iPhone Announced Today

This sounds really cool:

Steve Jobs just dropped a bombshell on the audience attending his Macworld Keynote Address. Jobs at first announced the product as three separate products; a widescreen video iPod, a phone, and a mobile internet communicator. This was exciting enough, but I'm sure I'm not the only person who was a bit disappointed to think about carrying three devices. According to Laurie who is listening to the feed from the expo floor, the crowd went absolutely wild at this announcement.
The iPhone will use a revolutionary interface called MultiTouch, first seen in Apple patent filings over a year ago. The iPhone will run OS X, and be capable of running desktop-class applications.

The Nitty Gritty:

• Single front button.
• 3.5 inch widescreen display featuring the highest pixel density ever shipped in a portable device.
• 2 megapixel camera.
• iPod dock.
• Proximity sensor which switches between modes and screen orientation based on how a user holds it.
• 11.6 mm thick.
• Syncs with iTunes
• GSM/EDGE
• Wifi
• Bluetooth
• Cinglar only.
• Visual voicemail - shows a list of your voicemails like you see a list of emails.
• Error correcting on-screen keyboard.
• Gestural interface
• Mail.
• Safari.
• Google Maps.
• Widgets.
• Switches seamlessly between EDGE and WiFi.
• Free Yahoo! IMAP email to all iPhone customs.
• GPS
• 5 hour video battery life.
• 16 hour audio battery life.

The 4GB costs $499 and the 8GB $599 (includes a 2 year contract). It is shipping in June.

This is something that might tempt me to give up my Treo.

You can sign-up to be notified of its release here.

Apple will also be releasing a special bluetooth headset and headphones for the iPhone.

Jobs also announced Apple TV today.

GMU Prof Russ Roberts seems to think the iPhone looks as impressive as I do:

Apple hits a home run. No, a grand slam. Actually, a five-run homer, the kind you're not supposed to try to hit. If the phone pictured here actually works and the price point is anywhere near the competition and if they can get them made in any volume, it's going to be the best-selling tech product ever. It makes the Razr and the Zune and the Treo and Blackberry look like lego toys.

UPDATE: It's going to be $499 for the 4GB version and $599 for the 8GB version. It's going to sell like hotcakes. Zero calorie hotcakes. Expects to ship June 2007. Jobs is claiming to aim for a 1% share of the phone market in 2008. Ten million phones. If they can get them made, they'll sell them all.

Ezra Klein is upset that the iPhone will only be offered with Cingular service.

P.S. -- Apple Computers also just renamed themselves "Apple Inc." to reflect their emergence from computers only into the broader electronics market.

P.P.S. -- See how the new iPhone sizes up the Treo 750, Motorola Q, and Blackberry.