Asking Questions on Apple's iPhone

2. Why not target the corporate market? Apple's iPhone is aimed squarely at the consumer market, not the corporate market. Also, it remains unclear whether Apple's brand interface is much more innovative than several products that are already on the market, such as the Nokia n95 which is 3G, and it has GPS and a keyboard (making it easier to serve the primary purpose of a phone, i.e., making phone calls).

3. Closed systems can be confining. Sunday's New York Times carries an interesting story that questions the value of Apple's "crippleware" -- the consumer is locked into Apple's content and peripheral pricing in all of its products including the iPhone. It hasn't yet hurt Apple, but it could in the future. For example, movie studios are trying to find ways to make sure that Apple is not the key distribution factor in the delivery of video content.

4. The slow Cingular Edge network is like the slow boat to China. During last week's presentation, Apple made no mention of data speed on the iPhone. The first users of the iPhone will not likely be traveling in the fast broadlane, as the Cingular Wireless' Edge data network all too often drops to dial-up speeds.

According to Information Week, "Cingular's Edge network provides nationwide coverage at average data speeds between 75 Kbps and 135 Kbps. By comparison, the CDMA EV-DO Rev A network being rolled out by Sprint has speeds of 450 Kbps to 800 Kps. (While the iPhone reportedly switches automatically between Edge and Wi-Fi, a hotspot must be found to use the high-speed capability.)