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The iPhone: What makes it special?

Apple says the iPhone is a phenomenon and will change the way people look at mobile phones. So, what is it that the iPhone offers? The Apple iPhone 3G is an internet-phone made for more things than just talking and texting. If you look closely at the features of the iPhone, you will find that it is several devices put into one. The Apple iPhone 3G is touted to revolutionize the electronic world. Let us look at what the iPhone offers:

* An iPod
* An internet-enabled computer
* GPS device
* A gaming console
* Friend-finding device
* A blogging platform
* A camera
* And of course, a talking device!

Let us look at the features that make iPhone an all-in-one device:

* Built-in iPod
* Internet access
* 3G network speed enabled
* GPS enabled
* Smart keyboard
* Microsoft Exchange
* Scientific calculator and calendar
* Access to infinite application
* 2 megapixel camera
* Photo storage

Will the iPhone be popular with the Indian consumer?

The urban Indian consumer is obsessed with gizmos. A product like the iPhone is targeted at the technically savvy urban consumer. Though the initial response to the iPhone in the Indian market has not been very exciting, there are definitely chances of its sale picking up in the next few months. The price of the phone proved a deterrent to the most ardent of gizmo lovers. However, there is hope that the price of the iPhone will reduce given the reaction of the Indian public. Currently, the iPhone in India costs almost four times of that in the US.

Let us look at why the Indian consumer will go for it.

Prior knowledge: The Indian public has been waiting for the iPhone to arrive in India for a while, so much so that people were looking for a crack for using the US version in India. As soon as the price comes down, the iPhone sales will increase.

Future prospect: India hopes to get the 3G network set-up in the near future. The iPhone is already enabled to provide the 3G support.

Access to applications: The technologically-savvy people will love the application store offered by the iPhone. A lot of the applications available can be downloaded for free.

Music, E-mail, Applications at one place: The iPhone’s music features make it very lucrative for the Indian consumer. The ease of doing everything on one hand-held device is what makes the iPhone a gotta-have commodity in India.

Apart from the price, the factors that could deter the Indian public are:

* Absence of SMS-forwarding and group-messaging features
* Absence of MMS
* Limited Bluetooth capability
* Absence of video recording

Apple’s sleek, stylish iPhone has been on the wish list of many a young people who want to be a step ahead of the times. The price cannot deter this generation for long. Moreover, it is not everyday that one come across something so chic and so useful.

All mobile devices users may soon be able to run their devices for a longer period without any recharge as ZPower claims to have developed a silver-zinc based battery which will last longer as compared to lithium-lion batteries.
ZPower claims that silver-zinc batteries will run 40% more as compared to lithium-lion batteries, so if a lithium-lion based battery runs for 2 hours then a silver-zinc based battery will run for approximately 3 hours which company believe is a very good improvement.
The Silver-Zinc batteries are also said to be safe as these batteries uses water-based chemistry which makes it nonflammable, whereas lithium-lion based batteries use dimethyl carbonate which is flammable and can go off like “firecrackers” in times of fire.
Silver-Zinc batteries also degrade at a very low speed as compared to lithium-lion batteries as lithium-lion batteries looses upto 30% of its capacity in the first year whereas silver-zinc batteries do not lose any bit of its capacity though after the first year it degrade at the same speed as the lithium-lion batteries do.
Many market analysts say that this new type of battery will be costly as it uses silver which is expensive and it may take some time before silver-zinc based batteries can be seen used at a large number
ZPower also says that this is a new kind of battery and it will take some time before they can know and improve all of its drawback, but still this new battery will be available for shipment at the end of this month.