January 09, 2007

Its a cell phone, its an iPod, its a computer.. no, its an iPhone!

Apple releases the iPhone... do you want one? Finally the wait is over... enter the iPhone... aka. the iPod / cell phone / multi-media computer. We've all been hearing about it forever and it finally got released today by Steve Jobs at the Annual Apple lovefest. Now many of you know that I'm big on the symbian OS and Symbian S60 smartphones (ie. Nokia N80, N93, 6682, E62, Sony Ericsson 950i, etc...) and the new iPhone really doesn't do anything that these devices don't already do, however, given the Symbian OS' lack of penetration in the US and the pathetic attempt at selling these devices by the carriers the iPhone may infact be a huge hit. IT will all depend on the sales channels and given the US' current love for anything by Apple you can expect some big things for this device in North America... don't expect this puppy to be used in Europe though... there's no way they will take down Nokia's dominance in this space. The iPhone obviously supports music and that will be big sellign feature. Some of the other pluses for the device will no doubt be the bundled solutions (google search, Yahoo! etc, Google maps, Safari web browser...), WiFi, Bluetooth, Qwerty keyboard (do people really want this on their phone??), Huge screen (3.5 inch), and the ease of synching with your PC... this is Huge. Here's some info from the official blurbage... iPhone will be available in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US), and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple’s retail and online stores, and through Cingular’s retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple’s new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset. See more at www.apple.com/iphone/keynote

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