Bite Into an iPhone
Apple's foray into cell phones could make you drool.
"Of all the technologies I've seen in the past three years, this one has evoked the most technolust," says Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies and longtime technology strategist. Say hello to the iPhone from Apple Inc.
So what makes the iPhone such a lust-worthy gadget, and why should you care? "The major advancement is a brand-new approach to how I access information, how I manage it and how I view it," says Bajarin. "The iPhone delivers Apple's typical user interface with elegance."
The iPhone has virtual buttons, and users navigate with their fingers instead of a stylus. There is, however, a learning curve. For example, to zoom out of a web page, you pinch your fingers together as you're making contact with the screen.
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The iPhone is everything an entrepreneur could hope for. It's Wi-Fi-enabled and has a full web browser, integrated e-mail, a clean SMS application with predictive qwerty keyboard, simple conferencing and a very Apple approach to voice mail: Apple and Cingular (iPhone's exclusive carrier) created random voicemail access, which allows you to view a list of voice mails and touch the message you want to hear.
Want one? Hold on. For the launch, Apple won't support third-party applications. Bajarin says this could be a deal-breaker for businesses that depend on specific applications. However, he notes that Apple has not said it won't open the phone up to third-party apps in the future, and web-based workarounds may be available.
Note: Apple would not comment for this story.