Blatantly Random

Apple Unleashes the iPhone

Filed under: Apple, Tech — Malcolm Owen @ 3:29 am

So, Steve Jobs walks out on stage, talks for a lot about Apple and stuff (you know, because of some company he runs), and then he shows off the iPhone. As in a mobile phone made by Apple.

“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone. We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.” – Steve Jobs

Admittance – I own a Macbook. It’s sitting right next to me, I love it, and my eye is constantly being drawn to more of the Apple range of products. I apologise if any whining fanboy style writing comes forth.

The iPhone’s interface is basically the screen itself, a large “multi-touch display”. Point and click, except on a cellphone. The screen changes it’s layout depending on what you’re doing, and it can also sense which way you’re holding it, which is handy for wide layouts of real (not wap) websites. SMS gives you a full Qwerty keyboard instead of typing the number 7 enough times for the S to show. It has a calendar that appears to work in a way that really does “work” compared to standard calendars in phones. There’s Wi-Fi built in, a 2 megapixel camera, the ability to use widgets and so on and so forth.

It’s also marketed as a really expensive iPod (which you use just like a normal iPod, by syncing it with your pc/mac. There doesn’t appear to be the facility to download music over the phone), and the integration into the phone means you can use actual songs you own as your ringtone (instead of paying over the odds for a 30 second clip from a service provider).

It looks good, and sounds like a dream. My only fear is that being a citizen of the UK (Europe), we will have availability issues. How long will it be before it comes out over here. Since Apple have done a deal with Cingular in the US for it, will they do something similar over here, forcing people onto one specific network which we might actually hate to use.

With that being my only real fear, I have to wonder if the other phone providers will take notice and update their own shabby offerings to compete. This can be good for the industry as a whole.

Being a level headed person, I believe that I should not get an iPhone, since it’s going to cost a lot more than a regular phone. But at the same time, I’m extremely tempted either to go into debt or to get a better job, just so I could afford the “new hotness”.

Damn you Mr Jobs, my weak fanboyisms are coming through…

[Image - Apple]

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