Todd Biske: Outside the Box

While there will be no shortages of blogs on this product, you can add my name to the list of people who can’t wait to get my hands on one. What a coup for Cingular, as well. Dana Gardner has already stated that he’s prepared to pay the huge contract termination fees with Sprint and Verizon to get one. I’ll have to change providers as well, although I’ll only be 6 months shy of my contract length, so I’ll have to do some math to see what the best option is. Hopefully, Cingular won’t be charging a premium for services on top of what the other smart phones may cost.

I’m sure that this device will have its fair share of glitches in the initial release, but it’s really refreshing to see this level of leapfrogging occur in the technology space. It’s even funnier after Bill Gates’ interview with C-Net that talks about how Apple is at a disadvantage due to their closed platform. While there are elements of truth in what Bill had to say, Apple is doing exactly what they need to do to do a successful, innovative company. While Microsoft may have a more stable revenue stream as the backbone of the Windows PC, they will be stuck in the world of commodity technology. While Robert Scoble calls out that Microsoft has competing technologies, it seems to be that it’s either in the wrong form factor or poorly marketed. I don’t want a gaming system to be able to stream video to my television. I’d rather have a device that excels at that function. I wouldn’t classify the AppleTV as innovative, but I would say that it puts user experience above all else, which is what will differentiate it, as with the iPhone.

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