A leaked iPhone sales training manual has revealed that the new iPhone due for release on June 29 will have no GPS capability however it does deliver support for IMAP and POP3 email as well as Yahoo Push email. It also has no hard keypad.
The leaked AT &T training manual is designed to help AT&T sales staff overcome “objections,” however the very existence of the manual raises several questions like with all the hype why would any sales executive have to “sell” the phone?
During the last week AT&T sources have said that inquiries from people wanting to place a forward order has jumped from 1 million over the past few months to nearly 500,000 last week alone.
The manual reveals that iPhone users will not be able to conduct IM conversations with instant messaging users. This is the same problem experienced by Blackberry services. There are third-party IM solutions for Blackberry. SMS text messages on the iPhone will ‘look’ like instant messaging however the iPhone doesn’t support MMS messaging for photos or videos.
This inability to support the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) standard is a serious shortcoming. Apple is getting hammered for this on the MacRumors forums. MMS lets you embed images, audio, and video clips within text messages. You definitely want MMS support in a phone which, for all the criticism, is nevertheless the highest-profile, converged phone-and-music/photo device ever to hit the market.
Only content compatible with iTunes can be used on iPhone. In the section on SMS text messaging, the sales manual promises that the iPhone has a “full QWERTY keyboard.” This is a “soft,” or virtual, keyboard, which appears on the glass screen.
The iPhone also has built-in error correction and prevention for the keyboard which Apple claims makes sending messages easier and faster than ever.
On page 27 of the workbook, in a section entitled “Overcoming Objections,” it lists as a possible question a sales person might receive.
Potential Buyer: “I’m used to a keyboard with real buttons so I know when I’ve actually typed a character.”
Recommended Response: “With an actual keyboard, it’s easy to make a mistake and press the wrong key. iPhone’s virtual keyboard helps prevent this by through [it really does say “through”; I assume they mean “thorough,” though perhaps it’s supposed to be “thought”] software that can predict what you are trying to type and correct errors. For example, if you type “proomise,” iPhone will propose “promise” instead.”
Other key features allow users to sync your photos from a Mac or PC as you would with an iPod. Use of on-screen displays to create three-way conference calls, and to manage multiple calls. Automatic recognition of phone numbers. According to the leaked sales manual, this means “users can call someone back simply by pressing the telephone number that appears in the body of the email message.”
iTunes integration (sync up the phone just like you would an iPod). Mac-like widgets to display the weather and stock prices. Safari to browse the Web. The iPhone will also work via Wi-Fi.
