But am I?

I wrote earlier about some misgivings I had regarding Apple’s (at that time rumored) move into the cell phone market. The post was melodramatically titled, “iPhone - The Beginning of the End for Apple.” Apple ignored me and introduced the iPhone on Tuesday at Macworld San Francisco - it certainly is an impressive device. Steve Jobs did some of his best work Tuesday in selling the iPhone but there are a few things I have reservations about still.

Such as, who is the iPhone for? Not for kids. Or rather, not for kids who aren’t spoiled rotten by parents desperate for love from their ungrateful hellspawn. Starting at $499, the iPhone has the features and the price to compete directly against the premier “smart” phone companies and products. We’re talking Blackberry, Treo, Blackjack, etc. These guys have years in the market and have very competitive products - we can expect that they will compete very vigorously with Apple, not just roll over and take their beating.

NBEHTM addresses some of my concerns by asserting that the introduction of the iPhone is not a ploy by Jobs to take on the cell phone market but rather a ploy to increase the penetration of Apple computer hardware into the enterprise. This makes some sense given that business is where most of the Blackberries are going, and given that Apple’s presence in the business community is pretty weak. An iPhone could extend the so-called “iPod aura/halo” into the boardroom. My one complaint with this idea is that Apple hasn’t shown a 6G iPod as yet, so either they’ve got another product up their sleeves or they’re going to be trying to direct customers toward an expensive phone/media player hybrid. Jobs wants a 1% piece of the phone market, and he’ll likely get it, but how will that affect the sales of devices that can be truly called iPods if a upper-middle class iPod option isn’t on the market? And will the iPhone fit with corporate purchasing plans? And do executives really want to learn something new, or would they rather stick with what they know?

Whatever the corporate response to the iPhone, Apple isn’t dense about its media players and has a version of the full-screen iPod, which will look remarkably like the iPhone, ready to go.

Anecdotally, I showed the iPhone to Mrs. Interested (http://www.apple.com/iphone/phone). She went from “$499 is a lot of money for a phone” to “$499 isn’t that much money for a phone” really quickly. Time will tell what happens to Apple and the iPhone - I’m looking forward to seeing the situation unfold.