Apple iPhone

Apples announcement of their new phone/iPod/internet device has been blogged to bits the last couple of days topping the technorati search list but if you still haven't seen what the hype is about you can check out the iPhone site for more info.

Now while it looks like an amazingly stylish device and certainly very functional as well I have my reservations:

• It's only available in the US 6 months+ and almost a year from now in the rest of the world. By that time the next wave of Windows Mobile devices would already be available the market.
• It's quite an expensive device with the intitial prices ranging from $499 for the 4GB iPhone to $699 for the 8GB model.
• While it's got Wi-Fi and EDGE there's no 3G/HSDPA support.
• It's not a Smartphone. Meaning the only software allowed on the device is first party software Apple decides they put on there.  It's running OS X and it would've been nice to see Apple opening up the platform for third party developers and ISVs targeting the slick new mobile UI/platform. This for me is the biggest drawback. Both Microsoft with their Windows Mobile platform and Symbian have great developer communities which adds immense value to the platforms. By closing the iPhone platform Apple's essentially made the device useless for me. It ships with some great applications and I'm sure the reasons behind this is that Apple wants to make sure the device is as stable and performant as possible for the v1 release but if you already have an iPod and Smartphone I doubt the nice interface and sexyness factor would be enough to make me invest that much into such a limited device.
• No Exchange support and no support for documents in Office formats.
• Dubious battery life. With that large colorful LCD and OS X I wonder how long the battery will last.
• It's big. From the pictures the device looks about as big as my first iPaq.
• I also wonder how long that nice LCD and touch screen will stay clear and sensitive if you like me carry the device around in your pocket the whole day.

That said it's got some really nice innovative features as well. My favourite being the new Multi-Touch display allowing you to control everything using just your fingers. Having certain gestures like pinching and flicking items on the screen affect the behavior sounds like a really nice feature.

Despite all these reservations I have no doubt that Apple has a winner in the iPhone and it would certainly attract a big market. However I doubt whether I'll be spending that much on this device when it eventually become available in South Africa the biggest decider being the lack of extensibility.