Saturday, October 06, 2007
Is Apple missing the iPhone Market?
In Tim Wu's recent Slate article on unlocking the iPhone, he says that the unlocking process is something that only one in twenty people might feel comfortable with. Meanwhile, in other news, Bloomberg reports that as many as one iPhone in ten is sold to be unlocked.
Applying naive multiplication . . . could it be that Apple would sell 3 times more iPhones if they came unlocked out of the box?
That's crazy. But suppose by selling **and supporting** unlocked iPhones, Apple could sell, say, 50% more iPhones, and a bunch of cool Apple-branded iPhone apps, AND not be evil . . . well wouldn't it more than make up for the supposed benefits of shackling up with AT&T?
Well, wouldn't it? I think an unlocked iPhone would have been so good that Apple could have materially shifted the "ownership" of the value proposition from carriers to device makers in the same way they disrupted the music industry. I said this last January [see "Apple Blows It," 1/10/07], and the numbers above lead me to believe I'm still right.
UPDATE: Let's ask the question another way: How many people would say, "Wow, I love that cool AT&T mobile service sooooo much that I'd gladly buy an iPhone just to get AT&T"? How many would say the opposite? Now that should tell us where the value lies.
Applying naive multiplication . . . could it be that Apple would sell 3 times more iPhones if they came unlocked out of the box?
That's crazy. But suppose by selling **and supporting** unlocked iPhones, Apple could sell, say, 50% more iPhones, and a bunch of cool Apple-branded iPhone apps, AND not be evil . . . well wouldn't it more than make up for the supposed benefits of shackling up with AT&T?
Well, wouldn't it? I think an unlocked iPhone would have been so good that Apple could have materially shifted the "ownership" of the value proposition from carriers to device makers in the same way they disrupted the music industry. I said this last January [see "Apple Blows It," 1/10/07], and the numbers above lead me to believe I'm still right.
UPDATE: Let's ask the question another way: How many people would say, "Wow, I love that cool AT&T mobile service sooooo much that I'd gladly buy an iPhone just to get AT&T"? How many would say the opposite? Now that should tell us where the value lies.
Technorati Tags: Apple, DisruptiveTechnology, DontBeEvil, iPhone, MobileApps, OpenAccess, TimWu, WalledGardens
Comments:
You are absolutely correct.
But I think what peeves me most are the Apple fanboy sites that absolutely refuse to say a cross word about Apple and Steve Jobs.
You've got to be a dunce not to realize two things:
1) ATT is THE big boy enemy of net neutrality, and has a CEO who contributes mightily to the forces of Bush/Cheney.
2) Apple is openly whoring with this enemy of the net.
But none of this seems to matter to the fanboys. They refuse to evaluate the device in wholistic political terms.
Aristotle said: Man is a political animal. Socrates said: The unexamined life is not worth living.
Apple fanboy sites (lake TUAW) say: The political iPhone is not worth examining.
Truly this is a high-tide for sissies and low-brow gadgeteers.
These folks will stand in line for two days for a chance to suck Steve Job's iPhone but won't even pause a second to consider the greater ramifications of the device.
To wit:
Go read this John Grubber post:
http://daringfireball.net/2007/10/cancel_computer
Poor thing.
He self-cancels out his own rationality because of his affection and affliction for all things Apple.
What a sap.
He sees the truth but dares not embrace it. And he calls his site: Daring Fireball?
How about Daring Hairball?
He, like so many other fanboys, dares not go to where he ought to go:
APPLE IS IN BED WITH ONE OF THE GREATEST ARCH ENEMIES OF NET NEUTRALITY ON THE PLANET.
For God sakes, am I the only one who truly dares to tell it like it is?
But I think what peeves me most are the Apple fanboy sites that absolutely refuse to say a cross word about Apple and Steve Jobs.
You've got to be a dunce not to realize two things:
1) ATT is THE big boy enemy of net neutrality, and has a CEO who contributes mightily to the forces of Bush/Cheney.
2) Apple is openly whoring with this enemy of the net.
But none of this seems to matter to the fanboys. They refuse to evaluate the device in wholistic political terms.
Aristotle said: Man is a political animal. Socrates said: The unexamined life is not worth living.
Apple fanboy sites (lake TUAW) say: The political iPhone is not worth examining.
Truly this is a high-tide for sissies and low-brow gadgeteers.
These folks will stand in line for two days for a chance to suck Steve Job's iPhone but won't even pause a second to consider the greater ramifications of the device.
To wit:
Go read this John Grubber post:
http://daringfireball.net/2007/10/cancel_computer
Poor thing.
He self-cancels out his own rationality because of his affection and affliction for all things Apple.
What a sap.
He sees the truth but dares not embrace it. And he calls his site: Daring Fireball?
How about Daring Hairball?
He, like so many other fanboys, dares not go to where he ought to go:
APPLE IS IN BED WITH ONE OF THE GREATEST ARCH ENEMIES OF NET NEUTRALITY ON THE PLANET.
For God sakes, am I the only one who truly dares to tell it like it is?
# posted by 
: 10/07/2007 1:16 AM
: 10/07/2007 1:16 AM
On Apple - the whole iPhone thing has a bit of a Snape - like feeling to it.
Its hard to figure out whether Apple is acting the way it is as a trojan horse strategy, or whether its really what they believe for the phone market.
The crippling of Bluetooth on the iPhone, for example, is really stunning. Its a small thing but a big pointer.
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Its hard to figure out whether Apple is acting the way it is as a trojan horse strategy, or whether its really what they believe for the phone market.
The crippling of Bluetooth on the iPhone, for example, is really stunning. Its a small thing but a big pointer.
