NEWS
The long awaited Apple iPhone can't be classified as a smart phone, according to analysts, as it isn't as open as rival devices created by the likes of Microsoft.
According to two analysts at ABI Research, the iPhone can't be called a smart phone, despite running a stripped down version of the Mac operating system, because it doesn't use an open OS.
While the definition of what constitutes a smart phone is still up for debate, most pundits agree that a smart device must have an open operating system that can support third-party applications.
Apple's iPhone does not have an open OS, however, as all third-party apps must be vetted by the Cupertino company before being let loose on the phone - a move necessary to protect the network using the phone and the device itself, according to Apple boss Steve Jobs.
An operator-controlled environment, such as the one used by Apple for the iPhone, is typical of a high-end feature phone. Such phones don't benefit from the same "cutting-edge, rich applications" associated with smart phones, the analysts noted, adding that feature phone apps are often "weak and limited".
While the analysts therefore said the iPhone cannot be called a smart device, it "is nifty in design and has some high end capabilities", they concluded.
Comments
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1. anonymous
Pretty transparent Fear Uncertainty Doubt. They need a better person writing copy.
"Not a smartphone" my TUSH!
People want beautiful phones that WORK. Whether it runs some third party implementation of Freecell is a secondary consideration. Moreover, any comparison to MSFT seems ludicrous in that that company has been convicted in a number of countries, including the US, of monopolist behavior.
2. Robin
This is BS. I think in this case, iPhone will define a different word for itself "Smarter Phone", just because proponents of "Smart Phones" are a buch of D-heads.
:)
3. joe belkin
Wikipedia: A smartphone is any electronic handheld device that integrates the functionality of a mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) or other information appliance.
Or will you rely on a company who came up with the research 60% of ipod users will buy an ipod ...
4. Gary Morgan
By the time Apple finishes redefining what a smart phone should be, those experts will want to crawl into a hole and cover it up. If history is any teacher, Apple has shown time and time again that they are quite capable of taking quantum leaps in areas of technology where "those who are in the know" think it is unlikely that they will ever succeed. Apple just knows how to make things easy to use. Besides, the definition of smart phone needs redefining. The current definition is a narrow as the imaginations of those experts you are referring to. Apple will help them come up with a new definition that they themselves will quickly adopt as their own. Watch and see it come to pass.
5. Bruce Campbell
My, my my...
DO the people who come up with these "story ideas" work for cookies baked in Redmond? Not an open OS? WTF? And Windows is? Do the people who write this stuff actually USE the stuff they're slamming, or do they just repeat what others tell them? What's that? Murdoch got your tongue?
6. anonymous
"cutting-edge, rich applications"
is spin-speak for
"experimental".
This copy is worthy of Brunswick during the Millennium Dome fiasco.