A paperweight.
/Rant
IMHO, the iPhone is the most over-hyped piece of technology for 2007. Just get ready for AT&T wanting to charge you $40+/month for just the data plan that won't include text messages, on top of the $500 for 4GB (with a freaking 2 year contract) price. A Windows Mobile 8525 will cost you a couple hundred bucks less (go buy a 30GB iPod), or can be purchased with a zero-year or 1-year contract. It will do more (3G data, push email, a keyboard, 3rd party apps, etc). Not to mention that I wouldn't trust the battery in the iPhone, as I've never had an iPod battery last more than about 12-16 months before it starts to lose it's capacity.
/Rant off
Look, I love my iPods. I'm not an anti-Apple zealot. As a geek, I'll certainly drool over the first iPhone I see in person, but I really think it's overpriced & under-featured. The gyro-sensor is neat, and I'm sure we'll see similar features on the next gen Palm/Blackberry/WM models. I've had my Cingular 8125 SmartPhone for over a year. I paid about $300 for it with a 1 year contract (my local store still does them, you just have to ask). It does everything the iPhone does and more: Email (with Direct Push - 'tis awesome), web browsing (with multiple browsers, if I choose), streaming audio (TCMP player), XM Radio (via XMRO), video (view & capture), camera (not the greatest, but it works), Edit & view Word & Excel documents, eBooks, PDF's, Google maps, Bluetooth, WiFi, not to mention the thousands of apps that are available...
The lack of keyboard/stylus is *bad*. I *know* that Apple claims that it's easy to use, and the commercials demonstrate to everyone how easy it is. But I'll believe it when I see it. The first time you use the iPhone as a phone, as any Palm/Blackberry/WM user will tell you, you're going to get 'face grease' on the screen. Now, in Apple's infinite wisdom, you've got to use your fingers to navigate the screen. So you're smearing the grease all over everywhere. Not to mention whatever gunk you've got on your fingers anyway. It becomes a real mess. I predict a surge in wet-wipe usage. With dedicated buttons and/or stylus entry, you avoid some of that. And as easily as iPod screens scratch, I hope Apple did their homework and did something better for the touch-screen.
OTOH, I do hope that the iPhone and all of the hype gives the Windows Mobile & Palm camps a swift kick in the behind as far as product & software development goes. Palm development in particular has been stale for the past few years. Microsoft hasn't been much better.
