The iPhone Is Here

Jan 10, 10:29 AM

Months of speculation surrounding Apple’s secret (or not-so-secret) project for a combination iPod and mobile phone have finally come to an end as Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone on Tuesday at the Macworld conference in San Francisco. Now, I’ve heard people clamoring on and on about how much they wanted to see what Apple would do for what is currently one of the hippest and most lucrative electronic gadgets: the mobile phone.

If you haven’t had a chance to look at what the iPhone can do, you can watch a series of demonstration videos on Apple’s website. What you see there will amaze you. Not only has Apple combined the iconic iPod with phone technology, but they’ve created what may be a fundamental step forward in what a digital handheld device can be.

Not only is the iPhone a capable mp3 player and phone, but also can surf the web in a very non-PDA fashion, play movies and TV shows bought from iTunes, take pictures as well as display them, keep a list of contacts, show maps, receive and send media-rich e-mail. And all of this in a form factor that is signature Apple design.

For a while, I had heard the rumors, but none of them came close to what Apple’s engineers came up with. If people were dreaming about this announcement, they’ll be left with their jaws dropping on the floor.

And for all the speculation about Microsoft’s Zune making an attempt at slowly eating away at iPod’s market share, the iPhone has probably dealt the deathblow to the latest “iPod killer”.

My only regret is that I live in Canada and the iPhone may or may not make its way up here. But we can always hope.

Apple has outdone itself again. How long can they keep this up? For now, the well of inspiration at Apple seems to be deeper than anyone imagined.