It’s a little cocky of you to make such a statement. It’s pretty clear that you are far-away from corporate world where you can’t “throw out” a company’s tool, like pc’s. Not everyone can “free-lance” even rebels* like you need and benefit from corporations.

However, some of the things you are concerned over have some merit. Access to email and/or voicemail is critical for the business user.

On the PC side – there are already servers that have been available for years that incorporate your voicemail into your email “ie. visual voicemail” and present them in your email inbox – what is so “killer” about this application? It has been around for a long time – and has yet to take off… you can even have your faxes delivered to your inbox, unified messaging integrates your voicemail so that if you don’t have access to a computer and/or PDA device you can have your voicemail do a text-to-speech converstion to get your emails read to you – it is called a Unified Messaging server (Cisco, AVT, etc. have these solutions).

So, what I really want to see – if you have a unified messaging server – how will this device work?

However, I love the steps forward with this product, and I anxiously await to get my hands on one.

It is so good to read you : I have been struggling for Mac for the last twenty years here in Paris (France).
Keep rolling, Mac Intosh starts conversations, PC’s deliver opinions.
Why not think about a Mac Intosh index : the bigger the market share, the more the web grows.

Relax, everyone… Jobs never targets the business user. However, for consumers without access or need for an Exchange server this phone is very attractive. There is a certain mix of technology and ease of use that when mixed, can create paradigm shifting results (i.e. iPod and YouTube). This phone brings ease of use and marketing to a rather muddied situation with the current crop of smart phones. Sure, business users won’t be able to switch…their IT departments will stop them. However, to claim this phone is a silo…how does Google maps and yahoo push email on the phone represent a silo? Please listen to the Google CEO’s speach about cloud computing. This phone partnered with Google/Yahoo is really trying to break Outlook/exchange servers strangle hold on the limited smartphone market. This phone brings to the average consumer what smartphone business users already enjoyed. However, that means quite a bit.

Anyway, people should also realise that features in this phone will trickle down the ipod lineup. I’m particularly interested in the UI and the web surfing. The $499 price point leaves the $399 price open for the same device minus the cingular/2.5G. This phone minus the phone features at $399 is very interesting.

PS: for people who complain this phone lacks the tactile keyboard/button feeling….puhlease. People navigate their ipods (which also doesn’t have much tactile sensation) much easier than any UI i’ve seen on a phone. The touchscreen represents the logical next step in UI. The keyboard is fine for typing a message, but for making calls? huh?! plus, no one calls typing in numbers anymore…you select from a list…I rather have a 320×400 large touch screen….

i don’t think so …

based on my experiences of using the utterly woeful itunes software, i would not consider for one moment using any device reliant upon apple software.

i love their physical designs – but aesthetics does not a business application make.

It’s also going to be very interesting to see if the iPhone will have durable touchscreens. A replacement/repair has got to come at a pretty high cost.

As far as the phone being a serious business phone. It has as much or more functionality as my current serious business phone, so why not. The only barrier is the price and the relatively limited distribution. These problems will go away.

I hope you didn’t spend too much time debating this.

1. People say the iPhone has no keyboard? What about the virtual one? In the presentation the keyboard looked fine to me, although I obviously haven’t tested it yet. Maybe it’s as good as the ones from Blackberry, Treo, etc.? Maybe there is an option to turn the phone 90° so the keyboard would adapt to a bigger version? Just like with the movies.
2. This screen real estate is beautiful but I wonder if it gets scratched easily by keys you have got in your pocket? What about talking for half an hour on a normal phone and the effects on the display by ear smudge, finger prints all over the place, etc.? I have had a couple of mobile phones so far and never had a protecting case. Would I need one now? Actually I don’t want to.
3. For me the iPhone doesn’t really look like an Apple product from the outside. It’s somehow not very exclusive in design. It looks kind of plastic and cheap.
4. No UMTS, there is not always a WLAN spot around and even if, can I NOT see the strength of the signal like in MacOS X?
5. No Video-Chat possible because the camera is on the backside
6. I hope the price falls quickly
7. In general: WOW, I wanna have this phone and luckily I don’t need Exchange/Outlook, etc.
8. This is just Version 1.0 and it already kicks so much a**.
9. I wonder what the price will be in Germany, Europe

Off-Topic: Multi-Touch will replace the ClickWheel, a Video iPod with that functionality will be released sooner than later

Damn, I can’t help it to say my opinion on Apple in general:
I think Apple is even worse than Microsoft’s monopoly because they also sell you their hardware. A bit like Nik Cubrilovic thinks but (unfortunately) it is the best OS you can get today.

@135: have you noticed there is no more “Tracking Web 2.0″ in the header?

Couldn’t agree more.

Cingular doesn’t serve my area sufficiently. Otherwise I’d buy two, one for myself and one for my wife.

This is the first Apple product that I can’t buy-no matter how much I want it and not matter how much money I have-since I bought my first Mac in 1986.

Apple would have more to gain from it being more widely usable than by requiring people to buy Macs to use it. See: iPod.

I’ll probably do just that in the coming months, and yet I still find this comment disappointing. I’ve always thought Arrington sounded above this kind of fanboyism when I’ve heard him on TWIT shows (as opposed to Leo, who would camp out for an iPhone if I told him it was coming out tomorrow).

So, no thanks, MacCrunch. I have enough mouthpieces for Steve Jobs in my rss reader and podcast list.