The iPhone Buzz

I don't think there has ever been so much buzz for a product as there have been for the iPhone. I hear there are even people already queuing up to buy it when it goes on sale this Friday.
A lot of people are however predicting that the iPhone will be a huge failure, especially when people realize that it doesn't quite live up to the hype.
I, being a self-confessed Applefanboy, am here to dispel these nay-sayers. I would say Apple follows 2 paths when it comes to designing its products. Let me elaborate:

1. Use software to sell hardware: I cant think of any other tech company that seamlessly combines good software design with great hardware. Think Macs and OS X or iPods and iTunes. The iPhone will be no different. Apple has the advantage of controlling both the hardware and the software (the whole widget) which is unlike any other smart-phone manufacturer on the market and can therefore tweak the user experience to just the way it wants. Try telling that to HTC.
A lot of the complaints about the iPhone seem to be leveled at the missing software features such as an IM client or having no SDK. The truth here is that Apple knows that once the hardware is done and out of the door, its engineers can concentrate on improving the iPhone OS - just like it did with OS X and also with the iPods.

2. Less is More: This is Apple's design philosophy and it serves them very well. If you compare Apple's products to its competitors', you will notice that the competitor usually offers a lot more features. Take the iPod and compare it to other MP3 players. The iPod has less features but is a market leader because its well designed and very easy to use. This is the same for the iPhone - sure it only has no 3G and no GPS, but I bet you the overall user experience is miles better than any smart-phone currently on the market. Just today I tried to connect my wife's Sony Ericsson mobile phone to the internet and failed miserably!

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that the iPhone is perfect by any means - I just know that most of its short-falls are software based and can therefore be remedied with updates.

What I also know is that the iPhone is unlike any other smartphone on the market today; not only is its multi-touch UI revolutionary, it is going to completely change the smartphone market as we know it. From now onwards, all mobile phone manufacturers are going to try and out-do this phone. And thats a good thing.

So, will I get the iPhone when it comes out in Europe? No, I never buy a v1 product. But I definitely will eventually.