It's an iPod, an iPod Video... a Phone... iPhone

It has finally been revealed... the iPhone. No more guess work on the look, specs and functions of Apple's latest revolutionary product. After 2 over years of research and development, Apple vows that the iPhone will change the way we think and use an every day mobile phone. The fact remains that 4 years ago, Apple did change the way we listen to music. Just when sceptics out there were growing concerned about the music industry and music sales, Apple gave us iPod. Today, 5 million music titles are being sold on iTunes EVERYDAY. Steve Jobs announced at the MacWorld conference in San Francisco that this will spur onto other online sales download for TV and movies. It's big money and it makes a lot of sense. I can't even recall the last time I actually stepped into a Music Stall with the intension on buying or browsing for music. Remember those good ole days where I will make a weekly trip down to Tower Records just to cap on a headset and check out groovy music titles. Today, I browse, listen and buy online.

I've mentioned it before that Apple have a way to bring across awesome design and great user interface. They have succeeded by thinking about the consumer first. And they will continue to win customers if they just simply stick to this formula. They have proven that people will pay for design and ease of use.

I am thankful that the iPhone looks nothing like the iPod. With it's slick black and bevel finishing... the phone simply looks classy.
The functions gives us a lot to think about. Essentially, a phone is a phone. There are really only so many ways you can make a phone call. However, it's not uncommon that we do carry around a few devices, such as the Phone, MP3 Player, PDA, Portable Gaming Device. It leaves you thinking that if you have a Smart Phone today and do carry around an iPod... what happens to all these devices? Size also matters... like... do I want to put a 4.5" handphone around my arm while I hit the gym... versus the Nano?

Apple did what Apple was best at... music and video... just put them into a phone... but they do have email and web browsing capabilities. The Google Earth Map feature looked pretty awesome, but you'd have to remember the download cost for those graphics.
I thought the capability to manage documents would be a really nice thing to have. That would mean that the PDA can taken off the list. I am pretty sure there will be at least some 3rd Party software that will offer such integration by the time it launches.

I've always thought that have a physical keyboard on the device especially for document creation was a good thing. I'm can't comment on the on-screen touch keypad, hopefully it lives up to it's patented touch screen technology. The advantage is a 3.5" screen. That's pretty cool.

HD Space is never enough. With iPod Video offering as much as 60 gig, I was rather surprised that the iPhone has only onboard 8 gig. Plus no external storage card slot. Typical Apple egoisim. No card sharing...

No 3G... a little unusual for a future generation phone, but at least they have Wireless.

All that said... when it comes to Asia next year... there is a good chance I might lay my hands on one. Apple have a way of making you feel that you'll need one... at a US$599 price tag.