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Antidote To Apple's iPhone?

A couple of thoughts on Apple's introduction of its 3G iPhone, about which it's now becoming clear that the reality can never live up to the advance hype. First off -- I admit it -- I want one, even though there's nary a scratch on my "old" EDGE iPhone. Second, one is likely to get a much better deal -- like, cheaper service for near-equivalent functionality -- by waiting until next year for a Google phone.

OK, let's take these memes separately. On the gadget front, it's clear that most of our purchases nowadays are driven less by the need to acquire significant new functionality than by our aching desires to have the latest and greatest. Call it gadget bling.

For example, my other says that I own every electronics gizmo known to man. However, she's including in her tally my Palm III, Teac cassette deck, and Dual turntable. Personally, I don't think anything acquired before 2006 should count.

Which leads to my whole adult-versus-child thing about the new iPhone. Aside from the ability to access the faster 3G network, I'm betting the most of the new iPhone's tricks will be replicable in the 2.0 software update, which I'll be able to download to my current EDGE iPhone. (I can't believe that Saint Steve would want to p*** off his early adopters the way he did when he abruptly cut the price of the iPhone less than three months after its June 2007 introduction.) So unless there's more in the way of newness than just the 3G -- like, a battery which holds a charge for more than a day -- the mature thing is to wait. For the Google Phone.

Speaking of which, how come Google hasn't taken any hits for shamelessly copying Apple? If you look at the videos which have leaked so far, it's clear that the GPhone "Large" (there's also a small-screen prototype) is pretty much an iPhone with the music "pod" removed and full-blown GPS added.

Where's the innovation in this? Answer: There is none. What Google is selling is not innovation. What it's doing is precisely what it has done ever since it stole the search high ground from AltaVista. It is smartly creating a system to bring the de facto new smartphone standard (aka the iPhone) to the masses. It's doing it via Android, a componentized software infrastructure, which will allow every handset maker from HTC to LG to roll out GPhones of all stripes, from throwaway to high end.

Wanna bet that you'll be able to get a deal that's better than the $300 for the phone, $120 a month for the service, which you're currently paying to AT&T Wireless for Apple's iPhone? (The one win that the iPhone will always have is its integrated iPod; in this sense, the iPhone is the first truly converged device. However, I gotta tell you, that's one heavy music player; I much prefer the click-wheel models you can squeeze into your pocket.)

That's where Google is coming from and why it'll win, or, more precisely, why the GPhone is likely to become far more pervasive than the iPhone. In this sense, I'm pretty much making an argument analogous to what happened with the Macintosh back in 1984.

That box was so innovative it appeared poised for ubiquity, but the very quality which enables Steve Jobs to create products which are so far ahead of everyone else also somehow stops him from crossing that final bridge from cool to commodity. Maybe it's because he's smarter than everyone else, and yet he isn't (both at the same time; very Zen).

So here's my final gripe: Whether you're talking iPhone or Gphone, there'll still be one nagging problem: You'll still have to jump through hoops to access your Hotmail (excuse me, that's Windows Live Microsoft Live Mail, or whatever it's called now). On the iPhone, while there's one-click set-up for Yahoo Mail, and Gmail, you've gotta futz around with a forwarder like Izzymail to get access to your Hotmail account. Given the love lost between Microsoft and Google (or lack thereof), I'm not holding my breath for a better state of affairs with the GPhone.

What's your take: are you buying a 3G iPhone or waiting for Google? Let me know, by leaving a comment below or e-mailing me directly at alex@alexwolfe.net.

To read more of my Jobsian gripes, see Will Apple's 3G iPhone Still Fall Short?.

To see a video of the GPhone prototypes, go to Google Shows First Android GPhone Prototype.

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