大象传媒

How about introducing the ability to make a call lasting over 20 minutes without it dropping and forcing a redial?

All this excitement over a firmware update?

This is a great example of Apple's marketing influence - create a buzz about something that in the end is actually pretty meaningless; the inclusion of features that should have been there from the beginning (and, if you recall, we were given vague reasons around 'battery life', etc as to why they weren't) and which merely bring the feature set up to where last generation' smartphones already are.

Which is not to say the iPhone isn't a good phone because it is. It's just that no other company would probably get away with yet another unveiling of the Emperor's new clothes.

I'm amazed that the iphone doesn't have most of these features already. Quite glad I haven't shelled out for one now.

As a 2G hacked iPhone user and now a "legitimate" 3G iPhone user, I'd like to see a customisable user interface, a keyboard that rotates, "real" Bluetooth and, and this is the most important "upgrade", the ability to trial iTunes applications. Oh, and a version of iTunes that actually works as advertised.

It would be nice to see some of the features discussed introduced into the next Iphone update.

I for one would like to see some power saving features introduced to further improve battery life.

Apple do seem to keep everything very much behind closed doors right up until the launch. Which is great, it definitely creates a lot of hype with all the Geeks and Bloggers.

Very fond of my iPhone - great device and a joy to use.
The camera on the other hand is useless - any software improvements to that would be welcome.
Kind of agree with Mark_MWFC on Apples marketing prowess though I'm sure any company would love the coverage Apple achieves with these announcements - it's just good business at the end the day.
Wonder what else they may come up with... 'iTablet' anyone?

I *really* want an iPhone (I use the iPod touch for web surfing at the moment). But I just can't justify downgrading from my N95.

How about:

A decent camera

Bluetooth modem support

Copy and Paste

GPS Navigation while you drive

Then I'd get one.

And we care about this pretty but expensive and underpowered niche product, and its tiny market share why, exactly?

i agree with post 7, except for the "i really want an iPhone" part.

The fact that the latest model iPhone would be a downgrade from the old N95 (there have been what 3 or 4 new N series from Nokia since???) is unbelievable.

I also have an N95 and even the 2nd gen iphone doesnt have some of the most basic features of Nokia's best smart phone so far (in my opinion).

It's a prime example of fashion over functionality. Apple marketing themselves as innovators using the one strength the iphone has - multitouch, which is still in its infancy anyway.

@ neilhoskins

As an iPhone user, yes, I do. The rest of the smartphone market must do to - they all copied it!

"All this excitement over a firmware update?"

Yes Mark, all this excitement is valid for an incredible phone/pocket computer that has created its' own ecosystem for developers (one that other manufacturers are still trying to copy).

Unlike you Mark, I've just read the transcript of the event from macworld.com and it is worth getting excited about, especially (and selfishly) because all current iPhone 3G users will get it for no extra charge.

Well it seems like most of the complaints about the iPhone have been answered; Stereo Bluetooth, Cut/Copy/Paste, MMS, Push Notification, Spotlight Searching, System-wide landscape keyboard.

I have 4 words for the naysayers who continually fill forums with their daft, short sighted complaints:

"It's the software, stupid."

@neilhoskins - because the iphone is now the driver for other mobile devices. The market has moved over to touchscreen, Microsoft and Google are launching app stores etc.

From what I've seen from today's announcement, most of the long standing gripes have been addressed. The others like the quality of the camera are hardware based and I'm sure will be addressed for the third generation device whenever it will be released.

@twelveeightyone - take a look at Mark's posting time. Unless he's Derek Acorah, he wouldn't have read the transcript ;)

@twelveightyone

Actually unlike you I followed it live on Engadget and was quite pleasantly surprised.

Nonetheless, it's hardly something to get worked up about - the iPhone now has some of the features it should have had at launch and no longer lags the market quite so badly.

As you say though it probably is the software which may or may not explain why the iPhone's sales dropped by 14% over the Xmas quarter whilst WinMo's increased by 16% to recapture third position in the global smartphone market. Symbian, which is in effect Nokia to all intents and purposes, of course, continued to dominate in 2008 despite actually not releasing anything worthwhile with the possible exception of the business class E71 or, towards the end of the year, the N85.

Announce, hype, sales, fall off. So it goes.

"It almost makes you wonder why the iPhone is such a megastar in the smartphone category without all this built in."

Put simply, because you and your colleagues keep banging on about it.

It's outrageous they even charge you for the updates!!

You can already get all these features and more on other phones including a large variety of 'slick' designs (including free system updates). Personally I would like to see the 大象传媒 advertise these products too.

"@twelveeightyone - take a look at Mark's posting time. Unless he's Derek Acorah, he wouldn't have read the transcript ;)"

FatRunner, that was my point. I waited until facts were announced before deciding whether to get "excited"or not. Like most blogs/websites, some people spout their opinion before the facts are presented.

"As you say though it probably is the software which may or may not explain why the iPhone's sales dropped by 14% over the Xmas quarter whilst WinMo's increased by 16% to recapture third position in the global smartphone market. Symbian, which is in effect Nokia to all intents and purposes, of course, continued to dominate in 2008 despite actually not releasing anything worthwhile with the possible exception of the business class E71 or, towards the end of the year, the N85."

Once again, more facts, figures and percentages with no evidence to back it up. Here's are some facts, direct from Apple:

Over 17 million iPhones sold to date, over 30 million iPhone and iPod touch units altogether so far.
Over 800,000 downloads of the free iPhone SDK(s) to date (8 months).
Over 50,000 companies and individuals have registered as iPhone/iPod touch developers.
60% of those devs have never developed for any Apple platform before.

It's easy to massage figures to make them look good, especially when quoting percentages. A percentage is quite meaningless, when you are still not making any money from sales (just ask Ballmer how much he likes selling WinMo at a loss, and the X-Box, and Surface, and just about every other product apart from the monopolistic Windows and Office).

"It's outrageous they even charge you for the updates!!"

hon3stly, they don't charge. This iPhone 3.0 update is FREE to ALL iPhone users, and a charge of $9.95 is for iPod touch owners due to the fact that an iPhone is on a contract and an iPod touch is an outright purchase.

I tell you what is outrageous. I was charged 拢9.95 by Nokia to update the firmware on my old Nokia phone, no new features, no 'WOW' updates, just bug fixes...

Now that is outrageous.

@twelveightyone

No evidence? The figures I quote come straight from Gartner's sales figures which, along with IDC, are the industry standard. You may find them to be rather more relevant than a company's internal reporting.

As for opinion, everyone has them. Like I mentioned I was pleasently surprised and this is great news for iPhone owners.

As for your claim that Nokia charged you for firmware, I'm sorry but I'm not buying that - Nokia Software Update does this for free including the addition of new features like A-GPS on the N95 when it became available.

@twelveightyone

thought that was possible at home for free with a PC and NSU? unless it was pre N-series in which case im not sure

@blade82

'Copy and Paste'
It's coming and thanks to the multitouch screen (has Nokia got that yet?) it'll be a joy to use.

'GPS Navigation while you drive'
Um, why does my iPhone already have this? I use it all the time without any problems. All the instructions are to the point although there's no voice (thanks goodness) and you can easily update with the touch of a finger should you change your mind about your route.

I love my iPhone, it's easily the best mobile I've ever owned. The real joy of it is that it has a real OS inside it rather than some rubbish 'mobile' or 'light' version. Combine that with the App store (another thing the other makers are striving to copy), even if only for the free apps and you can start to understand why so many people love this phone.
Sure, it lacks a few things but Apple are addressing the situation, answering their customers requests. This is good service.

Lastly and, from my point of view, it actually works flawlessly with my Mac! Nokia, DO NOT care about the millions of mac owners out there. Trust me, I found that out the hard way with a N85, a phone they said was Mac friendly. Rubbish. At least with an iPhone, I just needed to connect it and let iTunes take over. No fuss, no bother.

@Finglish

Actually Nokia do care about Macs which is why they released iSync.

As for multi-touch, you can get that on a Nokia 5800 too as a proof of concept. Mind you, I don't really see the point of it if I'm being honest.

@Mark_MWFC

"Actually Nokia do care about Macs which is why they released iSync."

'They' being Apple? iSync is software released as part of the Mac OS:

@Hermit

Yes, sorry, Apple made iSync, Nokia provide the plug ins for the devices it doesn't natively support.

It's sad that whenever an apple product comes up the discussion always degenerates into an argument between Apple lovers and haters.

This type of argument is childish and reminiscent of the Sinclair Spectrum is better than the Commodore 64 arguments from 25 years ago.

The iphone has a fabulously intuitive user interface and has arguably the best touch screen implementation currently available.

On the other hand some of the other Smart Phones eg N95 have more features, are immensley flexible, work out cheaper and are fantastic phones in their own right.

The bottom line is you pays your money and takes your choice. Different choices are right for different people at different times so just Get over it !

For the record I have a Mac and a PC, I use a Nokia N95 and would seriously considerer an iphone next contract depending on my needs and whims at the time.