Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The iPhone - sounding better and better

The MUCH-anticipated Apple iPhone arrives this Friday, finally ending months and months of hype, conjecture, and breathless anticipation by geeks everywhere. And, according to initial reviews - the most thorough and complete is Steve Levy's in Newsweek - the bang-to-hype ratio is well above average.

Apple's track record of producing superior products (OK, let's get over the Newton, already - the concept was good, even if the execution wasn't) should only be enhanced by the apparently excellent convergence of phone, DAP (digital audio player, for those who are acronym-impaired), PIM (personal information manager; seriously, where have you been?), Web browser, and mobile email client. According to everything I've read, the interface is intuitive and easy to use, the applications work, the battery lasts for a while, and it's fun to use.

To be sure, there are some complaints - it runs on AT&Ts slower EDGE network, rather than the newer and faster 3G, the apps aren't quite as integrated as some might like, storage capacity isn't huge by iPod standards, and it's expensive - but you'd expect at least some of those issues to go away in fairly short order. Some issues. like price, are probably part of the equation for while. However, think back to the original hard-drive iPods, which held 4 or so gigabytes of music and cost a small fortune. Not so much anymore.

I have to say, I am intruiged. I would never buy rev1.0 of any device which costs over $50 (and the iPhone costs WELL over $50), but I'd sure tune in for rev1.5 or later. Except for one little thing.

I work for a Microsoft partner. I'm already somewhat ashamed (and mildly castigated) for having a gmail personal email address and a Blogger site. Showing up at a Microsoft meeting with an IPhone would be the professional kiss of death.

Looks like I'll be sticking with the low-key love-hate relationship I have with my Cingular 8125 for a while...

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