Ok we’re talking a little at cross-purposes. When I say what the market *wants* I mean the combination of features and pricing they are actually prepared to pay for.

Nokia is sliding (because they are rubbish) and Android is picking up the slack. Why? Because Apple’s high end phones are always priced out of the mainstream, and Android phones are offering similar, and in some cases better, features for less money.

Most of the mainstream car purchasing market would *want* a Ferrari or some similar supercar, but end up with something cheaper.

Why would I pay for an iPhone 3GS here in the UK, when I can have an HTC desire for free on a cheaper contract?

I could not disagree more. The only real differences between the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G was the addition of GPS and the 3G chip. Aside from that, the changes were cosmetic and/or troubleshooting, e.g., switching the back from brushed metal to plastic and providing better speakers.

With the iPhone 4, you are getting a redesigned product, with new looks, new high-def screen, additional camera, gyroscope, A4 chipset, camera system, redesigned antenna, and, similar to the iPhone 3G release, a new OS.

Second, “your assertion that Apple is providing what the mainstream want is rather contradicted by the smart phone OS market share, which is entirely dominated by Symbian.” I don’t even know where to begin there, what you say is true but I guess it depends on what your definition of a smart phone is – it never hurts to have the OS in the Smartphone-Giveaway category. That being said, take a look at the 5 year chart for Nokia (NOK)….the mighty have fallen from 40 to 9.16. Also, look at different OSs in terms of web-traffic, Symbian does not have much of a pulse, it is all Android and iOS.

Besides, let’s just say you are right and Symbian truly reflects what the mainstream wants. Why the heck is the Nokia N8 such an iPhone wanna be? Tell me, if Apple never steps into the smartphone realm, does the N8 or Symbian 3 (or Symbian 4) even exist?

The fact remains that there are a lot of great smart phones out there, and that is a good thing. But you have to give Jobs his credit; he revolutionized the smartphone market with the software/user first mentality and the touch-screen interface.

http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/06/09/sprint.says.evo.4g.sales.tied.with.instinct.pre/

I’d totally buy an EVO if it had better battery life. As it is, I’ll get the iPhone 4.

Jay, you can call people morons all you like, it doesn’t change the fact that the Evo is a great phone and a genuine competitor to the iPhone 4.

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2264311/htc-4g-evo-sales-smash-previous

It’s selling very well, albeit without queues, with a fraction of the marketing budget we see for Apple devices. Don’t forget that a great deal of the price of an iPhone is the all pervasive marketing specifically engineered to generate the exact kind of hype you are talking about. However that’s all it is, hype. I don’t see people queueing for Nokia phones either, but they outsell Apple 10 to 1.

“The sad thing is all those Android-fanboys, like Tim and Bob, will not return to say they were wrong when iPhone 4 proves to be a bigger hit than they think.”

First of all, I’m not an Android fanboy, I’m actually a fan of both systems. I don’t think one is streets ahead of the other as fanboys on either side will tell you.

For starters, I think the iPhone 4 will be a hit. However your assertion that Apple is providing what the mainstream want is rather contradicted by the smartphone OS market share, which is entirely dominated by Symbian, with iPhone OS rapidly losing ground to Android.

The mainstream market don’t want to pay $300+ for a phone on top of a hefty contract, however stylish it might look.

Video calling is not a mainstream service that will take off, not just my view, the view of Gartner analyst Carolina Milanese.

I said it’s playing catchup. It is.

It has a nice screen, to catchup (and clearly surpass) HTC.

It allows limited multitaksing, to attempt to close the gap with HTC

It has an improved processor, allowing multitasking, to close the gap with HTC

It has a new camera, to close the gap with loads of smartphones.

All that said, it’s a fantastic phone, looks fantastic, and I’d be a very proud owner. It’s just not anywhere near the step forward that the iPhone 3G was, and in my opinion is not the paradigm-smashing competition-destroyer some hype merchants would have us think.

Apple’s brilliance is in building a platform with depth and to its own strengths; strengths that align with what the mainstream market wants instead of what the geek, early-adopter market wants. Apple doesn’t focus on the things where it is behind or where it is catching up Apple just changes the conversation. Look at iMovie; Google would’ve instead allowed you to upload unedited videos to the cloud.

Also, is it the FT service that is available to developers or simply access to the front facing camera? So could developers make video conference work over 3G?

thnx,
tim

Seems to me most commentators have not understood just how far ahead yesterdays announcements take Apple’s mobile products…

Wake Up. If you bothered to venture out of the walled garden once in a while you might realise that Apple is playing catchup with this phone. They’ve done a great job, but there are real competitors. HTC Evo for example, which is already on sale.

Thorough overview, but the sycophantic (and dubious) market insight is oh so predictable.

PS: I am nowhere near being an Apple fanboy, I’ve got all sorts of devices and PCs and I think Win 7 is a great OS. But the writing is on the wall, or on the 300 dpi haptic device, so to speak.