Wired, on the Cult of Mac blog, posted a thoughtful article about the key part of the Apple Phone’s success—good mobile-phone-to-computer synchronization. It was a point made in a recent post by Engadget’s Ryan Block, and I’d say most people would agree with it.

But from that general and broad notion, I think Wired misses a lot of the progress Apple has already made with their existing applications. They also miss a large potential opportunity and downside of the introduction of an Apple Phone for Apple users.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Steroids!

The Wired article talks about iSync, and with an Apple Phone, we’re going to need an “iSync on Steroids.” My response is, don’t we already have that? On the Mac we have this app called iSync. The way I understand it (please correct my over-simplifations!), iSync is just a GUI front-end for just one aspect of the underlying Sync Services built into Mac OS X that can be used to coordinate specific data (contacts and events) on your Mac with other applications or devices. But Sync Services can be made to synchronize all kinds of data, not just contacts and events, and its use is not exclusive to the iSync app.

In the case of one syncable device, the iPod, earlier versions of iSync and iTunes shared a lot of their preferences. Today, Apple provides a lot of content synchronization for iPods through iTunes alone. Yes, there’s what we think of as iTunes related content, like music, videos, podcasts, but there’s also contacts (pulled from Address Book or Outlook 2003), events (pulled from iCal or Outlook 2003), Photos (pulled from iPhoto, Adobe Album or Elements), games (from the iTunes store) and notes. You don’t see each one of those “independent” applications launch every time you connect your iPod to your computer. Instead, iTunes manages all of this mass-content synchronization, and it’s cross platform on Mac OS X or Windows, to boot! It’s not one just one way, either.

Even though your iPod is primarily a content display device (as opposed to a data entry device), your iPod still has valuable information of its own to share. Music, video, and podcast playcounts and playback marks are sent from your iPod to iTunes. and iSync already allows for contact and calendars to be pulled from your phone back to it’s respective app on your Mac (I think in the case of the ROKR E1, this works with Outlook as well). There’s no reason a real data entry device, like an Apple Phone, that takes pictures, records audio and video, etc, couldn’t be made to sync back content to a computer as well. In fact, we’ve already seen evidence of this capability existing in the error codes of the latest iTunes 7, maybe for beta testers of an Apple Phone?

Opportunities and Pitfalls

So, I think that the synchronization technology Apple’s already put out suffices, without it being on steroids. But, to my other point, I think introducing an Apple Phone presents a double-edged sword. On one side, with a synchronization system in place on Mac and PC, Apple has a tremendous opportunity here to lure mobile manufacturers, and software and content developers into using it. Microsoft has ActiveSync, but anyone who uses it knows that it’s a closed system, a mess, and generally only works with Microsoft Mobile devices. An open, easy to use, cross-platform sync system via iTunes, has a lot of potential, and could entice many to buy more Apple products.

But there’s that pesky other side of the sword. It’s the side that I worry to even bring up on a Mac-centric site because we can all be zealots sometimes. Still, I think it needs to be said. My concern is that, just as with the iPod, Apple has the potential to close out other mobile device manufacturers from taking advantage of all these great synchronization technologies. True, with the iPod, it’s said to be done for our benefit—to ensure the best user experience; but is that an excuse for being anti-competitive? With the introduction of an Apple Phone, my big concern is that Apple may lock out competitive mobile devices from synchronizing content as well.

Before you start ripping on me in the comments, to counter my own point, there is evidence against this. Currently, iSync mobile device synchronization appears to use fairly open standards and specs for allowing a phone to sync with your Mac, and a number of the major manufacturers build to those specs (yes, there are a lot of them who unfortunately don’t). And this hasn’t happened with the one iTunes blessed phone—the Motorola ROKR—and there’s little to prevent manufacturers from creating their own technologies that work well. But we all know how lack-luster that ROKR is and as Mac users, we also know how difficult it is to ask developers to dedicate resources for a platform that is less than 10% of the market. There, I said it, let the comment flames begin!

I Still Want my Apple Mobile Phone!

An Apple mobile phone (or “Apple Mo-Pho” as I like to call it) that synchronizes perfectly with a Mac will be great for consumers. You know you want one! I hope Apple takes this opportunity to lure other mobile device manufacturers to the Mac platform, thus keeping them competitive while providing even more incentive for consumers to buy Apple’s great computers.

Note: the image of syringe borrowed in the graphic from OcularVision.

There are 7 comments on Wired: Apple Phone’s success depends on “iSync on Steroids”:

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  1. Walafrid | Jan 07 2007 - 06:02

    Just a brief point. I already use iSync to synchronise my contacts and calendar information between my Mac and phone with great success, so it seems that, as Alex pointed out, all of the features are already there in place, even in the current iteration of iSync; no steroids required.

    As to Apple locking out others when their phone arrives (if ever!), let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.

  2. scottmc | Jan 07 2007 - 03:33

    I picked up a Blackberry Pearl a few weeks ago, replacing a Treo 650, and I’m very happy with it — EXCEPT with the syncing on the Mac. I’ve spent hours debugging crashes of PocketMac SyncManager and Entourage, and have pretty much concluded this software won’t ever work reliably, at least not before major upgrades.

    Too bad…I love the phone, I love my Mac. I’m able to sync this phone to PC/Outlook completely seamlessly. Very frustrating. An iPhone will need superb syncing to succeed.

  3. Jamie Davis | Jan 07 2007 - 08:29

    My wife said to me the other day “we need to get out of this phone contract. It’s (the service coverage) getting worse every week!”

    I told her to wait until after MacWorld. I hope Steve doesn’t let me down. Otherwise I’ll have to trek to the Cingular or Verizon store because our Nextel/Sprint service seems to be dying in our area.

  4. Craig | Jan 08 2007 - 01:45

    Does anyone else find it strange that the has been very little buzz about the fullscreen iPod leading up to MacWorld? What if the fullscreen iPod and the Apple phone are one and the same? Same form factor, just additional functionality.

  5. Alex Santos | Jan 08 2007 - 02:45

    I wish Apple would open iTunes further. I can not sync to any phone other than a few Motorola devices. Personally I think that is the wrong way to go about it.

    That’s my only beef I can think of.

    Personally, if Apple came out with a mobile phone device you bet I would go for it, but it would have to more than phone of course…I love the iPod so it better be integrated.

  6. Alex Santos | Jan 08 2007 - 04:08

    Looks as though it may be a reality after all…

    “That shift may well be underscored on Tuesday when Steven Jobs, the chief executive of Apple Computer, is expected to unveil an Apple phone representing his company’s new mobile communications strategy — highlighted by a device that may include Jobs-inspired refinements like a sleek ceramic case and a transparent touch screen.

    Industry executives and competitors say that Apple has developed the first of the next generation of devices that are closer to personal computers in pocket form, meaning that they will easily handle music, entertainment, productivity tasks and communications on cellular and other wireless networks.”

    Herald Tirbune Business

    http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/07/yourmoney/mobile.php?page=1

  7. ScottMc | Jan 09 2007 - 07:40

    Well, one piece of great news for those NOT using an iPhone…The Missing Sync for Blackberry announced today for Q107 delivery!