Tog's iPhone interface analysis

A very interesting article about the iPhone user interface by a certified expert who used to work for Apple, Bruce Tognazzini. It's a must read if you have any interest in how consumer and computer user interface are and have been designed. Tog is a real visionary in field and mentions that his "pinch" interface that is used by the phone for zooming, was designed a while back. The link above points to a summary of the actual article. The actual article and some other very interesint UI things can be found here: The iPhone User Experience: A First Look The accompanying picture is from the 1996 book Tog on Software Design on page 78..

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midi file that's similar to the iPhone Ringer

Gizmodo has posted a Midi file that is similar to the iPhone ringer. It sounds pretty good. How do they keep coming up with a small set of notes that sound really cool and different from what I've heard before? Would this be as cool if it was on the lowest priced Motorola phone from Verizon?

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Balmer: Laughs at iPhone

I think it's tempting fate when you laugh at a competitor. Although Steve Balmer makes good points about the expense of the iPhone, lack of keyboard, and features of the Windows Mobile 5 phones, Steve Jobs may be laughing this time next year.

There is a 'bit' of arrogance in his comments. A bit of history, Microsoft got into various markets over the years where they seemed doomed to failure. They dispatched the competition in most cases: Word Perfect, Lotus 123, Novell, OS/2, Netscape, AOL, Playstation 2... Will a Zune phone succeed? Will features of the Zune make their way into a future version of Windows Mobile? Let's face it, the iPhone has a very, very big WOW factor now due to the user interface and ease of use. If it grows a keyboard and opens up for third party applications, maybe Steve Jobs will be laughing at next years MacWorld.

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Dvorak - no keyboard on iPhone

John Dvorak makes a good point about the iPhone's lack of keyboard. Being a Q user, I agree. Most smartphones on the market today have a keyboard of some sort. As an email or browsing device, the keyboard makes the device very usable. I have a Dell Axim pocket pc with wireless without the keyboard. Although it's faster when I'm connected to WiFi than my Q, I don't use it for email or browsing since I've gotten the Q.

Without haivng the iPhone or seeing a good demo of using the keyboard for chat, email, or real browsing, I can't compare how well the iPhone is versus the Q. I do know that the pop-up soft keyboard on the Axim is tough to use.

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You say you want a revolution?

Rumors abound about the Beatles on iTunes.... Maybe a commercial on the Super Bowl broadcast, maybe available on Valentine's day, maybe a limited edition Beatles iPod (I'd love that along with about a billiion other people). We'll have to wait and see and follow the rumors.

PS: I remember watching the Beatles cartoons as a kid... along with Jackson 5, the Osmonds, etc. the sixties were fun for a kid.

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$1 Billion in Profit in 3 months

Over 21 Million iPods purchased in 3 months!!! Jobs' comment: "We’ve just kicked off what is going to be a very strong new product year for Apple by launching Apple TV and the revolutionary iPhone.” If they do the same with the iPhone next Christmas, 21M * $500 = $10,500,000,000... lets go down from there... 5M = $2.5 BILLION dollars in revenue or over one third of the quarterly revenue of 2006. Not too shabby if they can do it. Are there 5 million people who will want this phone over a new iPod next Christmas? If so, say an average iPod goes for $250 and average iPhone goes for $550, that's $300 more dollars per item. What a great way to increase revenue and give the consumer something that they really want.

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3D version of iPhone

Check out the 3D rotating iPhone. Very nice work using Apple's own pictures of the iPhone. It looks very smooth rotating through.

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Some non-iPhone Cell Phone News

There are actually media reports about a phone that is NOT an iPhone. No details on the type of phone/battery or if there was misuse of the phone. It's a shame that this person got burn pretty badly. When will portable batteries become more safe?

Update: - It wasn't the phone.

Cnet News.com

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iPhone: Potential hacker target.

On MacWorld, they are talking about hackers lusting after the iPhone more than anyone. The potential to wreak havoc on 10 million iPhones would be too big a target for them. Right now, Windows based machines are the target due to the potential number of users to infect. If the iPhone really takes off, the large target of non-technical OS X phone owners, who are online on their iPhone could really hurt potential sales. Of course, if you can't install applications on the phone, you may not be able to affect many users with such a virus.

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