5 ms·

Nice article, but I have one thing to say: your list of priorities for features is probably what you think you want. Before I got the iPhone, I never browsed th

by dcurtis 18y ago

Nice article, but I have one thing to say: your list of priorities for features is probably what you think you want. Before I got the iPhone, I never browsed the internet on my Treo because the experience was just absolutely terrible (the experience on blackberry is also terrible). Now I browse the web on my iPhone more than I use it as a phone. While investigating how to make the best UI, I've found that people's priorities come from their habits and not necessarily from their needs. At first this seemed kind of illogical to me. But if you think about it, before the iPhone, no normal people really could imagine a mobile browser as good as mobile Safari, so no one really put "a desktop experience web browser" at the top of their requirements lists for phones (obviously tech people did, but average people did not). I wonder what would happen if you bought an iPhone.

axod 18y ago
Agreed. I had my iPhone for about a week before I actually used it for a voice call. It's a portable macbook really. As you say, the browser is ridiculously good. Reading about the Palm, it looks like it's insanely based around the web, which is awesome.
mikeyur 18y ago
I love my iPhone to death - and despite a few features I would love in the phone (such as copy/paste and possibly a physical keyboard) the phone does exactly what I need it to. I spend a lot less time talking on the iPhone because I have the ability to use txting/email/twitter/facebook much more easily (I know other phones offer these features, but the interface is nowhere near as intuitive). I barely surfed on my old phone and I feel I would die without a 3G network and Mobile Safari now. I live in Canada so I am with Rogers/Fido - and to be honest, even though we get screwed on pricing most of the time, I haven't had any problems with network coverage. I get awesome 3G speeds at home and all over the city (I live in Vancouver). I really like what the Pre has to offer, but I can't see myself moving away from this iPhone. If Palm brings me an unlocked quad-band GSM Pre I would likely drop the cash, but that's extremely unlikely so I'll just stick with my iPhone.
davi 18y ago
I think you underestimate the importance of his items 1 and 2 (call quality and email/SMS) to the business population. A dropped call at the wrong moment can cost a sales guy a lot of money; and a hard-core Blackberry user is not going to give up that keypad for a nice browser. For them, the importance of reliable, rapid communication with business contacts outweighs the pleasure of a good browsing experience. With the Palm, you theoretically will get to have a keypad, a choice of carriers, and a nice browser (assuming the fact that it uses the same HTML rendering engine as the iPhone means the browsing experience will be equally good). Hence his assertion that "Apple’s strategy has worked well, but it has major holes, and this Palm unit looks like it exploits them".
- axod 18y ago
  Surely then if you're looking at the corporate user, the Palm is a "Blackberry killer" rather than an "iPhone killer"?
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    Yes. iPhone isn't a serious contender in business. It may be a threat to the iPhone in the pro-sumer market (yeah, I hate that term too) also though, since it too has a full-screen WebKit based browser, a UI people are raving about, $200 price point, and potentially (jury's still out) awesome platform. And, most crucially, it will be on many networks. I like it's chances.
- tptacek 18y ago
  So, (1) a dropped call at the wrong moment is not going to cost a sales guy a lot of money unless that sales guy works in Scranton and is trying out for the CIA, and (2) am I the only one here who uses an iPhone as their primary phone and has never had a dropped call?
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    There was a tremendous amount of negative publicity around dropped calls specifically when the 3g launched. I'm sure you're not the only one, but it's clearly a common problem, just as some people still have an Xbox 360 from launch day that works, while I'm on my third. Call quality goes beyond just that too. There's the abysmal maximum volume. General sound. Etc.
volida 18y ago
you mention some really good points
mattmaroon 18y ago
There's some truth to that I'm sure, but it couldn't get to #2.

by dcurtis 18y ago

axod 18y ago

Agreed. I had my iPhone for about a week before I actually used it for a voice call. It's a portable macbook really. As you say, the browser is ridiculously good. Reading about the Palm, it looks like it's insanely based around the web, which is awesome.

mikeyur 18y ago

I love my iPhone to death - and despite a few features I would love in the phone (such as copy/paste and possibly a physical keyboard) the phone does exactly what I need it to. I spend a lot less time talking on the iPhone because I have the ability to use txting/email/twitter/facebook much more easily (I know other phones offer these features, but the interface is nowhere near as intuitive). I barely surfed on my old phone and I feel I would die without a 3G network and Mobile Safari now. I live in Canada so I am with Rogers/Fido - and to be honest, even though we get screwed on pricing most of the time, I haven't had any problems with network coverage. I get awesome 3G speeds at home and all over the city (I live in Vancouver). I really like what the Pre has to offer, but I can't see myself moving away from this iPhone. If Palm brings me an unlocked quad-band GSM Pre I would likely drop the cash, but that's extremely unlikely so I'll just stick with my iPhone.

davi 18y ago

I think you underestimate the importance of his items 1 and 2 (call quality and email/SMS) to the business population. A dropped call at the wrong moment can cost a sales guy a lot of money; and a hard-core Blackberry user is not going to give up that keypad for a nice browser. For them, the importance of reliable, rapid communication with business contacts outweighs the pleasure of a good browsing experience. With the Palm, you theoretically will get to have a keypad, a choice of carriers, and a nice browser (assuming the fact that it uses the same HTML rendering engine as the iPhone means the browsing experience will be equally good). Hence his assertion that "Apple’s strategy has worked well, but it has major holes, and this Palm unit looks like it exploits them".

axod 18y ago
Surely then if you're looking at the corporate user, the Palm is a "Blackberry killer" rather than an "iPhone killer"?
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  Yes. iPhone isn't a serious contender in business. It may be a threat to the iPhone in the pro-sumer market (yeah, I hate that term too) also though, since it too has a full-screen WebKit based browser, a UI people are raving about, $200 price point, and potentially (jury's still out) awesome platform. And, most crucially, it will be on many networks. I like it's chances.
tptacek 18y ago
So, (1) a dropped call at the wrong moment is not going to cost a sales guy a lot of money unless that sales guy works in Scranton and is trying out for the CIA, and (2) am I the only one here who uses an iPhone as their primary phone and has never had a dropped call?
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  There was a tremendous amount of negative publicity around dropped calls specifically when the 3g launched. I'm sure you're not the only one, but it's clearly a common problem, just as some people still have an Xbox 360 from launch day that works, while I'm on my third. Call quality goes beyond just that too. There's the abysmal maximum volume. General sound. Etc.

volida 18y ago

you mention some really good points

mattmaroon 18y ago

There's some truth to that I'm sure, but it couldn't get to #2.