Originally posted by AlanA
I do not see any need for it. Its yet again hysteria based upon a brand name, rather like BMW.
I already have a phone which does all the Apple phone can do, admittidly not up to 8GB, but thats only 4 Mini SD cards anyway.
Alan,
Hate to disagree with you, but, well, I have to disagree with you.
The point about the iPhone has very little to do with the "me too" list of features like Bluetooth, Push Email, Cameraphones, etc, and everything to do with Apple.
What Apple bring's to this party is an integrated hardware and software experience that means everybody else's product looks clunky. Sure my Sony P990i has internet, WiFi, Push Email, two cameras, and pretty much everything iPhone promises on the checklist, but sadly the fact is that Sony nerfed their user interface and I use 10% of the phone's features as a result. Every other phone out there has a poor interface compared with iPhone.
The iPhone will sell because Apple are famous for making products that are a delight to use (and also come wrapped up in some of the best industrial design on the planet). Apple's entry into the market will divide it into "iPhones" and "Wannabes", and if the iPod market has taught as anything (and to a certain extent, the Sony Walkman 25 years before it), people will want the original and not the clone.
The existing players in the market have split up into various groups; those saying they will have a response to iPhone, and those saying their handsets offer similar functionality to the iPhone already. Those in the latter camp either have their head in the sand, or just can't admit they don't have a product ready to compete.
Me, well, I'm stuck with the P990 for 16 months (thanks very much Orange [:(]), so I'm not going to be an early adopter; but I do recognise the impact that iPhone will have. Hey, look at the impact it's already having, and it won't even be in consumers hands until June in the US.
Pete