As everyone probably has been unable to avoid knowing, the iPhone launches this Friday. Normally, new Apple releases cause me to sit on my hands to avoid throwing money at Steve Jobs' head, but this one--eh. It's certainly spiffy, in some ways, and the data plan is $10 cheaper than one I pay now for the same service (and $20 less than what Joe Schmo pays), but it lacks key functionality.
Right now I have an iPaq hw6515 that my brother bought for me last Christmas--it's pretty neat, and most importantly, it connects to everything I need it to connect to. Like the iPhone, it has a built-in web browser and email client, but unlike the iPhone, it has the ability for me to install software on it, so it also synchronizes with the Oracle Calendar system implemented at my work. I absolutely cannot do without that--I need my device to remind me to get off my ass and go to my appointments.
Like the iPhone as well, my existing phone/PDA connects to Cingular's reasonably speedy EDGE network... the thing is, Cingular has a faster network, it's available in my area, and the iPhone will not connect to it. Which is Lame-with-a-capital-ell. Why on Earth would I spend $500 for a device that does less and performs about the same as my existing device? Why would anyone (because the iPhone is cooler, I guess)? Besides which, my iPaq is extremely durable. I drop things a lot, the phone not excepted, and the iPaq has been a little trooper about continuing to work after all the abuse I give it. The iPhone, on the other hand, looks like a delicate beast, probably even more so than the Palm Treos that are dropping like flies around me.
I would love to be able to want, and to buy, the iPhone, but that just isn't going to happen. The plan, right now, is to wait for HP to come out with a new 3G iPaq running Windows Mobile 6 (not a smartphone, though), and spend whatever they want to charge me for it, providing it also does all the cool stuff my current iPaq does (bluetooth, built-in GPS, wifi like the next generation of iPaqs after mine has). Isn't it sad, though, that HP of all companies is likely to make a more attractive device, and in many ways already does?
I thought you were cool, Apple.