One of the liberal slams against Apple ’s iPhone when it was released last summer was its trust on AT&T ’s aging boundary ( Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution ) web .
in reality , it was a supersmart affair for Apple to do . Now , before you hit that remark area with all the vitriol , let me explain myself — this is n’t about amphetamine , and it ’s not as round-eyed as “ quicker equalize better . ” You see , I ’m a bandwidth bollock , too . I have 100Mbit / sec . fiber here in Paris , where I ’m living for now , and I like to utilise a 3 G card — it permit access to broadband , third - generation cell phone networks — for high - speed wireless on the road .
I ’m more than willing to pay up for the special pep pill . But what good is speeding when your earphone ’s battery is utter ?
Therein lies the hang-up : Apple had to choose between battery life sentence and speed . A yr ago , 3 M chip were barrage hogs , a exploitation form they are only now leaving behind . The last - generation 3 G chips simply were n’t meant for uninterrupted wireless access , and it shows . With my Nokia N95 , I can browse the Web over a 3 GB mesh for about an hour before the bombardment is dead — even less if I tether it as a modem to my laptop . The same is true for my Samsung Blackjack 2 Windows Mobile gimmick .
That is n’t the wandering experience that the great unwashed are look for .
Apple could have counterbalance for an energy - athirst — and more expensive — chip by building in a much bigger battery or eliminating some of the brightness level of the screen or even touting what would then have been the iPhone ’s a two - hr battery life . But doing so would have affected the iPhone ’s sizing and system of weights , add price and left drug user with a less - than - astral experience . That ’s just the way for the ship’s company to shoehorn its way into a new and highly - militant market .
A slight snatch of networking background : An iPhone in the U.S. in the main link up to AT&T ’s EDGE connection for intensive datum - transmittance task like entanglement browse and einsteinium - mail with in - the - field download speeds of 70Kbit / sec . to 135Kbit / sec . , though technically the top - end is a little mellow . In contrast , AT&T ’s 3 G Broadband connection offer download speeds of 600Kbit / sec . to 1.4Mbit / sec.—and is still to be wrap out in major metro areas .
Apple ’s selection : pep pill or battery life . special insurance coverage vs. far-flung coverage . high cost and bigger shape cistron , or cheaper and smaller .
Realistically , the EDGE - based package Apple delivered was the salutary compromise . It was also a bright move financially .
The reasonableness devices like the Nokia N95 can get away with have a 3 M silicon chip in them and not die out in an hour is that mass are n’t using those speech sound to browse the vane nearly as much as people do with the iPhone . Survey after survey shows that iPhone substance abuser are browse much more than users of any other gadget . The iPhone also allows you to look on YouTube and other online H.264 filing cabinet , which can be bandwidth hogs . Mobile Safari on the iPhone gets used 50 times more often than any other peregrine internet browser , according to Google(if you measure vane searches ) . Think that would be the case if the iPhone only got two 60 minutes of bombardment life ?
In fact , the iPhone ’s easy - to - use , just - like - the - Internet internet browser is one grounds why users have complained about tiresome download times . They use the web browser often enough to see the limit of the boundary internet . Other devices like the extremely democratic T - Mobile Sidekick — whose Danger bone was recently buy by Microsoft to serve pad its consumer fluid phone stage business — also deliver unlimited EDGE browsing . But because the Internet and web browser app use are more limited , you do n’t discover a lot of complaining .
The EDGE-3 G dustup is n’t the only issue that iPhone owners have noted . One of the most controversial parts of the iPhone ecosystem in the U.S. is the fact that AT&T is the only immune carrier the sound work with . ( There are similar one - carrier plans in Europe . ) People either love the simplicity or hate being restricted to one provider . The plans offer in the U.S.—$59.99 , $ 79.99 and $ 99.99 — all offer unlimited data use , a vast blessing to iPhone possessor and another reason why the iPhone is rated so highly . Would AT&T have been able-bodied to offer the same pace for high - speed , 3 G browsing ? dubious . With 3 guanine , operations such as watching on-line motion picture become much more compelling . Sure , you’re able to do that just fine over a Wi - Fi web , but it is n’t a realistic option over EDGE .
With 3 g-force as an option , relying on Wi - Fi for better data amphetamine would n’t be as necessary . In fact , some users would likely forego Wi - Fi entirely and just use 3 GB all Clarence Shepard Day Jr. — a huge drain on the wireless carrier networks . For incisively that reason , I anticipate a price addition of $ 10 to $ 30 a month when the 3 G iPhones are introduced later this year . So if you really want that f number , you ’ll most likely have to make up more for it .
Any such Leontyne Price wage hike would also set aside Apple to provide overlapping models , giving the great unwashed a choice between faster and pricier 3 K models and cheaper sharpness - base versions .
Keep in mind that AT&T ’s 3 gram internet rollout in the U.S. is also limited . Most U.S. iPhone users would still be surf on an EDGE mesh — even if they advance to a new 3G - based iPhone . AT&T is only now upgrading most of its larger markets with 3 GiB access . It ’s a different story in Europe , where 3 G is almost ubiquitous ; the outrage over EDGE has been much stronger there .
Even so , a batch of first - coevals iPhone users will want to jump on the 3 G bandwagon , becoming repeat purchaser and no doubt spurring sales beyond what they would have been over the same period had Apple started with a 3 thou iPhone .
Did Apple know that this would be a major flash spot , especially in Europe ? in all probability . Is it likely to repeat the move in Asia ? credibly not . I do n’t think Apple would dare introduce a non-3 gee edition in Asia ( although EDGE iPhones seem to be doing O.K. in China ) . But that ’s see ahead . calculate back to last year , I ’d say that — given the iPhone ’s success so far — hold out with the EDGE web was both a necessary compromise and a wise move on Apple ’s part .
Sometimes tedious is better .
Seth Weintraub is a global IT management consultant specialise in the engineering needs of creative constitution , include The Paris Times , Omnicom and WPP Group . He has set up and managed cross - platform networks on four Continent and is an expert in Active Directory - Open Directory PC - Macintosh consolidation .
