iphone

After much hype and anticipation, Apple's experiment into the celluar market has landed. I am sure everyone has heard something about the iphone by now. To this point, I have been sceptical. I do think the ipod is a revolutionary product and worthy of market leadership, but a cellphone from apple that cost $599? Is it worth paying that for a phone that only works on AT&T's network (rated around 128-30kbps)?

Well, the verdict is in. One of the guys I work with brought his in yesterday and I have to say it is quite impressive. The touchscreen interface is unlike anything I have ever seen. It is about as thick as 2 nano's stacked on top of each other and it weighs only 4 ounces. Crazy. When someone leaves you a voicemail, the phone automatically downloads the messages on your phone. You can play them in the order you wish to listen to them (instead of listening to the latest message first). When typing a message or an e-mail, the screen turns into a keyboard. If you flip the iphone on its side, the keyboard expands to take up the entire widescreen. The maps functionlity can find the closest steak and shake to your locations and give you the option to call ahead for a carryout order. When walking through the building here at Adtran, it automatically detects wifi networks and pops up a screen that gives you the option to switch to them with the touch of the screen. When in ipod mode, you can flip through your artists list like you would on a rolidex. Turn the iphone on its side, and watch an episode of 24 or lost in widescreen.

In the end, it's just a phone. It isn't going to cure cancer or relieve the national debt, but i do think their is a huge market of people that hate their cellphones and would jump at the chance to stop carrying around their ipod and their cell phone. If Apple is smart, they will cater to this market with stripped down versions of the phone (like the ipod mini, nano, etc). They will come up with smaller ones, more inexpensice ones, and the higher end models will also drop in price. I can see it now; a white, an orange, maybe a green iphone?

While I still don't think it is worth paying that much for a 1st gen product, the iphone does indeed live up to the hype. I believe that everyone will have an iphone, just like they do an ipod, within 5 years.