Tim Hamm for President!!

New iPhone - Should I Care?

OK, so tomorrow is the big launch for the Apple's new iPhone model. They are saying it can do internet web browsing at twice the speed, and the price is half of what the phones were last year. Most of this appears to be true, and I'm sure there are plenty of "techno-geeks" that are already lined up to get their new toy.

Earlier this week, I stopped into my local AT&T store and was asking about my current plan and phone upgrades. I was told about the new $199 iPhone and that it does have the only "real" HTML viewing of web pages (which is true). This is quite a plus, as it does help web browsing to be more enjoyable. However, unless you are a frequently traveler, how often are you browsing the web on your cell phone?

The iPhone DOES NOT have any integrated keyboard, so text entry is clumsy (at best). The iPhone reportedly does not have an "officially supported" video feature (you can watch video, but not create video), which is surprising considering the popularity of this feature on other phones.

The new model reportedly supports synchronizing with Microsoft's Outlook program, however only the "full" version (not the "express" version, that many use).

There are many features which makes the phone intuitive for the gadget fan, but I would argue that the overall product is beyond the casual cell phone consumer. Sure, it easily integrates with Apple's Mac computer products, and does have some Windows compatibility (via specified software).

At the AT&T store, I could get a more "typical" Palm based "smart phone" for $99 (after $100 mail-in rebate). This phone had an integrated keyboard, supported both photo and video, supported web browsing (slightly slower and only text based - no HTML), and also was compatible with the Palm Desktop software (something many Palm users are familiar with).

I expect Apple will sell at least twice as many of the new iPhone model, compared to previous models. I'm hearing that the unit is easy to operate, fun, and does work well. However, I'm not yet sure I'm ready to plop down $200 for a cell phone that gets toted around daily.

Maybe I'll just stick with my standard cell phone, separate Palm PDA, and separate iPod. At least I don't have a "single point of failure".

What do you think?