Apple's iPhone: Is it The Next Mobile Messiah, or Just Another Great Marketing "Job" by Steve??

Apple has always had the upper hand when it comes to great timing of their announcements. There was pre-press guessing on what Jobs was going to pull out of his hat at MacWorld 2007, and he did not disappoint fans and press alike with the much anticipated iPhone. Interestingly, MacWorld always coincides with the Consumer Electronics Show, and this year was no exception. I do not think it is an accident, and as a result, Jobs, with his iPhone intro, attempted, and I believe succeeded (to a slight degree) to steal some of the Microsoft thunder with the highly anticipated release of Windows Vista and Office 2007.

As a physician, I was sent by my hospital facility to attend and report my findings from CES.
When I returned, the only questions I was asked by my colleagues was, "What was the iPhone like?" I had to tell them that it was not shown at CES, and I did not go to MacWorld.

It appears that physicians who "hate" technology want an iPhone. Docs who do not wish to get a "free" Windows Mobile Phone to participate in a beta test of a new software product for the hospital, would immediately change their minds, if, and only if, I offered them an iPhone for the same beta test.

It is uncanny to me how well Apple can create of swell of anticipation, and a market for vapor ware.

I was initially impressed by the iPhone announcement (as were many other press and regular folks) but after reading David Shier's blog on this site, my excitement was tempered down.

As a former consultant for Samsung Telecommunications division (on a healthcare enabled phone project) I learned that not all that is announced comes to pass.

I believe we will see an iPhone in the next 6-8 months with a Cingular logo on the front. I am hopeful that there may be some improvements over what has been described by Apple. If successful (and I have no doubt it will be) I believe it will raise the bar for Microsoft, and Windows Mobile devices, and we will all benefit from this "new", "revolutionary" product.

By the way, you may remember an evolutionary keyboard less, non replaceable battery, 3.5 inch color screen PDA several years ago. It was the original "iPaq" by HP. Though it did not have a phone, many improvements have been made over that design. Though the iPhone is thinner, and sleeker than the original iPaq (as I would hope it would be in 2007, with all of the technological advances that have taken place since the iPaq was conceived), I view this device as 2 steps forward, 1 step backward in the realm of mobile smartphones. Time will tell how it all plays out.

As Miles O'Brian on CNN said this morning (to paraphrase), "The iPhone is a cool product that costs Apple about $247.00 for the 4 GB device, and $270.00 for 8 GB. I believe it will be grabbed up early by the early adopters. After that, they have some room to play with the price, and try to sell it to the masses."

Ed