Apple iPhone

[Troy]

React!

[mistersloane]

What every respectable mugger will be wearing this season

[krankissey]

battery's life not included

[krankissey]

Hey Oh!

[Edward]

I think it looks cool but I was a bit shocked to hear it announced in a news item on BBC radio 4 news last night.
Since when is a company making a new phone "news"?
Maybe somebody at the beeb getting a backhander?

[swears]

What is the point of all this crap? I already have a camera, a PC and a phone. The economy of the western world seems to revolve around buying useless gadgets.

[bruno]

what's exciting about it, i think, is the ui and interactive touches rather than the multiple functions or whathaveyou. the finger gesture navigation looks fantastically well implemented, and this is what makes apple products stand out in the end. but what's interesting to me is that it runs os x, meaning it could potentially run third party applications and generally keep the (relatively) open spirit of the os. unlikely, seeing how they have locked down the ipod, but it could turn out to be an interesting device.

[bruno]

The economy of the western world seems to revolve around buying useless gadgets.

true!

[mistersloane]

but what's interesting to me is that it runs os x, meaning it could potentially run third party applications and generally keep the (relatively) open spirit of the os. unlikely, seeing how they have locked down the ipod, but it could turn out to be an interesting device.

Lol, you could hear every programmer in the world yesterday thinking that.

For me what was interesting about it was the presentation - 4,000 people, the slickness, ( did you hear the sound on some of Jobs' statements? I swear they were adding subtle reverb effects to over pronounce some sentences, very clever if so ) - and precisely that it will now prefigure in every programmer's head with regard to how to open up the OS system within it. It marks a slight paradigm shift, a movement, in how people regard technology from yesterday to today, and is another step toward making Apple the world's most profitable cult.

And if you're reading, Jonathan Ive, I want your babies. Little shiny ones that bleep.

[wonk_vitesse]

Apparently Cisco are now wanting to sue apple, they thought up the iPhone first apparently

[MATT MAson]

What is the point of all this crap? I already have a camera, a PC and a phone. The economy of the western world seems to revolve around buying useless gadgets.

I think this might be one of the few gadgets that isn't entirely useless. Mobile phones are having a very real impact on people's lives in Africa right now, the world's fastest growing mobile phone market, the elections in Kenya for example recieved mush higher turnouts because of text message rallying.

Devices that put the internet within reach are a good thing - this will inevitably mean all phones have to do this now, and the price will drop.

It's also an important development in the west, given how the iPod has become the tech icon of the decade. As much as I agree about how the world works and how much crap there is on the news, I think this is newsworthy.

[Troy]

I can't believe you Dissensians. A revolution stares you in the face and you can't even recognize it. It's not a phone, it's the ultimate communication device (phone, ipod, camera, next-gen emailer, browser, etc) with the next gen touchpad interface.

Welcome to the future, luddites.

[turtles]

I think this might be one of the few gadgets that isn't entirely useless. Mobile phones are having a very real impact on people's lives in Africa right now, the world's fastest growing mobile phone market, the elections in Kenya for example recieved mush higher turnouts because of text message rallying.

Devices that put the internet within reach are a good thing - this will inevitably mean all phones have to do this now, and the price will drop.

It's also an important development in the west, given how the iPod has become the tech icon of the decade. As much as I agree about how the world works and how much crap there is on the news, I think this is newsworthy.

I agree that the development of these all-in-one cellphone-camera-webbrowser-mp3player devices is really exciting and represents, i think, the biggest new thing since the personal computer.

HOWEVER, it really pisses me off that it's treated like apple invented this idea, when there are already products on market that do exactly what the iPhone does. Things like this from the iPhone website:

iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers.

Oh you can control everything with JUST YOUR FINGERS??? Wow, man, that's fucking space age. I hate having to use my feet and elbows to control my current cell phone....

[Lichen]

(phone, ipod, camera, next-gen emailer, browser, etc)

i was watching a man playing a game boy on the train today...his wincing and twitching were so far removed from any recognisable sign of pleasure...it made me fink you know....the tyranny of the screen...

[MATT MAson]

The mp3 player was old news when they released the iPod. And many of it's most important component parts and OS were produced by third parties like Toshiba and Sony. Apple are successful for the same reason Nike are - they focus on design and branding like obsessed autistic childeren. The touch screen tech is old - but the way they've done it with the iPhone still looks incredible. And the finished product is most definitely something "new". This doesn't just spell trouble for phone manufacturers, this thing will probably make a dent in laptop sales.

Talking of laptops, what will be really exciting is when they extend this idea and scale it up a little. Imagine an Apple laptop with a touch screen keyboard that doubles as a huge foldy screen?