iPhone Fever ???
An Excerpt ........

" Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, on introduced their hotly awaited mobile phone, still
named iPhone although Cisco, through Linksys had previously launched an Internet
phone with the same name.

At Macworld 2007, Jobs managed to bring the audience to awe with his well-thought
presentation of the new technological gem by Apple. But, as the dust settled,
analysts and experts have also pointed out that it may well not be a perfect gem.

Basically, the iPhone is a touchscreen phone, with the capabilities of an iPod,
running OSX, with built-in WiFi (802.11b/g) and Bluetooth 2.0,
as well as a 2.0-megapixel camera. It’s 11.6 millimeters thin,
it has an 8GB storage capacity (unknown right now if that's expandable)
and it recognizes unintentional input. The device is a 2.5G quad band GSM and
EDGE mobile phone. iPhone supports push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging,
Safari web browsing and other wireless information services. It also features a widget engine,
although it is not clear how significantly different this is from the Mac OS X Dashboard.

Let's see the advantages:

- spelling-correction software, that almost instantly “figures-out” what you wanted to type (in case of a typo) and if you decide that is the word you wanted, you can press space to continue
- impressive MultiTouch touch screen technology which lets the user navigate the on-screen controls with
nothing more than bare fingers (see also cons)
- orientation sensor switches the screen from portrait to landscape mode simply by turning the device on its
side
- built-in WiFi and Bluetooth (see also cons about connectivity)
- size and weight (it's 11.6 millimeters thin!)
- loads of apps (see cons)
- design (it's an Apple)
- advanced technology makes it an all-in-one phone, mp3 player, digital camera, browser, etc.
The Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg, who played with a prototype for an hour,
sums it up, "It has the largest and most beautiful screen I've ever seen on a
cell phone, even though it's incredibly thin. ... It has a brilliant new user interface;
the handsomest email program and Web browser I've ever seen on a phone;
a full-blown iPod music and video player built in; and even a cool new voicemail system."

Now, for the disadvantages:

- legal battle over name with Cisco's Linksys. Computerworld says: "An Apple executive told PC World that because the Cisco iPhone is a voice over IP (VoIP) phone and the Apple iPhone is a cell phone, Apple is not violating Cisco's trademark." But Cisco has another opinion on the matter. “Today’s iPhone is not tomorrow’s iPhone. The potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone and PC is limitless, which is why it is so important for us to protect our brand,” said Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel, Cisco.

- price: $499 for entry level (4GB) and $599 (6 GB) for premium version (you can buy the premium version of PS3 for $600)
- locked on Cingular GSM networks (this also means no access to faster CDMA-2000 internet connectivity); also not compatible with GSM's latest 3G network. "Cingular executives I've spoken with say they anticipate people will change (mobile phone) carriers so they can buy an iPhone -- I doubt that," says Sascha Segan, chief mobile phone analyst for PC Computing Magazine. "People choose call carriers on (cell-phone) coverage, call quality and price -- not device."
- quality issues (some analysts are questioning if iPhone will be able to resist to scratches and drops, as an usual phone is)
- on-screen keyboard may be hard to use (hard to type on such a small surface with your thumbs)
- it’s still unclear it will support third party applications, and Steve Jobs suggested it won’t: “We define everything that is on the phone,” Jobs said. “You don’t want your phone to be like a PC. The last thing you want is to have loaded three apps on your phone and then you go to make a call and it doesn’t work anymore. These are more like iPods than they are like computers.”

Jobs said Apple plans to sell 10 million units by end of 2008. Many can't see that happening in real life, although it's almost certain people will line up in June when the iPhone (or whatever its name is going to be then) will hit the shelves. Apple also promised it's going to work hard on improvements before the product is going on the market.

I guess it comes down to whether you think the iPhone's unquestionable innovations outweigh its flaws. It remains to be seen if iPhone will follow the iPod in sales. What I can say for sure at this moment is that is certain iPhone will secure a certain niche of buyers, especially among Mac users."