OK, so he doesn't actually say that. But he comes darn close in this Time Magazine article when it is reported:
In the hours we spent talking about the iPhone, Jobs trash-talked the Treo, the BlackJack, the Sony PSP and the Sony Mylo (“just garbage compared to this”)
What about music? Of course, the iPhone allows you to play any music you purchase through iTunes and of course, you get your tunes teeming with fresh, hot, steamy DRM. Sony has its own music service as well for the PSP, with its own steamy DRM, but you can rip your own music to MP3s and play it on the PSP. Will the iPhone play MP3s? You'd think so, but I can't find out for sure. In any case, the PSP will play music too, just like the iPhone. But maybe this isn't that big a deal to you either (then why, again, would you need an iPhone?). Lets move on.
To games. The iPhone doesn't have any. Yet. A betting man would wager that Apple will be making use of that nice screen to allow the iPhone to play games. But wait, there are absolutely no gaming buttons on the iPhone. Sure, you could wave it around in a manner reminiscent of a Wiimote, taking advantage of the built in sensors, but do you really want to be doing that a $400 electronic item? I wouldn't. Who knows when you'll end up smacking it into a wall, or another person, as you frantically try to dodge an enemy attack. That is if there ever are any games you'd want to play on an iPhone, which is running that stellar gaming OS, OS X. The one that has so many games on it. Clearly, when it comes to gaming, the PSP wins here, what with all the games available for it and being designed to be a game system and all. The iPhone doesn't seem to be designed with gaming in mind. Sure, the touch screen could be neat, but can you play all games using a touch screen? If the controls are built to use the touchscreen, that screen better be heavy duty to withstand the frantic mashing that will occur. I just don't see FPSes or fighting games being viable here, so maybe casual games will be the target. But will the casual market want to shell out for a $400 phone? So maybe its not fair to compare them here, but Steve started it.
Which leads to the biggest area of contention, the price. The iPhone starts at $500 with a two year contract with Cingular. Gee, that's nice. For $300, I can get a PSP, a 4GB stick,a couple of games and some movies. Of course, I can't make calls, but then again, I'm too busy playing games. Of course, the Time Magazine reporter tries to dismiss this price by saying its a handheld computing platform but it's not a luxury item, because we all have $500 plus two years of payments just sitting around in our pockets to pay for this thing. Heck, starving kids in Africa can get one. Seriously, how many people, aside from Apple fanboys, are going to drop $500 just to start for this phone? It's a phone, I want it to make calls. All the other extras are just that, extras. They aren't necessary for a phone. Apple, and others, are trying to push over priced convergence devices. Not because of any demand, but because of profit margins. Call me when Cingular, or other carriers, is giving these things away for free with a contract, then you'd have something. As it is, its just more hype for a phone with a nice looking UI. Because, as we all know, nice UIs sell phones.
Maybe I'm being curmudgeonly, but Jobs is the one calling other devices crap when you can't download songs directly to the iPhone, you can't sync it wirelessly (WTF?), no games, limited movies, DRM infested iTunes, and you have to have Cingular service to use it because it can't be operated without a phone plan. Now that's a good idea. Maybe Steve's turtleneck is cutting off the air supply to his brain.
Posted by JP at Thursday January 11, 2007 - 3:28 PM | Category: PSP | © 2007 Gaming Signal
Not that I am willing to sacrifice my title as "Apple iPhanboi" (thanks JP), but here is some more information about the iPhone, and all of it sounds sucky. While the phone looks sweet, there is too much missing for this device...
Posted by Tim on Friday January 12, 2007 at 9:40 AM
Why can't you sync it wirelessly? Given it's WiFi capability, if it doesn't support wireless sync that's just braindead.
I suspect Jobs is trying to say 'If you want a single machine that can do it all, it will be the iPhone' rather than trying to take on the PSP in the gaming department. To me, the best games we'll see for the iPhone will Bejeweled and other JamDat games that it. There's just no way they will get the richness of the Playstation lineup, so they lose.
But as for playing music and video, I bet the iPhone does a fine job (if it's close to the iPod Video I have then they will do great) and might be the right platform for folks who want that. Rather than carry around an iPod Video & a cell phone, you can have one. And that screen sure looks like it will display episodes of 24 a lot better than either the PSP or an iPod.
I think Cingular is pricing it right at $500. Although I hear that Apple mandated that there not be any discounting, even when purchased through business discount agreements - huh, sounds like price fixing but I guess it isn't. In any event, I suspect they sell out of the entire initial manufacturing run at that price, and that we see them on eBay going for far more. But in a year, we'll see the price drop dramatically - probably in half.
Posted by Scott on Friday January 12, 2007 at 11:01 AM
Moot issue for me as I like Apple about as much as I like Sony, which is to say, I dislike them almost equally. Apple is only slightly more tolerable than Sony. At some point both Sony and Apple lost the consumer amidst all the pressure from the content owners.
On point, I can't see this phone doing anything better/worse than my Pocket PC/Smartphone does already. And to top it off, my Pocket PC/Smartphone does it all with a lot less DRM.
Now if Apple pairs up with Microsoft and makes a better integration in to MS Exchange and the Office apps then this phone might begin to interest me.
Posted by Trent on Friday January 12, 2007 at 2:03 PM
Ultimately, there is DRM in every device on the market, and if you chose a non-DRM format for your media - almost every one will play on those devices. That MS Smartphone that you think is all that is loaded with more protections than you are probably aware.
Honestly, the whole Apple/Sony/MS bashing thing is so childish at this point. They all do stuff that is both good and bad (although lately Sony has been doing far more bad than good), and they will continue to do that sort of stuff. Every device will have DRM and media types they do not support. Until we can get a decent fair use doctrine created that the producers of content and consumers of said content can agree upon - there will always be this situation.
Now back to the device at hand, I think it is overpriced for a closed system. I know that many of the other smartphones will sell for less than this, but I think they are making a statement. I also think it will be more of a status symbol than anything else.
Posted by Tim on Friday January 12, 2007 at 2:36 PM
iDid iSteve iJobs iKnow iThat iHis iStocks iWill iBe iPwned iCus iNobody iWant iTo iBuy iTheir iMacs?
Posted by Peter on Thursday January 18, 2007 at 7:30 PM
iDidn'tKnowThat
Posted by Steve on Wednesday January 24, 2007 at 7:19 PM