Converged, Portable, Digital Technology - iPhone

Technology
The technology involved is the internet (via wi-fi), mobile and mp3 and 4

The iPhone is replacing laptops (portable computers), walkmans (portable music) and ordinary mobile phones. It is significant because it is so revolutionary to have all these things working so efficiently and to such a high quality in one device.

The iPhone also has multi-touch interface for touch screen, an accelerometer so that it knows if it is landscape or portrait to flip the screen, and it also knows if it is on an aeroplane so it can disable calls and the internet.

Media Content
The content in the iPod is the internet browser (within this there are widgets), the mobile, the iPod, maps and updates.

The Phone
To make a call you just have to scroll through your contacts and tap on the person’s name, you can also store lots of other information, for example, addresses – and these can be opened in the other features such as maps. There is also an option to use an ‘old-fashioned’ style keypad to make calls – i.e. numbers displayed on a usual phone keypad. You can create conference calls by calling 2 people at a time; you can also create a conference call during a conversation by simply phoning another, or merge 2 calls which you receive simultaneously. There is a favourite contacts section, which, much like speed dial allows you to very quickly call people you speak to frequently. A feature called visual voice mail stores your voice mails in a list, giving dates of reception and the names so you can choose which to listen to and in what order. iPhone SMS allows you to see entire conversations you have been having over time, SMS is one of the 16 default applications which are on the home screen (along with features such internet, youtube, camera and settings). The home screen also has 4 main applications; phone, e-mail, safari and iPod. A 2 mega pixel camera also lets you take and store photos into albums, by flipping the phone you can see landscape photos larger as they flip too, you can zoom in by ‘pinching’ and e-mail photos to others.

The Internet
The iPhone internet runs on quand-band GSM and is called Safari, and it has many innovative features completely new to mobile internet. You can bookmark pages and then add these book marks to your computer internet (and vice versa). The default search engine is google but this is easily changeable, all you have to do is type in a word and then tap the ‘google’ button to search it, there is also a ‘.com’ button for web browsing. The e-mail on the iPhone is the best ever on a mobile phone and supports rich HTML so that any photos and files are viewed quickly an inline with text. To view attachments on e-mails you just have to tap on them and they can be enlarged by a ‘pinch’ on the screen, you can also call numbers given in e-mails with just a tap on them. The intelligent keyboard helps to correct and prevent mistakes; it also learns the words you type most often as well as the names and suggests them as you type. Youtube has its own application on the phone which is stored on the home screen, you can bookmark your favourite clips and look at the most popular or ‘most viewed’ clips, and you can also easily e-mail them to a number of your contacts simultaneously. This symbiotic relationship with youtube is probably related to google and apple’s close relationship, seeing as google own youtube, apple uses google maps and google is the default search engine. There are also smaller applications called widgets, the main are stocks and weather. Stocks give you the opportunity to always have access to companies share process and the changes in these over time shown in graphs – you simply have to type in the company’s name. Weather allows you to choose a number of cities and scroll through their current weather conditions at any time of day.

iPod
The iPhone has at least 4GB of music storage and the ability to view music videos, TV shows, films and video podcasts. It has a 3.5” screen and iTunes can be accessed anywhere which has a decent wi-fi connection – a good example of symbiosis is taking place between apple and Starbucks as apple are installing wi-fi connections in Starbucks for free. The iPod screen has 5 main options; playlists, artists, songs, videos and more. When watching videos you can zoom in by ‘pinching’ the screen and if you flip the phone landscape the display will flip also due to the accelerator. The iPod has a feature called cover flow where if you are scrolling through your albums and you flip it to landscape you can scroll through all the albums by their covers. The phone comes with a stereo headset which has a small little white rubber section on it which can be clicked once to pause and twice to skip the track, if a call comes in whilst music is on the music will fade out pause and then fade in when the call is finished.

Maps
iPhone maps are courtesy of google and the main page starts up with a map of the world and you double tap to zoom. There are 2 different views; satellite and map. Satellite is literally photos so it includes buildings, and map view is like a normal map and has road names. These can also be overlaid so you have a satellite view with road names. You can quickly get to a city or place with a postal code or zip code, or with the city name. Another feature is bookmarking, you can mark a place, for example, where you have parked your car, or where you would like to go so you can follow a route. It is also possible to search for places in a city – e.g. an Italian restaurant – it will give you all those possible with addresses, directions and phone numbers for booking (which can be called with a single tap).

Updates
Updates can be downloaded every few months and means that apple can keep the iPhone completely up-to-date with new technologies. These are the updates available from January 2008. On the maps feature your iPhone can now map your place within a few metres if signals are clear. Traffic updates are also easy to obtain, and roads are coloured yellow and red for problems and green for traffic free. You can also now send an SMS to multiple people and you can rent films on iTunes. They are stored in your iPod films section but they show the remaining days you have – they will then disappear so there are no late fees. Gift codes are also available for iTunes.

Audiences
Social groups are incredibly relevant for the iPhone, it is £200 to buy the phone and then you are tied into an O2 £35 a month contract for 2 years. So it is really only available to middle-upper class to upper class.

The audience are using it as a gadget and is probably a necessity among those who are ‘up-to-date’ with technologies, so the primary owners are probably career-driven males. It is replacing their mp3/4 players, mobiles and laptops seeing as it encompasses all of them and performs all the same tasks. In a way it provides a different lifestyle as it de-clutters your person and there are less objects to carry around on you – as it is all converged into one device.

The iPhone offers simplicity, immediacy and social status to its owner, something which wasn’t necessarily available from a single device in the way it is with the iPhone.

Institutions
The main institution involved is Apple but it has many symbiotic relationships related to the iPhone. For example, the only mobile network you can get on an iPhone is O2, and strong, free, wi-fi connections are available in Starbucks.

The iPhone enables the exhibition of all of the services – the iPod and the internet (essentially it is a small mac) but it also exhibits a phone, which apple haven’t done before. Therefore it enables them to break into a different market, and are now the ‘front runners’ in this market as it is the most revolutionary mobile phone ever made (since the first).

Key Concepts
The key concepts apparent in the iPhone are; convergence, immediacy, personalisation, portability, miniaturisation, vertical integration and horizontal networking.

Convergence
The iPhone is a converged technology because it merges many different technologies; mp3/4 player (iPod), mobile phone, the internet (safari), e-mail and satnav (maps). This allows apple to massively take over the market and increase the price dramatically, because it offers simplicity as everything is in one device.

Immediacy
The iPhone can be used absolutely anywhere at any time because the technology is in their pocket and it is therefore a form of immediacy. Wi-fi connections are possible in most places and satellites all over the globe allow maps of almost anywhere. This is incredibly attractive to affluent city workers who are constantly on-the-go because they can access information they need whenever they need it.

Personalisation
In the application called ‘settings’ owners can personalise nearly everything about the font. You can change the font size and even the number of lines of an e-mail which appear in the preview. In the latest up date you can also customize your home screen and choose bookmarks of WebPages and maps. This allows owners to make the iPhone their own and it will therefore be even more useful and loved by them.

Portability
The iPhone is 4.5”x2.4”x11.6mm and is very easy to slip into a pocket and take anywhere, but not only is it portable in itself but it also replaces many other devices and therefore saving even more space – the iPod, your mobile, to an extent your laptop or even portable DVD player. This is again very attractive to affluent city workers (and most people) because it is so much less fuss, and less expensive devices to keep track of.

Miniaturisation
The iPhone is an example of miniaturisation in the sense that it encompasses all of the tasks that much larger devices also do – DVD players, CD players, computers, home phones. This miniaturisation makes it portable and therefore attractive.

Vertical Integration
The iPhone is a great example of synergy within the apple institution, you can easily access and use iTunes from it and iTunes is where you download iPhone updates from. It also uses the same internet browser as macs – safari. This increases the success of apple in these areas and therefore increases loyalty to the institution as people use it more and more in all the different aspects of their life.

Horizontal Networking
Many of the features on the iPhone allow file sharing and it is therefore a good example of horizontal networking. On the Youtube application you can e-mail your favourite clips to your friends, and you can send photos and video clips to each other. In e-mails it is also possible to share files and the iPhone can open Microsoft office and excel files.