Well, we were all expecting an Apple cell phone — but instead, we got a revolution.
The fact that the iPhone has a phone function is almost secondary to the really important part: this is a tiny, portable, touch-screen Mac. It runs OS X, it is fully internet enabled — through WiFi or the phone network.
This is the gadget that we’ve been waiting for, the kind you see in scifi movies.
This little movie is hilarious — people staring at an iPhone in a plexiglass case. This, my friends, is the new cult, the new religion; and in that case is a 21st century holy relic.
Interestingly, I just feel played by the announcements and a little bitter. What I wanted was a widescreen iPod, which he made it sound like they were finally offering, and I hoped the phone would be available for multiple networks. By making it sound like they were announcing the former–but then recognizing that it’s just part of the phone–and by making a multi-year exclusive deal with Cingular, they’ve just lost me. At the beginning of his keynote, I was thinking of getting rid of my Dell and going back to completely Mac. Now I feel a little betrayed, and feel like I just want to give up my current iPod, with its non-existent battery life–for some other manufacturer’s digital music player.
Yeah, the phone is cool, but I don’t like being forced into any single carrier. I put up with the DRM of iTunes and AAC because the iPod was just so cool, but I’m starting seriously to reconsider. With Apple joining Microsoft as just another evil empire, I guess I’m going to need to brush up my Linux skills.
My biggest disappointment right now is that it’s not available until June.
What a huge let down at the end.
This is the first cell phone that interests me. I’m not worried about the cost per minute because I rarely if ever use the phone but my job will soon require me to travel and the iPod and phone combined sounds good as does web access if I need it. I’ll be looking into this when it comes out and may even get my employer to spring for it!
Wow Thom, let’s not get carried away with the bitterness (do I know you?). It looks like a fabulous device, I am just wary about the evil Cingular and how they will try to bill the hell out of every microsecond of internet/text time I would try to use. I was hoping for something where Apple bought the connectivity and gave us a much more fair and uncreepy billing system (like iTunes). As it is, I have Cingular and even though I paid for it I never use the internet or AIM, and I rarely text message. Partly cause I hate using that numeric keypad (real alphabet on the iPhone! YAYYYY!!!) and partly because I am a cheapskate who begrudges that 10¢ (soon to be 15¢)