Comparing the iPhone Alternatives
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Can&#39;t get an iPhone? Here&#39;s how some hot cell phones from other manufacturers measure up.
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Blog: When Steve Jobs and company first envisaged the iPhone, a few things surely came to mind.  First, Apple wanted a phone with an appealing design and advanced functionality.  In essence, the company wanted a device that was nothing like its predecessors.  A
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âApple has succeeded in crafting a unique phone that is superior [to] everything else on the market,â remarks Stuff.tv. âIn one great leap Apple has rewritten the rules for mobile web browsing, invented a completely new touch-sensitive interface, and evolved the iPod. In the hand, the iPhone oozes sexiness; its wide, high-resolution screen is encircled by a halo of chrome and wrapped on its back side by cool brushed metal. When you hold it, itâs thinner and lighter than pictures would suggest: it feels like you are holding the future.â And Stuff.tv awarded iPhone a five star rating.
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As with everything, the novelty of the iPhone fades. Its calendar can track how soon.
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Apple Inc.&#39;s  upcoming iPhone  is shaping up as this year&#39;s must-have gadget, but several  perceived shortcomings are pushing some potential buyers to  wait for an updated version.
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Like the star on a Christmas tree, iPhone is perched atop all the top 10 gadget lists for 2007, and with good reason. Not only did iPhone revolutionize the way people think about their mobile phones -- as many writing those lists crow -- but in my case, it has changed the way I live.Let&#39;s be clear: I&#39;m not your typical gadget or technology geek. I didn&#39;t have a cell phone until 2000, and even then I purchased a refurbished Nokia handset for $30 that resembled the Motorola brick phone Michael Douglas used in the 1987 film &quot;Wall Street.&quot;[Watch the three-part video series&#160;Two Geeks and an iPhone.]2008 will mark the first year in as long as I can remember that I won&#39;t be buying a leather-bound dayplanner to keep track of appointments, and I still read more books than blogs. Though I rampantly text-message, instant-message and e-mail, I&#39;d still rather open my mouth and speak than send a series of virtual messages to have a &quot;conversation.&quot;I covered the iPhone launch here in New York in June and didn&#39;t quite understand what all the fuss was about, especially as I interviewed people who lined up for days in the broiling heat just to be among the first to buy the gadget. I am a huge fan of Apple products and own several iPods and a PowerBook, but like many others, I didn&#39;t plan to buy an iPhone until the price dropped or Apple came out with the product&#39;s second wave.When someone gave me an iPhone in late August, I surprised myself by being giddy. I immediately chucked my AT&amp;T-powered Motorola Razr in favor of what would become my new main squeeze. At close range, iPhone, like other Apple gadgets, was just so -- for lack of a better word -- adorable. Even before I opened the box, I realized that my love affair with iPhone was about to begin.Four months later, I&#39;m still smitten. Until iPhone, I never thought a mobile device could so drastically change my daily life. Its cousin iPod was certainly a revolutionary product, disrupting an entire music industry that is still feeling the repercussions. But for the average person, iPod really only changed the form of device that plays your music or videos and how you purchase entertainment. iPhone, on the other hand, affects daily human behavior on a much broader scale.Soon after iPhone came into my life, I was heading to Brooklyn to see a friend&#39;s band perform. Like any self-respecting cabbie in Manhattan, my driver had no idea how to get to the venue, even when I gave him the address. Like most Manhattan-dwellers, I didn&#39;t either.But as we were zooming over the Williamsburg Bridge in the direction I knew we had to go, I used the Google Maps application on iPhone to find the best route. I had it before we exited the 1,600-foot-long bridge in Brooklyn.Now, iPhone isn&#39;t the only mobile device that provides maps or driving directions. But do any of them do it quite as niftily as iPhone does, with just a few taps on a screen? And do they mark your destination on the map with a cute little red pushpin icon so resembling a cherry lollipop that you just might want to lick it?This is the fundamental reason why my heart, like many others, is aflutter over iPhone. It&#39;s not just what the gadget does that makes it a life-changing device, it&#39;s HOW it does it -- and, more importantly, how it lets a user do it.Much of the functionality of iPhone can be found on many current handsets. But even when I could access my Gmail account on my Razr, I found the steps I had to take to launch and use the application, and then the interface on which I was reading my e-mail, a frustrating and, frankly, ugly experience. The Web-browsing experience was pretty much the same, if not worse.But iPhone actually presents an e-mail and Web-browsing experience the way they are meant to be on a computer. To sweeten the deal, you can also play your favorite music, map out your destination for the night and perform many other functions of typical handsets, all on a simple, engaging touch-screen that is not just easy to use, but an actual pleasure.This is why, for the first time, my entire appointment schedule is digital, and why I check the weather and my e-mail before I even roll out of bed. It&#39;s why I never worry about buying maps or printing out directions anymore and why I sometimes forget I own a digital camera.iPhone also makes you seem really smart, even when you&#39;re only medium-smart or not bright at all. Ever find yourself in the middle of a conversation with friends and someone asks, &quot;Who invented that?&quot; or &quot;What actor was in that movie?&quot; or &quot;Who wrote that Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel?&quot;Now instead of being befuddled, I excuse myself and privately fire up Wikipedia on iPhone. Then I return to my friends with all the correct answers. Suddenly, I am as erudite as Jeopardy&#39;s Alex Trebek.I&#39;ve used a similar tack to get answers to trivia questions at a local pub quiz, though I don&#39;t recommend doing this because it&#39;s against the rules and competing players get really angry if they catch you. But did you know the full name for the Statue of Liberty is &quot;Liberty Enlightening the World&quot;? Neither did I until a recent pub quiz in Queens. (And neither did anyone else, because my team was the only one that got the question right and thus received two points instead of one.)Of course, iPhone 1.0 is not without its flaws, which have been widely documented. It&#39;s true that AT&amp;T&#39;s network sometimes crawls about as fast as an inchworm on Valium and anyone whose fingers aren&#39;t the size of a stylus (that is, just about everyone) will likely send a text message or two in pig Latin if they&#39;re typing too fast and skip proofreading.Actually, while the message bubbles in the text-messaging interface are super-cute, they also can lead to embarrassing recipient flubs if you haven&#39;t returned to the home text-message screen after sending someone a message. I learned this the hard way when, in an early-morning fog, I sent a text message about a wild night out meant for a friend to my ex-boyfriend&#39;s number.But overall, unlike said ex-boyfriend, iPhone has never disappointed me, and has so far been an unfailingly loyal and faithful companion. Since we&#39;re still in the honeymoon phase, I know there is much more to discover about the joys my new companion can bring to my life. It may be early to say, but I think my relationship with iPhone will turn out to be an affair to remember.
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Here&#39;s our list of things Apple did right with the iPhone--and things that could use some work.
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How to have fun with your iPhone right now.
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Calling its user interface âsimplicity itself,â Bob LeVitus (Houston Chronicle) praises iPhone. âItâs easier to use than any phone before it, and it introduces a fantastic new feature known as âVisual Voicemail,â which lets you browse through all of your voice messages on screen and listen to them in any order.â As an iPod, LeVitus adds, iPhone offers âthe best video functionality ever in an iPod. Everything â movies, TV shows, photos, video podcasts, and album art â looks absolutely fantastic on the high-res display.â And âspeaking of screens, iPhoneâs is huge, gorgeous, and touch-sensitive,â providing ârich, deeply saturated colors at an ultra-high resolution which adds up to a sharp picture.â
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The cellphone industry went to Barcelona to âshow off the latest and greatest phonesâ and, once again, hardware took center stage. But, Victoria Shannon (New York Times) points out, âsoftware is growing in importance as smartphones, capable of accessing the Web, become more popular.â So, Shannon continues, âit was no surprise that many of the phones were iPhone clones â with touch screens, sleek flat shapes and spare software interfaces. Apple was able to make a phone that paid equal attention to the software and the hardware. And the rest of the industry was following suit here.â
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Pundits have noted that Apple showed only 5% iPod unit growth over last year's Q1, but the real comparison has to include the iPhone, which replaces any potential iPod sale. Even then, growth is slowing.
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As the wait for Apple Inc.'s iPhone reaches a fevered pitch, here are five trends in gadgets that may be even more important, and a few highly touted ideas that may not make it.
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(InfoWorld) - The iPhone will likely go down as the most successful launch of any technology product in history. It's a truly revolutionary product and deserves much of the praise it has received -- but that doesn't mean it's perfect.                                                     In the spirit of constructive criticism, we're offering up 15 big things that Apple can do in the next generation of iPhones to make using an iPhone even better. Apple hasn't said when the next-gen devices will make their appearance, but some Apple watchers have speculated early 2008. [ See related review: The $1,975 iPod | Special report: iPhone: the revolution is here ] In fact, we might not even have to wait for iPhone 2.0 to see some of the items on our wish list: It's conceivable that Apple could update the current crop of iPhones via software updates. Are you listening, Apple? 1. Get on the 3G train Let's start with the most obvious shortcoming: The fact that the iPhone is tied to AT&T's old EDGE wireless data network instead of the technologically superior 3G network. One of the things that makes the iPhone revolutionary is its unprecedented use of the Internet. No other cell phone or handheld on the market offers the full-featured, Web-browsing experience of Safari mobile (to say nothing of YouTube, Maps or other Net applications). But the EDGE data service is too slow for many Internet tasks, especially downloading large amounts of data, such as a graphically intense Web page or a video from YouTube. The iPhone's ability to use Wi-Fi instead of EDGE mitigates these limitations, but that is only an option when you're in range of a Wi-Fi network. And even though AT&T offers 3G coverage in some areas, the iPhone itself doesn't support 3G. It isn't clear at this point how quickly AT&T plans to beef up its 3G service throughout the country. The company's Web site claims that it is working to expand 3G coverage, and its coverage indicator does show more 3G locations than when the iPhone was announced in January. What's more, a recent patent licensing deal struck between Apple and InterDigital strongly implies that 3G support for the iPhone is in the works. (InterDigital specializes in developing embedded wireless technologies and has already developed and licensed 3G technology to other companies, including Nokia, NEC, Sharp and Panasonic.) Even if AT&T's rollout of 3G isn't speedy, 3G performance for the iPhone is still critical for its success in other markets, including Europe, which has much more widespread 3G service than the U.S. 2. Add GPS Speaking of data services, the iPhone desperately needs GPS. Offering a dedicated Google Maps application is great, but its use is limited without GPS. After I got lost on a dark country road recently, one of my friends asked me, "How can you be lost when you've got an iPhone?" The answer, of course, is that the iPhone's Maps application is great, so long as you know where you are. If you don't, then it isn't much help. GPS would also position the iPhone to compete with in-dash navigation devices. Think about the ability for the iPhone to be not only phone, Internet device and iPod, but also navigation system. The added value is so incredible that it really is surprising Apple didn't include GPS in the iPhone to begin with. 3. Turn auto-correct into auto-complete There's been a good deal of criticism of the iPhone's touch-screen keyboard as compared to the physical thumb-typing keyboard common on BlackBerries and other devices. Like most people, I complained about the iPhone keyboard at first but adapted to it within a couple of weeks, though I still don't type as fast as I did on the physical keyboard of my old Treo. Given my slower typing speed, one feature that I miss from my Treo, which ran Windows Mobile 5, is the text-autocomplete feature. True, the iPhone does have an auto-correct function. As you type, it suggests words from both a general dictionary and words that you commonly use. The more you use the feature, the more accurate it becomes; it's an essential iPhone feature. But auto-correct on the iPhone doesn't usually kick in until you almost finish typing a word, and it's focused on correcting typos and misspelled words rather than actually completing words as you type them. Having a true auto-complete function that begins after the first two or three letters (live updating with each additional letter), as happens in Windows Mobile, would be a massive improvement. I hope this is something Apple is not only working on for future iPhones, but will also push out to current iPhone owners via a software update. 4. Support a landscape-oriented keyboard systemwide Safari is currently the only application to provide users with a wider keyboard when the iPhone is tilted on its side for landscape view. Most people find that accurately typing in portrait view requires one-finger typing rather than two-thumb typing because of the narrow width and tight spacing of the virtual keys. In landscape mode, the keys are both wider and slightly farther apart, which makes one-fingered typing more accurate and allows for faster, two-thumbed typing. Even if it isn't feasible in every application because of the size of the iPhone screen and the data being displayed, extending the landscape keyboard into most iPhone applications would be a significant improvement. 5. Provide third-party developer support and an iPhone SDK In June, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that the company would welcome the development of third-party applications for the iPhone, but these apps would have to run over the Internet via Apple's Safari Web browser, rather than natively on the iPhone platform (a specialized version of the company's Mac OS X operating system). Because of this, Jobs said Apple would not be providing a software developer's kit (SDK) for the iPhone. Apple's expressed rationale for the limitation is that opening the iPhone to development presents security risks to users and to the carrier's mobile network. But there is a significant developer community that scoffs at the idea that running Web apps through Safari is the best way to serve iPhone users. These developers are already creating a wide range of native applications for the iPhone. The problem is that installing these apps requires users to hack into their iPhones, and what's more, such apps might become disabled at any time by an iPhone software update from Apple. Rather than taking either a hostile or an indifferent approach to these developers (and potentially undoing their efforts with each iPhone or iTunes update), Apple should embrace them and allow iPhone owners to install additional applications without the need to "jailbreak" their devices. Creating an SDK and working with these developers not only serves users better but also serves Apple's expressed desire to maintain the integrity of the iPhone as a platform and wireless device. 6. Add mobile iChat It is shocking to think that the iPhone doesn't come with an instant messaging application. Most other smart phones (and even many entry-level cell phones) either come with built-in instant messaging applications or offer them as add-ons. Given the consumer and Internet focus of the iPhone, a mobile version of iChat is a must. True, there are Web-based messengers out there for the iPhone (I like Mundu, which offers the ability to simultaneously chat on AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger and Google's GTalk), as well as some native instant messengers for those comfortable with jailbreaking and installing third-party applications on their iPhone. This should, however, be something that is built into the iPhone, not something that requires either a Web-based service or hacking the iPhone to install an application that Apple might disable at any time with a software update. 7. Allow iPhones to be used as hard drives Apple needs to bring one of the most overlooked iPod features to the iPhone: the ability to use it as a storage device. Via an option in iTunes, every iPod, including the iPod Shuffle, is able to double as an external hard drive, which allows it to be used for carrying files between computers, for making quick backups and even as an emergency start-up disk. Even though the iPhone connects to a computer via USB and syncs with iTunes in a similar manner to the iPod, the disk-use option is not enabled in the iPhone. As a result, there is no supported way for an iPhone to be mounted as a hard drive. Use as a hard drive is a great feature unto itself, but on an iPhone it could be even more useful. It would allow you to load documents (PDFs, spreadsheets, word processing documents and so on) on the iPhone for easy viewing rather than having to access them by e-mail. Combined with third-party applications for editing documents, this could make the iPhone pocket-size office for users on the go. The risk, of course, is that this would open the iPhone's file system to modification and easier installation of third-party applications. As long as Apple maintains the iPhone as a closed platform (officially closed, anyway), there is little hope of Apple fully implementing file access. However, a single well-guarded folder on the iPhone that has no access to any system components should be doable and would allow for use of an iPhone as an external hard drive. 8. Support Bluetooth syncing The iPhone includes Bluetooth support for hands-free devices only. This is a very limited use for Bluetooth and is surprising given that Mac OS X allows you to sync data with other cell phones and mobile devices using Bluetooth. Bluetooth support for syncing the iPhone seems like a no-brainer. Bluetooth would make syncing easier and reduce the cables that users need to have on hand (particularly helpful for laptop users). It would probably also encourage users to sync their iPhones on a more regular basis. While it probably is safer to attempt iPhone software updates using a wired connection, that alone isn't reason enough not to offer syncing via Bluetooth. Since Bluetooth already exists in the iPhone in a limited capacity, there is hope that Bluetooth data syncing might not only exist in future models but could be turned on via an update in existing iPhones as well. 9. Add video capture Another somewhat surprising omission from the iPhone is support for recording video using the built-in camera. Many phone manufacturers support video as well as still shots. Video would be a very welcome addition to the camera capabilities of the iPhone, and it's another feature that should be possible not only in future iPhone models but also in existing iPhones via an update. Given the iPhone's existing integration with YouTube (as well as the upload support to YouTube included in the latest versions of Apple's iLife and iWork suites), it isn't a stretch to imagine being able to record a small video segment and upload it directly to YouTube. Likewise, the .Mac Web Gallery support already packaged into the iPhone's camera application could easily be extended to support video. 10. Add a flash While we're talking about the iPhone's camera, how about a flash? The iPhone's camera does surprisingly well in low-light situations, particularly compared to similar (or even higher-resolution) cameras on other phones. But there is only so much any digital camera can do without adequate lighting. A flash would significantly improve the indoor and nighttime use of the iPhone's camera. The trade-off, as anyone who's owned a camera phone with a flash knows, is that a flash can significantly drain battery power. As much as I'd like to see a flash on the iPhone, I'll admit that Apple's commitment to a long battery life makes it a bit unlikely. 11. Provide push e-mail Most smart phone platforms offer an option for push e-mail (e-mail delivered to the phone automatically as it arrives) that can be configured through a service provider or corporate e-mail system. The iPhone offers push e-mail only when you use a Yahoo Mail account. You can configure access to other e-mail accounts, but you will not receive e-mails as they arrive. Instead you need to actively check for new mail using the iPhone's Mail application or set up the auto-check option, which allows automatic checking only at 15-, 30-, or 60-minute intervals. By default, Yahoo Mail doesn't offer access via a traditional POP/IMAP mail client. If you want to be able to access your e-mail outside Yahoo's Web mail interface, you need to purchase one of Yahoo's upgraded e-mail plans. Although not terribly expensive, Yahoo's upgrades are an extra cost, and they don't offer access to a corporate e-mail account (or for that matter any other existing e-mail accounts you might have). The other alternative is to forward an existing e-mail account to your Yahoo Mail address. This isn't a perfect solution either, because it requires you to remember to enable and disable forwarding. What's more, any responses you send will come from the Yahoo address unless you then explicitly reply from another account, which means you won't be able to quote back the original e-mail (since there is no mechanism for choosing an account when replying and no copy/paste function on the iPhone). Finally, company privacy policies may prevent you from forwarding your work e-mail through an outside provider like Yahoo. Apple should produce an add-on component for existing mail servers to offer push e-mail -- or at the very least it should push e-mail through the company's .Mac service. In contrast to Yahoo Mail, .Mac offers both Web mail and POP/IMAP access as part of its package. In fact, it's a little surprising that Apple chose to partner with Yahoo for push e-mail rather than add value to the .Mac package. While it might be a little much to expect Apple to produce an add-on for every mail server platform on the market (though it is worth noting the RIM produces a number of such products for BlackBerry users), it is conceivable that such an option could be added to Mac OS X Server. As with adding push e-mail to .Mac, this could add much value to Mac OS X Server's mail services, which have traditionally been very basic. 12. Sync to-dos with iCal or Outlook The iPhone's calendar is one of the most user friendly I've seen on a mobile device, but one commonly used feature is missing: the to-do list. It's the one feature that I really miss on a daily basis. Using third-party options is possible, but it's nowhere near as convenient as it would be to simply sync the iPhone to an existing calendar tool (most likely iCal on Macs and Outlook on Windows) and have to-dos updated along with calendar items, contacts and so on. Once more, this is something that Apple could easily address in both future and current iPhones. Â  13. Sync notes with your computer Right up there with to-dos is notes. The iPhone includes a Notes application that has a fun yellow legal-pad look. The mystery and limitation is that there's no real mechanism for doing anything with notes once you create them. Yes, you can e-mail them, but if that's all you can do, why not simply write yourself an e-mail in the first place? Most other mobile devices support the concept of notes as something that is synced with an information management tool (typically, Outlook on Windows and a third-party application on Macs). This makes notes a much more functional tool because you can organize them like contacts or to-do items. With some applications, notes can also be shared among users. To make its Notes application truly useful, Apple should also take this approach and allow syncing of notes either with a self-contained notepad application running on a user's computer or with an existing tool such as Outlook in Windows or Mail in OS X. 14. Send text messages to multiple contacts at once The iPhone's Text application is one of the coolest-looking features on the device. With an iChat-inspired interface, text messaging feels more like chatting. Everyone who sees it likes the look of it. There's only one problem: You can't send the same message to two or more people at once. While I like the conversational approach, if I'm trying to connect with people while I'm out or planning a get-together, I often want to send the same message to multiple friends. The iPhone is the only phone I've used that doesn't offer the ability to address a single text message to multiple recipients. For frequent texters, it can be a big hassle to retype the same message five or six times. Even if the only way to work this into the Text application's interface is to generate multiple conversation threads when a message is sent to more than one person, this should be an option. In this area, Apple has uncharacteristically missed the mark of the old adage "form follows function." 15. Add an RSS reader Apple did a great job in translating Safari from a desktop Web browser to a mobile one, thanks mostly to its Multi-touch technology. One feature that didn't carry over was Safari's ability to subscribe to RSS feeds. (Honestly, Safari never was the greatest RSS reader, but at least the feature exists in its desktop form.) RSS readers for mobile devices offer a quick way to aggregate and view content. Since RSS feeds are typically content-only (i.e., they don't have complex page-design elements), they are particularly well suited for mobile use -- especially given the speed limitations when connecting to the Internet using AT&T's EDGE network. A built-in RSS reader, either as part of Safari or as a separate application, would be a great addition to the iPhone for users who want a quick way to keep up with news and blogs on the road. Until one is available, however, the mobile version of Google Reader serves as a good alternative. What else? If Apple makes these changes, the next-generation iPhones will be truly phenomenal devices. Did we miss anything? Do you have any iPhone pet peeves you'd like to see Apple address, or any work-arounds for the problems outlined above? Tell us about it in the comments area below. Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate. Ryan Faas is a freelance writer and technology consultant specializing in Mac and multiplatform network issues. You can find more information about Faas at ryanfaas.com.
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Review The best-sounding music phone yet?
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(InfoWorld) - Gartner, IDC, and 451 Group research analysts, this week warned IT administrators to keep iPhones away from their businesses. "We're telling IT executives to not support it because Apple has no intentions of supporting [iPhone use in] the enterprise," Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney said. "This is basically a cellular iPod with some other capabilities, and it's important that it be recognized as such." As if that will stop people from buying them anyway when they hit the market in the U.S. next week. The reality is that no matter how hard IT administrators try, the iPhone will be snapped up by their employees -- and not just the average Joes either. The device is a status symbol that will likely be snapped up by business leaders as the digital technorati. Try telling your CEO the iPhone doesn't play well with your IT systems. Dulaney and other researchers notwithstanding, this device can be good for the enterprise because of the business needs of smartphone users. It is an iPhone, after all, with an emphasis on phone. It offers e-mail -- currently the most popular means of business communications. There's an address/phone Book for quick access to contacts. It offers SMS, a quick way to contact other mobile phone users, and voicemail -- both useful to road warriors. There's a real Web browser -- by far the most underpowered and underappreciated part of a mobile phone. And it contains a slew of enterprise-worthy apps, including a calendar, access to maps, spreadsheets, and a document reader. All of these things are important -- and all can be done to a greater or lesser extent on most business-focused PDA phones. But in the business world, the mobile Web browser is the key to the future of business apps, and it is becoming a platform unto itself. One thing that Apple CEO Steve Jobs made abundantly clear at last week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is that the iPhone would include a full browser. The Symbian and Linux platforms' best browser is Opera Mini -- which isn't that bad -- but it by no means constitutes a full browser. Windows Mobile's browser isn't bad either, but it also falls well short of Internet Explorer 7. Additionally, the iPhone browser has a lot of zooming and panning tricks that make it more usable on the relatively small screen. In that crucial area, advantage: iPhone. Why is the browser crucial? Because most new business applications are being built around it. AJAX and other browser technology innovations over the past few years have turned the browser into a veritable platform. Sure, a lot of legacy applications still require browserless, platform-specific client applications. But those days are numbered. It's not just the isolated applications that are moving to a browser. All of the stalwart office applications are also moving to the Web. With Google Office (which now works with Safari -- the iPhone browser), Soho Office, and even Web-centric versions of Microsoft Office applications, the browser is truly the new business platform. The iPhone is not without its business-use flaws. It doesn't natively sync up with Lotus Notes or Exchange - and Microsoft, at least, will most likely do everything in its power to try to keep it that way to protect its Windows Mobile business. It can, however, hook up to IMAP email, LDAP address books, and WebDav for calendaring; with a bit of tweaking, that will work well for Exchange-based companies. Microsoft SharePoint can also be browsed from the Web interface, but to what extent? Time -- and the work of apps developers -- will tell. A newly anointed relationship with Cisco on all things iPhone should also let the device into the VPN and might even let an iPhone play well with Cisco VoIP solutions. And of course, don't forget the arduous task of getting your conservative IT department to accept the idea of letting loose an Apple phone -- or even MacBook Pro -- into the office. Previews of the phone haven't yet touted an instant messaging client like Apple's iChat or AOL Instant Messenger. It is likely, however, that Apple will include something with instant-messaging functionality in the near future -- there are still four slots left in the iPhone's application window. It's also true that the first-generation iPhone isn't the raw specs winner by any stretch. That honor goes to the Symbian/Windows Mobile 6 Phones coming from Toshiba (the G900), Nokia (the N95), Samsung (the F700) and HTC (the Shift). AT&T's EDGE wireless network is slow by today's standards, and while Wifi connectivity will help, there are questions about why Apple has forsaken the HSDPA/UTMS component and when an update might occur. Given that battery life is a factor -- Apple this week released updated specs that go beyond what it touted in January -- EDGE makes sense because it's more energy efficient. Also, the 8GB max on storage is seems low. At a time when you can buy an 8GB SD card for less than $80, Apple likely looked to keep costs down with an eye on upping that storage when it's economically smart. Most users would likely be happy with a micro/mini/SD card slot now standard on most smartphones. There is, of course, the price. The iPhone's hefty $499 and $599 price tags, depending on which model you buy, is a definite disadvantage in business. With relatively comparable gear (from a corporate standpoint), such as the Motorola Q, which is almost free with a service plan, buying an iPhone requires serious justification. We're talking about spending the equivalent of a budget laptop. Of course, something that you spend half your day using should justify the premium that this delicious piece of hardware demands. And then there are at least two intangibles: Usability. Apple's legendary reputation for making painful tasks easy will totally transform the mobile phone industry. And remember, companies love productivity from their workers. Until now, the big players have been Microsoft Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, and Linux. They all had successes. But it's the last 10 percent of usability that Apple always manages to squeeze out its products will be the differentiator. Apple did the same in the computer industry until Microsoft caught up. Apple has learned from this and patented every minute detail of the iPhone, making it harder for copycats to appear anytime soon. The few seconds here there that the iPhone saves users will quickly add up. It's the little things that make for big savings across an entire enterprise. Business bling, baby. Everyone knows that this is the phone to have. Just look at the buzz ahead of the June 29 launch. Apple has spent the last few years building up its brand across all channels and is reaping the rewards like no other company in the industry. As much as the enterprise IT guys will want to recite better specs for rival Windows Mobile devices, nobody wants to hear that. I can imagine any number of CEOs saying, "I don't care! Just make the iPhone work on our systems!" And if it works for the CEO, you can bet the sales folk will want in on the action, too. Think they'll want to show up to a meeting with an important client and whip out last year's "hot" phone? They might as well wear parachute pants as well.
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With the iPhone, Apple offers a glimpse of what's to come.
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Thinking about buying an iPhone? Check out this rundown of what to expect.