iPhone mania

Wow. Talk about perfect hype and PR. It has been quite some time since I remember a product announcement getting this much coverage and conversation in the blogosphere. Steve Jobs was right when he told Time Magazine, "Everybody hates their phone, and that's not a good thing. And there's an opportunity there."

In all fairness, the iPhone looks like an awesome piece of kit. Like all Apple products, it is a thing of beauty. Like some of their products, I wonder if it will only appeal to a limited number of people.

It is far from perfect: It doesn't support MS Exchange, so no threat to Blackberry (yet). It doesn't support MS Office attatchments yet, either. The battery is based on iPod tech and thus cannot be removed/swapped. It lacks 3G. It doesn't have expandable memory (only 8GB, currently). And apparently, it cannot sync via WiFi or Bluetooth, amongst other reasons.

Is this really "reinventing the telecom industry," as Jobs and others are saying? Many people don't think so.

To me, it is a pseudo-Smartphone, since it is indeed a platform and new applications can be installed, but only by Apple. Like iTunes and iPod, the iPhone is hardly an open model/platform, and that is contradictory to what many in the industry believe will drive growth and adoption of products and services. The exclusive US deal with Cingular (soon to be AT is another clear sign of Apple's reluctance to play in "open" spaces. Expect other exclusive deals in other countries and regions. Compared to the new range of Skype phones from Netgear and others, there is a massive philisophical difference.

Which one will win the battle? Cool GUIs on exlusive networks or open-source calls made on netowrked phones? That's a tough question. For now, if I were Nokia I'd be very nervous.

So, I know you're all asking, "You're coming down pretty hard on this thing. Should I send you one?"

Yes please. A white one. ;)


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