
Walt Mossberg's iphone video review - "A beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer" - brezina
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118289311361649057.html?mod=hpp_us_editors_picks
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acgourley
I'm more skeptical.

1) How will webapps perform when they have to do a stream of http requests
over a cingular wireless connection.

2) The people willing to pay 600 bucks for a phone are the people that already
own smart phones. The people that own smartphones will not like typing out
emails on a touch screen. These people want a device to let them read and
enter text quickly, and often they want to type without seeing the screen.

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acgourley
I should clarify that I think the phone will be a success in the long run.
It's very exciting to see the bar raised and I hope this ushers in a new era
of mobile development. I just don't see 10 million units leaving the shelves
this year.

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nickb
They won't be able to make enough of these things... it's an amazing device.

Folks, start creating apps for it... pretty much everyone I know that has a
web2.0 company is making sure they have something that works well on an
iPhone.

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vegashacker
I was a little disappointed when I read this tidbit in the article: "The only
add-on software Apple is allowing will be Web-based programs that must be
accessed through the on-board Web browser. The company says these can be made
to look just like built-in programs, but the few we tried weren't impressive."

Is this a comment on the particular apps Walt saw, or is it a sign that the
iPhone won't be a good 3rd party platform?

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palish
From what I can tell, a lot of people are a tad confused by the fact that you
have to use Javascript to interface with the iPhone.. A lot might think that
it's a crippled interface. But Apple can expose every single part of the phone
to Javascript. Add in the ability to create an icon on the iPhone that
automatically visits a website, and you have, for all intents and purposes, a
native application running on the iPhone. So I'm not sure why people feel that
it's a crippled platform.

Now, if Apple _doesn't_ expose every single part of the iPhone to Javascript,
then that's a little annoying. But then again, I wouldn't want a random web
application to be able to take a picture and upload it whenever it felt like.

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wmorein
I think the biggest problem with this hope is security -- whatever you expose
in the api will be available to any arbitrary web site you visit. They can't
expose contacts and other private info without major problems. There might be
some ways around this (e.g. asking for permission, trusting certain sites) but
it is hard to see how this will be completely seamless as they want the
experience to be.

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patrickg-zill
If they sell 2 million of the $500 devices, Apple will have a new billion-
dollar business. If they sell as they claim, 10 million, that is $5B per year
added to Apple revenue.

However I expect that Apple stock will not grow until Leopard ships, losing
the Mac business in favor of the tough cell phone business would not be seen
as a good tradeoff.

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fnord123
Apple stock will not grow until Leopard ships? Their stock is up 100% over 1
year. It's up ~50% YTD.

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patrickg-zill
Sorry for not being more clear. I mean, that since AAPL hit in the range of
$120 after announcing the iPhone, they have plateaued. I think that Wall
Street is waiting to see whether Apple can deliver a new product and keep
things going on its other product lines without being distracted.

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sanj
I think it is more likely that Wall Street is waiting to see if the iPhone is
a hit or a miss.

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migpwr
I did not expect to be impressed but wow... that thing looks amazing. Nicely
done apple. This will easily add another bill$ to their business.

