The State of the iPhone is Strong - Very Strong

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: April 25, 2009 9:55:00 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The State of the iPhone is Strong - Very Strong

The State Of The iPhone Is Strong — Very Strong
by MG Siegler on April 23, 2009
<http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/23/the-state-of-the-iphone-is-strong-very-strong/?awesm=tcrn.ch_a7&utm_medium=awesm-twitter&utm_content=techcrunch-autopost&utm_campaign=techcrunch&utm_source=direct-awesm 
>

Of the major companies that announced their earnings yesterday, two of  
them, AT&T and Apple,beat Wall Street estimates largely thanks to  
asingle product

: The iPhone. We’re approaching the two year birthday of the device,  
and it still remains one of the hottest items out there. Ladies and  
gentleman, the state of the iPhone is strong.

Yes, Apple actually sold less iPhones this quarter than the previous  
two quarters, but that was coming off of the always-hot holiday  
shopping quarter, and the one before that was when the iPhone 3G was  
still relatively new on the scene. All told, Apple has sold 21 million  
iPhones since its launch. Perhaps just a drop in the bucket compared  
to overall Nokia sales, but remember, Apple was not in the mobile  
business at all before 2007. And aside from just sales figures, in the  
past two years, it has revolutionized the industry. That is, of  
course, a cliche. But in this case, it’s true.

People can downplay the actual number of iPhones in circulation all  
they want — the fact of the matter is that it has changed things.  
While there were some third-party mobile app developers before Apple’s  
App Store, they received almost no attention, and as such, it wasn’t  
really a viable business. Now, everyone and their mother is flocking  
to develop for the App Store. And every major mobile player is rushing  
to make their own app stores. But Apple’s already has over 35,000 apps  
— and in a few short hours, there will have been one billion apps  
downloaded in just 9 month.

Think about that for a second: One billion apps downloaded. There are  
currently 37 million iPhones and iPod touches combined. Certainly,  
there have been a lot less than that over various stages in the last  
nine months, but just take that 37 million number. That means that  
every single one of those devices has had an average of 27 apps  
downloaded to it. 27 apps — that do everything from games to music to  
movie times to fetching me a taxi.

I remember the phone I had before the iPhone, fondly: Motorola’s RAZR.  
It had zero third-party apps, and the most exciting thing it could do  
was take a grainy picture. That was just two years ago.

Look, Apple’s iPhone platform is not perfect. The app approval  
process, to put it lightly, sucks. There are apps getting rejected for  
questionable reasons, that are forced to wait weeks to just be  
reviewed again. And then there are other apps which feature outrageous  
things, which get accepted without the slightest peep. Apple needs to  
revamp this system.

And the network is far from perfect as well. AT&T seems to have a  
failure rate that is unacceptable to a lot of people. Some have gotten  
rid of their iPhones just to ditch AT&T.

But the fact of the matter is, that iPhone is simply the best all-in- 
one device that I’ve ever owned. I cannot imagine my life without it  
now. I would be lost — sometimes literally — without it. I say that  
because I know that of the 21 million iPhone owners out there — there  
are a great deal who feel the exact same way. That may be annoying,  
and may even sound pretentious to those who don’t own an iPhone — but  
I’m giving you my honest take as someone who has owned and/or tried a  
lot of the so-called “smartphones” out there. I have a G1. I have a  
Nokia N95. I’ve used a number of Blackberry devices. None compare. And  
I think for a lot of the other devices, it actually speaks less to the  
iPhone itself and more to the shit products that the other mobile  
companies have gotten away with putting on the market for so long.

[snip]



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