matthew@ittimes.co.kr
The iPhone launched amid thousands of metric tons of hype from all over the media and communications industry.
AT&T CEO Stan Sigman described Apple's iPhone before it was released as "the largest commercial product launch in the history of electronics" during a graduation speech at the West Texas A&M University.
In the previous six months Apple's iPhone was talked about in approximately 11,000 print articles according to the New York Times, and it turned up about 69 million hits on Google. People interested in purchasing the iPhone camped out in front of Apple stores; bloggers called it the Jesus Phone.
The iPhone was described as three mobile devices in one-- a web browser, a mobile phone, and a wide-screen iPod.
The release
Friday, June 29th, was the fateful day. Apple stores across the nation sold iPhones all day long. "Apple retail stores were created for this moment -- to let customers touch and experience a revolutionary new product," said Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of Retail. "With our legendary Genius Bar support, free workshops and our One to One personal training, we're here to help customers get the most from their new iPhone." It was a day to rock the telecommunications industry forever, or was it
ABI Research informed that estimates of iPhone shipment volumes in the first weekend they were available have ranged from 140 thousand units to 500 thousand units depending upon who was asked. Stuart Carlaw, wireless research director at ABI Research said that the iPhone is all set to change the smartphone market. "The iPhone will not revolutionize the smartphone market, but it is a significant evolutionary step forward," said Carlaw in a statement.
The aftermath
However, now that the iPhone has finished its launch, some important numbers are coming in to give a more realistic view of the phone's success. For instance, AT&T, the exclusive service provider for the iPhone, said it activated 146,000 iPhones in the second quarter, a number that may be surprising.
Also, on the first of August, US stock market traders had a knee-jerk reaction this week on a rumor that Apple was considering cutting production of the iPhone, and shares of Apple fell 7 percent. The rumor reportedly originated from an e-mail written by a broker, and has not been substantiated. Apple shareholders appear jittery following several challenges the iPhone has been facing since its recent release.
Also, there are technical problems to consider. AT&T has had some problems keeping iPhones connected to the network. iPhone users were among many smart phone subscribers complaining of a noticeably slow AT&T data network in the first week of July, but a spokesman for the company said the issue had nothing to do with the onslaught of people activating their iPhones. Some customers using AT&T's 2.5G and 3G wireless networks complained that they could not get any data service on their mobile handsets. All smart phones, including the iPhone, were affected.
The iPhone's battery is also giving new users some problems. First of all, the battery is not user replaceable. iPhone owners must send the phones to Apple to get batteries replaced if they fail, at a cost of US$85. A second problem is short charged battery life. Apple rated the iPhone's battery to last up to 8 hours without recharging, but many users are saying that real-life usage times can be as low as 3 hours.
So it seems that Korean handset manufacturers will not be out of business within the year. The iPhone, while a good example of the evolution and convergence of the industry, is not quite as revolutionary as was previously hoped for. This is partly good news and partly bad. The bad news is that the human race has not yet achieved mobile device nirvana. The good news, of course, is that it's still out there, somewhere, in the future.
