has built over the years. There will certainly be problems with 1st gen but consumers with at least 1 brain cell should expect that. If you buy the iphone thinking that there will not be bugs and problems then your as stupid as a lot of companies believe you are! I will be buying the iphone for sure and I will live through the bugs. Apple is also known for fixing issues...... albeit covertly and without acknowledgement (shrug)......
It's inevitable. There is guaranteed to be _some_ problem, and the media is going to hammer it at least as hard as they are hyping the thing now. Sort of like with the iPod battery or G1 nano scratching - only a hundred times worse.
It's just the nature of our (retarded) media.
The excitement is palpable but am I the only one thinking that this is one phone that doesnt deserve the hype?. It looks great and fits with the apple mantra of simple and cool but its a 600 dollar GPRS phone for crying out loud. I mean, there are free after rebate HSDPA phones out there and Jobs wants us to plunk 600 bucks for a 2.5G phone especially one with a lot of data apps?. He must be kidding surely.
And for those thinking that someday Jobs will turn on HSDPA by a software update, not happening. As a wireless engineer, I can tell you there needs to be hardware updates on the phone, one which means a newer SKU and a lot more changes. If one such radio is available in the iphone but not turned on, then the customers are going to be pissed.
I am waiting to see how this works out. For me, my first iphone if ever will be the one that has HSDPA or better still HSUPA.
I'm with you on the lack of 3G on this phone. All the ads are showing blazing speeds for accessing maps and other things that are just simply SLOW in reality. While Jobs will clearly do a good job on the hardware and simplicity, I just don't believe reality will come close to expectations - in fact, I think they're trying to 'pull the wool' over people's eyes when it comes to speed. Now of course Wi-Fi is a lot faster, but usage is just not practical (you're not really in hot spots that often, not to mention battery life tanks with Wi-Fi on phones, I've owned several)...
I've got a friend that works at Cingular/ATT who says that the Apple displays in their stores will be connected via Wi-Fi - again, to mask the fact that the iPhone is SLOW... talk about 'pulling the wool' over buyers' eyes - I wonder how many will return the phone after realizing that it doesn't work like the ads or the store demo unit???
I think the hype may be deafening only to those of us that live our lives on the internet. Most people I know, who find their pleasures elsewhere, aren't nearly as excited about it as "we" seem to be.
I'm sure it'll sell well, but there is so much more involved in cell phone success than mp3 player success, that people predicting it will sell like the iPod are going to be very disappointed.
The big problem for me is that I own Apple stock, so I can just see the crash coming when these things actually hit the streets and sales/success don't meet hype.
I am also an Apple stock holder. I am setting a trailing loss stop at 7%. I am thinking about lowering to 5% to protect my gain in case the stock crashes after not meeting consumer expectations. Any thoughts?
I have been a stockholder for about a year... bought in when it was around $65/share. I panicked a bit when shares sunk last friday, put a limit sell order in, and it happened first thing this morning. Now that the release date has been announced and it's a couple of weeks later than I'd expected, I kinda' wish I'd held onto the stock another week or so, but... I made a great profit. So, I guess I'm happy.
Maybe I'll buy again in a few months after June 29 -- or after disappointment/media furor has subsided -- and the stock is moving upward again.
A small part of me fears that the iPod craze was just Apple being in the right place at the right time, and iPhone won't do near as well. (Recall how poorly their previous joint-venture music phone did -- I can't even remember the name. And supposedly AppleTV also isn't as hot as they'd hoped -- now Jobs is calling it a 'hobby'.) But, maybe that's just me. Apple has been a great stock to own.
I also own Apple stock, and I'm going to hold onto it. In fact, if it does drop after the release, I will probably buy more to lower my average purchase price and increase my future returns. Then I'll hang on for the 6 months to 1 year it takes for the initial negative hype to die down, Apple to release upgrades, and for everyone and his mother to jump onboard and make Apple the king of cellphones like they are MP3 players. This phone has a lot of promise. It may not truly be ready for primetime, as with all first gen products, but they are poised to do really well here. It just may take a little time.
Selling a stock at the first sign of trouble is generally bad practice. Buy stocks for the long-term, and balance your portfolio, and you'll be fine.
Besides, everyone already pretty much knows what issues the iPhone will have. Those concerns are priced in already, for the most part.
I agree. If you look to ones record of keepig it's suppliers happy and their constant updates of tech products, you will see that they are truly one of the best in the biz. Any biz. They rank highly for customer satisfaction in many ad-free journals and just generally listen to the consumers talk about what would make the product better. In fact, many companies that are successful are good listeners. Toyota, Honda, Lexus, Acura. Apple. No one else in the electronics business can match the sytle, substance, support and satisfaction. Four very important components in any business arena that will make or break even marginal advertising. Apple even does that well. If you own Apple stock and have any other reasons to sell, please email us and give us something concrete other than pure speculation and zero background information. Reminds me of some Democrats I know.
Do you think the iphone will sell like the wii or the ps3?
I think apple risks falling into the ps3 trap, because it is a more expensive proposition focused on higher end users. Those users are where most of the profit is in handsets, but that market is not very large.
I've been sitting here patiently and quietly reading and digesting all the speculation since January, and there are a few things people are complaining about that I just don't understand:
1. Battery Life - There are these wonderful companions called chargers; AC chargers, car chargers, and I'm sure after a few months even AIRPLANE chargers will turn up. I seriously doubt Apple would produce something that didn't last at least 9-5 (the average work day) with average use.
2. The "lack" of "mandatory" features - If I remember correctly this phone has 1 button allowing for complete control over UI, and docks on your computer like an iPod allowing for software updates; software updates like upgrades, bug fixes, additions, anything and everything.
Am I really the only one that realizes that nothing is perfect, but Apple is a great company and has no problems with owning up to their glitches and fixing them? Hellooooooooooooo.
Admittedly, I'm no tech genius (but definitely not incompetent), in fact I'm merely a 22 year old college student (art history major). All of the Windows rules/Mac drools (and vice versa) drama is completely childish. Quite frankly, it reminds me of a bunch of mean middle school kids picking on each other to make themselves feel better. Jealous much?
Personally, I will be out June 29 in line to purchase my shiny new toy that speaks the same language as my iMac and MacBook, thank you very much.
*hops off soap box*
It will be crazy expensive, it will indeed have problems, and people will buy it anyway.
It will be the gotta-have gadget. Just look at those tv commercials already. "Sliced bread, iPhone." People's eyes will glaze over and they'll have to have it. Many won't even take advantage of lots of its features. They'll just use it as a phone, and to a lesser degree, an iPod, with only the small percentage of us geeks upset (or even aware) that it's not 3G and won't (?) allow 3rd party apps and won't have tactile feedback. They'll show it off at parties, let people hold it, use it on the subway and in airports and try to pretend like it's no big deal while people ooh and ahh and point and ask. "Yeah, it's an iPhone. Mm hm, the real deal. Oh, I just picked one up."
Based on the hype it will be less about what it actually does and how it performs and more about how it looks and... that you have one. Media backlash won't matter (anymore than it did when you bought your iPod with suckass battery life). There will be such a high lust factor that people will plunk down the money in the same way they do for other absurdly priced style/cool/status indicators that they can't really afford. $100 ballcap, $150 sneakers, $150 polo, $200 jeans, $250 sunglasses...$600 phone. Gotta have that look, and somehow they'll get it. That'll show everyone.
It's nuts, but people do it and will keep on doing it. Other people will see them doing it and will also want to do it. Celebrities will do it. This is no $2500 Mac Book Pro, either. It's within reach, if barely. It will straddle the line between technolust and plain old trendlust, and that's where the masses are. The savvy geek minority will sit back and wait for bug zapping and v2, but the units will move.
Well arent you guys forgetting the fundamentals here.....forget HDSPA is important yes but more important is the fact that this will be the first truly compatible phone for the mac and for me that is far more important. I currently have a 3g phone with unlimited data plan and i use it far less than i imagined. I use my mac a whole lot more. As for charging....i agree....most of us work and as such have aces to a wall socket? it will at least last a day...and that is all i need....
As for the cries that this is incredibly expensive.......what planet are you on? it wasnt five minutes ago that an 80gb ipod was £279 or nano for £179....when the ipod first came out it was closer to £500! and some feature packed phones already out such as my nokia n95 are still £100's with a contract and over £500 without....you guys want it all and for nothing.....never satisfied.....i for one am looking forward to its european debut which. suggesting by the time delay will be a 3g version (as im sure your aware 2.5g here is dying a death).
There i have had my say
I wonder how easy Apple will make it for people to acquire the SDK.