Apple was better off not sharing details before hand?

[Joshie]

I personally think that Apple would had better luck just releasing it in june. And just giving a release date. If they would of kept all the features a secret until the date, all the other companies would have to play catch up witht he features, which would still give the iPhone advantage. Even though it has an advantage right now, Verizon and all those other companies are saying "we have a better phone to compete with it".

So what do all you think? I personally think it would of been better to just keep it a secret until release day.

 

[Cantwait4iPhone]

I personally think that Apple would had better luck just releasing it in june. And just giving a release date. If they would of kept all the features a secret until the date, all the other companies would have to play catch up witht he features, which would still give the iPhone advantage. Even though it has an advantage right now, Verizon and all those other companies are saying "we have a better phone to compete with it".

So what do all you think? I personally think it would of been better to just keep it a secret until release day.

Good question, and a tough one, too. I can see where you are coming from and that there are certainly benefits to waiting until closer to the release date, but there is certainly also a good reason that they released the info earlier on. This is simply that they got the hype machine rolling. This release is now going to be huge. Just look, there are tens, maybe hundreds, of fansites devoted to the iPhone.

 

[juju2682]

I personally think that Apple would had better luck just releasing it in june. And just giving a release date. If they would of kept all the features a secret until the date, all the other companies would have to play catch up witht he features, which would still give the iPhone advantage. Even though it has an advantage right now, Verizon and all those other companies are saying "we have a better phone to compete with it".

So what do all you think? I personally think it would of been better to just keep it a secret until release day.

^ Yeah, nothin' beats 5 months of free publicity and hype. I think it was best to get the word out early and get people talking.

 

[robhon]

Other than all the free marketing they've gotten outa announcing early, I think they HAD to announce because of the whole Cisco iPhone thing. Cisco got wind of the Apple iPhone, realized they owned the trademark, and jumped first. Apple couldn't allow Cisco the strength of having an iPhone product on the market for 7 months before they annouced their own iPhone.

 

[Cantwait4iPhone]

^ Yeah, nothin' beats 5 months of free publicity and hype. I think it was best to get the word out early and get people talking.

Exactly. They have built up so much hype for this thing. If they talked about it in June and June only, there really wouldn't be enough time to build up a solid fanbase for it and guarantee a huge amount of consumers. People would just be realizing it when it would be released. Most people, unlike some of you guys and I, probably did not know they wanted the iPhone right off the bat when they saw the keynote.

 

[joe]

Cisco's iPhone and FCC are big reasons they announced the iPhone when they did.

Also, this is a common strategy to keep others from buying a competitive product. Many folks are holding off from buying that dream smartphone they were planning to buy now that the iPhone will be here soon.

I don't think we've seen the complete feature set either. I think this "phone" will do a lot more than we know.

 

[wot_fan]

Another thing to consider is that most people are under contract. By giving 5 months notice, the number of iPhone potential buyers was greatly increased. I am sure many people had contracts that they would have renewed in Jan-May if not for the advance notice.

I for one am glad the told us when they did. I was in the process of researching my next phone. I would now have a new phone and not be in a position to get an iPhone if they had waited.

 

[ColsTiger]

I'm sure the Cell phone providers are wondering why their upgrades have slowed down for the last five months. All those people are holding off to get At&t contracts and iPhones.

 

[wot_fan]

I'm sure the Cell phone providers are wondering why their upgrades have slowed down for the last five months. All those people are holding off to get At&t contracts and iPhones.

Now that is a stat that I would like to see. What percentage of Verizon contracts have been renewed since the iPhone was released vs the same time period last year? I am sure Verizon has looked at that figure and already knows approximately how many customers they are going to lose (maybe that is why they have announced that they will have an answer for the iPhone soon).

 

[ColsTiger]

Now that is a stat that I would like to see. What percentage of Verizon contracts have been renewed since the iPhone was released vs the same time period last year? I am sure Verizon has looked at that figure and already knows approximately how many customers they are going to lose (maybe that is why they have announced that they will have an answer for the iPhone soon).

And also T-Mobile. It would be much easier to get a T-Mobile customer to convert because they use the same technology and would be familiar with it. Verizon's CDMA does offer some things that GSM does not.

 

[Spin This!]

It would be much easier to get a T-Mobile customer to convert because they use the same technology and would be familiar with it.

I would disagree on this point... must consumers just want their phones to work, they really don't care/know what technology powers them. If you need evidence of this, take a look NY Times Pogue FAQ and the number of comments about this. "Can I use this phone with Verizon/Sprint? NOOO!"

 

[Spin This!]

What percentage of Verizon contracts have been renewed since the iPhone was released vs the same time period last year?

That probably wouldn't tell you much... It would be very hard to tell at this point how many contracts they will "lose" until the iPhone is actually in the open. A more practical way to look at this would be how many people are willing to break the contract to head somewhere else.

In any pool of customers, people will jump ship for any number of reasons: bad service, high price, customer service sucks, etc. The iPhone may or may not be a factor in one's decision.

 

[wot_fan]

In any pool of customers, people will jump ship for any number of reasons: bad service, high price, customer service sucks, etc. The iPhone may or may not be a factor in one's decision.

I agree, but I have to believe that most people that are dissatisfied with their service jump ship when their contract expires. Those leaving to get the iPhone will most likely keep there service until the iPhone is available, but won't sign a new contract. I would be interested to know if the number Verizon customers that have had their contracts expire since January and haven't resigned or canceled their service is significantly up compared to previous years. Either way we will know how many jump ship for the iPhone soon. I am sure if the number is significant, AT&T or Apple will let us know .

 

[Spin This!]

Come to think of it, I'd like to know how many people left Verizon period... a good indicator is number portability—Verizon number on an AT&T network.

 

[thepepes]

Other than all the free marketing they've gotten outa announcing early, I think they HAD to announce because of the whole Cisco iPhone thing. Cisco got wind of the Apple iPhone, realized they owned the trademark, and jumped first. Apple couldn't allow Cisco the strength of having an iPhone product on the market for 7 months before they annouced their own iPhone.

What is Cisco? It has its own iPhone? I'm so confused! Can someone explain this to me?

 

[robhon]

What is Cisco? It has its own iPhone? I'm so confused! Can someone explain this to me?

The short story goes like this:
Cisco actually bought a company some years ago who owned the trademark for "iPhone." Several other companies have launched minor products in the meantime with the same name but they (Cisco) never did anything about it. But once Cisco got wind of the fact that Apple was working on an iPhone AND they came to the realization they owned the trademark, they quickly rebranded a VoIP phone they were launching as their new "iPhone." That was about a month before Steve Jobs keynote. Apparently Apple and Cisco were in private talks about the use of the name when the launch of Apple's iPhone came up. Apple went ahead and launched with the iPhone name. Cisco filed suit against them for trademark infringement the following day. About a month later they came to "an agreement" on the use of the mark. No one outside of Apple and Cisco officially knows what's in the agreement, but Apple gets to use the name. And Cisco gets to say that they came to an agreement.

Whew!

 

[jpmihalk]

What is Cisco? It has its own iPhone? I'm so confused! Can someone explain this to me?

Cisco is a large networking company that is known for providing many of the routers and switches that enable the internet, and they also provide wireless network equipment for businesss and home users.

 

[ebrunn]

I mean, is this gonna happen every time Apple is gonna make a new version? Announce it, then wait 5 months before they sell it?

 

[thepepes]

The short story goes like this:
Cisco actually bought a company some years ago who owned the trademark for "iPhone." Several other companies have launched minor products in the meantime with the same name but they (Cisco) never did anything about it. But once Cisco got wind of the fact that Apple was working on an iPhone AND they came to the realization they owned the trademark, they quickly rebranded a VoIP phone they were launching as their new "iPhone." That was about a month before Steve Jobs keynote. Apparently Apple and Cisco were in private talks about the use of the name when the launch of Apple's iPhone came up. Apple went ahead and launched with the iPhone name. Cisco filed suit against them for trademark infringement the following day. About a month later they came to "an agreement" on the use of the mark. No one outside of Apple and Cisco officially knows what's in the agreement, but Apple gets to use the name. And Cisco gets to say that they came to an agreement.

Whew!

Ooooh thanks so much! I feel like such a iphone-knowledge novice compared to you guys So what is this "other" iPhone released by Cisco?

 

[zed wheeler]

Buzz

They had to announce early. Free publicity. Preempt Cisco. Create buzz for ATT.