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Apple Takes iPhone Developers On Safari
Electronics | Jun 14, 07
Apple's new release of its Safari browser for Windows should trigger a bumper crop of applications for its new iPhone. Why?
Cupertino has decided that independently developed iPhone apps will be web-based, meaning they can be created, tested and demonstrated on almost any computer the can run Safari. This now includes XP and Vista machines, immediately and vastly broadening the potential pool of developers. Further, legions of iPhone users surfing the web with Safari will only encourage site designers to optimize their pages for Apple's browser, which in turn could allow Safari to gain market share among all web users, especially given the availability of Safari for Windows. That greater Safari adaptation makes iPhone web surfing more attractive, spurring sales, and thus the virtuous circle Jobs & Co. surely dream of becomes complete.
There are a few challenges on the way to realizing this rosy vision. The iPhone uses AT&T's Edge cellular, which is slower than competing 3-G networks. The iPhone's Wi-Fi capability may not completely make up for this; handheld browsing seems a bit less untethered if a hotspot must be sought out to speed one's downloads. And there's the issue of the iPhone's touchscreen. Slick and innovative, to be sure, but early word indicates it takes some time to get the hang of typing on the flat screen. (My guess is, if the screen works well, at least the texting young masses will adapt. After all, typing on a clamshell cell is no joy, and using your finger in place of a mouse opens up a whole new spectrum of potential applications).
Perhaps the biggest question regarding the iPhone's impending launch is the effect of its steep price, reportedly $499-$599 in addition to the signing of a two-year contract with AT&T. How many people will kick their Blackberry addiction to take that deal? How many parents will indulge their tech-savvy offspring?
Jobs has been known to launch products whose high price point outweighed impressive technology and design – I'm showing my age here, but remember the Lisa? The NeXT? To justify a multi-hundred dollar premium over existing cell phones, the iPhone is really going to have to bring it, and that means being a lot more than an iPod with a dial tone. The Safari strategy seems more than sound, and early iPhone buzz is quite good, though slow Edge-based data transfer is said to be a fly in the ointment, Yet until consumers are actually presented with the opportunity to buy, the viability of Apple's pricing will be uncertain. In the weeks following the iPhone's scheduled June 29th launch, we'll again explore the question Steve Jobs has been putting to the marketplace for more than two decades:
What price cool?
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 7:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Blu-ray Premium: Has The Wii Taught Sony How To Say “Pyrrhic Victory” In Japanese?
Electronics | Jun 6, 07
A few days after Toshiba's HD-DVD price cuts, Sony is marking down Blu-ray, and its PS3 may well be next.
Last week I noted that, in the wake of Toshiba's re-pricing, entry-level HD-DVD players were selling at steep discounts to similar Blu-ray machines ("We Still Refuse To Pay You To Own An HD-DVD Player!"). At the time I noted the Blu-ray premium could be indicative of reported greater demand for the Sony standard, though neither Blu-ray nor HD-DVD can yet be said to have gained widespread acceptance. Now Sony has cut the list price of its BDP-S300 from $599 to $499, crediting improved efficiencies of production and a drop in component costs for its ability to do so. Does this mean Sony is blinking in the face of Toshiba's aggressive pricing?
Not necessarily. First, it's worth noting the new Sony pricing brings the BDP-S300 more in line with that of other firm's Blu-ray players, notably Samsung's BD-P1000, now offered for slightly less than $430. But there may be more to it than this. Compared to Sony's Blu-ray equipped PS3 unit sales, Microsoft's has sold three times as many Xbox's and Nintendo has sold twice as many of its newer, white-hot Wii consoles. Currently, the PS3 is offered for no less than $599 by merchants on PriceSCAN.com, compared to $299 to $480 for various Xbox models. The Wii goes for around $250. These price differentials may well have cost Sony considerable market share. Even if the PS3 is regarded as a kind of "sacrifice play" to enhance Blu-ray acceptance (see "Blu-ray May Avoid Betamax's Fate…Even If The PS3 Isn't So Lucky") that stratagem would be blunted by unit sales constricted by a high price point. If Sony can now make Blu-ray players for less, it might behoove the firm to pass on that savings to prospective PS3 buyers, and indeed the web is rife with speculation such a move is imminent.
But Microsoft is offering an HD-DVD drive for the Xbox, and the cheap and popular Wii raises the question of whether many gamers even care about high-def. In this environment, a Blu-ray-driven PS3 discount may be the first shot in a tech and price war that could run right through the summer and into the holidays.
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 5:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
