Get ready for the iPhone nano

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 7:26am — Jonny Evans

True or false, this year or next, whatever - the rumoured iPhone nano story just won't go away, and now it looks like at least one third party developer's working away at products custom-built for such a device.

The Daily Mail this week broke news that Apple plans to introduce a smaller, less well-featured iPhone nano, proposing this would appear in time for Christmas and would be made available to O2's pay-as-you-go customers.

Naturally, a chorus of derision met this report, with Apple watchers rejecting the whole notion of such a plan - 'why would Apple want to cannibalise iPhone 3G sales?', they asked?

Perhaps because with a billion handset per year mobile industry, there's space for many different configurations of device. Just how many different models of Nokia phone exist, for example?

Clearly, in order to fully penetrate the mobile phone market, Apple needs to rush to diversify its available products, before the iPod halo begins to fade, as that particular arm of its business operations begins to slow down.

Widely quoted as dismissing the iPhone nano claims, Lehman Brothers analyst Ben Reitzes explained that while he believes Apple is working on a lower-end iPhone form factor, he didn’t think it would arrive until Spring 2009. Well, what's a few months delay? The results the same; Apple plans to diversify its range.

Does it really make sense for Apple to delay such diversification? There's looming economic doom, a credit crunch, and a wave of competing products (many of which look a little like iPhones in a desperately dull repetition of imitation and flattery) all heading to ship at Christmas.

What's the best way to bite competition? Undercut on price, innovate on features, surprise in execution (and plant a few rumours to keep competitors guessing.)

Latest evidence to emerge now claims accessory maker, Digital Lifestyle Outfitters (DLO), has been working on a nano-styled iPhone dock since 2006...they even have a patent for it...

The iPhone nano is going to happen. The only questions are when it will appear, what it will offer, what shape it will be, and what it will be called. And in any case, we're expecting at least one nano-natured MultiTouch device to appear pretty soon, the iPod nano touch (or touch mini, or whatever the product marketing teams decide to call it).

( Filed Under:

iPhone - iPod

)

Comments

no, its not going to happen

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 5:41am — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

no, its not going to happen actually. Apple make a smartphone, not just a cellphone. Apple have created a new computer platform, a new human interface (multi-touch) - not just a cellphone.
Are you saying that Apple would forget the SDK, the appstore & the multi-touch , just to put out a low profit, basic cellphone with buttons ? er, no....

Yes it is. They will

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 6:06am — Jonny Evans

Yes it is. They will continue to innovate into new form factors, new interfaces and new markets. And they will make a smartphone for the rest of us.

Honestly, much as I'm an Apple fan myself, I can't help but think that some of us never understood why they ever changed the design of the original iMac.

Change is the only constant. Of course it will be extended.

They should. And will.

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 7:15am — Adam (not verified)

And the reason is the App Store. It was created to differentiate the iPhone from the upcoming Nano. That way they won't cannibalise the iPhone sales - there will always be a market. For the rest, not really interested in the Apps, or who cannot afford the iPhone, but who'd love a touch phone, there's the Nano.

Apple will NOT make a smaller

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 7:20am — Phil F (not verified)

Apple will NOT make a smaller form-factor iPhone anytime soon.

Releasing an iPhone with different specs would only serve to confuse consumers, fragment the product line and cloud the success of AppStore and the SDK.

If you know Apple at all, you know they're striving for persistence of vision, and doing a bloody good job at it so far.

iPhone is iPhone.

Let me see, when did i hear

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 7:29am — Jonny Evans

Let me see, when did i hear that before? Oh yes, the iPod - 'apple will not confuse customers with a small version', oh yes, the iPhone, "apple - why would it confuse customers wiht...', oh yes, the launch of the iMac DV, 'apple won't want to,,,"

Ad infinitum. Apple does what it likes, one thing it doesn't do is what you expect. The more the opinion gets flamed, the more I tend to believe it.

Agreed about past behaviour,

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 8:17am — Phil F (not verified)

Agreed about past behaviour, but the iPods were closed systems: The iPhone has limitations for good reason.

So I still reckon it won't happen.

Let us arrange to meet here with pointy sticks when all is confirmed. The winner gets to poke his stick in the loser's eyes.

Nah man, I ain't interested

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 8:23am — Jonny Evans

Nah man, I ain't interested in sticks. I'll take you on over a pint with my Light Sabre app (if it still works by then)...I take your argument on board, but do think this is still on the cards.

:-)

Re: "They should.." Clearly

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 7:26am — Phil F (not verified)

Re: "They should.."

Clearly not a developer, nor marketing savvy.

I'd be first in line for a

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 8:07am — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

I'd be first in line for a smaller form factor with a touch screen. I use my cell phone for four things: talking, voice mail, photos, and texting.

Put those in a sexy touch-screen iPhone Nano and they'd have one sold to me on day one. I don't care if it doesn't access the app store, that's what a full-fledged iPhone is for.

As for the guy claiming that it'll dilute the product line and confuse customers et al...I own an iPod, iPod Nano and an iPod shuffle. One for my car, one for everyday running around and one specifically for running. Hardware is hardly ever one size fits all.

By his thinking there should be only Macintosh in one form factor at one price level for everyone. It's not a Volksentosh ya know.

Volksentosh lol :) No, you're

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 8:21am — Phil F (not verified)

Volksentosh lol :)

No, you're right. Apple fans are idiots who buy everything with a shiny cover. I'm no better.

There are already small form factor mobiles with touchscreens.

Iphone Nano

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 9:24am — William Hightower (not verified)

Yes, it is definitely coming. I have seen the form factor in Taiwan (twice). To me it appears to be much more handy than an iPhone. Does one really need to surf the web on a phone? Yes, power users would. But the rest of us (90%) would not miss the feature. The rest of us are concerned with coolness, price, ease of use, and availability from our carrier.

As I have seen it:

-Smaller flat phone (about 60% of iPhone size)
-Digital keypad like iPhone
-Contacts that scroll
-IPod built in with Video
-Camera

It looked quite handy to carry - like a low end Nokia.

Oh, one other feature I saw: It seemed to stick to the belt clip magnetically - no case needed. Not sure of this is an Apple feature or third party. This is something I would want.

WIlliam

www.Reflecture.com

"the rest of us (90%) would

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 9:44am — Olternaut (not verified)

"the rest of us (90%) would not miss this feature" ???

No dude. While I agree there will be a number who won't miss the web browsing it is certainly not 90 percent. And that number is shrinking daily. The smartphone category is actually increasing in size as we speak. Apple may own 1 percent of the overall cell phone market. But when the smart phone category becomes the majority Apple will suddenly finds itself in charge of the entire cell phone market.

Indeed, iPhone is leading the

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 10:36am — Phil F (not verified)

Indeed, iPhone is leading the growth in mobile browsing.

It's not the function of the thing that's going to be the problem, it's the core systems. The iPhone drinks a lot of juice - and not from the screen. It doesn't support recording video for damn good reason (so you really think a smaller model would? Unless I read that wrong).

The first thing Steve Jobs

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 9:27am — 刑事おど (not verified)

The first thing Steve Jobs did when he first came back to the company was start ridding the product line of somewhat overlapping products. If Apple puts out another model iPhone, I think it will be more of a business geared handset that will be larger and costlier than the present iPhone. I can't see Apple having three devices in it's iPhone product line. That's too much dilution. Besides, I don't want to see Apple becoming like Nokia or Motorola with ten different models that users have to figure out which model to buy.

None of this makes sense

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 9:35am — Jensonb (not verified)

None of this makes sense right now. O2 has yet to deliver on their promise to ship ANY iPhones on Pay/Go, something they promised to do with iPhone 3G the day it was announced. Shipping this hobbled iPhone nano instead would be a huge betrayal and I can't see them managing both this launch and a iPhone 3G Pay/Go launch in a relatively short timeframe.

But quite aside from that, the product as described is worthless and hopelessly redundant. Yes, it will eventually be important to diversify, but not like this. This whole concept completely misses the point of OS X touch. It's a better Newton than Newton, it's a Handheld Multimedia Computer. Crippling aspects of this to ship a cheaper version is absurd, a practice Apple was supposed to have rid themselves of when NeXT took over.