Time: iPhone ‘No Better Than Most’ Cell Phones

Ed Sutherland ()

Time: iPhone ‘No Better Than Most’ Cell Phones

Time Magazine has dropped the iPhone to third place in its annual poll of the top 10 gadgets. Is the luster wearing thin on Apple’s flagship product.

While crediting the iPhone for launching an “era of mobile computing,” when it comes down to performance the handset “doesn’t handle email as well as the cheapest BlackBerry, and as a telephone, it’s no better than most cell phones,” the magazine said.

“As a phone, the iPhone was never better than other handsets, and still isn’t today,” Avi Greengart, Current Analysis’ handset analyst, told Cult of Mac. The iPhone’s reception, microphone and speaker aren’t what makes the device special, Greengart said.

Apple is striving to change how people view the iPhone 3G compared to the first handset. Cupertino is encouraging journalists to describe the iPhone as a mobile computing platform, not as a phone.

In 2007, the first generation iPhone wowed Time’s reviewer, who wrote the Apple handset “changed the way we think about how mobile media devices should look, feel and perform.”

DON'T MISS
Moto Goes On Rehab: To Concentrate On Android

Although the iPhone dropped out of first place, the No. 1 spot in Time’s poll was given to an Apple-related product, the Optoma Pico PK-101 projector – an iPhone and iPod add-on. Second place was won by the first consumer laser TV set, the 65-inch Mitsubishi LaserVue TV.

17 comments »

About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)| Read more posts by .

Posted in News |

  • http://www.abovetheinternet.org Stuart Gibson

    In other news, the Ferrari 599 doesn’t handle luggage as well as a pickup and is no better than other cars at having four wheels.

  • AAPLWatch

    Josh Quittner of Time Magazine: Yes, I’m going to bitch about the iPhone, because its cool to go against the tide. But I’m also going to put it (and no other smartphone) on the Top Ten list, because, well, I need the site hits. Please click.

  • Firesign

    i know that when i am looking for articles and ratings for tech products, time magazine is the first place i turn. please.

  • the truth

    thats really funny because i was just thinking that Time is no better than most magazines.

  • iphonerulez

    It can receive and send telephone calls, so it really isn’t unique in that respect. Time Mag didn’t get fooled at all. Still, an awful lot of iPhones are being sold for some other reasons, I suppose. It’s usefulness as a phone and an educational/gaming device should count for something.

  • BMWTwisty

    Damn, guess I better sell my AAPL stock. I’m heartbroken…

  • Sebhelyesfarku

    The iPhone is for dumbass Mactards and even dumber fashion lemmings.

  • Ed Sutherland

    Apple doesn’t want the iPhone seen as a handset, but a “mobile computing platform.” Most iPhone owners aren’t purchasing the handset just to make and receive phone calls. Judging the iPhone against the BlackBerry then becomes akin to comparing apples and oranges – a situation Cupertino desires.

  • Savage

    Sad. So no iPhone for you Sebhelyesfarku pctard?

  • Marko

    “mobile computing platform” should = allow cut and paste….

  • Sebhelyesfarku

    Sorry, I meant to say I’m a moron.

  • AdamC

    Wow, since when is Time Magazine the arbiter of greatness, I find them siding up to tin pot dictators to get a few points, had stop reading them long ago. opinion pieces are a dime a dozen ask the tech analysts.

  • Paul

    Cult of Mac no better than most when it comes to using misleading headlines to attract readers to pointless articles.

  • DAVID OWENS

    I had a blackberry once. It is now resting comfortably in a landfill. I once read Time. They, too, are in a landfill.

  • Ryan

    I got the copy and past java hack running perfectly on my 3G iPhone. I’m sure Apple will include it in a future update, but I couldn’t wait and I love figuring that sort of stuff out. There’s also webcam and videocam software available for the iPhone. And as for the Mac mail program, it works great. What’s to complain about? I’m curious……

    What other handsets made the list? 3rd place is still an amazing position for the iPhone to hold.

    Good work Apple! Keep blowing our minds please!!

  • Chewie

    The iPhone is a good hand-held games console but a totally lacking phone.

  • Fact Alert

    The iPhone is for dumbass Mactards and even dumber fashion lemmings.