The blog of Eric Lee - web design and internet consulting for the trade union movement.
iPhone? Who the hell needs an iPhone?
Look carefully at the image to the left. This is not an iPhone. It is an iPod touch with something that looks just like a thumbtack stuck into the bottom of it.
This thing is actually called a Thumbtack and you can buy one and stick it into your iPod Touch. You can then go to the Apps Store and download a free copy of Skype.
And then you can make Skype calls whenever you're in range of a wi-fi connection, which for someone like me is nearly all the time.
Obviously this is not a replacement for a mobiile phone. When you're out of range of wi-fi, it won't do you any good.
But when you think of all the reasons why people buy iPhones, an iPod Touch would do just as well -- except that it can't make calls. Now it can.
The Thumbtack won't work with earlier versions of the iPod Touch and anyway, last year's version didn't have an external speaker.
I just completed a long Skype call to a friend and the sound quality was perfect and it worked just like a phone. No headsets -- you just held it up to your head as you would a normal iPhone.
Why is this so interesting? Why not just buy an iPhone?
Do the math. An iPhone (8 GB) will set you back -- and this is the cheapest deal in the UK at the moment -- £96.89, plus £29.38 a month for 18 months. In other words, total cost of ownership for the first 18 months is £625.73.
The cost of an iPod Touch (8 GB) is £165. (The Thumback costs $15.99.)
Obviously, the iPod Touch cannot do everything an iPhone can do. It cannot make phone calls outside of wi-fi network. But it can do everything else -- including making phone calls to ordinary phones (for a small fee).
It's something to think about.