The iPhone has been generating so much hype over the past few months. Six months before its release, it was announced along with its features. Now this led to some people criticizing this move as a bit rash. They have also been questioning the features, or lack thereof of the iPhone. In the Sys-Security Group, an article stated certain problems that would be inherent to the phone.

"The lack of voice dialing, 3G Internet access, Word or Excel support, the fact it canÂ?t be used as a laptop modem, no support for removable memory, no 3rd party applications, and mostly that its calendar, task, and e-mail will not sync with Microsoft outlook."

Lack of Voice Dialing. Some have questioned the lack of voice dialling in the new iPhone.  Voice Dialing adds a great deal of simplicity to frequently called numbers. To use it, just simply say the name of the person you want to call and the phone will dial it automatically for you.

Lack of 3G Internet Access. 3G, or third generation technology, is often associated with the ability to transfer voice data and non-voice data simultaneously. 3G service allows telephone calls with streaming video (video telephony) and the ability to download files such as music.

No Word or Excel support. This basically means you will not be able to open files with the extensions .doc (Microsoft Word Documents or .xls (Microsoft Excel).

iPhone cannot be used as a laptop modem. Certain smartphones allow you to use it as a modem to connect to the internet. This is an additional service that the user will have to pay for. The advantage though is that the user will never have to look for a hotspot, since you will be able to connect to the internet.

No support for removable memory. Smartphones often have memory slots where memory cards or memory sticks can be inserted to further increase the storage of the phone.

No 3rd party applications. This means that the phone will not support software developed by other companies to increase the functions of the phone.

Calendar, task, and e-mail will not sync with Microsoft outlook. This problem has been addressed by Steve Jobs in his Keynote speech in MacWorld.

If the iPhone comes out, we're sure it will find a niche to fill, although the businessmen and women along with those who have a need for customization might think they're better off with other mobile phones or PDAs that have the mentioned features that the iPhone lacks.

The buzz over Apple's new product - the iPhone - and the recent pullback in the equity markets make investors feel encouraged about buying Apple stocks. But analysts warn: buying the stock now solely on the faith of this new product could come back to haunt investors' portfolio later in the year.

Apple plans to sell as much as 10 million units by the year 2008, a goal considered conservative. Analysts insist, however, that a closer look at the handset market may prove that such a goal may be too lofty even for a consumer electronics powerhouse like Apple.

The iPhone is considered a smart phone due to its high price and multifunction capabilities. Although smart phone sales increased by 42 percent since 2004, smart phone sales represent only 10 percent of the total number of handsets sold last year.

The way that the iPhone is only available through AT&T's Cingular Wireless service is also limiting for iPhone sales. Other factors that may not make the iPhone sell as well as planned are its high price, and the credibility of the competing smart phone makers such as Nokia, Palm and Motorola.

Analysts advice to avoid AppleÂ?s stock until it is certain that the iPhone will sustain a high level of growth.

One of the hottest rumors going around the Intertubes these days is that the Apple TV will be able to play games. The main cannon, or "smoking gun," if you will, used in defense of this theory is MacScoop's claim that an internal iTunes file provides clear evidence that the Apple TV will indeed be capable of playing games.

The iTunes file in question contains the strings that appear in dialog boxes. One string in particular reads, "Are you sure you want to sync games? All existing games on the Apple TV "^1" will be replaced with games from this iTunes library." MacUser, however, contends that this string of code is hardly any evidence.

According to MacUser, anybody who takes a quick look at the file /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localizable.strings will find that the section of strings that applies to the Apple TV is "pretty much identical to the section of strings for the iPod (with, of course, all instances of "iPod" replaced with "Apple TV")."

Hence, MacUser says, the only thing the whole "string theory" proves is that "the developer in charge of updating the strings knows how to use copy/paste and find/replace." Of course, Apple could still bring games to the Apple TV in the future, but as MacUser says, Apple is more likely to announce the feature with much fanfare, not hiding it in a text file.

Even if a "real" survey hinted that the price range for the iPhone is just a tad too much, Morgan Stanley is still unfazed about their iPhone predictions. According to one of their analysts, Kathryn Huberty, the market is underestimating the likely success of the iPhone.

So confident in the iPhone she is that she raised her iPhone sales forecast by 33% to 8 million units from 6 million. Aside from that, she also believes that Apple's ability to leverage strong iPhone demand is being underestimated. According to her:

While we see positive leverage drivers across Apple's product segment, the iPhone alone increases scale (better pricing from suppliers), strengthens retail store leverage (increased velocity on fixed-cost base) and takes advantage of lower NAND [memory] pricing in the market.

Well, they are the experts, they should know more things than us mere mortals.

Although Apple and Cisco temporarily settled their dispute over the name "iPhone", industry analysts warned that this does not mean Apple will suddenly open up its more profitable technologies, in particular, iTunes.

Instead, the more likely scenario is that Cisco and Apple could partner in the near-term or lower profile projects that could include integrating Cisco's Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP technology into Apple's iPhones.

Market researcher IDC senior analyst Danielle Levitas said she doesn't expect Apple to open up iTunes any time soon. Associated Press quotes her saying that Apple partnering with Cisco is more about Apple preparing to tackle the "connected-home" market where digital entertainment is delivered through a variety of devices.

Eventually, Levitas said that Apple would open up, and Cisco would be the first to benefit, but this would not happen in the next 12-18 months.

It must be remembered that earlier this month, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs urged the world's major music companies to abolish DRM that were preventing Apple from selling music that would play on any device. One analyst said that Cisco could use  the iPhone name as a negotiating tool to have Apple open up to the idea of cooperation with other companies.

 

Here's an interesting, and somewhat unorthodox, justification for pirating cooked up by The Ish blog. As the author notes, what happens if the stuff you get for free is flat out BETTER than what you get by paying iTunes?

The above picture reflects the differences that can occur between using iTunes and piracy and, as noted in the article, there's quite a large difference between the two:

As you can see in the above image, by purchasing the episode from iTunes rather than just pirating it, i actually get less of the show. Â?and to be honest, pirating this episode took maybe 2 to 3 minutes more work (emphasis theirs).

Of course, that isn't to say it's full proof. DRM is still an issue, even if Steve Jobs himself is trying to make it a non-issue. Quality will also be an issue depending on how much "ARR!" you put into your piracy activities. Still, there's an important point to be made here: If a service can't live up to the expectations of consumers, and there's a free alternative that's equal to or better than the service given, what good would it do for us to pay?

The internet is filled with interesting reads, and this new statement from Steve Jobs, Apple's head honcho is definitely deserving of some talk. On the agenda for his "Thoughts on Music" piece? Opening up DRM, the future of the music player industry, and... Did we just say opening up DRM?

Well, in a sense. In his article, he discusses the current state of digital rights management and music, noting that Apple doesn't have power over the music it sells:

The rub comes from the music Apple sells on its online iTunes Store. Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the "big four" music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI.

Despite that, music players are big business, which is why he now discusses three possible scenarios for the future of digital music.

The three scenarios? First, there's staying the course and maintaining status quo, where music companies and Apple don't really make that great a profit from the less than 3% of purchased music on all iPods in existence. Second is Jobs' idea to sell their Fairplay DRM, attempting to make it the standard by which all DRM would work. Definitely unlikely, given the nature of business these days. Lastly, and probably the one we all like: the abolition of digital rights management.

You guys should definitely check out Jobs' article and then make your own decision. Which one of the options really piques your interest, eh?

Could Apple be as big as Microsoft five years from now? Well, if 10Layers' analysis is to be believed, then Apple will soon be as big as Microsoft if they consistently churn out hit products. Apple could even surpass the Bill Gates camp (but by 2010 he'll be out of MS), according to the analysis.

So how is this gonna happen? According to the forecast, both companies have been blessed with healthy revenue growth in last five years. The only difference is that Microsoft has grown linearly for this period while Apple is growing at a exponential rate compared to MS' linear path. Confused?

This only means that Apple has been growing much faster than Microsoft, for the past five years. 10Layers explains that "MicrosoftÂ?s revenues have grown approximately 60% from just under $ 30B in 2002 to over $ 44B in 2006. However, while Microsoft has grown linearly for this period, Apple has accelerated with revenues of just under $ 6B in 2002 growing to just under $ 21B in 2006. An impressive 250% revenue growth!"

And since a 250% growth is much bigger than a 60% revenue growth, 10Layers mentioned that if Apple performs this way for the next five years, they would catch MS by 2010 or early 2011. So with that, we could say that there will be a lot financial expectations resting on the sleek shoulders of the iPhone and other future Apple products.

Apple, the leader of providing consumer-designed technology to the industry, might want to rethink their future should co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs decide to step down. The news about Steve Jobs could have been responsible for the recent faked backdated options, which forced a 5.8% percent drop in Apple's stock. Apple director and former U. S. Vice President Al Gore stepped up to clear Steve Jobs of the allegations and brought back a miraculous 4.9% rise in stock.

His creativity, his closeness to the prospects and directions of the company and stockholder confidence in his leadership strengthens Apple's progress. Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Company Inc. in New York, believes that Apple's value might fall as much as a third of its current value if Jobs were to just suddenly leave.

The creativity Jobs possesses is unquestionable, as he has turned himself into a fashionista icon of technology over the past five years with the iPod and further solidifying his position with a new Apple mobile phone (no, not an "iPhone", sorry) that plays movies and music. He is also able to transform a conservative product introductions into high-profile media events, with celebrities such as U2's Bono and Kanye West.

Piper Jaffray's Munster said, "The biggest risk to Apple is not competition or markets or products. It's probably the reality that at some point Steve Jobs is going to leave. That's just the wild card that investors have to deal with."

Apple will then have to make a selection among the jeans-wearing executives who also imitate Job's words "cool," "awesome" and "revolutionary." But in our opinion, because the void that would be left behind would be quite vast to fill, the only way Apple could survive is if the one filling it equals or exceeds Jobs' qualities.

Now where can you find someone like that?

So, how are we today? Still clutching your pitchforks, waiting for the next wave of attacks on your living room, eh? The Battle for the Living Room chronicles is still under full swing. Three set top boxes - Sony's PS3, Microsoft's 360, and Apple's Apple TV (iTV) - are vying for that oh-so comfortable spot in your living room. Digital download services have been around for quite some time now, but with these three new factions on the battle field, how can one survive through the media format wars?

Indeed there are a lot of interesting elements, features, and other factors involved when comparing these three set top boxes (again, we are stressing that we are viewing these as set top boxes with the "gaming console" aspect stripped out). Some might even say that, what with all the tech specs thrown into the equation, choosing your Living Room King can be a task left for the gods.

We here at QJ aren't gods (aaaw, sadness) but we can still enlighten you! When you're in a war, you'd definitely want to be on the winning side. And as of now, there isn't any clear-cut winner just yet. We can just assess the tipping scales as the battle changes every so often. Time to rip open the reports in the case file!

Cry: "Havoc!" And let click the "Full Article" link of war!