DEADLINE: Before The i0S 4.0 Is Announced; What Palm Should Do.

You can hate it or love it, but you very unfortunately just cannot ignore it. I speak of course, about the iPhone.

Let's rewind a bit to when iPhone Generation 1 was released. Not in recent history has there been a phone that was so captivating and popular. Especially considering the incredible mediocrity of the product. The iPhone was hailed as a revolutionary product that would change the way we would interact with phones, but was in reality maybe a step or two forward at the most when it came to touch input. The only thing that wasn't seen before was pinch-to-zoom. Agreed, the quality of their touch-screen was great, but by no means was the Human Computer Interaction anything extraordinary. But the phone itself and its features and specs paled in comparison to the international market leaders of the day ( N95 for example): No multitasking, a pathetic camera (without a flash) and a relatively primitive underclocked processor were just some of its shortcomings. Not to mention, the iPhone OS was very basic: Just a grid of apps.

Then to understand why people said that it was 'revolutionary', you must consider the location where it got its popularity: The USA. And the USA has been unequivocally backward to Europe and Asia. And when Steve Jobs said it was revolutionary, more than half of America believed him because they never saw the P800s, P900s, N85s (that us Asians used). Consequently, if the majority in America believes him, you can rest assured that the majority around the world will as well because, unfortunately, people don't really think for themselves.





Two Generations later, the iPhone has improved considerably (on the inside) to now be a decent phone. The big industry-backing of Apple has seen its Appstore grow to a humongous size and is probably the only thing worth envying. Still, as far as features go, it falls behind the current smartphone champs: Palm Pre Plus, Nexus One and Motorola Droid. Notice the picture above and try to find external differences between the two generations. You can't. Two iterations later, Apple has still kept the ridiculous old big-slab-of-a-phone exterior on the iPhone and it continues to win masses yet. The exterior of the phone when compared with a device like the Palm Pre Plus looks like something from a decade ago. If the Palm Pre Plus was the Megan Fox of smartphones, the iPhone is certainly Rosie O'donnel.

I think this is going to change today. Apple, I believe, has realized they can no longer ride on their brand image to sell iPhones at least. (They can still do that with the iPad and they are). If Apple wishes to remain at the 'top' of the American smartphone sales, they now have to innovate.

Whether it is the amazing leaps forward in HCI shown by Palm and its webOS or the widget-toting, live wallpapered, multitasking Android, the iPhoneOS has fallen further behind. If they do not spring forward now, people are undoubtedly going to awaken from their trance and see the iPhone OS for what it really is: backward. How is there even any comparison with the iPhoneOS which is just a grid of generic icons to the widget clad, live wallpapered homescreen(s) of Android 2.1 phones or even to the skinnable webOS? It doesn't hold a candle. If Apple hasn't realized this to the greatest extent possible, they are stupider than I thought.

Of course, I would be the happy one if 4.0 turns out as a piece of s***, but i doubt I am going to have that pleasure. I think with 4.0 they are finally going to have something on their screens that I will respect at least. So here are something I think Apple are going to introduce:

a) Multitasking: This is something Nokia and Symbian nailed eons ago, and the Palm Pre Plus does very well. Android's got it too. Its a no-brainer that 4.0 is going to finally introduce real multitasking. How are they going to implement it? I think it is possible that they are perhaps going to steal webOS's implementation. The other guess would be an Expose style interface for multitasking. The safest bet would be an Alt-Tab type of interface for switching between apps. But Apple might suprise us with a unique implementation. I am in too much of hurry to get this out to think up what they might put out.

b) Better Hardware: Again a no-brainer. With the Nexus One using a 1GHz processor and slew of such phones coming out (HTC HD 2, HTC Evo 4G) Apple has to put a >=1GHz processor on there and they are probably going to. The sceen is going to get a boost in terms of pixels and perhaps even size. The camera is going to be upgraded to 5 MP or even higher. It is very possible for them to throw in a 7MP in there. As far as the general exterior goes, I doubt their will be significant changes. I would be suprised if they prove me wrong and I feel they need to if they wanna still be attractive to the masses.

c) Miscellaneous improvements: There are going to be some minor improvements here and there, I unfortunately do not have time before the event to cover these in any depth.


One thing is almost certain, the event today is going to affect the smartphone industry for sure, because that is just how much Apple and ots product is played up and given importance (more than anything else). Let us hope no matter what they do, Android is going to be able to counter it and continue its march to the top of the most widely used smartphone in the USA. With all that said, lets move to Palm and what they should do to their webOS to 1 up the iPhone 4.0.

Coming Soon: What Palm Should Do (by Tonight).