Did he say CDMA! That makes me even more excited! :)

Give me a CDMA iPhone for Sprint, and I sell my spleen to pay for it!

the sooner apple does CDMA(from sprint, NOT from big red), the sooner i (might) let go of my apple hatred. but even then, iPhone will be far from perfect, and i'm probably gonna stick with my wonderful, thin, music playing samsungs that can kick the current-gen iPhone's face.

Aww, and the only thing I want to know is if it will be unlockable! :-(

Did they say why they offer free push mail for Yahoo and no for .Mac?

>it won't be an open system that people can develop for. Remember, this is both an iPod and a Phone.

IMHO that just sucks. It also makes it much more an iPodPhone than the iPhone we (okay me) were hoping for.

I would think because it's Yahoo offering the free service, Apple is notoriously reluctant to let services go for free

"Screen is the same polycarb as the iPod, with a touch element over it."

When I LOOK at my ipod wrong it gets scratches, and now they're just throwing a touch element on it? Uh, how 'bout NO?

Still curious if this will work with my corporate exchange email. If a user can access their exchange email via the web and Entourage, will it work with the iPhone?

The only thing I dislike is that I prefer a high-capacity iPod; I have very little interest in an 8gb one and would prefer an iPhone that either replaces my 60gb or has no iPod at all, with reduced cost.

Darn I was looking for the ability to add on widgets!

>it won't be an open system that people can develop for. Remember, this is both an iPod and a Phone.

Then what's the point of saying it runs "OS X" other than a marketing bullet? Turn the hackers loose!

If people can't develop for it I think I'll keep my separate phone and PDA

@Heffae:

Why not just buy a Pocket PC phone? Developers, even hobbyists, make programs for WM5 like crazy! Check out the HTC Prophet (aka: Dopod 818 Pro, i-Mate JAMin, or Qtek S200), which would be the comparable Pocket PC phone to the iPhone (No 3G, just EDGE and WiFi). It runs about $400 new (no contract).

I have the Prophet and love the open development of the WM5 operating system, however I'd give it up in a heartbeat for the usability of the iPhone. But after thinking about it, once I saw that the iPhone will not have open development, I'm going to have to rethink giving up my Prophet.

i dont think it will be unlockable. i've heard mention of the fact that certain features (probably visual voicemail and perhaps others) rely on enhancements that cingular is making to its network and which will likely lock the phone to the network.

Japan (and Korea) is moving toward HSDPA (aka WCDMA). WCDMA is the same as CDMA at conceptual level, but the vastly different implementation makes them COMPLETELY incompatible.

Look for an HSDPA version of the iPhone in about one year's time.

Right now EDGE chipsets are physically MUCH smaller than HSDPA chipsets so Apple may be waiting for a smaller HSDPA radio to become available.

Given that this was a 6 month announcement, I wonder what other software will be developed for it in time for release. AIM access over WiFi (insead of SMS)? Or will you be able to SMS over WiFi? Does it have video out for hooking into a TV (other than Steve's hacked demo model)? And where are the iPod games?

they still have time to add and change things.

Hey Lam! Nice piece on NPR. Can we get some shots of the angles you saw around the iPhone? :)

--Bill

It's a show-stopper if you can't develop for it. I'm looking for a clickable build target, iPhone, in Xcode. Or kind of forget it.

How very Apple Lisa of them.

They don't "have to" have CDMA for the Japan market. If they follow the "exclusive" model in the US. They can easily pick Softbank mobile (used to be Vodafone Japan) which has a UMTS/GSM based service in Japan

I wonder if it will support J2ME (Java)? Most mid- to high-end phones do and that will at least allow games and some apps to be added (I have a simple J2ME word processor and spreadsheet).

Seems odd that they are pushing this as a smart phone but not allowing these apps. I think I will be sticking with a Nokia unfortunately - such a pity.

Since I can't use this as my main phone (I need 3G and other features it doesn't have) will I be able to pull out my sim card and put it in an iPhone to use one on the weekends or do they lock you out of that function too?

Sprint? Nah.
3rd party applications that charge a ton for PDA's? (good riddance, no support and buggy software)

Even if it came out on Sprint, inability to install 3rd party apps and not being at least 3G (would like Rev. A EV-DO) are blatant omissions that would force me to forgo this gadget.

Furthermore, if what I read about non-removable battery is correct, that is an unforgivable oversight. I don't think I even need to go into details here... :(

Hey, did anyone else notice the 5 empty spots on the iPhone home screen that could hold future widgets?
I would really hope they either make it open to developers or make some really KILLER apps for it. Firstly, I want a Skype widget! They couldn't make them fast enough if it had a VOIP app as well. Of course, Cingular might not like that as much, but then again, who cares? They've already got you by the nad's with the 2-year contract. I think they could expand their market considerably if it added Skype also.

How easy is it to use with one hand?

I'd still say it's likley you can add your own widgets, which would not be exaactly new applications and so still agree with what was said - it would be nice to see that question answered explicitly.

PLEASE, CDMA!!

alright, I'm done yelling.

Jeez,

You americans still donät understand mobile phones, do you? Five, nah, ten years behind the rest of the world and you are yapping about a looser tech like CDMA.

Like Gretsky said, go where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.

I imagine it will not take long for someone to hack it once it is released. I have a few theories myself on how I could port other widgets onto it.

When was Lam on NPR, and what show?

NPR, half drunk, 7am, vegas phone call:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=67813...

Gallery with 50 photos is here:
http://gizmodo.com/photogallery/TheRealAppleiPhone

So tired...CES and Keynote = Major Fatigue. Thank you for reading, everyone. Means a lot to me. Sniff Sniff!

"Screen is the same polycarb as the iPod, with a touch element over it."

Not credible. In David Pogue's hands-on with the iPhone and face time with Steve Jobs, he was told the front is glass, selected from many types based on fingerprint resistance, and that the rest of the phone was stainless steel (trim) and aluminum and black plastic (the rear, with the plastic where RF needs to get out). The detail in that description, including about how materials were selected and researched, makes it more credible.

I still can't believe they won't allow us to install applications on the phone, it seems ridiculous that they'd go and put an OSX like OS on the phone and they won't let you install stuff, even the regular phones allow you to install java apps, why would apple waste a developer magnet?

one ring to rule them all!!!, all developers could say, I'm developing for one device that everybody will know, and not just a phone that won't last on the market just a year and whatever I do will be tied to it, which is what happens to us developers who want to go and do stuff for mobile, we're always tied to the next model with weird number-letter name coming out everyweek that everyone will forget about the week after when yet another one comes out.

so we'll need to use a cable to sync through isync... that's annoying

I bet that a few months after this launches someone will do something like install linux on the thing.