I have a problem . mayhap you have the same one ? Somebody in my house require an iPhone this holiday season . Real unsound . Like “ do n’t get me a single other affair , it ’s the only nowadays I want ” big . That kind of bad .
While I ’m sorely tempted to be able to bypass the endowment - package golf balls and three - ring of fake cashmere clothes air-sleeve this year , I also do n’t require to be played for a fool by everyone ’s favorite yield - logo’ed electronics vendor .
As early iPhone buyers who were caught by Apple ’s unexpected price free fall just two months after the phone ’s releaseknow only too well , the company ’s plans for the iPhone are , shall we say , still evolving . ( That ’s particularly true now thatAT&T is saying a faster version will be out sometime next year . )
Do I really want to watch my dear unwrap an iPhone on the big daytime , only to have it look older and gawky when some new , hot model hits the shelf ?
( The notoriously closed - mouthed Apple wo n’t say anything about its plans , butMacworld Expo , at which the company traditionally makes a raft of important announcements , is frighteningly close to the holidays , a mere two weeks into the Modern yr . )
Then , too , there ’s the features listing , or as some disparager like to call it , the not - yet - features list . Right now , my loved one is blind by the iPhone light , but is it truly the best telephone set for his pauperization ? From G3 to GPS , there area spate of features missingfrom the version of the iPhone being hawk for the holidays .
And in the interim , other almost - as - cool telephone have make the mart and won some tending as well . What if theAT&T Tiltor theLG Voyageror the rumored - to - be - coming BlackBerry 9000 is really the good alternative ?
The service programme could be tough as well . For reasons too dorky to give away in public ( coughTracFonecough ) , we do n’t have any existing wireless service design in my family , but other iPhone wanters who have current plans with carriers other than AT&T need to decide if they desire that Apple unit bad enough to feed whatever is leave of their current correspondence .
Crowd restraint ?
Finally , there are a couple of practical timing questions . As we all know , it ’s the Biggest Shopping Month of the Year , which means I ’m not the only soul out there contemplating an iPhone purchase right now .
If I wait till the last minute , or even the last hebdomad , is there a chance Apple will execute out of social unit ? ( Apple , surprisal surprise , officially say no , but declines to comment on how many units have been make up or shipped . ) If I opt to corrupt an iPhone in - store , will there be an educated , cheerful Apple employee usable to suffice any lingering head , or will it be three - oceanic abyss at the Genius Bar ?
And skipping in the lead to the handsome day , what happen when thousands and G of iPhone giftees all rive their telephone out of that tasteful Apple promotion and seek to activate them in the very same two- or three - hr fourth dimension slot ? Will iTunes be able to handle it ? Will AT&T be up to the task ?
spokesperson for Apple and AT&T both one by one swore to me on a stack of greeting cards that they ’re ready for whatever onslaught ensues , but I ’m still worried . Buyers who bought the iPhone in its first couple twenty-four hours of availableness reportedhaving problems with activationwhen channelise an old mobile figure over to their new building block . Is that drop dead to happen again ?
So many motion ! So few buying mean solar day left !
As luck would have it , though , I work atComputerworld , which means that instead of wasting hours surfboard the blogosphere looking for answers , I get to wander the halls of our ( virtual ) office and waste the time of my hardworking co-worker or else .
Because journalist and analyst are a tricky bunch that wiggles away from definitive declarations , I purpose to not just foregather opinions , but to pin everyone to the mat . Which mean that , after hem and hawing , my homegrown band of experts had to come up with a yes or no result . The goal ? To make my , and perhaps your , holiday iPhone purchasing conclusion a niggling prosperous .
Stop one : Scot Finnie , Computerworld editor in foreman
Finnie ’s a 20 - something - class warhorse of the computing industry who garnered a lot of care ( and caught a portion of flak ) by very publiclyswitching from a PC to a Mac . Based on his new devotion to Apple , I suspect I know what his take on the iPhone will be .
Finnie insists he ’s not much of a gadget freak , and he ’s well-chosen he waited for the price drop , but yes , he bribe an iPhoneand yes , he ’d recommend that you bribe one now .
While he ’s as interested as the next guy rope about the speed of the EDGE internet and the serviceableness of the keyboard , Finnie says the iPhone ’s touch screen and the Safari browse experience are just too good not to have now . And he feels confident that Apple wo n’t presently leave out the Mary Leontyne Price again and embarrass vacation season buyers .
The tally : Buy now—1 , Don’t—0
bar two : Harry McCracken , PC World editor in boss
Next , I hop over the embodied firewall to check in with our sister publication , personal computer World . Harry McCracken , another editor program in gaffer with a duad of X of experience behind him , penned a bit back in July titled13 reasonableness Why I ’m Not Buying an iPhone — Yet .
Has he transfer his head — or his bright phone — since then ?
When I ask him , he takes a moment to call up the file and page through his original list of charge . apart from the cost cut , McCracken says , the most meaning variety in the six month since his clause was bring out is that Apple finally announce it will release an iPhone software developer ’s kit next February .
That should pave the way for third - party developer to indite , among other things , applications that can fulfil McCracken ’s specific line of work needs , which include more robust note - pickings capabilities , support for Lotus Notes and a to - do lean .
His other fully grown matter still stand undetermined — include the slower EDGE rather than the faster 3 G mesh and the nontactile keyboard that some users will never warm to .
“ I do want to make it readable that the iPhone ’s an extraordinary gadget , ” McCracken tells me . “ And once we see the high speeds and the third - party apps , I might deepen my mind . But for now , I ’m say ‘ wait . ’ ”
The tally : Buy now—1 , Don’t—1
discontinue three : Ken Mingis , Computerworld online news editor
Back on this side of the wall , I catch up with Ken Mingis , who has covered Apple forComputerworldfor five years and takes what can only be described as a devil - may - care stance on my buy / don’t steal dilemma .
If you need , or need , an iPhone now , go ahead and get one , Mingis says . ( He did , the first weekend the phone went on sales event . ) render to gauge when better or cheaper engineering science will reach store shelves is always a gamble , he say , and pretend Apple ’s next move is like trying to read the Kremlin .
Even so , he feel it ’s unlikely there ’ll be another Leontyne Price cut soon . “ That first cut was an anomalousness for Apple , dropping the toll so soon after the iPhone ’s release . It really did make hoi polloi for a loop-the-loop , ” he aver . In his opinion , it ’s extremely unlikely it ’ll occur again anytime soon .
It ’s more likely we ’ll see a thinner iPhone , perhaps with more memory like the 16 GB iPod touching , at some dot down the road — and it ’s potential such a unit could debut in metre for Macworld Expo , he imagine .
Either way , Apple will keep interest in the iPhone high up by rolling out features on the software program side , which current possessor will , of course , be capable to access with a simple update .
And if the worst does happen and Apple rushes out a new iPhone midcycle , that does n’t signify your building block will be obsolete , Mingis says . “ multitude always want to have the modish and greatest , but yours will still work , ” he target out equanimously . It ’ll just be slightly fatter than the next guy ’s .
His verdict ? There ’s no grounds to waitress .
The tally : corrupt now—2 , Don’t—1
Stop four : Ross Rubin , analyst , the NPD Group
long for a small linear perspective on that elusive and ever - changing swampland known as the consumer marketplace , I next put in a call to theNPD Group , which specializes in that very geography .
Analyst Ross Rubin give me his take on Apple and the iPhone . The company ’s done a illustrious job of bend many ruler of the wireless biz with the iPhone — it ’s go against the lunar time period in term of how handsets are dole out and ( via iTunes ) of how message , even ringtones , are offered , Rubin says .
And thanks to its wildly successful iPods and computers direct toward conclusion user , Apple should be well positioned to commercialize the iPhone flat to emptor .
That articulate , the iPhone landscape is still a explosive place , what with both Macworld Expo and the release of the iPhone API on the horizon . Rubin suggests that substance abuser who feel they simply ca n’t know without the iPhone ’s drug user interface and Web and media experience could take a spirit at the iPod Touch , which delivers most of those feature along with 8 GiB or 16 GB of storage ( just no phone ) .
Otherwise , he advises iPhone vendee ( and would - be gift recipients ) to wait and see what the new year brings .
The tally : grease one’s palms now—2 Don’t—2
Last diaphragm : Mike Elgan , Computerworld columnist
Oh , love . Hung jury . I was afraid of this .
For solacement , I essay out Computerworld blogger Mike Elgan , who supervise to survey Apple and the iPhone closely without in reality tope the Kool - assistance — or would that be “ Apple succus ? ”
He likes the iPhone very much . He mean , in fact , it ’s the good Version 1.0 twist he ’s view , and he gives Apple prop for that accomplishment . But it ’s still a 1.0 unit after all is enjoin and done , and for that reason , he ca n’t recommend it . Not this year , anyway , and especially not as a talent .
“ Six months ago , when there was the novelty factor , this would have made a great gift , ” Elgan enunciate . “ But now we could be more than halfway toward an upgrade for a merchandise that requires an expensive two - year loyalty . You ’d be give six months of joy followed by a year and a half of someone feeling like they have something older . ” So no .
The tally : Buy now—2 Don’t—3
Attention , iPhone shoppers …
OMG ( as the kids say ) , the iPhone live down , 3 votes to 2 !
On the one script , I ’m overjoyed . I just got a theoretic $ 399 plus “ $ 60 per calendar month metre two yr ” put back into my wallet , and that feels good during the first hebdomad of December .
On the other hand , what am I going to get my guy ?
Honey , how about a sign copy ofFake Steve Jobs ’ new book ? Or maybe an iPod touch and a TracFone ? No ?
Well , what about something truly classic , something that ’s timeless , unmoved by development cycles or changing marketplace conditions . Something like golf game balls . Or dress wind sleeve , maybe cashmere wearing apparel wind sleeve …
