Apple iPhone Review | Everything You Wanted To Know About The New Apple iPhone

The first advertisement for iPhone, titled "Hello," aired during the 79th Academy Awards and took place on 25 February 2007 on ABC.

The ad features clips from several notable films and television shows over the last 70 years, showing iconic characters answering phones (not iPhones) and saying "hello" or a similar greeting. iPhone is shown at the end with the caption "Hello. Coming in June."

The commercial's background music track is "Inside Your Head" by Eberg. Notably, some of the song's lyrics have been overdubbed, replacing "I wouldn't wanna be...Inside your head" with "I wanna be...Inside your head."

The commercial was created by TBWA\Chiat\Day, Apple's ad agency since CEO Steve Jobs' return to the company in 1997. TBWA's Media Arts Lab will handle all upcoming advertising for iPhone, much as it has for iPod.

On June 3rd, Apple released three advertisements that announce a June 29th release date, and which conclude, "Use requires minimum new 2 year activation plan."

These advertisements featured a voice over describing the iPhone's myriad of features, cleverly demonstrated on-screen.

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The genesis of the iPhone began with Apple CEO Steve Jobs' direction that Apple engineers investigate touchscreens. Apple created the device during a secretive and unprecedented collaboration with AT&T Mobility-Cingular Wireless at the time of the phone's inception-at a development cost of US$150 million by one estimate. During development, the iPhone was codenamed "Purple 2". The company rejected an early "design by committee" built with Motorola in favor of engineering a custom operating system and interface and building custom hardware.

The iPhone went on sale in the United States on June 29, 2007. Apple closed its stores at 2:00 pm local time to prepare for the 6:00 pm iPhone launch, while hundreds of customers lined up at stores nationwide. Apple sold 270,000 iPhones in the first 30 hours on launch weekend. In 2007, 8 million iPhones were sold in the U.S. according to the Entertainment Software Association. The original iPhone was subsequently made available in five other countries: Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, and Austria.

On July 11, 2008, Apple released the iPhone 3G in twenty-two countries, including the original six. Forty-eight more are expected to follow in the months afterwards. The first iPhone 3G in the world was sold in Auckland, New Zealand to Jonny Gladwell, a 22-year-old student, at one minute past midnight NZST. On the iPhone 3G release date in the United States, many units initially failed to activate because Apple's iTunes servers were overloaded. Apple sold 1 million iPhone 3Gs in its first 3 days on sale.

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The genesis of the iPhone was Jobs' direction that Apple engineers investigate touch-screens. At the time he had been considering having Apple work on tablet PCs.

Many have noted the device's similarities to Apple's previous touch-screen portable device, the Newton MessagePad.

Like the Newton, the iPhone is nearly all screen, and its form-factor is credited to Apple's head of design, Jonathan Ive.

Comments made by Jobs in April 2003 at the "D: All Things Digital" executive conference expressed his belief that tablet PCs and traditional PDAs were not good choices as high-demand markets for Apple to enter, despite many requests made to him that Apple create another PDA.

He did believe that cell phones were going to become important devices for portable information access, and that what cell phones needed to have was excellent synchronization software.

At the time, instead of focusing on a follow-up to their Newton PDA, Jobs had Apple put its energies into the iPod, and the iTunes software (which can be used to synchronize content with iPod devices), released January 2001.

On September 7, 2005, Apple and Motorola released the ROKR E1, the first mobile phone to use iTunes. However Jobs was unhappy with the ROKR, feeling that having to compromise with a non-Apple designer (Motorola) prevented Apple from designing the phone he wanted to make.

In September 2006, Apple discontinued support for the ROKR and released a version of iTunes that included references to an as-yet unknown mobile phone that could display pictures and video.

On January 9, 2007, Jobs announced the iPhone at the Macworld convention, receiving substantial media attention.

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Apple has designed a new application on the iPhone that will wirelessly stream YouTube's content to your iPhone over Wi-Fi or EDGE networks and play it on iPhone's 3.5" inch display.

"iPhone delivers the best YouTube mobile experience by far," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Now users can enjoy YouTube wherever they are-on their iPhone, on their Mac or on a widescreen TV in their living room with Apple TV."

Now check this new feature out! When you find a YouTube video that you want to send your friends, iPhone can even create an email with the link in it for you! How cool is that?

The specifications as listed on Apple's website are:

* Screen size: 8.9 cm (3.5 in)
* Screen resolution: 320×480 pixels at 160 ppi
* Input method: Multi-touch screen interface (the "Home" button is the iPhone's only physical front panel button)
* Operating System: OS X
* Storage: 4 or 8 GB Flash memory
* Quad band GSM (GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900)
* WiFi (802.11b/802.11g), EDGE and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
* 2 megapixel camera
* Built-in rechargeable, non-removable battery with up to 5 hours of talk/video/browsing or up to 16 hours of audio playback
* Size: 115×61×11.6 mm (4.5×2.4×0.46 in)
* Weight: 135 g (4.8 oz)

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Check Availability Of The Apple iPhone Here!

iPhone at the Apple Store
Be one of the first to see, try, and buy the iPhone. Be sure to arrive early - iPhone is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

iPhone Workshops
Check out our free workshops: Getting Started, which covers the basics, and Going Further, where you'll discover even more fun things about your iPhone. Reserve your spot today.

The recent launching of the Apple iPhone has got the industry talking about the ringtones market. Apparently, Apple also wants to join in the fray.

Jobs wowed the applauding Macworld Expo crowd when he showed them how to navigate iTunes content using a finger on the touchscreen. The report also shows the device can be used to scroll through collections by using the first letter of the artist's name; 'Letter scrolling', the report calls it.

Finally - and perhaps most impressive - the report also looks at ringtones, speculating that Apple will sell ringtones for the iPhone through the iTunes Store.

Supporting this proposition, the video report looks at a photo of the sync interface for the iPhone, which clearly shows a 'Ringtone' tab.

Watch the video above which reveals the soon-to-be coming 'Ringtone' tab over at iTunes.

The 3.5 inch (8.9 cm) liquid crystal display (320×480 px at 160 ppi) touch screen is specifically created for use with a finger, or multiple fingers for multi-touch sensing. No stylus is needed, nor can one be used, as the touch screen requires bare skin to operate.

For text input, the device implements a virtual keyboard on the touchscreen. It has automatic spell checking, predictive word capabilities, and a dynamic dictionary that learns new words. Notably, the predictive word capabilities have been integrated with the dynamic virtual keyboard so that users will not have to be extremely accurate when typing - i.e. touching the edges of the desired letter or nearby letters on the keyboard will be predictively corrected when possible. Additionally, an optional landscape mode for text entry with the virtual keyboard has been mentioned by Apple executives as a possibility for iPhone, but Apple has not yet come to a final decision as to its inclusion in the shipping version of iPhone. A possible advantage of landscape text entry would be the availability of larger keys to ease text entry, especially for individuals with larger fingers.

The iPhone varies from common desktop interfaces by using a direct manipulation model of scrolling. Where a typical desktop GUI achieves scrolling by using a scroll-arrow to push a view-window down and thus the content itself up (or the reverse, clicking up to move content down), the iPhone interface enables the user to move the content itself up or down by a touch-drag-lift motion of the finger, much as one would slide a playing card across a table. Additionally, the speed desired for scrolling is computed based on the speed and acceleration with which the drag motion is performed.

Scrolling through a long list works as if the list is pasted on the surface of a wheel: the wheel can be "spun" by sliding a finger over the display. After the finger is lifted from the display the wheel continues to "spin" for a short moment before coasting down. In this way, the iPhone seems to simulate the physics of a real object, which, it is thought, should give a natural feel to the whole process.

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The UI also features other visual effects, such as horizontally sliding sub-selections and co-selections from right and left, vertically sliding system menus from the bottom (e.g. favorites, keyboard), and menus and widgets that turn around to allow settings to be configured on their back sides.

The photo album and web page magnifications are examples of multi-touch sensing. It is possible to zoom in and out of objects such as web pages and photos by respectively "unpinching" and "pinching" them, that is, placing two fingers (usually thumb and forefinger) on the screen and moving them farther apart or closer together as if stretching or squeezing the image. This scaling is done uniformly and proportionally based on the image in question so there is no distortion of the image itself, as would be the case if the image were actually stretched or squeezed.

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The display responds to three sensors: a proximity sensor that shuts off the display and touchscreen when the iPhone is brought near the face to save battery power and to prevent spurious inputs from the user's face and ears, an ambient light sensor that adjusts the display brightness which in turn saves battery power, and an accelerometer, which senses the orientation of the phone and changes the screen accordingly, albeit in only one 90 degree direction.

A single frontal hardware button brings up the main menu. Subselections are made via the touchscreen. The iPhone utilizes a full-paged display, with context-specific submenus at the top and/or bottom of each page, sometimes depending on screen orientation. Detail pages display the equivalent of a "Back" button to go up one menu.

The iPhone has three hardware switches on its sides: sleep/wake, volume up/down, ringer on/off. All other multimedia and phone operations are done via the touch screen.

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The layout of the music library differs from previous iPods, with the sections divided more clearly alphabetically, and with a larger font. The Cover Flow, like that on iTunes, shows the different album covers in a scroll-through photo library. Scrolling is achieved by swiping a finger across the screen.

Like the fifth generation iPods introduced in 2005, the iPhone can play video, allowing users to watch TV shows and films. Unlike other image-related content, video on the iPhone plays only in the landscape orientation, when the phone is turned sideways. A two-fingered tap is used to switch between wide-screen and full-screen aspect ratios.

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The iPhone allows conferencing, call holding, call merging, caller ID, and integration with other cellular network features and iPhone functions. For example, a playing song fades out when the user receives a call. Once the call is ended the music fades back in.

The iPhone will include a Visual Voicemail feature in conjunction with AT&T Mobility, formerly Cingular Wireless, which allows users to view a list of current voicemail messages onscreen, without having to call into their voicemail. Unlike most other systems, messages can be listened to in a non-chronological order, by choosing messages from an on-screen list. AT&T completely reworked their voicemail infrastructure to accommodate this new feature designed by Apple.

SMS messages are presented chronologically in a mailbox format similar to Mail, which places all text from recipients together with replies. Text messages are displayed in speech bubbles (similar to iChat) under each recipient's name.

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The iPhone features a built in 2.0 megapixel camera located on the back, the camera can as of yet not record video. It also includes software that allows the user to upload, view, and e-mail photos. The user zooms in and out of photos by "unpinching" and "pinching" them through the Multi-touch interface. The software will interact with iPhoto on the Mac.

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The iPhone also features an HTML e-mail program, which enables the user to embed photos in an e-mail message. Yahoo! will be providing a free Push-IMAP e-mail service similar to that on a BlackBerry; IMAP and POP3 mail standards are also supported, including Microsoft Exchange. The e-mail program Outlook for Windows cannot be synchronized with the iPhone for the time being. There is no enterprise email connectivity other than IMAP and POP3.

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The iPhone has built-in WiFi, with which it will be able to access the Internet (through a wireless network) via a modified version of the Safari web browser. The iPhone will also be able to connect to the Internet through AT&T's EDGE network but will not be able to utilize AT&T's 3G/HSDPA network at launch, however Steve Jobs' mentioned at the Keynote presentation that 3G support would be a future feature. The web browser displays full web pages as opposed to simplified pages as on most other phones. However, as of WWDC 2007, the iPhone does not support Flash technology.[28] Web pages may be viewed in portrait or landscape mode and support automatic zooming by "pinching" or double-tapping images or text. The iPhone also has Bluetooth 2.x+EDR built in. It works with wireless earpieces that use Bluetooth 2.0 technology and allows file transfer.

An agreement between Apple and Google provides for access to a specially modified version of Google Maps - in map, local list, or satellite form, optimized for the iPhone. During the launch of the product, Jobs demonstrated this feature by searching for nearby Starbucks and then placing a prank call to one with a single tap.

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Apple has confirmed an optimized version of the Mac OS X operating system (without unnecessary components) will run on the iPhone, although differences between the operating system (OS X) running on Macs and the iPhone have not been officially explained.

It is expected to take up considerably less than 500 MB. It will be capable of supporting as-yet undetermined bundled and future 1st and 3rd-party applications, the latter of which are currently limited to a "controlled environment."

Apple intends to offer a smooth method for updating the iPhone's operating system, in a similar fashion to the way that Mac OS X and iPods are updated, and touts this as an advantage compared to other cell phones.

Widgets, similar to the ones available in Mac OS X v10.4's Dashboard, are included on the iPhone. The examples given in the Macworld 2007 keynote were Stocks and Weather widgets.

The iPhone's version of OS X includes the software component "Core Animation" which is responsible for the smooth animations used in its user interface. Core Animation has not yet been released for Macs, but will be part of Mac OS X v10.5.

Apple initially stated that no SDK would be available to create third party applications for the iPhone, citing security concerns. At the 2007 Worldwide Developers Conference, Steve Jobs reiterated this fact, but also announced that developers should direct their efforts towards developing Rich Internet Applications using AJAX which will run on the iPhone's standards compliant Safari web browser. Safari will use the same layout engine as its counterpart in Mac OS X.

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The iPhone features a built-in battery that is not intended to be user-replaceable, similar to existing iPods. The battery is stated to be capable of providing up to five hours of video, web browsing, or talk time (depending on network configuration and video resolution). The battery life for music playing is stated to be 16 hours. It is unknown how long the batteries will last in sleep mode.

There will be new headphones which are similar to those of current iPods, but which incorporate a microphone. Calls can be answered and ended by squeezing the microphone. The 3.5 mm TRS connector for the headphones is located on the top left corner (as seen from front upright). Wireless earpieces that use Bluetooth technology to communicate with the iPhone will be sold separately.

The loudspeaker is used both for handsfree operations and media playback.

Steve Jobs commented that the SIM card will be housed in a slot at the top of the device, but as of yet no diagrams have been released showing the precise location.

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CUPERTINO, California-June 28, 2007-

Apple's revolutionary iPhone (TM) will go on sale this Friday, June 29 at 6:00 p.m. local time at Apple® retail stores nationwide. All 164 Apple retail stores in the US will stay open until midnight, and customers can purchase up to two iPhones on a first come, first served basis. Beginning Saturday morning, iPhone owners can learn how to get the most out of their new iPhone with free, in-depth workshops offered throughout the day at all Apple retail stores. Every Apple retail store will offer free support for iPhone at the Genius Bar and personal training through Apple's new One to One program.

"Apple retail stores were created for this moment-to let customers touch and experience a revolutionary new product," said Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of Retail. "With our legendary Genius Bar support, free workshops and our One to One personal training, we're here to help customers get the most from their new iPhone."

iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a revolutionary multi-touch display and pioneering new software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers. iPhone combines three products into one small and lightweight handheld device-a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod®, and the Internet in your pocket with best-ever applications on a mobile phone for email, web browsing and maps. iPhone ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones.

Pricing and Availability
iPhone goes on sale in the US on June 29, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. local time through Apple's retail stores and AT&T's select retail stores. Apple's online store will be taking orders for iPhone beginning at 6:00 p.m. PDT. iPhone will be available in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US), and will work with either a PC or Mac®. Beginning June 30 and continuing through the summer, Apple Stores in the US will open early at 9:00 a.m. for iPhone sales. Customers can check iPhone availability at their local Apple retail store starting at 9:00 p.m. the night before at www.apple.com/retail.

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I'll admit it -- I've grown wary of any news these past four days with the word "iPhone" in it. The most-anticipated consumer electronics device in recent memory (forget game consoles) went on sale at 6pm in each local time zone this past Friday courtesy of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). Over the weekend, the reviews came rolling in about how fantastic the device is -- you can see Engadget's iPhone review here -- although there were also reports about the activation problems many customers face. Truth be told, the surge in customer inquiries and complaints that AT&T has had to respond to was bound to cause some leaks in this otherwise well-oiled machine. Probably no company could have fared any better.

Even so, the iPhone's sales continue to ramp up at a rate that is making the industry slack-jawed in awe: 500,000 to 700,000 iPhones have already been sold, according to estimates by industry watchers. Although both Apple and AT&T (NYSE: T) have not released sales figures, this estimate is probably a decently accurate one. Four days and half a million to three-quarters of a million sold? Holy cow. Either AT&T just gained a huge dose of new customers or it gained a decent does of existing but upgrading customers -- or a combination of both. That combination is an important metric, I think, one we will certainly hear about later. Right now, though, Apple is basking in, well, itself. After creating marketing hype that reminded me of the hoopla surrounding the "Blair Witch Project," the iPhone has landed and landed hard.

AT&T and Apple have said that all of their retail locations have nearly sold out of the initial iPhone shipments. Again, in four days. With the numbers of 500,000 (or even topping 750,000), that's a cool $250 million in sales so far. Again, in four days (getting the point here?). AT&T even said that, "We sold more iPhones in the first weekend of sales than in the first month of sales for any device in AT&T history." AAPL shares were at an all-time high this past Friday right before the launch, but were down to just over $121 at the market close yesterday.

Posted July 3rd, 2007 10:10AM by Brian White

CUPERTINO, California and ATLANTA-June 26, 2007-

Apple® and AT&T Inc. today announced that iPhone (TM) users will be able to activate their new iPhones using Apple's popular iTunes® software running on a PC or Mac® computer in the comfort and privacy of their own home or office, without having to wait in a store while their phone is activated. Activating iPhone takes only minutes as iTunes guides the user through simple steps to choose their service plan, authorize their credit and activate their iPhone. Once iPhone is activated, users can then easily sync all of their phone numbers and other contact information, calendars, email accounts, web browser bookmarks, music, photos, podcasts, TV shows and movies just like they do when they sync their iPods with iTunes.

"Users will be able to activate their new iPhone in the comfort and privacy of their own home or office, without having to wait in a store while their phone is activated," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "There are tens of millions of people in the US who already know how to sync their iPods with iTunes, and syncing their new iPhone with iTunes works the same way."

"iPhone's user-driven activation is another example of how AT&T and Apple have partnered to bring innovative new features to our customers," said Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO, AT&T. "iPhone's innovative activation and sync is just one example of how this is going to be a real industry game-changer."

iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a revolutionary multi-touch display and pioneering new software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers. iPhone combines three products into one small and lightweight handheld device-a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and the Internet in your pocket with best-ever applications on a mobile phone for email, web browsing and maps. iPhone ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones.

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The iPhone normally prevents access to its media player and web features unless it has also been activated as a phone through AT&T.

On July 3, 2007, Jon Lech Johansen (commonly known as DVD Jon for releasing software bypassing DVD encryption) reported on his blog that he had successfully bypassed this requirement and unlocked the iPhone's other features with a combination of custom software and modification of the iTunes binary. He published the software and offsets for others to use.

iPhone Without AT&T Activation Details Here

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On 3 September 1993, Infogear filed for the U.S. trademark "I PHONE" and on 20 March 1996 applied for the trademark "IPhone". "I Phone" was registered in March 1998, and "IPhone" was registered in 1999. Since then, the I PHONE mark has been abandoned. Infogear's trademarks cover "communications terminals comprising computer hardware and software providing integrated telephone, data communications and personal computer functions" (1993 filing), and "computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerized global information networks" (1996 filing). Infogear released a telephone with an integrated web server under the name iPhone in 1998. In 2000, Infogear won an infringement claim against the owners of the iphones.com domain name. In June 2000, Cisco Systems acquired Infogear, including the iPhone trademark. On 18 December 2006 they released a range of re-branded Voice over IP (VoIP) sets under the name iPhone.

In October 2002, Apple applied for the "iPhone" trademark in the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore and the European Union. A Canadian application followed in October 2004 and a New Zealand application in September 2006. As of October 2006 only the Singapore and Australian applications had been granted. In September 2006, a company called Ocean Telecom Services applied for an "iPhone" trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and Hong Kong, following a filing in Trinidad and Tobago. As the Ocean Telecom trademark applications use exactly the same wording as Apple's New Zealand application, it is assumed that Ocean Telecom is applying on behalf of Apple. The Canadian application was opposed in August 2005 by a Canadian company called Comwave who themselves applied for the trademark three months later. Comwave have been selling VoIP devices called iPhone since 2004.

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Shortly after Steve Jobs' 9 January 2007 announcement that Apple would be selling a product called iPhone in June 2007, Cisco issued a statement that it had been negotiating trademark licensing with Apple and expected Apple to agree to the final documents that had been submitted the night before. On January 10, 2007 Cisco announced it had filed a lawsuit against Apple over the infringement of the trademark iPhone, seeking an injunction in federal court to prohibit Apple from using the name. More recently, Cisco claimed that the trademark lawsuit was a "minor skirmish" that was not about money, but about interoperability. More recently, Cisco claimed that the trademark lawsuit was a "minor skirmish" that was not about money, but about interoperability.

On 2 February 2007, Apple and Cisco announced that they had agreed to temporarily suspend litigation while they hold settlement talks, and subsequently announced on 20 February 2007 that they had reached an agreement. Both companies will be allowed to use the "iPhone" name in exchange for "exploring interoperability" between Apple's products and Cisco's iPhone.

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On July 1, 2007, it was reported that Apple paid at least $1,000,000.00 US to Michael Kovatch for the transfer of the iPhone.com domain name.

Kovatch registered the domain in 1995. He knew the Internet would allow telephone calls one day and that is why he registered iphone.com.

The URL http://www.iphone.com now redirects to Apple's iPhone page.

Source: IPhone.com has been acquired by Apple

Stop. I mean, don't stop reading this, but stop thinking what you're about to think. Or, O.K., I'll think it for you:

The thing is hard to type on. It's too slow. It's too big. It doesn't have instant messaging. It's too expensive. (Or, no, wait, it's too cheap!) It doesn't support my work e-mail. It's locked to AT&T. Steve Jobs secretly hates puppies. And-all together now-we're sick of hearing about it!

Yes, there's been a lot of hype written about the iPhone, and a lot of guff too. So much so that it seems weird to add more, after Danny Fanboy and Bobby McBlogger have had their day. But when that day is over, Apple's iPhone is still the best thing invented this year. Why? Five reasons:

1. The iPhone is pretty
Most high-tech companies don't take design seriously. They treat it as an afterthought. Window-dressing. But one of Jobs' basic insights about technology is that good design is actually as important as good technology. All the cool features in the world won't do you any good unless you can figure out how to use said features, and feel smart and attractive while doing it.

An example: look at what happens when you put the iPhone into "airplane" mode (i.e., no cell service, WiFi, etc.). A tiny little orange airplane zooms into the menu bar! Cute, you might say. But cute little touches like that are part of what makes the iPhone usable in a world of useless gadgets. It speaks your language. In the world of technology, surface really is depth.

2. It's touchy-feely
Apple didn't invent the touchscreen. Apple didn't even reinvent it (Apple probably acquired its much hyped multitouch technology when it snapped up a company called Fingerworks in 2005). But Apple knew what to do with it. Apple's engineers used the touchscreen to innovate past the graphical user interface (which Apple helped pioneer with the Macintosh in the 1980s) to create a whole new kind of interface, a tactile one that gives users the illusion of actually physically manipulating data with their hands-flipping through album covers, clicking links, stretching and shrinking photographs with their fingers.

This is, as engineers say, nontrivial. It's part of a new way of relating to computers. Look at the success of the Nintendo Wii. Look at Microsoft's new Surface Computing division. Look at how Apple has propagated its touchscreen interface to the iPod line with the iPod Touch. Can it be long before we get an iMac Touch? A TouchBook? Touching is the new seeing.

3. It will make other phones better
Jobs didn't write the code inside the iPhone. These days he doesn't dirty his fingers with 1's and 0's, if he ever really did. But he did negotiate the deal with AT&T to carry the iPhone. That's important: one reason so many cell phones are lame is that cell-phone-service providers hobble developers with lame rules about what they can and can't do. AT&T gave Apple unprecedented freedom to build the iPhone to its own specifications. Now other phone makers are jealous. They're demanding the same freedoms. That means better, more innovative phones for all.

4. It's not a phone, it's a platform
When Apple made the iphone, it didn't throw together some cheap-o bare-bones firmware. It took OS X, its full-featured desktop operating system, and somehow squished it down to fit inside the iPhone's elegant glass-and-stainless-steel case. That makes the iPhone more than just a gadget. It's a genuine handheld, walk-around computer, the first device that really deserves the name. One of the big trends of 2007 was the idea that computing doesn't belong just in cyberspace, it needs to happen here, in the real world, where actual stuff happens. The iPhone gets applications like Google Maps out onto the street, where we really need them.

And this is just the beginning. Platforms are for building on. Last month, after a lot of throat-clearing, Apple decided to open up the iPhone, so that you-meaning people other than Apple employees-will be able to develop software for it too. Ever notice all that black blank space on the iPhone's desktop? It's about to fill up with lots of tiny, pretty, useful icons.

5. It is but the ghost of iPhones yet to come
The iphone has sold enough units-more than 1.4 million at press time-that it'll be around for a while, and with all that room to develop and its infinitely updatable, all-software interface, the iPhone is built to evolve. Look at the iPod of six years ago. That monochrome interface! That clunky touchwheel! It looks like something a caveman whittled from a piece of flint using another piece of flint. Now imagine something that's going to make the iPhone look that primitive. You'll have one in a few years. It'll be very cool. And it'll be even cheaper.

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Thank you very much Seth, Megan, Corey, Gil and the rest of the Squidoo team for making Apple iPhone Review the Lens Of The Day on June 29th, 2007!

I am truly humbled knowing the level of quality lenses that my fellow lensmasters have shared with the world here. It has been an honor and an adventure that I will always cherish and remember.

Keep up the great effort Squidoo and especially you, my fellow lensmasters... for each of you truly are the heart and soul of Squidoo!

Best Regards,
Vincent Gere