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Highly Anticipated iPhone Receives FCC Approval

Apple received the official word yesterday that their revolutionary new cellular phone, the iPhone, has been granted an equipment authorization by the FCC. This is fantastic news for Apple, who had a bit of a scare recently, when Engadget incorrectly published an internal Apple memo that stated there would be lengthy delays in the release of iPhone and the new Leopard OS.

Now that the iPhone has received FCC approval, it is fairly certain that the iPhone will ship on time. According to Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris, “The iPhone has passed its required FCC certification milestone and is on schedule to ship in late June as planned.” Let’s hope this hold true.

Priced at $499 for 4-gigabyte model and $599 for an 8-gigabyte model, the iPhone has a built-in camera, five hours of continuous talk time and 15 hours for playing music, and runs Safari Web browser and Apple’s Macintosh operating system software. It has Bluetooth, a short-range wireless technology that supports wireless headsets or links to devices like printers, and can connect to the Internet wirelessly via Wi-Fi.

Will There Be Enough iPhones?

Gadget lovers all over are anticipating the release of the iPhone which these days is garnering a lot of bad publicity. Some experts feel that Apple won’t be able to meet the consumer demand and would not be released on time. However one the Apple executive Peter Oppenheimer dismissed these statements and was heard saying that the iPhone will arrive on time and Apple will introduce “new models and partners for the iPhone in Europe and Asia within a year.” Since I love everything Apple, hope they are right!

Via

Goldman Sachs Thinks So…

According to a post over at iLounge, Goldman Sachs projects that the Apple will sell in excess of 14 Million iPhones by 2009. This is quite the aggressive projection, considering it is almost the end of the first calendar quarter and there have been no solid dates on when the iPhone will be released. With it’s initial pricing promotion and the fact that it is tied to Cingular service, it is tough to believe these numbers.

Here Are Some More Numbers

See my thoughts in italics.

1. The number of potential iPhone buyers is equivalent to 75% of the installed base of current iPod owners, with just under 1/2 of the potential buyers coming from respondents who have never owned an iPod. Potentially, I could make $1M this year…
2. Similarly, in the US, 71% of respondents indicated interest in a potential Apple mobile phone. Yes, because this thing was all over the television when it launched, now that the thrill has died, I wonder how many actually still care about?
3. In the US, Apple ranked as the number 4 most desired multimedia handset brand - again, coming before iPhone was even announced.This would indicate brand loyalty (which we all know they have) and it is probably overly-deisred because they never had a phone.
4. Some of the concerns about the unwillingness of consumers to switch carriers to get the handset they want seem misplaced, with 30% of UK respondents and 15% in the US suggesting that they would switch. Those percentages are not very high, especially in the US

I am going to remain pretty optimistic about this and other other statistics that are already claiming that the iPhone is going to be a huge success. Cellular phones are vastly different than MP3 and video players. It is tough to think they will get it right on the first try.