Alex Hopmann’s Blog

Now that the iPhone 3.0 software is introduced, its time to start dreaming about what the next hardware might bring. My assumption at this point is that Apple is going to refresh the hardware every summer, and that if they do a good enough job that I (and tons of other suckers) are just going to buy the new one every year like clockwork.

So given that I’m overall pretty happy with my iPhone, certainly more happy than I have been with any phone 9 months into ownership, what are the top things I would improve?

• 64GB storage. 32GB seems like an easy bet given that there is an iPod Touch with it, but with USB drives out in the market with 64GB, is a 64GB option too much to ask? The fear is it would push the price point out to $399 (64GB USB drives are still a bit more than $100 right now). My 16GB has done pretty well so far, but I’m starting to push on its limits.
• Better wireless circuitry. Of course its hard to tell how much is AT&T, how much is the phone hardware, and how much is software issues, but it certainly feels like I occasionally have a harder time connecting, especially for data connections than makes sense.
• Better GPS. It seems like the micro GPS chips have been improving rapidly and having a GPS chip that syncs faster would be very nice.
• Better camera. I find myself taking a surprising number of photos using my phone now since I always forget my camera. Its actually not that bad for a “paste a quick snap on Facebook” scenario, but 4-5MP and less grainy would be really nice.
• Standard USB port for charging. This one I assume I’m not going to get unless the pressure from the EU forces them into it, but being able to use a standard micro-USB port to charge the thing would be great.

Given that you pay almost $1000/year for service, Apple really does have a good business model on their hands if they can come out with an incrementally better device every summer for $299. Just with normal wear it can make sense to get a new one every year or two and Apple needs to keep pushing just enough improvements to get people into the new model. The 3g refresh last summer appears to have done the trick for most people, and frankly if they can do 3 out of the 5 things above, it will be a pretty easy decision for me.

As expected, spurred to quick action by the wave of outrage, the government has begun to counter the A.I.G. bonus situation with what are probably some really bad reactions. 538 has a great write-up of some of the unintended consequences of the bill the House passed the other day. I do think something should be done about the A.I.G. bonuses, again, because I think that while $165 million is just a drop in the ocean of the multi-trillion dollar crisis, I do think this goes to the fundamental credibility of whether the industry is set up to work in our societies best interest in fixing the mess they created, as opposed to continued short-term cashing out while the getting is still good.

Although its obviously coming with its own set of political grandstanding, the approach taken by the NY Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo seems more reasonable. Rather than pass a law that has lots of side effects, we likely have plenty of existing laws that make a situation like this- executives signing contracts with each other that set up guaranteed payments, irrespective of job performance and from an (effectively) insolvent organization. I would hope that this would be sufficient to get the involved parties at A.I.G. to realize that its in their own self-interest to give the bonuses back, as well as make sure that similar situations will not happen again in the near future.

Meanwhile the one thing that I’d love to see more of is scrutiny of the actual work that this group has been doing unraveling their toxic deals. Have they been using the government money to cut good deals in the interest of A.I.G. and its shareholders (the US taxpayer), or have they been doing their own sweetheart hand-outs to the other Wall St. companies like Goldman. Are they just paying out these insurance policies at 100% despite the underlying bonds still being in fine shape, or are they striking an appropriate hard bargain so that no one walks away unduly profiting from the governments assistance?

Goldman is still claiming they have no exposure to A.I.G. but if that is true, among all the other government largess to Goldman why do they have more than $12 billion in payments from A.I.G. and other unwinding of these contracts?