But in India, its Nokia or nothing. Why? Because you can toss a nokia around and it won’t break, plus everyone’s got a charger for like $0.30 if yours breaks. Plus you can get parts and accessories. I remember the last hot phone that I brought from the US back to India for a relative: The Moto Razr. When I brought it to India, it cost Rs. 49,000 (roughly $1200) to buy in India (i paid around $300 for an unlocked one on eBay). No one had one (and to this day, very few people carry one) because the batteries and chargers are not available.

Now, with the Iphone, that doesn’t have a replaceable battery (that I know of) and which has overpriced accessories and a fragile screen which would probably break during a routine auto rickshaw ride. Plus, very few Indian music and movies are available on iTunes.

When the Ipod G1 came out, it was universally panned and hated by most people except the hard-core apple fans who would buy anything that Apple made (aka mac cube). The only reason it was successful was due to the grass-roots campaign. People who had it, loved it, and told their friends who then also loved it. Its simple. The iPhone is the exact opposite. Everyone is cheering it without even using it. This usually leads to huge disappointment as the grass-roots recommendations never pan out as expected. Its like the pre launch hype of the the PS3 vs. the Wii - history will def repeat itself here.

Take this challenge: When the product finally comes out, try to perform all of the actions in this 30 second commercial as fast as you can. I’ll be really surprised if the software is as fast as shown, but even if it is, the network is DEFINITELY not that fast (the device will only support EDGE — not 3G, as has been noted previously). Try doing it all with one hand and the time to complete the tasks will at least double again.

That being said, we all know it will sell well initially at any price. Supply will be short and the legions of loyalists will be waiting in line outside the door on the 29th.

But is this a game-changing device? I say let’s see the software. As low as the bar is on user-friendliness of most handheld devices, the bar for user-friendly software to integrate your device with your computer is even lower.

iTunes is what made the iPod. Let’s see if they pull the same thing off with this product.

I live in India for part of the year, the hype machine is as strong here. Everyone I know that has a “premium” phone model here wants me to get an iPhone back for them when I visit the US next. The $600 price tag isn’t an issue - the ATT contract is. So, the moment we get unlocked phones, expect the demand to spike up globally.

My biggest concern is the touch-screen keypad. If that pans out - I am in line as well…

Apple fans love to rain on MSFT’s parade when they roll out a feature that Apple already has, so it’s funny to see Gillmor, by way of Arrington, give “change everything” status to things that Windows/Windows Mobile users have been doing for years.

I have been able to do all of these things for several years now:

1. Sync media between my PC and my device
I can sync files between my PC and my Windows Mobile device right now (and it doesn’t require iTunes!).

2. Stream content to my device
I can use SlingPlayer Mobile to stream content from my TiVo directly to my Windows Mobile device with either wifi or my provider’s data plan. iPhone limits you to iTunes content that purchase and download to the iPhone. Zzzz.

3. Access the web for free
As far as I know, the iPhone won’t support wifi. So, I’d have to shell out more cash for AT&T’s data plan in order to get fewer connectivity options. Again, not very game-changing.

4. Make phone calls with an actual keypad
This is the biggest beef I have with the iPhone. I like having a keypad to dial. I’ve used soft dialers in the past and I hated them. As cool as the demo looks, I’m betting it will be a pain in the @ss to use in real-world situations.

The iPhone is nothing new and it’s limitations (AT&T only, price, lack of features) will ensure it stays a niche, consumer product.

Maybe Gillmor should have said, “This will change everything for the (less than) 5% of the computer market who have chosen Apple.”

To me, it seems that Apple’s arrogance is getting the best of them lately. Under-featured, over-hyped products that mainly appeal to people’s vanity/ego (and chain you to iTunes) won’t win enough people over for long. I think the Apple TV is showing us all that.

so its what 90$ / mo ?

- Plus the 600$ phone / with 2/yr agreement …

- that is consumerism at its best / heh :/

I’ll get excited when TechGear raves about the first ‘no strings’ $150 dollar Iphone clone and TechCrunch covers the launch of a free ad based service offering ‘unlimited’ calls and data transfer .

The revolution , or the opening shots of it anyway, will not be televised , it will be Iphoned by a select few.

Of course maybe not texting while I’m driving would be a better solution :-p

But just like the ipod don’t underestimate the power of Apple’s marketing to sell below par products.

3 key issues:

Battery life - will apple get it wrong again. Survey says yes.
Touch screens - will they be totally impractible. most likely.
Cost. Pretty expensive for a phone whose selling point is that it looks pretty.

iPhone will make no ground outside the US (particularly Asia), where there are already amazing phones and its going to price out the vast majority of the users who are more than happy with a free handset.

MotoQ isn’t that bad =P

‘…I know lots of people who control there PC remotely with them’

Those people you know are probably very tech saavy folks who consist of the top 1/2 of .1% of mobile users in the US.

The iphone, if the hype is to be believed, should make computing on the go as easy as using an iPod.

..now i sound like i’m pumping Apple sotck..

..don’t be a ‘Cramer’ quit pumping Apple stock

As for GPS…I know it is the sister site and all but for the love of god don’t tell me you take the bizarrely bad TechCrunch seriously.

And that’s the thing: if you don’t own an iPod, if you’re not an active user, then you don’t understand why people love it. It’s precisely why there is this group of people who cannot understand why people are so hyped about this product.

I also wouldn’t assume that the iPhone’s price will drop precipitiously simply by looking at the iPod. As cool as it is, the iPhone won’t push as much volume as the iPod. Plus the iPod benefitted from the precipitous fall of memory prices.