Insiders at the Company manufacturing the Apple iPhone claim that quality problems are causing concen to the extent that the iphone may be delayed past June 11th 2007.
According to BusinessWeek in the USA various iPhone suppliers have been told that the iPhone may not be available (
http://www.pqdvd.com/blog/iphone/iphone-release-date/iphone-quality-problems-may-delay-launch/) until the end of June
Scheduled for release on June 11 2007 it is expected that only limited numbers of the phone will be available. It appears that the last thing Apple wants is quality problems with their phone. Apple staff have been told that the launch of the iPhone will be a lot tougher than the launch of the iPod. A memo to Apple staff is reported to have claimed that several manufacturers are in a position to hurt Apple if the iPhone has quality problems.
Refer to iPhone blog (
http://www.pqdvd.com/blog/iphone/).
I really like the looks of the iPhone and some of its functions... but the fact Apple won't let 3rd party software onto it and its not even 3G kinda ruins it :(
As a rule of thumb I try to stay away from first run versions of Apple hardware. It seems there's always something cheaper and more powerful just around the corner with Apple. So far, the iPhone isn't something I would pay top dollar for just to be an early adopter. I agree with your comment of it not even being 3g. I say if the bun needs more time in the oven so be it. We all know about "beta" testing MS products...
The only new release Apple product I'm jonsing for is an updated iMac. I'm jumping on that the first day it's released.
A cell without a user replaceable battery seems like a huge mistake, especially if they can not optimize the power usage to get more than a few hours of use out of it. The interface and usability looks really good, as expected from Apple, but definitely a first gen product to stay away from as others have stated.
The Apple faithful will be lined up around the block for it when it releases, so we will have lots of other people to "beta" test it for us.
Chef
Good point about the battery Chef. I didn't know it wasn't replacable! That scares me, as a consumer.
My treo 600 does not have a user replacable battery. And it has just now become an issue since the cell is going bad. discharging faster than normal. I didn't think it was such a bad idea until this started happening...
They really need to give the iPhone user replacable batteries. They realized it was dumb on the treos, and the 600 is the only one like that I think.
It scares me as well, especially with the 20 minute talk time they were getting out of the pre-release models people have seen so far. That was pre-production hardware, and it is hard to speculate further until the product has actually shipped.
If the iPhone is as popular as people are expecting, would it not cut into the iPod sales, or is this going to be the replacement for the iPod as it exists today?
Chef
Quote from: "helf"My treo 600 does not have a user replacable battery. And it has just now become an issue since the cell is going bad. discharging faster than normal. I didn't think it was such a bad idea until this started happening...
They really need to give the iPhone user replacable batteries. They realized it was dumb on the treos, and the 600 is the only one like that I think.
Wow, I did not know the 600 did not have a user replaceable battery. I have never really used one extensively, I am a BlackBerry addict. :) That makes Apples decision even more puzzling, as they surely would have seen the problem with the treos that you describe. Mabey they want you to consider it a disposable item, as they have with the iPod, and get a guaranteed upgrade every few years. Link it up with the standard 2 year cell contract plans, and the battery only has to last until the contract is up.
Chef
The disposable product business model is lame. Especially for a company like Apple. How many people here feel any Apple product is disposable? How pissed were people with Apple when their iPod batteries were flaking out a few years ago? I know I was.
Replacing the "non replaceable" battery on my 10 GB 3g ipod would be easy compared to the iPhone. So many people are going to bust that display trying to open it.
Unfortunately we live in a disposable world now. Kinda sad :(
Look at how many iPods the average user has now, not even being used. I have friends that have four or five of the older models just sitting in a closet or on the shelf, because they had to have the next one that came out. It is not like the older ones could no longer play tunes, it just was not "the in thing" to have. IPods are more of a status symbol now, just like cellphones .... hmm .... so now I see Steve's plan ...
Chef
That Stevie J is a clever one no? I still rock my 3g for it's "street cred" and because it still works fine for being filled to the max. I've been asked a few times why I bought a knockoff ipod because it has independent touch buttons above the scroll wheel and no one knew ipods had several design stages before it's iconic status was secured. Still, I won't upgrade until it a) dies or b) the 6g wide screen appears.
disposable is right.... It is very sad.
People upgrade everything just because something is 'new'... My neighbors have, literally, had a different new car sitting in their drive way every single month this year. Right now they have a new BMW and one of those 4 door Jeeps.
People and their 'status'... *sigh*
I only upgrade if theres a real need to :P
Quote from: "helf"disposable is right.... It is very sad.
People upgrade everything just because something is 'new'... My neighbors have, literally, had a different new car sitting in their drive way every single month this year. Right now they have a new BMW and one of those 4 door Jeeps.
People and their 'status'... *sigh*
I only upgrade if theres a real need to :P
Status is universal. Birds do it...bees do it, I know I'm guilty. But I agree that needless disposability for the sake of status is pretty shallow.
Quote from: "urquidez"We all know about "beta" testing MS products...
Well, I guess I could take this opportunity for a shameless post - I 've been beta testing MS starting with Windows '95 and I enjoy the process. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment :D
Quote from: "Nightengale"Quote from: "urquidez"We all know about "beta" testing MS products...
Well, I guess I could take this opportunity for a shameless post - I 've been beta testing MS starting with Windows '95 and I enjoy the process. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment :D
And you've not commited suicide???
Oh wait, the Golden Gate is in NorCal ;)
As for the comments about the insatiable disposable material world we live in, I fully agree with what you guys are saying. And one thing to consider is that as things tend to be disposed, the speed of "upgrading" increases, and surely that's more money for the big companies out there, but I think what's worse is that the pace of life is sped up, and it's gotten to the point that you blink your eyes and what you new as true around you, isn't the same when they open again. I mean technology wise (ex: Sun is introducing 16-core CPUs now!), but also social-wise (ex: iPod video is the "in thing", so you've gotta toss that 40GB "normal iPod", coz it's not sexy any more). And this has huge ramifications into our interpersonal lives and relationships. I don't think most people enjoy their mates or loved ones enough. They either swap too often or are spending too much time upgrading iPods (or NeXT boxes??? :))
In the end, I really don't know if we enjoy the "phyiscal materials" we come in contact with. Like you guys mentioned, most people use their iPod until the next one comes out. Surely they don't have a chance to discover all there is to it. To tweak the hell out of it. To push it to its utmost limits! Perhaps they get satisfaction out of this flux. But I highly doubt it. Sure, during the moment when they get the new one, they get satisfaction. But I feel in my gut that they have moments of emptyness, many more than those of joy. I bet that when they see one of us "dorks" caring about these old black boxes and getting so much satisfaction out of messing around, and modding and fixing and cleaning our cubes and slabs, they must feel a great void inside them. Then again I might be delusional or a bit too biased :D But then again again, they might realize we're also materialists, unfortunately, and laugh at us, but I highly doubt that too, since they're pioneering materialism with their trendy shopping addictions.
Blah. Rant over. Still, I'm very happy only 50,000 or so black hardware made it out of Fremont ;)
Well said, spooky too :D
Quote from: "nextchef"It scares me as well, especially with the 20 minute talk time they were getting out of the pre-release models people have seen so far. That was pre-production hardware, and it is hard to speculate further until the product has actually shipped.
Odd, so far people outside Apple have been limited in the amount of time they have been allowed to handle prerelease models to between 10 to 20 minutes.
And why would what is basically a wide screen video iPod (that can play video for up to 5 hours) be limited to 20 minutes talking time? Are you suggesting that phone service requires more resources of hardware than video playback?
That all seems a little counterintuitive to me.
:roll:
Of course, I don't own a cell phone so I wouldn't have much experience either way.
20 minutes?! I hope thats not right. thats just SAD if it is.
My treo600 with its bad battery gets about 2 hours of talk. when the battery was good it got a bit over 3. And I plan on buying a high capacity one for it in a few weeks. that should be good for about 5 hours :D
*hugs his treo*
best. phone. ever. ;)
Quote from: "RacerX"And why would what is basically a wide screen video iPod (that can play video for up to 5 hours) be limited to 20 minutes talking time? Are you suggesting that phone service requires more resources of hardware than video playback?
At this point, we do not know why the phone has been delayed, but a power problem like this would be a sensible reason to postpone things. From the video I have seen of the phone in action, it seems to rely heavily on OSX like GUI "eye candy", especially for something like the coverflow album art thing. This would seem to require some pretty substantial muscle in the GPU processor, and perhaps some further optimization is still being done to reduce that burden, and the resulting power usage. It is possible that the battery is undersized, remembering that the patent application they submitted outlined a unit with two batteries. Knowing how particular Jobs can be about the design of products, earlier prototypes may have been too big or "not feel right" in the hand, causing a redesign that discarded the 2nd battery.
Its all just speculation, but speculation can be fun too. :)
Chef
Yeah, I can definitely see Jobs recalling the unit due to aesthetic reasons :) But I believe it'll be for the better. I trust his judgement when it comes to this stuff.
Somewhere I read that 50 of their top engineers are over in Taipei dealing with some last minute problems that have crept up. My guess is that it's the manufacturing/hardware that's over there. There's not reason they would need to go there to fix software, not unless it's the low-level stuff which is intimately tied to the hardware. But like nextchef says: all speculation :)
Quote from: "da9000"Yeah, I can definitely see Jobs recalling the unit due to aesthetic reasons :) But I believe it'll be for the better. I trust his judgement when it comes to this stuff.
Somewhere I read that 50 of their top engineers are over in Taipei dealing with some last minute problems that have crept up. My guess is that it's the manufacturing/hardware that's over there. There's not reason they would need to go there to fix software, not unless it's the low-level stuff which is intimately tied to the hardware. But like nextchef says: all speculation :)
According to an article over on Ars technica, the issues are now with software, and not the previous battery issues, but who knows what the real reasons may be.
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/04/19/source-iphone-running-into-os-issues-wont-meet-demandChef
I think I agree with most of the comments about how you'd probably ship the phone to Apple, not Apple to Taipei :)
But it's probably software problems, coz I just recalled that I was contacted for a position on the iPhone team last week or so.
Looks like its allmost time for the iPhone, and macrumors has what they say are the specs.
http://www.macrumors.com/2007/06/08/apples-iphone-specs-and-requirements/Battery information is as follows:
- Lithium
- Up to 5 hours - Talk / Video / Browsing
- Up to 16 hours - Audio playback
(Battery life varies by use)
The talk time is on par with what my 8700c gets, which is good. I do not have an ipod, so I do not know how the video/audio playing time compares.
Chef