Last year, the iPhone changed the way people think about mobile phones. As Steve Jobs said, it was a great phone, an amazing Web appliance, and the best iPod ever.
The iPhone delivered what the Treo should have become (if Palm had any imagination left).
But that was last year.
Jobs’ 3G iPhone announcement at this year’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference seems to have received a rather lukewarm response from much of the tech media. C|Net’s coverage touted the 3G speed and games, but even iPhone fan Tom Merritt seemed unable to work up much enthusiasm. Over at Leo Laporte’s This Week in Tech (TWIT) podcast, the gang treated the new phone was a non-event.
The air seems filled with disappointment, or at the very least, a bit of malaise. The new phone has a GPS, but not turn-by-turn directions. There’s no video capability, just still photos — and no Multimedia Message Service (MMS), so you can’t send photos to friends, except through e-mail. It has a great new low price, but AT&T remains the exclusive U.S. carrier, and AT&T’s 3G network isn’t available outside of big cities.
Maybe the mood will change after the phone actually starts selling on Friday. Maybe it’s just a natural reaction to a phone that’s really just a modest improvement over the original.
The good news for all of us is that, as other companies begin to sell phones that play off the iPhone experience (like the Sprint/Samsung Instict and HTC Diamond), the increased competition will only give us all better choices and more capability. Competition will drive everyone forward.
This is still a very cool time for those of us who love mobile tech. The fun is just beginning.
(Watch for an in-depth review of the Samsung Instinct beginning in the next few days.)
