The iPhone’s secret blindspot, revisited

I have an iPod Touch and can do everything that the iPhone can do except talk; I can e-mail, access facebook, the internet, so why a specialized app for networking? keep it simple! wifi is pretty much ubiquitous, n’est pas?

It’s funny to hear that Jobs doesn’t understand the end user.

This must be the funniest thing I’ve heard in my life.

Jobs has kept up with the times and even been ahead of it more so than anyone else for 20 years.

Social networking would not have been a defining feature for a next generation phone in its first release.

If some one needs it that badly – there is always facebook accessible on the iphone through safari.

I don’t think having social networking features would have made any difference in the volume of iPhones sold.

To help answer the question as to whether there should have been social networking software built into the iphone, I would ask everyone a simple question: If the iphone didn’t come with the “telephone” part of it, say it was the “iWi” or “iHatePrivacy” or something, would you buy it? Probably not. But, now that you have the core feature which works really well (the “phone” part), we can let the demand drive the rest. If there is demand for an “iFace” (and I believe there will be) then the market will deliver.

These are all great additions to the iphone, however, I think your greatly under estimating the intelligence of Steve Jobs and his team !

I don’t believe Jobs is as behind the times as this author believes. People refuse to understand what a tremendous undertaking this device represents. I truly believe that Jobs was committed to not heaping too much on the iPhone at once. His first priority was to make sure that it actually worked as advertised and that everyone understood what made it stand out: the UI. Now that this has been accomplished, I believe he would like to have the device taken seriously in the enterprise. This could never occur if business & IT people perceieved it as some sort of social networking toy for teenagers. This will also require the 3rd party assistance which will be facilitated by the SDK. Once these things are established, and after new, lower-price versions have been introduced, then he can afford to look at stuff like social networking.
Can anyone appriciate how difficult it would have been to introduce this device with all the capabilities everyone thinks it should have? It does not appear so.

I’d have to agree with many of the comments. Almost none of those social features are of high value to me. Like most people who have real jobs and a real life, I don’t need to get Facebook updates pushed to my cell phone. That may be great for a certain crowd that hasn’t fully formed in their adulthood, but the day I feel commenting on a YouTube video is in my critical path is the day I commit suicide. I don’t want everyone around me to know where I am or what I am listening to. I don’t want to know where other iPhone users are, nor do I want to message them. Actually, they are mostly an annoying group, myself hopefully excluded.

And suggesting that Steve Jobs doesn’t understand the iPhone consumer? Are you kidding? He CREATED the iPhone consumer. He created the iPhone category. He destroyed every other smartphone on the market. Steve Jobs doesn’t understand you or the losers who need their iPhone to tell them who their friends are, because Steve Jobs has a job, friends, and a life.

While it would be nice if the iPhone had some of the capabilities mentioned here, he forgets that most of America is just starting to use email regularly. I know people who are still using dial-up. Most people in America are not sitting at a computer uploading photos to Flickr and chatting on Facebook. They are talking on phones, watching television, and using the internet to find a new restaurant or look up information on something. Techies (and I consider myself to be one) need to be careful that they are not criticizing everything that is not aimed at techies BECAUSE it is not aimed at techies.

If Michael Arrington disagrees with it, then it must be the right thing to do. Jobs knows where the money is – and is not. It is not in social networking, web 2.0, or any other flash-in-the-pan promoted by the twitterati. In short, Jobs is pissing off the right people.

Does this guy have a girlfriend? Just imagine if people can see where you are on the iPhone it would be a perfect device to have your girlfriend put you on a leash lol oh boy oh boy oh boy.

Of course you can turn it off, then she would be like “why did you not broadcast your where about??” iPhone sales will PLUMMET LOL.

While I definitely agree that the iPhone has some amazing potential as a generic yet powerful portable web-device, I agree that instances the author mentions are a bit comical.

As a 36 year old, I keep in close contact with friends both on my street and across the globe. We very rarely call each other, instead we rely on the following technologies:

iChat/AOL Chat
Blogger
Myspace (VERY tangentially!)
Text Messaging
eVite
Flickr

As a starting point, Apple should look at the uses of these technologies and think about how these can be ported over to the iPhone platform in a synergistic way. (The more likely scenario is that these companies will develop some one off applications.)

Maybe I’m too old school too, and I’m a 28 year old graduate student in chemistry!!! But I don’t want my iPhone to do any of those things Magnusson suggests. This phone is great at making my life more unified, integrating what’s going on at my Mac into the rest of my life, and giving me more flexibility when I’m ‘mobile’. As for commenting on videos, and letting people know when I’m at the coffee shop, if i want them to know, I’ll text them or call them. I guess there are those that want everyone to know where they are and what they’re doing 24/7, and that may be the case for todays undergraduates, but seriously, how long would such a phase of your life last. When you’re married/partnered up, have kids, busy work life. Do you really need anyone to be meeting u for coffee on the fly. Guess what, they wont have time for that. I can see Magnusson’s hypothetical being ideal on an undergrad campus, but beyond that, are people REALLY that social. I highly doubt it. It’s an interesting proposition, but I’d rather have Apple worry about more practical pursuits, while 3rd party developers come up with that great social networking environment for the iPhone.

Funny, I read this ON my iPhone.

Is this guy nuts? I don’t want to be broadcasting my whereabouts to friends, clients and strangers. (Employers? Schools?) I don’t want my calendar items online (”OBGYN appt, 1 pm” or “cub scout meeting 7pm”), I don’t want to waste any of my life gaming. I still think it’s kinda creepy that Google Maps can triangulate your location.

Maybe I don’t “get it” either, but these listed “features” would have been met by me with a disgusted comment about Big Brother and I’d have avoided the iPhone like the iPlague.

Bring on the Flash and Java, but spare me the rest.

A few other things the iPhone can’t do:
Make me a a Grande Skim Sugar-Free Cinnamon Dolce Latte
Separate my white laundry from the red laundry in a user friendly manner
Walk my dog
Shame on Jobs!
Seriously, though, maybe I’m just too old school and prefer to make friends at work, the gym, the dog park and on the occasional common-interest online forum. It’ll be a cold day in Hell when I decide that I want to go on the prowl to meet random people who happen to own the same type of phone I’ve got. It’s also bad enough that people know I’m reachable 100% of the time by either phone or email. I don’t want to be at a bar or out shopping and have people I’d rather not see rushing at me because they happened to notice I was there with a tracking device.

The LAST thing I would want is for other people to know where I am. Social networking and all that is eroding our privacy. Not all iPhone users are shortsighted 20-y/o’s who don’t quite get the potential adverse consequences of publicizing every aspect of their private lives.

I have one word. ZUNE. Interesting that social networking is built into it. Funny…first time out the door.

i’m a 27 year old iphone fanatic, and although i respect Peter’s attempts to dream even bigger with the potential of the iphone…i don’t think he defines “innovation” the same way that Jobs does. here’s a comment i left on his original blog post (realizing the irony in posting a comment while poking fun at people that post comments):

Peter, I think the problem is that you see the world as “on it’s course” and that trying to influence the course is a deplorably bad idea. Steve Jobs is an entrepreneur like you, but unlike you, he’s not wanting to ride every wave of newest trend set by your 8 year old and his/her peers. now some of your ideas in this article are truly great, but some of them just buy into the trend(s) of a 21C world without even asking how legitimate those trends are. you’re right that people are more likely to update a blog or wiki than to phone their friends about something…but that’s not a good thing in my mind. we’re becoming more daft and ineloquent with every chat/blog acronym that we create. and don’t get me started on youtube comments. anyone that posts or reads youtube comments is guaranteed to be spending too much time watching other peoples’ home movies. so in a nutshell, the best new product is not the one that mimics the MOST trends of an evolving culture…rather, it’s the one that integrates the BEST trends. obviously, no single person has the authority within themselves to determine the best trends, but they can take a gander at it with the way engineer their product. THIS is what i think Steve Jobs is so brilliant at…he’s not halting cultural ingenuity and progress – he’s steering it, with his specific vision for a high-tech world.

This site is funny. It’s an Apple site dedicated to irritating Apple users. The only people here are Apple users irritated by the authors attempts to get under their skin and anti Apple people searching Apple sites for a place to irritate Apple users.

What is the point?

Look Phil, you’ve made a friend for life. That guy was such a huge Apple fan that he tunes in here every day for your unbiased Apple info.

He was such an Apple fan that he bought Apple shares early and sold them at precisely $200. Sure I believe that.

Guys! Apple had to start ’somewhere’ with the iPhone. It was a brand new device. For the first generation device they had to develop an OS that was stable and reliable and with core applications that would all work easily, intuitively and effectively. No major bugs, no bombing, hanging, etc. No users getting lost trying to find hidden functions. The device also had to redefine what a smartphone did… and how it did it with all the phone, email, internet functions working smoothly. AND it had to be a killer iPod with all the advanced functionality working properly with a simple, consistent, elegant interface . And then there was that major upgrade of iTunes that ad to happen to support the iPhone. Good lord! What an amazing technical success this device has been so far. And it is software-based so that the cool new enhancements that will be coming along can now be supported by the rock-solid foundation that is in place. Everyone has their own wish lists for iPhone. Mine is for a Skype client and way to find contacts more quickly and easily when there are thousands of names in the Address Book. But I think appreciation for what Apple did to support the wonders that will follow is in order. Imagine 12 months from now!

To Rob of Cincinnati Ohio :
You can email photos on your iPhone to anyone in your Contacts. Open a photo, touch the screen to show icons below the screen and select the left icon, 4 options will appear including “email photo”, when the email box appears touch “to” and a plus sign will apear on the right side. The plus sign opens up your contacts. Touch the contact and then their email address. You’ll be sent automatically back to the “New Message” and touch “send:.

I agree with the bulk of the bloggers below, I’m in my twenties, but I am not into social networking. And, I don’t like the idea of people knowing where I am without me controlling it. I think the Java, flash, and multimedia messaging are much more important features to add, as well as 3G for faster internet.

The iphone blows away the other phones on the market with it’s cool internet functionality and touch screen features.

I personally don’t have one, I use the old school phones that barely do text messaging.

It’s hard to imagine passing judgement on Steve Jobs like this, when there isn’t another product that is better out there today.

You can make the same judgements on the Mac Air (non removable battery, not enough ports).

Bottom line is these products are innovative.

HUGE LMAOs …..!!!

it seems, once again, you’ve hit a nerve with the angry AAPL losers ElmerD.

always have to bash the messenger don’t you iTards..!!

another information filled, unbiased article ElmerD…good job!

i mean, it isn’t your fault these people have lost soooooo much with their bad investment strategy, ‘hope-n-pray’ tactics.

well, they’re praying alright….praying nobody finds out they are fools with money….that have now parted!

i’ve said it a thousand times….YOU SHOULD HAVE SOLD @ $200….!! (you know i did!)

i am still laughing all the way to the bank when i continue to see the stock drop to the level it should be at.

keep up the good work ElmerD and continue to not let the nay-sayers and bad attitude money losers distract you from your mission of providing unbiased information to the masses.

I am a 21 year old college student, and I own an iPhone.

The only thing that appeals to me in this article is the flash support.

Of the several people I know that own iPhones, I don’t feel any of these strange “social networking” features would have any appeal.

We already have Facebook tracking our every move, I don’t need my phone telling everyone what I am doing or where I am.

No matter how close I am to my friends, I certainly wouldn’t want them to know where I am! Sometimes there is nothing more relaxing than sitting by yourself in a coffee shop and reading the paper BY MYSELF. I can call them if I want to have coffee with them! Big Brother is indeed watching! And spare me all of the coupons, etc., that are supposed to be coming our way with this new feature!

Yes. Because young women just LOVE devices that announce their location to the world at large. And such a feature is, of course, a MUST-HAVE on your teenager’s phone.

I think Steve Jobs understands end users a lot more that this wish list does. Perhaps announcing your location, the fact that you own an expensive phone, and what you are currently reading/listening to would be a good idea in Utopia, where no one is about to steal/pervert/otherwise use that information against you, but it doesn’t wash in the Real World.

And tell me what’s to prevent advertisers/spammers from IMMEDIATELY flooding iPhone users with unsolicited shouts as soon as you wandered into their broadcasting range?

These comments are nothing more than a personal “wish list” that does not appeal to the mass public. What makes Mr. Magnusson think that all consumers are into blogging messaging galor? I am in my late 20s and a professional and do agree that the iphone is a great gadget, but I do not blog, nor do I want to have random strangers “shouting” at me. Java and Flash would be nice, but as noted, can always be added with an upgrade. I agree that some additional features wouldv’e made it the “perfect” phone, but to say it shouldv’e been designed with the younger generation in mind is wrong. And if I’m not mistaken, not many teens were able to buy a $650 phone.

Mebbe it’s just I’m an old flatulate, but I really don’t understand the whole ’social networking’ thing, particularly as regards the utility for me getting things done (not used here in the sense of the trademark..)

Thus I think P.E-DeW is right about the priorities for the iPhone as better integrated/more secure device.

Still, there are some interesting ideas in the Magnusson post, that build on what I guess we now call ’social networking’ aspects of The Mac Experience, including community self-help.

Still, I’ll reassert that I do NOT want a smart phone. I want a basic phone and a smart-everything-else device that can talk to the phone. Merge the iPod Touch with a Palm Pilot (including the latter’s support for 3rd-party apps), connect that to my dumb phone with BlueTooth, and up the storage to at least 64gb (to hold a good percentage of my CD collection), and I’ll buy it!

dave

This type of non-objective, baseless, elementary school dribble should be reserved to being published where it belongs;
on the Yahoo message boards
or on sheets of toilet paper

I think Magnusson makes very good points, but he’s simply preaching to the wrong crowd. These additions and updates are things that can be done by any third party application creator, for the most part. If AOL designed a version of their Instant Messenger to locate buddies, it would be a popular idea.

The fact is, the creator of such a program will have to balance convenience with privacy, people want to keep in touch with friends… not just anyone. Hence why there are friend requests on Facebook and buddylists on AOL.

A close example of this concept can be seen on the popular X-Box Live network. The social gaming platform allows users to meet each other, request to be friends, and once accepted by the other user, both gamers may keep in contact, join each others games or even keep tabs on what game each is playing. And like all of these social applications I’ve mentioned, a feature to “hide” or “go invisible” would allow users to gain further privacy by dissabling communications or posting an “away message” until that user turns the feautre off.

I think these features mentioned are more than just a good idea but would increase the social demand for the iPhone significantly, because let’s be honest, who would have actually joined Facebook, Instant Messanger, X-box live, etc. if it wasn’t for the fact that “everyone” had it?

“If he were Jobs???” – Poor Magnusson. Social Networking is an “opt in” feature at best. It would be nice to have somethings private, dont you agree?. Anyhow, it’s rumored that the iPhone SDK pre-release has been provided to at least one Social Network site, which tells me that Apple has considered that too. How much better if new applications were built by the various sites and third parties rather than depend on Apples developers. Keep the faith a little while longer, please.

NSWOK. Let me digest this. The iphone’s secret blindspot is a lack of social networking functionality – is that really your contention? Are you serious?

The question that immediately springs to mind is this: is social networking a basic operating system functionality, or could it really be some developer’s secret opportunity?

I would suggest the latter. The platform maker’s role is to provide the tools (APIs, SDKs etc.) that allow developers, developers, developers to efficiently release the software that they envisage will do the things that they think that users want a piece of software to do for them. The users get to decide if the developers got it right.

Whilst the actual tone of your article is generous toward the iphone – your sub-editors have positioned it as yet another attack on Apple and it’s products. I can only imagine their overlords are trying to drive the stock down to buy it up cheap. That’s innovative.

As for lamentations about missing functionality in the iphone itself, there are a number of other OEMs that may be interested in your valuable insights: I list a few of them below. You will have to google them yourself for contact details, however:

Sony
Dell
Nokia
RIM
Microsoft
Palm
etc.
etc.
etc.

Please email me when you have interviewed these OEMs about their plans for social networking on their devices.

Clearly one purchases a product for the functionality it has, not for what it lacks.
The fact that the iPhone is capable of much more is obvious, but what is on one user’s wishlist might not be on another’s.
These wish lists are the pointless ramblings of journalists scraping at the bottom of their imaginative barrels looking for any tidbit that can allow them to put the word “iPhone” in their headline and generate hits and readership.

I can’t stand Mac fanboys, but I have to agree that the author here is nuts. He’s advocating a spyphone or a spamphone. That chat/shout stuff is purely spamtastic. Sure you can ignore, but spammers don’t care about that. They know that some people won’t figure out how to do that, so they’ll just keep shouting.

And don’t even get me started on privacy…

The premise is idiot. It’s an internet device. It should do the best possible job of plugging into the existing internet social networks… and enable developers and the developers of those networks to add new features based on location.

No matter how much I may love my iphone, I’m going to want to have non iphone users in my network. I don’t want another social network… I want to plug into to those I already use.

In fact this is EXACTLY backwards. The idea of the iphone is to plug into the real internet, not follow the phone companies of trying to build new limited and closed internets.

This is like saying HP should start a social network for only HP laptop users…

The most stupid commentary on the iphone I have ever heard.

Hey you guys! What are you? The “Apple Posse”? What happened to free speech & individual opinion?

Attack the mans view, not the man. If you dont like what he says, dont read it.

Hey DeWitt, this is why Job’s did not build an Apple Social Network function in the iPhone. It would just unite these crazed #$%& and would invite a boatload of litigation on himself!

So the “secret blindspot” of the iPhone is that it lacks a continual stream of spam from anonymous passer-bys, and it doesn’t flag your every move to advertisers. That is quite a blindspot, isn’t it?

Clearly nobody is going to by this “iPhone” gadget until these critical features are included. Why would anyone want a clean, uncluttered easy to use device?? The future of cellphones is spyware and multiplayer games!

So what was that ad I just saw featuring facebook? Not social networking? Oh wait it is. It sure is easy to criticize, and ignore the hard work it took to make a debut phone that was a stellar success. Sure is easy to come up with lists of improvements, but where is this genius’ phone? Meanwhile, the next products coming along from Apple are sure to win overzealous accolades- and ridiculous critiques from jealous folks.. #345 it should make buttered popcorn for you when you watch the seamless HD video.

Man, add GPS and instant messaging to the iPhone and it would be PERFECT!!! Why would anyone want to know where their friends are at all times? More importantly, why would anyone buy an iPhone if they could be tracked at all times? I love my iPhone – by far the BEST phone I’ve ever had – as I write this from my iMac – the BEST desktop I’ve ever had. Get off Apple’s back.

Maybe you should take a closer look at Microsoft – which does so much less with so much more money. Hey, Microsoft bet on HD DVD. How did that turn out? Who bet on Blu Ray? Is that Apple? What? I can’t hear you…

This is the biggest waste of time… Spend not one minute reading what you may have skimmed over!

I find it funny to read the comments. It occurs to me that if they really understood what they bought then they would not be fans of apple at all. Why would you buy something where you cannot even change the battery, because it looks pretty? Most of the technology released on the iPhone is old. touch screen been there, internet, done that, what makes this product better? the curves? You can buy a better phone for less if you just do your research.
I will give Steve Jobs credit. He found the way to get all the suckers to buy his product, make it look sexy. Give them lots of memory and a few features (They can get else where) and charge a lot of money. Suckers!! I hope you read the warrenty, and check out the price if your battery goes bad. not only do you have to show that it was their fault, you will have to pay to have the battery replaced. You can spend 1/2 the price and get a better phone.

Google said it has seen 50 times more search requests coming from Apple iPhones than any other mobile handset. When they first saw the numbers Google management had figures rechecked as they were so astonishing.

So Apple and Steve has to be doing something right with iPhone and the internet.

I’m reading these comments and while I might not agree with some desires by the author, I do wish I could send pictures with my iPhone directly to someone in my contact list – a small part of social networking.

What you all don’t seem to appreciate is that the iPhone has opened up a whole new panorama of possibility that didn’t exist before.

If it were the first time, or even the second, that Apple has done this kind of thing, and been given short shrift for its efforts, I might not be quite so ticked.

COME ON, DUDES! Give Apple the credit they so very richly deserve, for once!

Apple will allow other developers to create the social networking hooks. Perhaps you haven’t seen the iphone ad featuring Facebook?

Couldn’t disagree with author more.

Biggest BS article I’ve read on this site in a while. Get with it..

Actually, I think a mobile phone networking software is a brilliant idea. I mean privacy & security will definitely play a major roll in such software, but hey this problem can be solved. You may ask, why the hell would you want anyone to know where you are and what you are doing at all times? The thing is, thats where design comes in — obviously the user will have the discretion of when & to whom they want to share their experience with! I mean if I just had the greatest time of my life, or I needed encouragement of some sort, I would be able to share this quickly amongst those whom I choose by just updating a status… I mean think about the implications. To think that iPod is targetted to adults, may be correct/incorrect but does it really matter? From what I am seeing, the internet has provided a place where young teens and much older adults are able to communicate and socialise in an efficient manner, while being able to get on with their life… I think times are changing, and social networking facilities are indeed just taking off, and also attracting a broader spectrum of users. I won’t be surprised if google and microsoft move their competition of online social networking to the mobile phones.

How inept can you be? What a &^$% moron, with his *$^% head up his !%$#@ #@*&^!! He will continue to write ^%$# because he is a %$^&* (*$%^!! Ah, that feels better. Like the rest of CNN, they are losing numbers everyday because they all suck at what they do. I think we should flood his Email address to the point it chokes their system, especially with all the Apple lovers that are out there now, we can have lots of fun.

I believe in an ounce of skepticism too, but your constant bashing of Apple and Jobs is served up by the ton. I can only conclude Jobs stole your lunch money in grade school and you’re still trying to get even. You’re obviously biased and pathetically juvenile. So much for balanced reporting.

This is why I bought IPHONEPHILES.COM…..anyone wanna buy it? :)

Some really strong feelings expressed in these comments. I am just a user – don´t know the history of Job’s life.

I found the article good in that I, at 35, also believe the non-relational world is old news. Say what you want but facebook, flickr, etc are way ahead of the curve on people who are interested in sharing, exchanging, etc without the usual distrustful “what can I get out of this function?” angle. These softwares have managed to find the blindspot of IPHONE and balance between fulfilling a professional and personal need.

I have an IPHONE, use it a lot, do not love Jobs but still think that anyone who is creating client based technology that is not relational is waayyy in the world of yesterday.

The secret is so big….even bumbleweed knows about it! Hee hee. What a load of tosh.

You really are a bumbleweed. One pathetic report after the next. You really think that they are going to be distributed to kids by the dozen for a game of internet tag? Bumbleweed you really are a sad case. Go ahead and hang out on street corners picking up on whoever might be available close by. Look forward to seeing you on America’s most wanted. Sure, you are old enough…. to know better! Don’t you know that I am perfectly capable of sending you this message …via Iphone!

what a moron..why would I care where I phone users are and what they are listening to…and why would I want everyone knowing where I am

LMFAO as the stock price has fell almost 50% Feel like a bagholder Rockford?

I suppose the thinking is that since Microsoft did such a great job of building Zune sales on the back of ’social networking’, that the iPhone is doomed to failure simply because of the omission from a v1.0 product?

Nice reporting, slick.

At several-hundred dollars, this phone was never aimed at pre-teens. Wait for the tiny pink version with the Hannah Montana screen saver.

Is this story a joke ? This is a replay of a blog from July. What is the point… How is this anything but an attempt to knock down the stock.

Oh I get it….DeWit has to post at least 3 negative Apple stories a week. The SEC should check this guy’s checking account and look for cash bribes.

you are useless

“Why do the Apple zealots insist on backing Steve Jobs regardless of what he does?”

Because Steve Jobs has earned our respect over the years by making products that we love. People like you and the writer of this site have earned zero respect from Apple “zealots” because we know you you are only writing stuff to bash Apple because of what ever personal reasons you have that have nothing to do with how good a product Apple makes.

“iPhone 2.0 will be better? Who cares. It should have been better to start with.”

LOL. I care and anybody with an iPhone cares. It was Apple’s very first attempt at a cell phone and version 1.0 debuted as the best cell phone ever made IMO and of course they will improve on it as Apple always does and already has.

“PED is right. Steve Jobs has always, and will always design products that only suit the needs he sees as relevant.”

Isn’t that his job?

“Otherwise, start “complaining” about what the iPhone is missing (there are many things) and maybe it will finally be as amazing as you say it is.”

The iPhone isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot better than anything I have ever used before it. I’ll let you and Phil handle the complaining part since you guys are so good at it already.

This guy writes what he writes to intentionally irritate people who are interested in Apple. They are probably the only people who peruse this fact-less read.

Maybe its time for me to become a Journalist. I can hang out a shingle, create a blog, and start referencing other people’s writings. And.. maybe get paid for that. Woo hoo!

That’s what I want my iPhone to do, let everybody know exactly where I am at all times. NOT!

Oh look, there’s another person using an iPhone near me. I think I will bug them even though I don’t know them. What a great idea!

Email, calendar, web browser, those things are so out of date and nobody wants those anymore. Yeah right.

Why do the Apple zealots insist on backing Steve Jobs regardless of what he does?

iPhone 2.0 will be better? Who cares. It should have been better to start with. And stop saying its up to the third party applications to take care of it, because Apple shot that idea out of the water when they waited this long (and still waiting) to let other people touch their precious phone.

PED is right. Steve Jobs has always, and will always design products that only suit the needs he sees as relevant. Only after thousands of articles like this one does Mr. Jobs finally relent and let the customers drive the development.

Stop defending him. Steve Jobs does not need your kudos. If you picked up the iPhone and said “Yes! I was worried this phone was going to flash apps. Thank GOD it doesn’t” then fine, continue to attack anyone who speaks poorly of the iPhone.

Otherwise, start “complaining” about what the iPhone is missing (there are many things) and maybe it will finally be as amazing as you say it is.

Let me guess, certain people at Fortune don’t like Steve Jobs. What did he do, make them feel small because he wasn’t willing to massage their ego? Mr DeWitt seems especially a large part of the “panties in a bunch” group. I’d follow a creator and leader like Jobs 100 times faster than some hack with a keyboard and a grudge.

I am simply astounded that CNN Money would put a link to this daffy article under the Apple stock listing on your homepage, as if it were some important late breaking Apple news. Dredging up an article from July 2007 (who on earth is Peter Magnusson???) on social networking is not financial news. My daughters use Twitter, Myspace, Facebook and text chat with their chums. I am 55 years old and have zero need for these kiddyware sites. In the future I will go to more professional web sources for my daily financial news. Americans have billions of retirement dollars invested in Apple stock. Fortune/CNN can do better than this.

PED and Fortune you should rename your slogan from “Mac news from outside the reality distortion field” to “Mac conjecture that creates the reality distortion field.”

You never use facts. You never write about positive issues. How many times have I read your fluff that says “ipod sales slowing, Macs not selling well, bugs and glitches here and there…..” What is your deal? Do you just throw as much crap at the wall and hope something sticks.

You belong on the Yahoo message boards, NOT a once reputable publication like Fortune.

10 years ago Fortune was a decent rag. By today’s standards, the only interesting articles that come from Fortune is the “World’s richest so and so.” Everything else is just pure nonsense. I cancelled my subscription long ago. As for the blogs, well that is an embarrassing format and it is a shame that Fortune has to stoop into the realm to maintain relevancy.

PED what on earth inspires you to come up with these misguided, misinformed topics for your articles? Those items listed are NOT front and center priority (except maybe calendar sync) and will most certainly be dealt with by 3rd party developers. You should get an iPhone, jailbreak it, and see what applications are available already. There are countless, enthusiastic developers taking this platform beyond what Apple even imagined and adding value to the best product (iPhone) on the market.

The iPhone’s main challenge now is to include the haptic touchscreen feedback that Nokia, Lg and others are including. This was a serious omission that could have been included in the first model. They didn’t have to play catch-up with the others.

Facebook & MySpace fatigue is already starting to kick-in. People are realizing what a tremendous waste of time it is getting pinged everytime your friend opens the fridge to get a beer. Jobs thinks longer term — A trait sorely lacking amongst so many execs these days.

Let third parties add these features for those who want them. For it to form the core of Apple’s iPhone strategy would be a monumental mistake.

Exactly Steve A., what is described here would only appeal to the teens and twenty-somethings. A social-network device? YAWN. I own and use an iPhone, and really none of what is discussed here – save the auto-upload calendar – really appeals to me. I promise don’t need a device to find my friends for me, and I really am not interested in showing up as a ‘little red dot’ on somebody else’s Google Map.

Apple’s smarter than most companies because they don’t try always to fill all the gaps by creating everything , they leave this open to other developers.. they’ve always done this
this is how you create a superior platform by letting thousands of developers create the next killer apps.
Sometimes Apple does it.
Leaving room for people to create add-ons opens the iphone (as the ipod did) to a huge market potential that is the 3rd party accessories, software etc…
Before Jobs, Apple used to make everything leaving nothing to 3rd party developers and we saw no growth.

What a crock !!

What a waste of time. Blindspot? It’s a cellphone with internet capabilities not a facebook robot. Apple has better things to do with their R&D money.

PED, you are so short sighted. All these things you’ve mentioned could be fixed or changed by 3rd party applications.

iPhone 2.0 WILL be a different beast all together.

Maybe Steve Jobs, like myself, was tired of the mobile phone manufacturers and carriers catering to teenagers and 20-somethings. I’m glad that Apple had the guts and vision to create a product that finally worked for the rest of us!