Now I Want An iPhone, Too!

Posted on March 8th, 2008 by Itay

Up until now, though I’m a huge Apple fan and user since as far back as I can remember computers, I’ve always wanted the latest and greatest from them. From my Macintosh SE 1/20, to my StyleWriter II, from the Apple QuickTake which I managed to borrow from school often, to the Newton 2000 I owned and loved, the early and very thick PowerBooks and beyond, I always either had, used someone else’s, or wanted Apple’s products.

Today I use my MacBook Pro & iPod on a daily basis, they are a part of my routine and of my normal way of getting things done, but when the iPhone came out, aside from the fact that I had to recognize it was the coolest thing yet, I didn’t feel like I wanted one or could get a lot of use out of it.

Enter Steve Jobs and his latest announcement:

“We’re excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community with potentially thousands of native applications for iPhone and iPod touch,” … “iPhone’s enterprise features combined with its revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface and advanced software architecture provide the best user experience and the most advanced software platform ever for a mobile device.”

Now there’s something I can get excited about!

1) The iPhone software version 2.0 will be here in June, with significant improvements and more apps.

2) Part of the 2.0 software will add some significant features that enterprise users need including support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. This will allow for secure over-the-air push email, contacts and calendars. Exactly what those of us in the corporate world have become so dependent on via our Blackberry devices.

3) Apple released the iPhone SDK, allowing access to the APIs and all the necessary information for developers to begin cranking out 3rd party applications and utilities for the iPhone.

These points, combined with price drops and memory increases are making me itch and fidget with desire. I feel like version 2.0 is what 1.0 coulda/shoulda/woulda been. Now the internal debate is how long to wait and see if there is a next revision to the hardware coming out. Something different in the design perhaps? Even higher memory capacity, different camera, longer battery life, GPS?

The last gating factor providing resistance for me has been that its still exclusive to AT&T. That has got to change. We all know that the device can be hacked and unlocked, but I’d like to see if available across carriers. Overtime, however, my feelings towards the service, network and reliability of AT&T have softened. I’m not sure if this is because they actually are improving, or because the fact that my work issued Blackberry is from AT&T and I have grown accustomed to the ‘failed calls’, dropped calls, and black holes in coverage. In all honesty, the service has improved greatly in the last 12 months, and their international roaming is superb.

I know I want an iPhone. I hope our IT department decides to support them for our enterprise Exchange e-mail and services. We shall see - I will be watching closely.