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Zach Bass (a.k.a Ernie Varitimos) is Chief Bloviator of Investor in the Wilderness. He has 30 years experience as a Tech Maven, Investor and Consultant. Zach has been using Macs since their introduction in 1984, and investing in the markets just as long. His mission is to help guide all level of investors through the Apple Ecosphere and make sense of the markets. Zach's take on Apple, the markets, and life pursuits, will keep your mind tuned.

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What 3G iPhone Feature Set will Satisfy Apple Investors?

June 8th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under
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Since everyone believes/knows we’re getting the 3G iPhone at the WWDC, will that be enough to satisfy the masses? I mean, if the new 3G iPhone is basically the iPhone we have now, but faster, do you think that will be enough to satisfy investors?

Or is there a minimal feature set that is needed to prevent a negative impression, inconsequential value, or lacking in platform vision? For example, how will stocks react, with or without:

  • Global Positioning System (GPS)
  • Voice activation
  • Improved higher resolution camera/software
  • Video and AV iChat, native instant messaging
  • Wireless Syncing or system updates
  • Haptic interface
  • Unlocked version
  • Enterprise class security
  • Enterprise management
  • Peer-to-peer wireless
  • Firmware upgradable to 4G
  • Subsidized service contract 
  • 32 GB, expandable to whatever
  • Thinner profile
  • Multiple Colors to choose from
  • Longer lasting battery
  • Removable battery
  • User developed apps, sans App Store
  • Java Virtual Machine 
  • Flash Capable
  • Copy and Paste
  • World-wide roaming
  • Enterprise quality contact manager
  • Hard disk mode
  • Wide mode keyboard for email

Did I forget anything?

What combination of features will keep investors from being disappointed right out of the gate? A better question should be, what set of features will ensure that Apple maintains its one year lead over other smart phone vendors? 

I think the minimum set would include GPS, App Store, AV iChat, Haptic Interface, and Peer-to-Peer networking for mobile social networking, and enterprise features. But far more important, in my opinion, is the SDK and what third party vendors will bring to the iPhone.

 

More on this topic (What's this?)
The End of Steve Jobs ™ (The Curious Investor, 12/18/08)
iPhone = Tickle Me Elmo? (The Curious Investor, 7/13/08)
AT&T Sells Too Many iPhones (Telecom Ramblings, 10/22/08)
Apple’s 3G iPhone Will Be Even More Successful (The Razor's Edge, 7/9/08)
Read more on IPhone, Apple at Wikinvest

Viewing 5 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    You do like to put out worthless posts, don't you? Does it matter what the reaction is for a day or two? How about the fact that the iPhone will be sold in 70 countries over the next year? Or, that the growth in Mac sales is phenomenal?
    • ^
    • v
    Jack, I admit that the post might have more legs if it were published a few days ago. But there will undoubtedly be an impulse reaction based on the feature set announced.

    Remember, the event will have no live video feed. Apple will publish the event in its entirety as a QuickTime stream after the keynote is over. The only communication to the outside world will be attendants, such as media members, bloggers and people with Twitter accounts, that are in the hall watching Steve live.

    There will be a number of web sites that will provide near real-time feeds from these attendants. One such site is MacRumors (http://www.macrumorslive.com/), which will even support iPhones. Investors, analysts and enthusiasts will be tuned in. I expect AAPL price to fluctuate wildly after each sound bite is transmogrified through this feed and reacted to by investors. There will be no evaluation of the information just pure reaction.

    You mentioned a more important influencer to iPhone's success is the carriers that Apple has signed to distribute the iPhone in more than 70 countries. This is true, but I covered that earlier in the week in the post entitled "Can Apple Double iPhone Sales Goal in 2008?" click here to view it:

    http://www.zacharybass.com/2008/06/can-apple-do...
    • ^
    • v
    Zach an investor is not in my definitionva daytrader so the longs should not worry about features as much as price. If the phone is priced competitively in each market, it will sell well. That includes hardware/contract. Features on most phonesother than the iPhone are never used by most, so new capabilities like video chat are not going to drive a new purchase since the majority of people can't visualize how they would use it. The sdk and enterprise features will do the trick.
    • ^
    • v
    The feature set probably doesn't matter that much, Zack. What happens tomorrow was probably decided last week in the back offices of a few large hedge funds. In January, the decision to short a couple of million shares was made before earnings were announced. As long as there is no great "and one more thing" the die has been cast. There is an absolutely enormous overhead of call options but a substantial number of puts was added on Friday.

    May you live in interesting times.
    • ^
    • v
    Zach:

    I enjoyed reading this and other posts on your blog. It seems we both have similar investing approaches with trading/investing in apple at the core. Bottom line is that Apple is an interesting stock. It's both easy to write about and easy to draw investing lessons from it. I tend to write about Apple on my blog more than an other stock and it seems I found a similar blog!

    Keep up the great work.
 

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