Today is the day that our digital overlords announce the new Apple phone. They do like to keep us in suspenders, those Apple guys.
Here's the deal: despite the best efforts of mobile phone manufacturers, there still isn't the killer mobile phone. There isn't an iPod of the mobile world.
Before I go any further, I should confess that I'm more than a bit of a Mac-head. It is, at least, mildly annoying that my phone and my camera aren't made by Apple too, as they are half of my preferred digital media set-up along with my iPod and PowerBook. It's about how they look, both in terms of hardware and software, and their reliability. And that's exactly why I, and hundreds of thousands of other people, would buy a mobile phone made by Apple.
So it's the annual Macworld conference in San Francisco this week, where Apple usually goes all showbiz and reveals some snazzy new product. Apple is notoriously secretive about new products, despite the obsessive speculation by various Mac watchers, and likes to announce brand new products with a big band and dancing girls and all sorts. Well, almost.
Bobbie Johnson is right there in San Fran and might actually be able to see Steve Jobs' halo from the back of the auditorium when he kicks off Macworld tonight with his keynote speech. But until we hear it from the mount, here's some key pieces:
- Microsoft, unsurprisingly, predicts an integrated phone and music player will cause some major hurdles for Apple: a senior source decided against combining mobile services with its Zune product. But that could just mean Microsoft is really worried. From Reuters.
- Almost from the horse's mouth, former Apple sales head David Sobotta explains in the Guardian why a phone is more likely than a tablet computer, which could be the other revelation today. He said Jobs rejected a tablet, saying it wasn't a big enough market and would have wireless security issues. Also, tellingly, Jobs said Apple was more interested in defining markets than trying to catch other companies that were busy trying to create a market for questionable products.
- New York Times yesterday carried a piece predicting that the new device would reflect Apple's new mobile strategy, making a mobile phone more like a handheld computer that can combine music, entertainment and communication.
- Wall Street Journal: As part of the announcement today, Apple will reveal a deal with US mobile operator Cingular. That will give Apple access to a company that moves market of one billion handsets every year.
- Rumour recap at Think Secret. This is like Christmas for them, all over again. If you're really obsessive you'll want to trawl the comments to find things like: "I saw the Apple phone two months ago. Let me just say one word: incredible".
In anticipation of Apple's mobile phone announcement, Telephia released research showing that one in ten mobile phone users in the US have a phone with integrated music player. That's 23.5m people. But very few of those buy music through their phone - most sideload the music from their computer. Only 8.5% of people with these phones paid for music through an over-the-air, or OTA, downloads.
Needless to say, Telephia predicts than an Apple product could revolutionise this market, doing for mobile music downloads what it did for web music downloads.
"If we see the widely anticipated product launch announcement from Apple this week it could greatly accelerate adoption of music phones and OTA purchasing," said Kevin Burden, Senior Manager--Mobile Devices, Telephia.
"By building on its loyal iPod user base and ability to deliver a seamless music purchasing experience, Apple could make a huge impact on the market for music phones."
• Apple phone previews?
Photoshoppers the world over have been merrily mock-upping away for years trying to predict what an Apple phone would look like. Here's a few good ones. It does whet the appetite a little.
How would you like your iPhone? With a Nokia-esque pop-out keypad in brushed aluminum on 21talks.net, touch screen Nano-sized on Blogo.it, or maybe a bright colour clam-shell number from evenmobile.com? Or maybe just ridiculously complicated with buttons only a Borrower could use, on Three Minds. Probably not a goer, that one.
• Website in lost sidebar shocker
Poynter picks up on the new web design for Norwegian paper Dagbladet which has scrapped the ubiquitous sidebar in favour of a strip menu at the top of the page. That has reduced the number of menu choices from 160 to 20, but rather than links to sections the new design leaves more space to promote readers' choices and - shock - user content. It does feel strangely naked without the sidebar at first, but less is generally more.
• comedycentral expands video, and South Park goes mobile
A flurry of New Year activity from comedycentral.com, the website of the US comedy-only TV channel. It's worth checking out the site anyway if you're a fan of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report (there is life beyond YouTube, evidently) but the latest offering is a another batch of exclusive broadband TV shows.
I should point out that this is American comedy of course, but there are 25 web-only shows now including "A crash course in comedy" - a comedy tutorial for viewers which could be interesting. And there's a cartoon called "Shadow rock" created by Max Cannon of Onion fame.
A South Park application for mobiles was also announced, which includes an episode guide for all 10 seasons of the show, weekly video content including interviews and behind-the-scenes news. Users can also create their own South Park-style avatar and use the tool to access the South Park community site so they can contribute to message boards and blogs. Only for US subscribers though.
• Heavy gets funding
US broadband video site Heavy.com has scored $20m from venture capital firm Polaris. paidContent reports that Heavy's revenues grew by 350% in 2006 and the new investment will be used for international expansion and new services.
• MySpace France launches
It's been in beta since August last year and now MySpace France has launched officially with a "secret" gig by Archive. I'm afraid I haven't heard of them. Archive, that is, not MySpace.
