iNewton

If anyone other than Apple announced a new cell phone, nobody would pay much attention. Improbably, Apple not only met, but actually exceeded enormous expectations when it announced the iPhone (figure). What CEO Steve Jobs demonstrated was clear evidence that they had thought deeply about how a phone should work. We all have phones with functions that we've never managed to figure out how to use. Or, having finally figured out how to do something by reading the manual or touring the menus, we forgot the trick by the next time. Apple has applied its design magic to the physical form and the human “interface”, making a phone that looks great and works the way you'd expect.

Full disclosure: I own a little – too little – Apple stock. I also own a little – enough – Motorola stock. I've always admired Moto's advanced technology and, lately, its style. Unfortunately, its phones have often been marred by mediocre software. Also, all cell phones have been crippled by the telephone service providers because the carriers want to sell their own services. Apple, in contrast, had the clout to get Cingular/ATT to actually add support for functions. Oddly, the iPhone has been criticized (already) for not allowing even more, "third party" applications. This criticism is silly because the iPhone comes with standard applications that are years ahead of the competition and because nobody adds applications to their iPod or current cell phone, anyway.

I was hoping for an ultraportable tablet computer from Apple. I figured, who needs another phone? Well, the new iPhone is essentially an updated Newton (lower figure), a small tablet/personal data assistant (PDA) that was way ahead of it time when Apple produced it over a decade years ago. The Newton didn't have cell phone, wireless internet, or bluetooth (short range) connections. There's a very good reason why these were missing on the Newton: they either rare (cell phones) or non-existent at the time. I had one and despite its limitations, the Newton was still a very useful device. Now the iPhone is the Newton, perfected. iWant.