Steve Zays; iPhone

Most people were sceptical to whether there would actually be a solid business case for an iPhone from Apple. But, those can probably take some time off. Steve Jobs today announced the "iPhone", or whatever it'll be called, at Macworld in SFO.

Personally, I never doubted the sound business case for an iPhone, Apple has the design capabilities to make it a stunning success, but I was not really sure if Apple would dare to go forward. Since it'll be an expensive piece of hardware (at least if seen as "just a phone"), people wanting it will have to pay up. And that is a good thing. Maybe this will be the beginning to an end of the endless "promotion" of phones from the carriers, when they as a result not only locks you in to a contract, but also locks the device, SIM lock, thereby in all practicality preventing you from using "your" phone elsewhere (=on another network).

GSM is such a powerful technology, and the ability to have a telephone for a specific usage situation; one for the weekday at the office (Smartphone), one for the night on the town (slim device), another one when hiking over the weekend (rugged device), by simply pulling out the SIM card and plugging it into a another device/phone has essentially gotten killed in the North American marketplace.

People seem to be happy in getting a phone for free, while they should very well know that there are no "free" phones. You pay for that little sucker via your monthly bill, and the sad thing there is currently no reward for you NOT taking that "free" phone.

I'd rather see a scenario where you actually pay the real price for your phone, but then it is also yours. You can take it to the next carrier (pending your other contractual oblogations of course), you can take it overseas, or you can donate it to your grandmother, or to a mother in Bangladesh that is setting up a "village phone" service. The device is yours and not locked/controlled by a carrier.

This somewhat reminds of when visiting Hong Kong. On EVERY BLOCK there was an electronics store with several hundreds of mobile phones you can simply choose from. cNet's blog "CRAVE" has a good story/summary of how it could work even in he United States as well. Carriers, give the consumers the choice and let the market forces work in our favor!

Me - and Steve Jobs - have spoken (even though iPhone only will be available from Cingular/at&t and likely with a firm service commitment - and hence a "SIM lock"). I've also heard rumors about devilish "traps" if Apple/Cingular find one of these phones unlocked.

And, at the end of the day we also heard of how Cingular anew will spend a couple of hundred millions on rebranding themselves back to AT&T, this time w/o the "Wireless". I guess there was not enough money to fully go back to their old name. All too bad since I really got fond of the Cingular name and its orange "blob". Much more desirable and "hip" than the old (or a new) AT&T logo. But, according to Cingular, I have never been a full-worthy "Cingular" subscriber since we are still on an AT&T Wireless rate plan with no intention of changing as long as its price/features can not be matched (by Cingular, now at&t). So, instead of being the last AT&T subscriber, I might actually be the first one...