I really appreciate Apple to launch this new innovative product into the market. As Pirosl has mentioned the healthy competition should be there. Recently Nokia released its new and the first Sleek Flip model of phone - N76. It resembles the Moto Racer but has more features than the Moto Racer.
I agree that Nokia has invented lot many things (out of which one is Wibree, I don't think that is not at all used in any of their phones, still on RnD) but what ever it comes from Nokia it is second into the market. After Moto Racer, iPhone is another eye catchy product in the market.
iPhone doesn't invent a new market like the iPod did before. It is just one of the most advanced converged device so far and it has the capability to sync itself with iTunes which makes it a good complement or replacement for your iPod or if you want a phone with good music support. So no doubt that with the sexy look of the device and the marketing know-how of Apple, this should be a success. Let's wait to see the usability of the device and the quality of the deviceas just a phone and battery life in real world usage.
I doubt that this will be a totally open platform nor licensed to other manufacturer so probably not the Symbian kiler. Just another competitor and a damn nice one.
Eric Bustarret
NewLC Founder & CEO / Professional Symbian OS Consultant
For me one of the biggest advantages of the iPhone and hopefully the one with the most positive influence on Symbian: People will recognize that this is a true smartphone, something that is definitely more than just a phone.
I hope that this will push the notion of "smartphone" further into public awareness, and this will benefit Symbian as well. I hope that more people than now start to demand more from their phone, with a corresponding increase of smartphone market share.
Many of the current S60 phones are more or less the opposite: They look so much like "normal" phones and normally behave so much like them that some people even don't know that they just bought a true smartphone, with according sales of third-party apps for example.
You just don't get a craving "I must have a smartphone" from them...
For me one of the biggest advantages of the iPhone and hopefully the one with the most positive influence on Symbian: People will recognize that this is a true smartphone, something that is definitely more than just a phone.
I hope that this will push the notion of "smartphone" further into public awareness, and this will benefit Symbian as well. I hope that more people than now start to demand more from their phone, with a corresponding increase of smartphone market share.
Many of the current S60 phones are more or less the opposite: They look so much like "normal" phones and normally behave so much like them that some people even don't know that they just bought a true smartphone, with according sales of third-party apps for example.
You just don't get a craving "I must have a smartphone" from them...
I agree. Probably about 90% of S60 phone owners are using them as normal phones, not as smartphones. I wonder what kind of statistics of manufacturer distributions among smartphones we would get if research only included users that really use the phone's "smart" features...
Probably about 90% of S60 phone owners are using them as normal phones, not as smartphones.
Making a phone was the original goal of the Symbian Pearl DFRD which is the foundation beyond S60 so from that point of view, it is kind of normal that user think they do have a phone.
UIQ is a little bit more advanced as a platform to make a real smartphone however having a real nice UI is still very hard with Symbian (and worst with Windows Mobile). Nokia has presented a new XML-based UI scheme that might enhance that - still a little bit too static IMHO. We have written a couple of Flash UI and this allow a true user experience on the S60 platform and is for me the way to go if you need interactivity and real sexy look.
Eric Bustarret
NewLC Founder & CEO / Professional Symbian OS Consultant
Hopefully symbian can finally get the push they so much need, to understand how important the user interface is.
Let's NOT talk about Symbian with regards to fancy UI: Symbian is not involved in that part of the mobile sw. That's Nokia and SonyEricsson and some Japanese operators that are doing UI development.
However, I'm also happy to see iPhone to appear on the horizon, though, unsure what I can expect from it. You know, if it hadn't been Apple who announced its new phone, there wouldn't have been this hype at all. There is nothing special about iPhone (yet) except for the fact that it's Apple's iPhone.
Hopefully symbian can finally get the push they so much need, to understand how important the user interface is.
Let's NOT talk about Symbian with regards to fancy UI: Symbian is not involved in that part of the mobile sw. That's Nokia and SonyEricsson and some Japanese operators that are doing UI development.
Unfortunatly, they very much are involved.
Its still symbian that writes the window server, and the base control set (CONE), and all the component drawing functionality.
S60, UIQ, etc, is "only" writeing their control set (akn/qik) on top of this, and is very much limited to what symbian provides.
If you want to do fancy stuff, you have to bypass the whole symbian drawing system, and that opens up a lot of problems. Specially if you are UIQ/S60/etc and have to guarantee it works with everything else.
What is needed from symbian for a more dynamic UI is a complete rewrite of the wserv and how drawing is handled.
Let's see... iPhone is not a 3G device and is not extendible by 3rd parties, which leaves it in a slightly different market niche than Symbian-based phones, I think. Besides, Steve Jobs expects about 1% of market share in 2008, which is 2 years from now.
Sure, that's the best thing we can do at this early stage. However, the question was about what we see how iPhone will affect Symbian? Hopefully it will benefit from it, however I don't see that iPhone poses a risk to Symbian for the well-known (i.e. already mentioned) reasons. For the moment, I mean. It's also worth noting that despite all the predictions that the mobile space will be unified in the near future, I can see that it's just getting more segmented.
It's also worth noting that despite all the predictions that the mobile space will be unified in the near future, I can see that it's just getting more segmented.
Tote
If unification means monopoly then thank God it's getting segmented.
If segmentation means the Java mobile mess then.....
If unification means monopoly then thank God it's getting segmented.
If segmentation means the Java mobile mess then.....
AMK
Well, what I meant on segmentation was basically that we have just "got" another manufacturer producing a quality(?) phone. Which is a good thing, in general. The situation would be a little bit different if Apple had decided to make an open phone, for which we could write (3rd party) programs. In that case we would have just another platform we should have taken care of. This is not the situation for now, I'm unsure though if Apple changes their mind with regards to the openness of their platform. Steve Jobs seemed determined not to open iPhone - even though his arguments sounded stupid.
One more thing: http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2007/01/iphone-is-not-phone.html. Michael Mace points out that in his opinion iPhone is not a phone, but a multimedia computer with phone capabilities. In my opinion the border between the two is so blurred that it's really difficult or rather up to anybody to decide how he/she calls this device.
Nokia have already been calling their high end smartphones for "multimedia computers" for some time now
The Apple iPhone is in my oppinion a bit less of a computer then these, since it does not support 3rd party software. (and doesn't have any feature these doesn't.. )
Its more of a connected ipod...
I still think the most revolutioning thing on it is the UI. (Only part where they have something technically different too) Hopefully apple has done as good work on this as it seems, and their marketing momentum can get others to realize the importance of usability.
Forum posts: 981
pirosl
Forum posts: 732
I agree that Nokia has invented lot many things (out of which one is Wibree, I don't think that is not at all used in any of their phones, still on RnD) but what ever it comes from Nokia it is second into the market. After Moto Racer, iPhone is another eye catchy product in the market.
We can wait a see what Nokia is going to do next.
Forum posts: 1886
I doubt that this will be a totally open platform nor licensed to other manufacturer so probably not the Symbian kiler. Just another competitor and a damn nice one.
Eric Bustarret
NewLC Founder & CEO / Professional Symbian OS Consultant
Forum posts: 1134
The quite static and slow UI has been one of the most lacking parts in the symbian phones imo.
Not only symbian though, a lot of manufacturers.
And its not just about putting more processor power in the phone...
Wonderful with finally a device with multitouch, also opens up a lot for makeing the UI more intuitive. I hope more manufacturers follow.
Forum posts: 1058
I hope that this will push the notion of "smartphone" further into public awareness, and this will benefit Symbian as well. I hope that more people than now start to demand more from their phone, with a corresponding increase of smartphone market share.
Many of the current S60 phones are more or less the opposite: They look so much like "normal" phones and normally behave so much like them that some people even don't know that they just bought a true smartphone, with according sales of third-party apps for example.
You just don't get a craving "I must have a smartphone" from them...
René Brunner
Forum posts: 586
I hope that this will push the notion of "smartphone" further into public awareness, and this will benefit Symbian as well. I hope that more people than now start to demand more from their phone, with a corresponding increase of smartphone market share.
Many of the current S60 phones are more or less the opposite: They look so much like "normal" phones and normally behave so much like them that some people even don't know that they just bought a true smartphone, with according sales of third-party apps for example.
You just don't get a craving "I must have a smartphone" from them...
I agree. Probably about 90% of S60 phone owners are using them as normal phones, not as smartphones. I wonder what kind of statistics of manufacturer distributions among smartphones we would get if research only included users that really use the phone's "smart" features...
Forum posts: 1886
Making a phone was the original goal of the Symbian Pearl DFRD which is the foundation beyond S60 so from that point of view, it is kind of normal that user think they do have a phone.
UIQ is a little bit more advanced as a platform to make a real smartphone however having a real nice UI is still very hard with Symbian (and worst with Windows Mobile). Nokia has presented a new XML-based UI scheme that might enhance that - still a little bit too static IMHO. We have written a couple of Flash UI and this allow a true user experience on the S60 platform and is for me the way to go if you need interactivity and real sexy look.
Eric Bustarret
NewLC Founder & CEO / Professional Symbian OS Consultant
Forum posts: 721
Let's NOT talk about Symbian with regards to fancy UI: Symbian is not involved in that part of the mobile sw. That's Nokia and SonyEricsson and some Japanese operators that are doing UI development.
However, I'm also happy to see iPhone to appear on the horizon, though, unsure what I can expect from it. You know, if it hadn't been Apple who announced its new phone, there wouldn't have been this hype at all. There is nothing special about iPhone (yet) except for the fact that it's Apple's iPhone.
Tote
Gabor Torok
Software architect, Agil Eight (http://www.agileight.com/)
Blog: http://mobile-thoughts.blogspot.com/
Forum posts: 1134
Let's NOT talk about Symbian with regards to fancy UI: Symbian is not involved in that part of the mobile sw. That's Nokia and SonyEricsson and some Japanese operators that are doing UI development.
Unfortunatly, they very much are involved.
Its still symbian that writes the window server, and the base control set (CONE), and all the component drawing functionality.
S60, UIQ, etc, is "only" writeing their control set (akn/qik) on top of this, and is very much limited to what symbian provides.
If you want to do fancy stuff, you have to bypass the whole symbian drawing system, and that opens up a lot of problems.
Specially if you are UIQ/S60/etc and have to guarantee it works with everything else.
What is needed from symbian for a more dynamic UI is a complete rewrite of the wserv and how drawing is handled.
Forum posts: 131
I'd wait and see.
Forum posts: 721
Tote
Gabor Torok
Software architect, Agil Eight (http://www.agileight.com/)
Blog: http://mobile-thoughts.blogspot.com/
Forum posts: 49
Tote
If unification means monopoly then thank God it's getting segmented.
If segmentation means the Java mobile mess then.....
AMK
Ariz M. Kohli
Forum posts: 721
If segmentation means the Java mobile mess then.....
AMK
Well, what I meant on segmentation was basically that we have just "got" another manufacturer producing a quality(?) phone. Which is a good thing, in general. The situation would be a little bit different if Apple had decided to make an open phone, for which we could write (3rd party) programs. In that case we would have just another platform we should have taken care of. This is not the situation for now, I'm unsure though if Apple changes their mind with regards to the openness of their platform. Steve Jobs seemed determined not to open iPhone - even though his arguments sounded stupid.
Tote
Gabor Torok
Software architect, Agil Eight (http://www.agileight.com/)
Blog: http://mobile-thoughts.blogspot.com/
Forum posts: 721
Tote
Gabor Torok
Software architect, Agil Eight (http://www.agileight.com/)
Blog: http://mobile-thoughts.blogspot.com/
Forum posts: 1134
The Apple iPhone is in my oppinion a bit less of a computer then these, since it does not support 3rd party software. (and doesn't have any feature these doesn't.. )
Its more of a connected ipod...
I still think the most revolutioning thing on it is the UI. (Only part where they have something technically different too) Hopefully apple has done as good work on this as it seems, and their marketing momentum can get others to realize the importance of usability.