On Sun, 21 Jan 2007, Gerhard Fasol wrote:
> Steve Jobs is not stupid at all - he has proven that he knows what he
> is doing. I am sure there is a good reason for every decision they
> have taken.
>
> Sure they could have started putting the iPhone onto KDDI's WIN
> instead of 2G, but maybe the 2G solution is the best one from their
> business perspective
Again:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070111_001476.html
This leaves us with the mystery of why Apple deliberately hobbled
the cellular Internet capability of its iPhone...
And there's the problem -- Cingular Video, which is based on
RealVideo, NOT QuickTime or H.264.
Apple wants the iPhone to get its content primarily through iTunes,
ideally by syncing with a Mac or Windows PC. Apple doesn't like
Cingular Video and doesn't want its customers to know it exists,
much less use it. But it would be very hard to introduce a true 3G
iPhone, have Cingular promote it strongly, only to say that it can't
be used to view the mobile carrier's own video content. So instead
Apple falls back to the slower EDGE network, which can support email
and widgets and surfing, but which also forces iPhone users to get
most of their higher-resolution video through iTunes, where Apple
makes money and Cingular doesn't.
It comes down to an accommodation. Cingular wants an iPhone
exclusive and is probably paying Apple money for that privilege.
Apple doesn't want Cingular Video. So the only elegant way around
that problem is to make the iPhone incapable of operating on the 3G
network. If you watch his Macworld keynote you'll notice Jobs says
that Apple may eventually make 3G iPhone models. Yeah, right: I'm
100 percent convinced that all it would take to turn an EDGE iPhone
into a 3G iPhone is a firmware upgrade, if that.
Mobile phone carriers are eager for video to succeed on their 3G and
4G platforms because it represents a major new source of revenue.
Apple's iPhone is the best handset yet for displaying that video.
But Apple isn't going to allow this to happen without Cupertino
gaining a substantial piece of the action. I'm sure discussions are
taking place right now with Cingular where Apple is arguing that the
carrier should make its video service iTunes-compatible.
cjs
--
Curt Sampson <cjs@cynic.net> +81 90 7737 2974
Mobile sites and software consulting: http://www.starling-software.com
Received on Tue Jan 23 04:19:38 2007