I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read….

We all know how much room there is for improvement for mobile phones, and Apple can do it better. I can only hope that Apple has a team of programmers working towards a Windows CE type of Mac OS for portable devices. That would be great. We have been sorely lacking in this technology.

Time will only tell.

19 12 2006

Supernova (18:39:27) :

this is interesting 1 or 2 years ago.

but now give me a touchscreen please. a real smartphone, not just ichat, but email functionality, voip/ skype, lite os-x version and thus the screen big enough for functional use.

again, concept is interesting, because it’s different. but the design doesn’t impress me.

19 12 2006

Vincent Nguyen (18:46:00) :

I still think there are two versions…this first one is more simplified while the second mobile me phone will be for power users such as yourself Supernova.

19 12 2006

Perry (19:33:00) :

Very interesting. Some of the patents for which Apple has filed are for a multi-touch interface and for a virtual click wheel (i.e. a touch wheel that is superimposed on a screen). Suppose that bottom half of the iPhone was some sort of LCD or similar screen on which a click wheel could appear or a phone dial pad?

Would be pretty slick and the kind of thing I’d expect from Apple.

20 12 2006

The Kitchen Sink (17:15:09) :

did you notice the iphone on the right.. the keyboard display is in alphabetical order. not like a regular keyboard

20 12 2006

Vincent Nguyen (17:35:55) :

It’s possible the top screen isn’ touch sensitive – and only the second half is used for gestures.

20 12 2006

nico (17:38:05) :

NO, not real -faker (but i nice mockup)

do you really think apple would release a phone (iphone) that
only plays music/dials/sends text?

no camera?
no mini osx to compete with window ce?
dont you think that would be some of their strong points in an poster like this?

i know i know its possible its just a mock up and not all the features
would be listed…but i dont think this is even a real mock up….very nice
but it misses the major points i think apple is wanting to jump into.

20 12 2006

Ash (18:31:53) :

This is a tough one to call – and I’m in 2 minds.

For:
The patent link is certainly a strong plus, and it does feel “Appley” (Note the consistency of the buttons for “Menu” and “Options”, also the fact that where signal strength is displayed when it matters (when sending a sms/making a call but not when in the music interface)

Against:
However, even the ipod (a shining example of simplicity of interface) has dedicated buttons for play, skip etc. and given this is it likely that the answer/hang up buttons would be disposed of? (NB Apple don’t design products around advertising slogans!) Allowing for this, it would be a reasonable assumption that there would be some kind of default action assigned to simply tapping this control surface (I feel there should be, and one thing that you always can rely on Apple for doing is making things do what you’d expect) – taking that assumption – shouldn’t pause be the default highlighted action rather than back?

Wild assumption, but I’d guess that the track playing on the iPhone would have been bought from the iTunes store, in which case it should be track 10 of 11 and 3:49 long not 9 of 10 and 3:50 (according to iTunes UK).

Finally, “Many Abilities” – you’ve shown us music, voice calls and sms – more exciting ones could have surely been picked!

So, whilst a very good one, I come down on the side of fake…

20 12 2006

Paul (19:04:13) :

I would like to believe that this is, in fact, the iPhone. However, “Many Abilities” doesn’t seem like something Apple would say. There’s no eloquence to that statement.

The lack of photo reflections (or even drop shadows) is also curious. Most of the Apple ads I have seen (TV, print) have featured reflections. No, it’s not a big deal, but it’s something to think about.

20 12 2006

CJ (19:59:04) :

Could be interesting if you think about it – What if the this is the correct model (4 or 8GB), has a camera on the other side (maybe not on the low end model), but the touch pad is the interesting part. What if apple has come up with a way to have the touch pad be changing on the fly depending on what interface your on? When you using it as an iPod, the touch pad with display a virtual ipod control (overlay, backlight, w/e it is), when a phone, a dial pad, when a keyboard, a virtual keyboard, etc. That would pretty much be the killer feature alone. The phone would be upgradable on the fly – new firmware, new features and controls. Just crazy enough that it just maybe true…

20 12 2006

rich§ (20:03:22) :

“Many abilities”?

Are you nuts?

Even the most amateur of organizations wouldn’t use such inarticulate language in their ads.

20 12 2006

lookmark (22:23:35) :

Nice visual mockup, but boy is that fake.

The off-key copy gives it away.

21 12 2006

Andy (03:36:36) :

So what’s the big grey square area for ? Don’t tell me it’s a touchpad that you use to control a mouse on-screen ! Also – that interface is too cluttered for Apple (esp. middle picture). Expanded to a full screen touchscreen it MIGHT work though, but I say ‘fake’.

21 12 2006

Lorenzo (04:35:48) :

I know… It’s something new… It’s Apple style.. but… COME ON! It’s a big fake!
OK ok… the pad is very cool..and very good to use the menu of the phone…. BUT… don’t you think that it would quite impossibile to write a message?????

21 12 2006

Macnerd (04:37:05) :

If it’s real, Apple legal will be on this site pretty quick getting the images withdrawn. It makes me laugh how people dissect this stuff – I work for a manufacturer and if you sat there and looked at all of our protos you’d probably have no idea of what the finished product would look like or be until we get close to the end of the development cycle. Features get canned, new ones make it in, layouts change and names are dropped at the last minute – That’s why it’s a proto!

Even in a small organisation loads of protos come and go, so at Apple it must be hundreds per product. Mock ups of ads are just the same – Some stuff is just a placeholder to give an impression of something which does not exist yet (interface, for example), not always necessarily indicative of the final version.

Frankly, to take the trouble to go to the Music Store and use track numbers as a basis of what is and isn’t fake just indicates a lack of something better to do….

Real or not, this looks quite nice – Not sure about the gesturing (buttons would be simpler for me) but the whole thing is very Apple like. Whatever happens you can be pretty sure that after all this time Jobs is not going to let it out the door until it’s a real killer product and in Ives he has the perfect guy for the job.

21 12 2006

HHII (05:32:31) :

WTF – a touchpad for a mobile phone/iPod/smart phone? That makes no sense at all…

21 12 2006

Ash (07:11:19) :

MacNerd – hey I’m still pumped from MacHeist! Need….to…..crack….a….code

and its how someone dissected a video ipod fake a few months back…

But I agree with what you said, IF (and it is still an if) Apple do release a phone, Ive will design something that is gorgeous and intuitive – losing the buttons on a phone (short of it being a touchscreen) will just scare people off (NB we live in a world where phone companies have designed phones that just do the basics because people are scared of the complexity of mobiles!)

21 12 2006

HarkJohnny (08:30:38) :

And what pray-tell was correct about “Think Different” ????

21 12 2006

David H Dennis (08:43:33) :

I have to agree, the ad copy doesn’t sound right.

More to the point, Apple would not use the name iPhone when Cisco is using the name. That alone ensures this is a fake.

Finally, a touchpad instead of a click wheel? That really sounds implausible to me. They would take one of their biggest marketing advantages and throw it out the window?

Incidentally, I bought a basic Nokia phone recently and it’s remarkable how much the user interface has degenerated from previous basic phones. For example, it’s not immediately obvious how to call someone back from the missed calls list. I remember the original Nokia being a brilliant and intuitive device, but that seems to be long gone with the new unit.

Finally, to the person who mentioned the on-screen keyboard being in alphabetical order – that seems likely since I believe the iPod works exactly that way. And I think the signal strength indicator is universally interesting since even when you’re listening to music you would want to know if your phone is in range for a call. Another mistake I doubt Apple would make.

D