The Emperor's new clothes syndrome - Old technology in the Apple iPhone

The Apple iphone was launched yesterday to a cavalcade of press publicity and the usual Apple junkies queueing all night in order to be the first to get one, but aside from a touch screen, what does the apple I phone offer that is new ?


I have had an MP3 player on my mobile phone for about three years now, so I am at a loss as to why Apple think they are the first people who have eliminated the need to carry both. As far as I can tell Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones have been around for years.


Then there is the iPhone's camera. 2 Mega Pixels is old technology. Apple putting in a camera from a phone that you could have picked up two years ago hardly set the pulse racing. Oh, and it has no flash either. With 7 mega pixel phone cameras expected in the new year, and 5 mega pixel camera phones being the norm now, Apple's technology is very dated.


What about the web browser. Apple have a funky browser that you can tilt and view from different angles. This is great, apart from ther fact that the phone relies on 2G technology. This means it's downloads are torturously slow, so unless you are in range of a wireless hotspot (and not just any hotspot, it must be from a specific company), your downloads will take an eternity. 2G technology is the technology introduced in 1995, so it says much for Apple that their "new" hardware makes use of a system 12 years old.


But the iphone has a touch screen ! Yes, that sound great, of course, that is as long as it does not have the fault that the American iPhones had where the portion of the screen you had to press to answer a call goes dead, meaning your phone rings but you cannot answer it. Of course if you want a touch screen that works and won't break, but a Nintendo DS, which can also do web browsing from any Wireless hotspot.


And finally, Apple tie you in to paying a higher rate with O2 for your phone, try to stop you going to a different network by blocking your phone and also charge you £269 for a phone that is essentially out of date already by some years.


So what has the iPhone got that attracts people to it in massive numbers ? See below.

So expect the new Apple product next year to be prefixed with the letter "i" and have an Apple badge on it which will ensure it sells in massive numbers. Yes, I can reveal the next product from Apple is the Apple iDog Turd.