Over to Mike…
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Is the iPhone 2.0 Software to Blame for Bad Battery Life?

What most bloggers seemed to have missed in their complaints over the new iPhone 3G’s battery life, is that this is a problem affecting people with first-gen iPhones as well (ever since the 2.0 update). I suspect that the reason why this leitmotif hasn’t picked up in the blogosphere is because most bloggers have already upgraded to 3G.

At first when I downloaded and installed 2.0, I saw an immediate reduction in battery life. I chalked it up to the fact that I was going crazy with apps, downloading and playing with them with abandon the first two days. Then, once I became app-jaded, and the PhoneSaber lost its sheen, I noticed that I still got shit battery life. And no, before you ask, bluetooth and WiFi are both off on my phone (well usually WiFi is off, but the point is my behavior didn’t change after the software update, but my battery life did).

A couple of nights I’ve noticed that I’ll go to bed with just a tick under a full charge and then when I wake up, having had the phone sit unused all night, I find it just a tick over the 20% battery remaining part (that warning would pop up on my way to work). My friend, also a first-gen iPhone owner told me he’s experienced the same thing.

So basically, what I am saying, is that if you are disappointed with your 3G battery life, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe with the release of the 2.1 software, the chaps at Apple will have found their battery sucking bug, and thoroughly squashed it.

Colin Orviss is senior vice president at Patni Telecoms Consulting and deputy chairman of the Telemanagement Forum. Orviss has bucketloads of experience in the telecoms industry — he’s been providing business consultancy to a who’s who of mobile and fixed-line operators, service providers and media and entertainment companies.

A bit of background on his company: Patni Telecoms Consulting (PTC), formerly Logan Orviss International, offers independent consulting and strategic advisory services to the global telecommunications industry. Colin is precisely the kind of chap a lot of companies will be turning to for perspective on the iPhone, so let’s see what he’s got to say — here’s the man himself:

Over to you Colin!

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With the iPhone becoming cheap, or even free, as O2 is claiming to give it away for nothing provided buyers will go onto high-tariff plans, the subject of the iPhone risks becoming boring, even if the product itself (and the potential development of third party applications and services as part of the iPhone ecosystem) are anything but.

When the iPhone first came out, the excitement behind it was squarely focused on the promise of a truly multimedia, all-in-one device which was simple to use. Apple’s very image and brand reputation have been built on this perception. We are now seeing an upsurge in iPhone competition, typically including enterprise applications capabilities targeted at the corporate user – the perceived ‘weak link’ in Apples’ offering alongside the initial connectivity via EDGE.

Unfortunately for the competition, they haven’t cracked it yet. The iPhone still holds the lead in design creativity, usability and brand sexiness, and Apple has now shown an unexpectedly potent adaptability to solving its weaknesses in connection speed, enterprise and third party applications, and – above all – price.

The real question is this: will this new device, plus Apple’s as yet unannounced marketing plans, be enough to allow Apple to build a significant presence in high-growth emerging markets? This must surely be the long-term goal, and Nokia in particular will be scrutinising what Apple does next.

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Excellent — thanks very much for this Colin!

How does someone in the online IT world react to the iPhone 2.0? Enter Arif Hanid. He’s is the 37 year old MD of www.laughingdeals.com, an online voucher codes site where users can search for discounts deals for everything from washing machines to TVs. (Mental note: I need to talk to Arif and see if they’re doing much with mobile vouchers.)

Here’s Arif:

A little bit more on Laughing Deals, by the way: The company was set up in February 2002 and is based in central London. After various roles in online programming and developing information systems for companies such as Clifford Chance and Linklaters and Alliance, Arif decided to set up his own online project which began as Ambleton Computers and has since launched the site to enable online shoppers to search for discounts and use voucher codes online saving them time and money in the process. Nice one Arif!

Ok here we go. I posed a few general questions to Arif, thus:

Arif, the new Apple iPhone has been announced. 3G. GPS. All singing, all dancing. But just how do you react to it?

I have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of the new iPhone for a while now, so on the day of Apples Keynote conference I visited Google a number of times to get the latest updates. When the 2nd generation iPhone was finally revealed alas it wasn’t quite the same jaw dropping sensation as when the first iPhone was revealed back in 2007.

Was it what you were expecting?

Rumours regarding the 2nd generation iPhone have been running amass for a while now and I think everyone was definitely expecting it to have 3G capabilities.

The announcement that it also has GPS is definitely an added bonus and one which will place it fairly amongst its competitors.

The updated OS also helps to position the new iPhone as a serious business handset especially that it’s now able to receive push email from Exchange servers.

I do however can’t stop feeling that there was an expectation in the air for something more – an innovative cutting edge announcement – to match the levels when the first iPhone was revealed.

What are you most impressed with?

The most impressive feature of the new iPhone has to be the OS.

The new 3G and GPS capabilities can be found on many handsets these days, but the iPhone OS is definitely unique and a key to its success!

The OS makes the handset easy to use and has fueled other handset manufacturers to copy the finger friendly mobile experience.

The new OS adds the ability to synchronise with Microsoft Exchange which is definitely a big plus and will help find many new users.

Being someone who spends a lot of their time online you cannot beat the browser experience achieved from the iPhones Safari browser – plus with the addition of 3G the experience is only improved.

Did anything disappoint?

Apart from the 3G and GPS capabilities and the fact there was no cutting edge announcement, the iPhone is pretty much the same as its predecessor. Which is fine as the previous iPhone is well built and works well. I was however surprised to learn that the new iPhone is approximately 6mm thicker than the old one – surprising considering Apple have the MacBook Air which is the thinnest notebook in the world. I’m sure they could have at least kept the same dimension!

How do you think the new pricing will change consumer perception of the device?

The proposed pricing for the new iPhone makes it a very attractive proposition for consumers and businesses.

The 18 month contract tie-in is always an issue with any 18 month contract plan, but with current Apple iPhone users on O2 they have the advantage of upgrading their handset free to the new iPhone by agreeing to a new contract term. I would expect future releases of the iPhone to also allow existing users to upgrade for free which makes it more attractive.

Are you going to be buying one or upgrading?

I will certainly consider buying the iPhone. The previous iPhone lacked a lot of features which affected its ability to be used as a proper business handset.

However the addition of 3G and in particular its integration with Microsoft Exchange make it a very capable business handset.

It’s also reassuring to see that Apple have released an iPhone SDK which should see a lot more applications for the handset in the very near future.

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Arif, thank you very much for taking the time to answer the questions!

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I am blown away by the vision of the platform. People keep harping on about ‘software as service’ and ‘the cloud’. The network operators want to be service providers, Nokia is trying everything to be a service provider. HP has just bought EDS for a large number of billions to be a service’s company. The magic about the Apple iPhone2? I will give you a hint. It’s not about the hardware or the ticket price.

I was sitting following the keynote listening to the well informed tech heads around me complaining that the keynote is the strategic statement for the next 12 months and that Jobs was wasting precious minutes of his 2 hours. He was talking about software deployment, types of applications, easy distribution deals. Where were the toys? One person had the Apple stock traker up to watch the worm heading down. I agreed that it was a keynote, but I don’t think Jobs wasted a minute.

What Jobs was announcing to a developer conference is something that Microsoft hasn’t begun to do with Windows Mobile and Nokia’s Ovi is fumbling in bandname darkness. Jobs has monitorised the developer community so that they win and the mobile user wins. Yes its a toll gate but most people only buy their software through a single shop and a trusted brand anyway. It is a platform that gives the full experience of the open network, with the single proviso that you place a dollar in the hand at the gate going in and going out.

Apple has is making services money at every link in the chain and they have made the idea of paying for everything attractive and exciting: MobileMe, iTunes for professional content, the software store, the hardware. These are just the cash streams I know about – what a strategic vision for the next 12 months! The new hardware toys, when they arrive will line up like ducks in the pond.

They appear to have lost their slice of the monthly network revenue, but I don’t think they care.

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Nice one Julian — thanks!

Over to Ben:

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OK, OK, so I was one of the saddo’s who stayed up glued to my screen reading the reports of the WWDC keynote from Apple. There were the usual shades of some religious cult in evidence in the woopin’ and hollerin’ around Saint Jobs every word, and British Reserve does make my feel a bit uncomfortable about the hype.

To be fair though the chaps from the Valley have a lot to be chuffed about. The regular dissing of the Apple whipping boy Windows was this year truly deserved, with the apparent retreat of Vista from being a viable corporate product, and Windows Mobile failing to make up any real ground, in the PR stakes at least.

And on my side I am also still feeling chuffed over being made MEX Mobile Innovator of the Year a couple of weeks ago for the Blind Phone. It was a real privilege to win against some of my favourite products, including the Opera Mini browser and Taptu. To cap it all, last week the phone design company Tattu agreed to work on developing a prototype, so there is a chance we might be able to actually to take this project to market.

So all in all I was feeling pally with old Jobs. You know, him and me innovating against the world, and all that.

But the quality of the iPhone announcements at the WWDC today made me feel a tad humbled.

I have been grumbling somewhat about the iPhone. A truly wonderful music player and spare time mobile browsing device rather spoiled by a so-so phone and a cringworthy camera. More importantly, a great advertising device that missed the real punch of true location based communications and a decent data speed. Helped, however, by the free access to the internet that their draconian brand allowed.

So what did they do? Well they have a dev platform that allows total integration into the phone, and so the freedom to produce truly useful and accessible applications. They have chipped it to 3G, meaning data speeds equivalent to a sluggish WiFi connection, and also access to 3g tariffs with fixed price access. They have included GPS, which is linked with their mapping software for a proper GPS experience (although whether it is a swish as Nokia Maps remains to be seen).

Just little touches. The application of some polish and some learning to tweak things up. And it has become a walking talking ad magnet. A proper device unfettered by network restrictions.

But is it a revolution in mobile advertising? Or will it surpass mobile advertising and make mobile just another way of delivering TV spots?

Well Safari allows for the real deal in terms of internet access, but in my opinion the screen is still a little too small for 1000 pixel websites, and anyway it misses the point if there is no contextual content to take advantage of the users location. The app developers have made some nice stuff, but only Loopt really took advantage of context with it’s friend finding system – proper location based stuff.

In short, it will be possible for the new iPhone, with increased speed and access to context, to open up fabulous opportunities for some really exciting brand communications. But people really have to understand how mobile opens up the contexts of time and place into media placement and customer engagement before it will sing as an advertising tool.

And it is of course still niche. Too big and complex for most, and missing that crucial one handed use capability I still believe to be be vital for take-up amongst the masses.

But for this narrow demographic we as advertisers have to radically shift our mindset as to how they experience words from our sponsors. We can do truly beautiful things – but will we?

Mindsets, even at Apple, are still clearly limited by an assumption that it will be another internet screen to plonk ads on. But now instead of the just internet for inspiration, people should be turning their eye to the billboard, the event, the point of sale, for that understanding of how good advertising can actually make a situation better. Give help and advice, or provide laughter and warmth. Advertising that reaches out, but doesn’t make the recipient cringe away. That really does bring the product and the happy punter together.

So it is up to us to make this pay. To provide the chance for wonderful things to created, in the name of sponsored largesse. To stretch our little grey cells and deliver on the possibilities. And hopefully this is the vanguard for the phone companies and (more importantly) the networks to give us these freedoms, and let the seething potential of our market be released.

We look forward to giving it a go.

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Thanks Ben!

Previously, you just walked out with your iPhone and self-activated over the phone. The in-store activation will make it rather challenging (or annoying) for you to sell your iPhone (or unlock it and use it on another network).

That is, unless you buy it on PAYG…

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So then…were you surprised by any of that? The 3G, the GPS, AppStore and slightly thinner form factor available in white and black? I must confess I was a little bit – not really by any of the new 3G iPhone features announced earlier, but more by some of the things we didn’t hear from Steve today…

I was genuinely convinced we would also see a smaller, cheaper, feature stripped iPhone nano joining the new 3G device today. I refreshed Gizmodo‘s live blog again and again as we got towards the end of what was a pretty long key note. I was waiting for Steve to drop his famous ‘one more thing‘, but it didn’t happen.

I still do believe we’ll see a nano model before the year is out – possibly as part of the pre-Christmas iPod refresh that Apple seem to do now in the Autumn – the business case for it is just to strong to ignore.

Second big surprise for me was the lack of an upgrade to the camera (2MP) and RAM (8GB or 16GB) found on the current version of the iPhone. James is not wrong with his initial “meh” assessment! The problem for those of us who watch this industry just a little too obsessively with a passion (“Geekmobs?”) is that we follow the rumors closely enough to have known roughly what was coming today. Anything falling short of these expectations is going to be blasted. Expect an awful lot of criticism in the next few days as the Jobsian ‘reality distortion field’ powers down. Nokia, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Sony-Ericsson marketing departments and fanboys will rightly go after these chinks in the armour – and as I said last week all of these now have genuine iPhone competitor devices with bettercameras to point to.

This isn’t going to matter though – the fact that new 3G iPhone costs around 100 pounds (or less for new contracts in the UK) and looks to be similarly priced elsewhere then it’s going to go absolutely supernova! Seriously, it will sell like nothing this industry has seen before.

For all it’s perceived or actual shortcomings the iPhone has always been a desirable piece of phone. If the iPhone has proved anything over the past year, it’s that genuine usability triumphs over feature set. Every person I’ve put my iPhone in the hands of has wanted to get one.

Every.

Single.

Person.

My wife wants one, my father in law wants one, my best mate wants one. The thing that’s stopping all of them so far is the price.

I’m willing to bet that not many people have been put off from buying an iPhone in the past year because of the lack of 3G – the 2MP camera (the current version of which is not bad by the way) will also not have much of a negative impact.

Steve in fact claimed during the key note that “The number one reason people didn’t buy iPhones is because they just can’t afford it (56%)”.

Now that Apple have found another revenue stream they can use to cross-subsidise the price of the device (is it 30% of each sale through the AppStore that will go straight to Apple?) they can finally add price competitiveness to the iPhone offering.

In my opinion this will make it near unstopable – how quickly did the iPhone sell out in the UK when O2 knocked prices down to GBP170?

So it’s still not perfect, may dissapoint hardcore mobile geeks and will get some fair criticism over the next few weeks. Difficult second album is the right analogy, but will it be ‘Second Coming’ or ‘Morning Glory’? We’ll start to get some idea when we see the prices for the rest of the world begin to hit the wires…

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Nice one, Jonathan! (You can read more of Jonathan’s viewpoints here).

Here we go:

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Well, from a hardware standpoint its the iphone that should have existed the first time round, GPS, 3G etc were available a year ago so I’m relieved rather than excited to see them there.

However, I think the new MobileMe suite is amazing. It’ll be the first time I have all my calendars, computers and handhelds synced seamlessly — a joy I’ve been looking forward to for years.

I’m also impressed with the push notification and their use of it for Instant Messaging – smart technology and a clever way to force traffic (and therefore information) through their proprietary systems.

Finally, as a business, we can’t wait to get hold of Apple’s SDK, I believe it will make designing next generation applications a joy and considerably faster.

Perhaps Symbian might take note.

You should always remember though, Mr Jobs wants to sell 10 million handsets whereas Nokia sells 700m a year, so while they are a design leader, commercially you still have to work with the big handset manufacturers and other platforms.

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Thanks Ed!

I suspect that there is massive, massive pent-up demand for the iPhone. One of my biggest frustrations about the iPhone 1.0 was that it was priced for the normob (“normal mobile user”) to aspire to. It was rather frustrating seeing people opt for a lower spec, comparatively rubbish Sony Ericsson instead of the iPhone because of the upfront cost. It was even more frustrating talking to normobs who openly admitted they’d be delighted to upgrade their iPod to an iPhone and swap to o2. Just… the price wasn’t right (“Apple iPhone will only ever be a bit player“).

So it’s ‘right’ now.

Or, ‘righter’. In the UK, you can pick up an 8GB device for zero up-front cost if you take a 45 pounds per month contract (18 months). This is a boon. Or, at least, to me, it looks like a boon.

Our contributor, Mr Operator, reckoned that making the device around 100 pounds (or subsidising it) will result in ‘every chav wanting one’.

Charles Dunstone, CEO, The Carphone Warehouse Plc, said: “The iPhone 3G is a massive step forward for mobile internet. The iPhone continues to lead the pack and now customers will have fast, simple access to true internet on the move. It’s rare for a mobile phone to cause global excitement but iPhone sets the standard for others to follow. I’m delighted that we’ll be offering the new iPhone 3G for free on a contract. We’re expecting a huge demand when it goes on sale across our 800 stores on 11 July and there are some great upgrade offers for those that have previously bought an iPhone on the O2 network.”

An iPhone on Pay As You Go? Without the 18 month contract? Aye. That’s reportedly coming too.

Watch this space. I think it’s about to get interesting. It all depends on how the public here in the UK react to the device. I’m sure there’s demand for the simplicity of it, the status of owning one and the beautiful UI — the pricing model looks right — and if they sell anything like 2 UK operators were predicting last year (“Operators predict 500,000 iPhone sales in 6 months“), well, it’s gonna be fun to watch.

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I think there are remote Amazonian tribes, isolated from western civilization deep in the jungle, who have heard that the 3G iPhone is coming on June 9th.

I’m not sure that speculation is any longer the right term for it; pretty realistic looking predicitons have been circulating the web for months now. 3G HSDPA, GPS, AppStore – I’m sure you’ve heard the list. I remember speculation back before MacWorld 2007, the rumours were flying then to be sure but none that I can remember came close to the final spec or even the look and feel of the device. When Steve Jobs finally whipped the first iPhone out on stage it was to genuine awe. Do you remember that wow factor? Do you remember scouring Flickr and the web that night trying to track down as many ‘real’ pictures of the device as possible? No? Just me then…

I guess the point I’m trying to get to is that it’s getting harder and harder for the 2nd generation iPhone to launch with the same buzz. 3G…’meh!’ Better camera…’and?’ Download applications…’so what else is new?’ It’s going to be harder to impress this time. Added to this competition in the device market is hotting up – Blackberry, Nokia, LG, Google Android each have devices ariving or on the scene already that are real iPhone competitors. And all of these are ready to compete with the presumed future specification of the 2nd generation iPhone, not the current version.

Has the iPhone had it’s moment? Will the event next week be an anticlimax? I don’t think so. I think Apple will use a few of the tricks learnt in building the iPods market dominance to also unveil a real surprise. I’m betting Steve’s famous ‘one more thing’ next week will be the announcement of an iPhone mini / nano / air – a smaller, sexier ‘fashion accessory’ device that will take the iPhone truly towards mass market adoption.

Sceptical? I was explaining my train of thought on this to a friend the other day…

Apple launch the 1st generation iPod. Whilst the specs aren’t that impressive by themselves Apple’s design approach and innovation in bringing these pieces together creates an interesting (if overpriced for what it is) product. The user interface in particular is pretty revolutionary. Early adopting geeks like me buy it, but it doesn’t immediatley take off in every market. Sound familiar? This is where we’ve been for the past year with the iPhone. The mobile industry is alerted, but not quite sure to what extent or how they should compete, and starts to build devices that mimic the specs and functionality.

A couple of years later Apple launch the iPod mini. Specification wise it appears to be a step backwards – it even has a smaller hard drive, but it looks cute and crucially it comes in pink. People like my wife start to buy it. Incremental changes are made to the user interface as the Click Wheel is introduced. It may be inferior technically to most other offerings in the market (including Apples now 2nd and 3rd Generation iPod’s) but the iPod Mini is now cheap enough to become a fashion accessory, mass adoption starts quietly. A repeat of this is what I’m expecting from the key note next week. Lots of players in the mobile industry will misread the move and start to think that Apple has lost the plot, but a cheaper smaller device with a spec that doesn’t push the boundaries could really spark mass market appeal.

Fast forward one more year, and Apple launch the iPod nano. It’s a really bold move – replacing the now best selling mini only one year into its product life and it wrong foots most of the competition who are now scrambling to bring out small hard drive iPod mini competitors (remember the Creative Zen Micro?). The nano introduces significant innovation into the market place (flash memory, dramatically reduced form factor, colour screen). The iPod line as a whole is now well on the way into mass adoption, and has reached a price point sweetspot. Won over by the design, and at a price which is now more reasonable the iPod line starts to cement long term dominance of the market place. This is what I think will happen next year, by which time Apple will have caused a major shift in the handset market place.

It really wouldn’t be difficult for Apple’s engineers to take the hardware feature set of last years 1st Generation iPhone and put it into a smaller, sexier reduced form factor case. For sure the specification of such a device wouldn’t be impressive – but isn’t this the exact same trick played with the iPod Mini, and more recently the MacBook Air?

Only 9 days to go to find out…

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Republished with permission from Jonathan’s personal site.