Everything is progressing just fine for Apple’s iPhone, as it was named Time Magazine’s Gadget of the Year and two reports state it’s on schedule for an expected update in 2008 with the possibility of overtaking the venerable iPod in sales by 2009.
Time, however, underestimates the impact of the iPhone. It says, “The iPhone changed the way we think about how mobile media devices should look, feel, and perform.”
No argument there.
But as we’ve said all along, the significance of the iPhone is greater than the device itself. It, along with Google’s mobile effort and Nokia’s activities, will change the face of the U.S. mobile-phone industry as early as 2008. No other device on Time’s list — from the Nikon Coolpix to the Belkin N1Vision Wi-Fi Router — even comes close to having that kind of impact.
The complaint from Time about the iPhone — everybody’s complaint, actually — is that it’s not a 3G device and it’s achingly slow on AT&T’s cellular network. That, according to researchers at Goldman Sachs (via Apple Insider), will change when the iPhone receives its first revision since its June release.
Apple Insider says that David Bailey, in a research note Tuesday, advised clients that his Far Eastern contacts have led him to believe that “Apple has several important new products lined up for 2008”, among them in a second-generation iPhone with faster 3G network capability.
Bailey’s contacts said the 2G iPhone is in the “final design phase.” He thinks the phone will launch sometime during the second half of the year — perhaps around anniversary time?
On a side note, the much maligned AppleTV (which I must be one of the 10 people worldwide who likes) also will receive a well-needed update. Apple, apparently, isn’t going to bail on AppleTV just yet.
Finally, also from the Apple Insider, comes an investor note from the analyst firm Piper Jaffray that says, “As (average selling prices) of media-enabled smart phones fall, the mobile category will begin to impact the standalone media player market” like the iPod.
That, Piper Jaffray says, may finally happen in 2009 when Apple is expected to reach the all important $300 price point for the iPhone. When that happens, people may opt for the iPhone — or any comparable smartphone — over a standalone portable media player like the premium iPod and Zune.
“We believe Apple is firing on all cylinders heading into 2008,” Piper Jaffray’s overview says.
