Two Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff

"Apple Inc.'s iPhone won't hit stores until Friday, but the heavily hyped gadget already has unleashed a cottage industry of touch-screen protectors, leather hip carriers and car adapters.

Even the most enthusiastic manufacturers said creating formfitting iPhone accessories was an enormous challenge. A notoriously tightlipped Apple kept many partners in the dark on precise specifications, and some of the company's most trusted accessory manufacturers still have not touched a genuine iPhone.

To compensate, many cribbed size and weight specifications from Apple's Web site, then created models out of wood, cardboard or plastic. They shipped models to Apple for advice on whether headset and other outlets were placed correctly. They adjusted and resent revised versions to Apple." - Source: BusinessWeek

"Motorola, the world's second-largest mobile handset maker is coming off a $118 million dollar first calendar quarter loss, notes the Financial Times, where its strategy to increase market share resulted in crisis.

Padmasree Warrior, chief technology officer for Motorola, told the financial paper that her firm is basing a comeback on a new generation of handsets, but admits that iPhone is of particular concern.
"I do worry about [the iPhone] because [Apple] is a great competitor; a very respectable, credible, tough competitor to have in the industry," she said.

At the same time, the exec believes the Apple device will appeal only to a "small part of the market" and hold its share of weaknesses. For instance, she said the phone's web browsing capability could have "severe limitations" because it will run on AT&T's slower 2.5G network, rather than the carrier's high-speed 3G network.

Motorola, which saw a resurgence after the launch of its RAZR handset in 2004, plans to unleash the second-generation of the super-slim handset sometime this summer. Like the firm's Q9 smartphone, the RAZR2 will reportedly run on the faster 3G networks." - Source: Apple Insider

"Vodafone is in talks with Apple to launch the U.S. firm's iPhone combined music player and telephone in Europe, and talks partly hinge on volume guarantees and subsidies, a Dutch magazine reported.

Apple demanded a guaranteed sales volume for the iPhone, which the British mobile operator did not want to give, Dutch magazine Bright said on its web site late on Tuesday.

The magazine said Vodafone was pushing for more scope to subsidize the phone and did not want Apple to have control of the sale price." - Source: Reuters UK

"Apple Inc.'s iPhone won a strong endorsement from a key technology reviewer on Tuesday, June 26 when the Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg called it a beautiful, breakthrough device.

"Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer," Mossberg said in a review on WSJ.com.

New York Times technology writer David Pogue also weighed in with a largely positive review saying that the iPhone lived up to most of its considerable hype even if it did fall short in some areas." - Source: WSJ, New York Times

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the top 20 innovators of The Innovation Index, and is the Number One Innovator for 2007 as per the rankings of the Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world by BusinessWeek.

Download Apple's Innovation Strategy and Learn how Steve Jobs made Apple the #1 Innovative company in the world.

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Bottomline:

If iPhone is a huge success, the iPhone accessories market will be another big hit. Case in point: iPod accessory market. iPhone has competitors worried, both in the U.S. and outside. In order to succeed globally though, Apple must put together a solid win-win plan to expand in Europe and Asia soon - within the next two months. Finally, reviews of iPhone are coming in, and are mostly optimistic - either the reviewers don't want to emphasize the flaws, or there are limited flaws - also, do they really want to bet against a winning horse when there is so much hype, buzz, hysteria and more surrounding the launch? The consumers will soon find out whether the iPhone is for real on June 29.
Also check out the following interesting stories about the Apple iPhone:

Three Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Four Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Five Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Seven Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Eight Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Nine Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Ten Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 15 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 14 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 13 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 3 - June 29 release
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 2
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 1

Three Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff

Jessica Rodriguez joins the line to purchase an iPhone in front of an Apple store on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 in New York. The much-promoted mobile phone from Apple goes on sale Friday in U.S. markets. For Jessica Rodriguez, waiting four days for an iPhone is nothing when the prize is "the next big thing."

On Tuesday, Rodriguez became the fourth person to line up outside Apple Inc.'s Fifth Avenue store in New York. The 24-year-old college student wants to get a belated birthday gift for her sister as soon as the iPhone starts selling Friday evening.
"Words can't express why I want an iPhone," Rodriguez said, sitting in a red folding chair she brought. "The main reason is (Apple CEO) Steve Jobs is a genius. He's a great innovator. It's going to be the next big thing in cell phones."
The three people ahead of her all joined the queue Monday, braving temperatures that reached 90 degrees. Their spirits weren't dampened by forecasts for thunderstorms later in the week and remarks such as "Crazy, people are just absolutely crazy" by one passer-by.
David Clayman, 21, on vacation from Chicago, happened to walk by and decided to change his travel plans on the spot, extending his trip by a day. He hopes to buy three phones: One to raise money for charity; one as an early birthday gift for his dad, who turns 50 on Saturday; and a third for himself.
....
Those features interest Eric Mueller, 45, a graphic designer who joined the line after dropping off materials for a client nearby.
He said he looks forward to better compatibility with Apple's Macintosh computers, complaining that the Bluetooth wireless connection on his Samsung Electronics Co. phone hardly works with Macs.
But Mueller said he might not last until Friday, saying every hour waiting for a phone is an hour away from serving his clients. Others, though, were willing to tough it out.....
"I've met some incredible people waiting on line," Clayman said. "When are you going to get an experience like this?".....

New Yorkers have a reputation for being a hearty lot, and those who want to be among the first to buy an iPhone on Friday seem to be made of a particularly tough constitution. Despite temperatures that soared above 90 degrees today, several were already lined up outside the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
The leader of the pack was Greg Packer, 43, a retired highway maintenance worker from Huntington, N.Y., on Long Island. Packer lugged his supplies, which included water and clothes, and set up a camping chair on the street outside the store on Fifth Avenue at 5 a.m. Monday so he could be the first in line for Apple Inc.'s latest gadget.
Though he's committed himself to spending nearly five days living on the street for the iPhone, he's not "computer literate" and doesn't own an iPod. Packer said "I'm not really a technology person, but I'm doing the best I can to keep up with technology," he said.
However, two of his favorite things are music and the phone, so Packer, who said he has camped out early for concert tickets and sporting events in the past, wanted to be first in line to get the product that combines the two and provides Internet access at his fingertips. "I want to see what it's like," he said. "I want to give my review of it."
Packer isn't the only one consumed with iPhone fever. At 2 p.m. today three people with chairs were in line behind him, and a fifth person said he was joining the queue while Packer was being interviewed. (That move seemed unlikely, however, since the man was dressed in casual business attire and had no supplies or other equipment that one might have for a four-day camping excursion on a New York street.).....

Johnny Vulcan started the queue outside Apple's store in Manhattan's SoHo district at 7 a.m. today. He's trying to raise awareness for Keep a Child Alive, a charity that treats children with AIDS in Africa. The group plans to auction the device on EBay and said one of its celebrity ambassadors will hand-deliver it to the winning bidder.
Service Plans
Apple will sell the iPhone at 162 stores. The company said today it will close the doors at 2 p.m. that day to prepare for the debut and then reopen four hours later. AT&T, which will offer the gadget at 1,800 company-owned outlets, said its stores will be closed for 90 minutes before the iPhone goes on sale.
The iPhone will come in two versions: a $499, 4-gigabyte model and a $599, 8-gigabyte version. Both require a two-year service plan with AT&T Inc. San Antonio-based AT&T said today that plans will cost about $60 to $220 a month.
"I'll probably get the world's worst sunburn,'' said Eric Mueller, a graphic designer from Harlem who's fifth in line at the Fifth Avenue store, the only Apple outlet that's open 24 hours a day. "But it's exciting to be part of it.''
For others, it's about earning some extra cash. John May, a college student in Vallejo, California, has offered to stand in line for $250 for a potential iPhone buyer. He'll wait at an Apple store in Vallejo or Walnut Creek. Although no one has responded to his ad on Craigslist, May said he'll still join the line for latecomers.
"It seems like an easy way to make cash,'' said May, 18, who said his dad gave him the idea. "It's crazy.''

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the top 20 innovators of The Innovation Index, and is the Number One Innovator for 2007 as per the rankings of the Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world by BusinessWeek.

Download Apple's Innovation Strategy and Learn how Steve Jobs made Apple the #1 Innovative company in the world.

Download Now

Bottomline:
Fans are beginning to clamor for the brand new Apple iPhone which is due out at 6:00 p.m. on June 29. The lines will only get bigger by June 29 morning, and expect dozens to hundreds of anxious buyers waiting outside the key Apple and AT&T stores to try and buy the iPhone. Even the $59.99 monthly plan that includes 450 minutes and unlimited data services among other features will not deter the die-hard Apple aficionados. Most analysts are predicting 100,000 to 200,000 iPhone unit sales by June 30. If you cannot wait for the iPhone, don't want to stand in line for days or hours, and are searching for an alternative, check this review of iPhone competitors by Marketwatch: Wireless device makers target iPhone crowd - LG, Nokia and target high-end users, but devices lack carrier support.

Also check the following interesting stories about the Apple iPhone:
Four Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Five Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Seven Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Eight Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Nine Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Ten Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 15 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 14 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 13 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 3 - June 29 release
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 2
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 1
References:
Customers line up for iPhone launch
By ANICK JESDANUN
AP INTERNET WRITER
New Yorkers camp out for iPhone despite summer heat
IPhone fever takes hold in the Big Apple

Four Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff

The following table shows estimates for unit sales of the Apple iPhone from various analysts, including my own:



Download Apple's Innovation Strategy and Learn how Steve Jobs made Apple the #1 Innovative company in the world.

Download Now

Bottomline:

The average estimate from all the analysts including the Apple Innovation Blog is over 1 million units of Apple iPhone sold by September 30, 2007, and 8.74 million units of Apple iPhone sold in the next year by September 30, 2008 for a total of 9.74 million units sold from June 29 launch through September 30, 2008. Even if Apple iPhone sells closer to 7.5 million units in the first full year of launch, this would be considered highly successful, and would easily eclipse the first full year of launch sales of the Apple iPod. However, Steve Jobs' and Apple's sights are much higher - the Motorola RAZR sold 50 million units from 2004 to 2006. Can iPhone come close to the breakout success of the RAZR?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the top 20 innovators of The Innovation Index, and is the Number One Innovator for 2007 as per the rankings of the Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world by BusinessWeek.

Also check:

Five Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Seven Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Eight Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Nine Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Ten Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 15 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 14 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 13 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 3 - June 29 release
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 2
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 1

Five Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff

Bob Rehm has seen the commercials, he’s witnessed the hype, and he really couldn’t care less that the iPhone is about to drop in Southwest Florida.

Yes, it’s a cell phone that can hold pictures, MP3s files, and includes a Web browser complete with Google search and map functions. Yes, it will be able to support wireless streaming of videos from YouTube.

And yes, it’s actually cooler — if that’s even possible — than the iPod, according to loyalists of the Apple brand.....

There's hype. There's hysteria. And there's history. The hype around Apple Inc.'s upcoming iPhone is abundantly clear. So is the hysteria. But how the iPhone will leave its historical mark after Friday's launch is to be seen.

Will the gadget - which triples as a cell phone, iPod media player and a wireless Web device - be as "revolutionary" as Apple CEO Steve Jobs has claimed?

Even if the product flops for some reason or stays limited to the high-end corner of the smart phone market, the iPhone has already jolted the industry, showing that it is not just the body and outward beauty of the handset that counts, but what's inside....

Remember the television ads for the Motorola RAZR?
The commercials showed off the sexy, thin profile of the clamshell handset and seduced more than 50 million people from 2004 to 2006 to buy it, making it the most popular cell phone ever sold.

But people want more now. There are plenty of slim, ultra-thin options out there, but not many make finding photos, saving phone contacts, picking up voice mail and selecting ringtones insanely easy.

"This is the most anticipated phone since Alexander Graham Bell did his," said Michael Gartenberg, an industry analyst at JupiterResearch. "Part of it is the fascination with Apple's products and how well they design them, but it's also about how poor the design in software is in cell phones now, and how much time Apple has spent working on this."

Apple's iPhone commercials show a finger swiping the touch screen display to activate the home menu, and with one tap on the photo icon, up pop your photos. Another icon zips over to your contacts.

Not a drop-down menu in sight.

"A few handset makers have been trying to make the phone simpler without having to refer to a manual that's 18 times the size of the phone," said Richard Doherty, president of The Envisioneering Group, a research company. "But Apple is going for the moon here.".....

Oakland Web programmer David Stillman, 21, hopes to be the first of his friends to own an iPhone.
Stillman, who has three Macintosh computers and two iPods, plans to trade in his two-year-old Sanyo phone for the high-end $599 iPhone if the all-inclusive monthly charges come to less than $100. Apple and AT&T Inc. - the exclusive carrier for the iPhone - have not yet disclosed the service charges.
Stillman says the best iPhone features appear to be the simple access to Google Inc.'s online maps and route directions and the intuitive user interface, which allows for easy scrolling through a contact list, fast searches through photo albums and quick callback for missed calls and recently dialed numbers.
Also, instead of just listening to voicemail in the order received, Apple has created what it calls "visual voicemail" for iPhone, an innovative way to see the list of voice messages so users can quickly choose the one they want to hear.
"The software is going to sell this phone - it's going to be so easy and obvious and will correct a lot of problems in other phones," said Stillman, who was waiting for Apple's flagship retail store in San Francisco to open Friday morning to do some shopping. "Other phones - even BlackBerrys - can do a million things but you can't figure out how to do anything on them.".....

Download Apple's Innovation Strategy and Learn how Steve Jobs made Apple the #1 Innovative company in the world.

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Bottomline:

Oh my!! The buzz that the Apple iPhone has created pre-launch is unprecedented. As Steve Jobs will have you believe, iPhone is the coolest mobile phone, "it's all about the software inside", and the ease-of-use, the intuitive interface, the touchscreen, the iPod music player, the comprehensive Safari Internet browser, the YouTube video, the visual voice mail, the Google Maps, the pictures, the artificial intelligence, the photos, the wireless connectivity.....and more. Just one or two of these killer features have to be a big hit for the iPhone to rival the success of the iPod or the Motorola Razr. What will these features be? Would it be the Internet browsing? Would it be the music? Would it be the video? Or the fact that it would be the easiest mobile phone to operate. Would iPhone software come in the way of its operations and konk out when you are calling someone? Is the iPhone tested fully? Would iPhone connection be available everywhere and there would be no more "Can you hear me?". The industry is eagerly waiting for perhaps the biggest product launch of the 21st century.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the top 20 innovators of The Innovation Index, and is the Number One Innovator for 2007 as per the rankings of the Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world by BusinessWeek.

Also check:

Seven Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Eight Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Nine Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Ten Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 15 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 14 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 13 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 3 - June 29 release
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 2
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 1

References:

Fans already saying ‘iWant the iPhone’ By Jessie L. Bonner
Originally published — 2:21 p.m., June 23, 2007
Updated — 10:20 p.m., June 23, 2007

Associated Press
Industry Awaits 'Revolutionary' IPhone
By MAY WONG 06.24.07, 4:04 PM ET

Seven Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff

Apple Inc.'s iPhone was a top choice in a survey of people who plan to buy an advanced mobile phone in the next three months, a sign the new device may take market share from rivals.
The survey by ChangeWave Research found that 26 percent of likely buyers would choose the iPhone, a combination mobile phone and iPod that will go on sale June 29. It was tied for first place with Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry. The research firm asked 3,489 U.S. consumers if they planned to buy an advanced mobile phone, and if so, what brand they would choose.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) , based in Cupertino, California, is betting the iPhone's features such as a touch screen will lure customers away from the BlackBerry and Palm Inc.'s Treo. The U.S. market for so- called smart phones, which offer e-mail functions, music players and cameras, may grow 43 percent this year to almost $6 billion, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
"It appears that the Apple iPhone will have a huge impact on the smart-phone market,'' ChangeWave said in the report. The device "poses an enormous challenge to the entire industry.''
ChangeWave, based in Rockville, Maryland, said 7.8 percent of the consumers surveyed planned to buy an advanced phone within the next 90 days. The study was conducted in April.

Download Apple's Innovation Strategy and Learn how Steve Jobs made Apple the #1 Innovative company in the world.

Download Now

Bottomline:
If the market of smartphones indeed grows to $6 billion this year, and 26 percent of likely buyers will choose the iPhone, this would translate to $1.56 billion in total revenue for the new iPhone in the first year. At an average sale of $549 per iPhone, the number of new iPhones sold in the first year could eclipse 2.84 million units. Most analysts predict that the first year sales of the new iPhone would be in the range of 3.5 million to 4 million units. This means, that an additional 1 million iPhones will be snapped up by existing iPod owners. With 100 million iPod owners all over the world, 1 million translates to only 1% of the entire population. It is plausible that at least 10% of the iPod owners would buy the new iPhone - this alone creates a market of 10 million new iPhones. The question then is really about the timing. How soon with Apple sell 10 million new iPhones? Would it take only two years, or closer to five years? The success of Apple and the new iPhone will be entirely defined by rapid acceleration of new iPhone sales. Anything less than the sale of a few million iPhones in the first year would be construed a failure.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the top 20 innovators of The Innovation Index, and is the number one innovator for 2007 from among the Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world as per BusinessWeek.

Also check:

Eight Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Nine Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Ten Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 15 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 14 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 13 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 3 - June 29 release
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 2
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 1

Eight Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff

AT&T (NYSE: T) adds 2000 employees, includes 1,800 stores, and expands store hours for the upcoming Apple iPhone launch

AT&T, the exclusive service provider for the Apple iPhone, said on Thursday it has hired 2,000 temporary store workers to handle its much-hyped introduction of the iPhone, the first cell phone from iPod music player maker Apple.
The biggest U.S. wireless service provider by customer numbers will be the country's only carrier to offer the device when it goes on sale June 29. AT&T and Apple said they plan to start selling the device starting at 6 p.m. local time in cities across the country.
AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said the company hired the extra summer staff for its 1,800 stores in anticipation of "significant demand" for the device. AT&T's wireless division employs a total of about 58,000 people.
The iPhone was first announced in January and combines a music and video player with a Web browser and a touch-sensitive screen in place of a keyboard.
AT&T sales staff have received a total of 100,000 hours of training to sell the device, at "the high end of the normal range" with an average of 6 hours per employee, said Mr. Siegel.

Apple, which plans to start selling the phone in all of its 162 retail stores on June 29, did not disclose any plans around training or staffing for the launch.
Apple will also start selling the phone online on the launch date, but AT&T will first launch only in its stores.
"This is such an important product we want to make sure people are fully informed," when they buy it, said Mr. Siegel.
AT&T stores will close locally at 4.30 p.m. on that Friday to prepare for the launch, then reopen at 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. that night, according to Mr. Siegel.
"We want to free people from the rush of what they would normally encounter on a busy day," he said.
AT&T, which is requiring iPhone shoppers to sign up for a 2-year contract, has not yet revealed the service fees it will charge iPhone customers. The price of an iPhone will be either $500 or $600, depending on the storage space in the phone.

Download Apple's Innovation Strategy and Learn how Steve Jobs made Apple the #1 Innovative company in the world.

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Bottomline:

Both AT&T and Apple are working in overdrive to make the new Apple iPhone a smashing success. If Apple iPhone does not takeoff as anticipated, it would definitely not be because of lack of planning, preparation and execution. Rather, it may fail if the consumers do not adopt it by the masses and if the much touted Internet, Music and Video features don't live up to the expectations. Is the AT&T network ready to handle the type of data traffic that an iPhone user will exploit on a daily basis when they are downloading iTunes, Video from YouTube and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and browsing the Internet on the powerful Safari browser? There is also the small matter of texting using the touchscreen - this may involve a user behavior change that most layman users may not be ready to adopt or adapt. Remember Palm and the Graffiti. It never took off since the users were not ready to change the way they write their abc's. There is also the prohibitive cost of the Apple iPhone itself at $499 or $599, the monthly data services cost, and the inherent cost of switching carriers if you are stuck in a contract. All these costs can add up significantly, and can dampen the iPhone launch. However, if AT&T and Apple score high on these potential hiccups, they will launch a home run that will rival the success of iPod. Ten million iPhones may very well become a thing of the past by the end of 2008.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the top 20 innovators of The Innovation Index, and is the number one innovator for 2007 from among the Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world as per BusinessWeek.

Also check:

Nine Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff
Ten Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 15 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 14 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 13 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 3 - June 29 release
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 2
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 1

Nine Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Liftoff

Apple® announced that Apple iPhone™ users will be able to enjoy YouTube’s originally-created content on their iPhones when they begin shipping on June 29. A new Apple-designed application on iPhone will wirelessly stream YouTube’s content to iPhone over Wi-Fi or EDGE networks and play it on iPhone’s stunning 3.5 inch display.

“iPhone delivers the best YouTube mobile experience by far,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Now users can enjoy YouTube wherever they are—on their iPhone, on their Mac or on a widescreen TV in their living room with Apple TV.”

To achieve higher video quality and longer battery life on mobile devices, YouTube has begun encoding their videos in the advanced H.264 format, and iPhone will be the first mobile device to use the H.264-encoded videos. Over 10,000 videos will be available on June 29, and YouTube will be adding more each week until their full catalog of videos is available in the H.264 format this fall.

The combination of H.264-encoded videos plus iPhone’s built-in Wi-Fi networking, stunning 3.5 inch display, and custom YouTube application with its multi-touch user interface results in the best YouTube experience on any mobile device.

Download Apple's Innovation Strategy and Learn how Steve Jobs made Apple the #1 Innovative company in the world.

Download Now

Bottomline:

Just when we thought we had seen the last of the "nine days to launch" Apple iPhone's innovations, Apple iPhone once again steals the limelight, and creates a mobile industry first: iPhone becomes the first mobile device to use H.264-encoded videos with a built-in ability to browse 10,000 videos on demand from YouTube. Wow!! Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) leads the market with the YouTube on demand web video service; Google and Apple have now joined hands to offer YouTube over the iPhone. There are tens of millions of YouTube downloads daily; now there will be hordes of iPhone users browsing YouTube video clips daily. YouTube is already viral; now, iPhone can become viral based on the viral appeal of YouTube. Can one find a better match than this? Not in the current market. The numbers are mind boggling: 19 million consumers have shown interest in purchasing the new iPhone, and with YouTube coming on board, the numbers can only become real. One thing is certain: Steve Jobs and Apple are playing all the right cards to make the iPhone a must have, gotta have, to die for mobile phone that will provide the best internet, video and music experience. And oh, it's a pretty good phone too.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the top 20 innovators of The Innovation Index, and is the number one innovator for 2007 from among the Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world as per BusinessWeek.

Also check:

Ten Days to Apple iPhone Launch - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 15 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 14 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 13 - June 29 Launch
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 3 - June 29 release
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 2
Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 1