Forget Harry Potter’s latest adventure and June 21st there is something potentially far larger happening later in the month. After six months of anticipation, three new television commercials for Apple’s iPhone divulged the product’s release date and it will go on sale in the US on June 29, 2007.
Apple has formed an five-year exclusive US alliance with A.T.&T. and has still to announce its international partners.
Apple has formed an five-year exclusive US alliance with A.T.&T. and has still to announce its international partners.
The first two iPhone models are priced at $499 and $599 for four- and eight-gigabyte storage options, respectively. The phone does not have a hard disk and is based on a basic version of the Mac OS X operating system, comes with a 3.5-inch screen that can be used either vertically as a phone or turned horizontally to display video or still images and is less than half-inch think.
The iPhone has three radios - cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth - and is advertised as having 5 hours of battery life and 16 hours of audio playback when used as a music player.
Innovation is also provided with a technique called "multi-touch," which is based on a series of gestures with one or two fingers. For example, it is possible to shrink or expand a picture on the screen by simply sliding thumb and finger apart or together.
This will set the standards for all to follow and force the pace of device convergence. It is hard to see ebook readers surviving this onslaught and Mr Bezos will have to pull out all the stops if he has any chance of winning the Mobi Vs Adobe, or Jobs Versus Bezos battles.
