This is my wish for this holiday, a product that I would like to see.
Like an iPhone to an iPod Touch, the size of an iPhone nano should be similar to an iPod nano. It is small and its screen is only good for limited yet well defined functions, such as choosing an album, point-and-shoot camera and address book sync. It will not be a good game device nor a good email reader. It sounds like quite the opposite of all the trendy development nowadays: the bigger, the better. The latest phone is so big that you have to attend to your weight training and fitness program diligently in order to keep your arm strength up with the phone.
But an iPhone nano will be very good for one thing: tethering. It should have the same data connection capability as its cousin. It makes such a device a good companion for iPads and laptops. A user with such a device will not need a separate data contract or go through a complicated data sharing arrangement. When the data connection drains battery too fast, it borrows power from the big device it connects to. In my opinion, a cell phone with a near 5-inch screen serves no purpose well. A cell phone should be compact enough to be dropped in virtually any pocket. And the size of an iPad mini is the minimum to be adequate for a tablet. For people that need a cell phone with a long-lasting battery and a good-sized mobile device, this imaginary iPhone nano is probably a good alternative, if not the best.
Why now? The time is ripe to push further for tablets. The need for data connection is more a given than an after-thought. Wireless carriers may frown at the product as a double-edged sword. Can Android community do this? I have not seen a decent small Android phone yet. All those carrier-branded, dumb-down small Android phones look undesirable. Can Nokia do this? Nokia is very good at building solid yet cute phones. But Nokia may no longer have the influence to persuade carriers to promote such a product. Apple needs an inexpensive phone to combat Android in markets where carrier subsidy is not a preferred business practice. An iPhone nano may fill the bill and sells more iPad.
