Today, Apple founder Steve Jobs told delegates at MacWorld in San Francisco: “Apple has reinvented the phone.”
Does this look cool or what?
I would expect battery life to be a problem. However, I love the way it lays out SMS conversations, the way you make calls, the web browsing techniques and the way you flip between the album covers and the track listing. It’s currently only going to be offered on the US Cingular EDGE network (2.75G) – and it also has WiFi. The specifications do not say as yet?if it will hook up with a corporate Exchange network.
Up to now, I always thought as Nokia having the most intuitive interface, now it looks as if it has serious competition.
On the news, shares in RIM (Blackberry) fell around 11% and Apple’s shares rose about 8%
It looks as if the 8GB will retail around $599 and the 4GB $499, the iPhone will be on sale in June in the US and end of the year in Europe. Probably not until 2008 in Asia.
The FCC have yet to approve the phone and this could take up to two months.
Other cool things in the announcement include:
- No stylus, multi-finger touches possible on the touch screen, the product/software controlling this has been patented, far more accurate than others
- iPhone runs on OS X
- 160 pixels per inch
- Device is thinner than Motorola Q or Blackjack
- Bottom speaker
- Advanced sensors throughout. It will know it’s own?rotation, it has a proximity sensor (when you bring it to your?ear it turns off the display and sound), ambient light sensor
- To unlock your phone “swish” your finger across the bottom of the screen?
- WiFi and Bluetooth
- Want to develop an app for the iPhone? Just build a widget – a lightweight mini-program based on Web 2.0 standards like Ajax and RSS
- Scroll through contract with finger “swish”
- QWERTY soft keyboard with automatic error correcting
- IMAP and POP, not sure about Exchange, however push IMAP will be available (similar to Blackberry)
- Yahoo is partnering with Apple to provide free push IMAP e-mail to iPhone users. This is a big blow for RIM (Blackberry) because RIM charges big monthly service fee for that same e-mail
- Google search built in
Just two last little issues. Linksys own the copyright to the name iPhone and Go Daddy Software Inc own the domain iphone.com – over to the lawyers.
And, of course, I must not forget the other exciting announcment today, Apple TV. I want Apple TV and an iPhone. The thought of getting hold of an iPhone takes me back to my nightmares of securing a Playstation 3!
Dean says: 
