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Just a Thought - Spin It! Spin It!

Thursday, April 26th, 2007 at 10:15 AM - by

It's amazing how spin can turn a not-so-hot situation into a positive one.

Apple recently announced that they would insure that new software features that come available after the release of the iPhone would be free to iPhone owners.

"We plan to build on [iPhone's] incredible foundation by continuing to develop new software features as well as entirely new applications and incorporate them into the iPhone," said Mr. Oppenheimer during his opening statement. "And since iPhone customers will likely be our best advocates for the product, we want to get them many of these new features and applications at no additional charge as they become available."

So, now buyers of the first generation iPhone don't have to worry that their 500 hundred dollar baby won't be outdated 3 months down the line. A good thing, to be sure, but what this also says is that Apple may not have all of the features it wants on the iPhone ready by the June release date.

So, what do you do if you have a hand full of features that should be there, but can't be there for whatever reason? Spin, baby, spin!

Now, don't get your knickers in a knot, I'm not dissing Apple for taking the time it needs to do something right, far from it. I just find it interesting how they can take a potentially half-empty situation and get everyone to see it as half full.

Yet some will refuse to take this news for what it may be and see it as further proof that Apple is in over its head.

See, here's the thing: There's only so much one can glean from this news:

  • Apple is building a platform as oppose to a device, just like it did with the iPod
  • Because it is a platform, applications must be developed similarly to those developed on other platforms
  • Application development does not happen overnight
  • A core group of applications will likely be ready when the iPhone debuts, but...
  • ...that ain't all folks. More is on the way.

That's pretty much it. You can't, for instance, say exactly what the iPhone will or won't have when it's released. Nor can you make any reasonable assumptions about Apple's real or imagined motives behind this announcement, which makes it all the more interesting.

Just like a master magician, Apple shows us what we want to and need to see with one hand while the the other hand cleverly and deftly positions the shiny coin to 'mysteriously' appear.

They are in the business of selling hardware, after all, and that's how it is done.

Now, isn't your interest piqued just a wee bit more about iPhone? Just a wee bit?

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He's been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.

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vasic said:

member since 09 Aug 2005 with 279 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Apr 26, 2007 11:31 am

There are two ways to interpret this. One, as you say, is: iPhone is not finished, but must be released. The missing apps will come later. Therefore, spin it and say it's done and the new apps are future improvements.

The other is: it's finished. It's rolled out in June and what you get is a complete product. Apple engineers continue to develop for it and, as they finish stuff, they roll it out to users.

I believe in the latter, rather than former. First, Jobs demoed the thing three months ago. He showed off many apps and widgets. The phone will be deemed finished and complete if those he demoed appear on it in June. There is little reason to believe Apple won't deliver what Jobs showed in January. Second, Jobs (and Apple) truly want to make this a cataclysmic shift in the cellphone industry by controlling every aspect of the device. Not only by forcing carriers to play by Apple's rules, but also by controlling the fate of the device once it leaves the store. There are no mobile devices today that automatically update themselves. There are even less (than zero) devices that automatically deliver new apps and functionality.

The iPhone has been Steve Jobs's dream for the past five years. Apple's been working on it for the past three. They are on the final stretch. At this point in the game, there's no chance that due to some poor planning, some features would not be ready. After years on working on this, there simply is no poor planning allowed. Apple isn't Microsoft. There is clear oversight of every project. Everyone involved knows what everyone else is doing, and Jobs knows all of it down to the nuts-and-bolts (a bit of an exaggeration, to make a point).

The goal here is to make this phone like nothing that ever came before or will come in the near future. The touch interface, the Apple's famous industrial design, and now, the unique continuous support and updates, all should make sure iPhone is always at the bleeding edge.

There will be plenty of new shiny coins to mysteriously appear, one after another.

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dux5 said:

member since 02 Jul 2002 with 112 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:01 pm

Quote:
So, what do you do if you have a hand full of features that should be there, but can't be there for whatever reason? Spin, baby, spin!

I don't read it that way at all.

IMO, Mr. Oppenheimer was signaling to iPhone buyers that there will be a distinct difference between the iPhone and the iPod. In the past, may of the iPod's new features were available only to those who purchased new iPods. Want audio recording? Buy a new iPod. Want to watch videos? Buy a new iPod. Want to play games? Buy a new iPod.

What I hear in that comment from Apple is that the physical package is all there and that software alone will provide most of the upgrade possibilities for the iPhone -- in much the same way that many people are still running applications on G4- and G5-based machines.

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Biff said:

member since 08 Apr 2004 with 1479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:17 pm

vasic wrote:
There is little reason to believe Apple won't deliver what Jobs showed in January.
That's a big assumption. What is it based on? Because the software worked through a set of scripted actions in a controlled environment, it's automatically production ready? NOT. I agree with Vern on this one. I don't think either one of us is saying the iPhone is going to be a crippled featureless piece of junk on the day it's released. But when was the last time you heard Apple make a statement like this?

The point that they are going to be creative with the revenue accounting on the phones immediately reminded me of the accounting issue they had with retroactively enabling the 802.11n in existing Macs. That makes me think there are features in the device which will not be enabled when it ships. I can think of 2 reasons:

1. Those features are not production ready yet.

2. Technology and/or future products those features depend upon are not ready yet.

The Apple TV is being accounted for in the same way. With that one I would be more inclined to think the accounting is because of reason #2. Maybe #2 is the reason with the iPhone. Who knows? As with most things, maybe its a combination of both.

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vasic said:

member since 09 Aug 2005 with 279 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:28 pm

Let me qualify my assumption ("... little reason to believe Apple won't deliver what Jobs showed..."). This was arguably one of the most significant product announcements since the first iMac (1998). Second, this product is Jobs's baby. It is of cardinal importance to him. He didn't mind pushing Leopard out of the way, so that this can shine alone. Let me put it another way: it was Mac World and he didn't talk about Macs at all. While there are many who nurture suspicion that Apple is not a cell phone maker, that this is an unknown territory, and that there are tons of things that could (and probably) will go wrong, if one looks at everything surrounding the iPhone and Apple's (and Jobs's) approach to it, there is "...little reason to believe Apple won't deliver what Jobs showed in January" (to quote my previous statement). Apple software engineers know how to write good software. They have been building this phone for years. To Jobs, this is IT. This is the ultimate product (ironically, not a Macintosh...). It simply cannot fail (or disappoint).

This is why I believe there is no chance the phone will be incomplete.

Let's wait two months and reconvene here...

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:10 pm

What you are all also missing is this relates to the accounting rules that necessitated charging a nominal fee to activate upgraded Airport networking in Macs earlier. Apple also announced that they will be changing their accounting procedures so that it won't be necessary to charge $2 or whatever to activate new features already inherent in their devices. So this talk from Apple about upcoming "free" feature upgrades in iPhone and AppleTV is part of that change.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Apr 27, 2007 10:46 am

vasic wrote:
Second, this product is Jobs's baby. It is of cardinal importance to him.

Uh-oh. That sounds a lot like his approach to Lisa, when he literally named it after his baby. We all know how successful that product was on the market.

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Biff said:

member since 08 Apr 2004 with 1479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:31 pm

Guest wrote:
What you are all also missing is this relates to the accounting rules that necessitated charging a nominal fee to activate upgraded Airport networking in Macs earlier. Apple also announced that they will be changing their accounting procedures so that it won't be necessary to charge $2 or whatever to activate new features already inherent in their devices. So this talk from Apple about upcoming "free" feature upgrades in iPhone and AppleTV is part of that change.
LOL. This is why it's good to actually read the other posts before you post.

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