That new iPod phone thingy

So Apple have launched the "iPhone"[1], it's half the thickness of my current Windows Mobile based phone (a T-Mobile branded HTC Tytn) but otherwise it's the same size.

I'm presuming that the network throw in around a £200 subsidy on the phone and with a current price being talked of $599 (so call it £300) thats a £500 phone retail if you want it SIM free. (I paid that much for a grey market P800 phone)

So the big question is will I buy one (assuming it turns up just before Xmas)? Not with this version. Why? Well the biggest issue is the missing 3G radio system, I'm surprised how much I miss it when the cell I'm in doesn't support it. I think I would also miss the real keyboard I have on the HTC. In the missing items I don't care about pile is there is no front side camera for doing video calls.

In terms of "iPod" goodness I'll presume the Music player is good but the one I've currently got with 2GB of microSD card goodness does fine for me. Camera phones never really work well and there doesn't seem to be a flash included either.

I know the phone I want and the iPhone isn't it, what I want is the "onehandness" of SonyEricsson P800 with the original jog wheel which meant making calls from the contact list was easy, the smooth integration with Outlook of a windows mobile solution, the connectivity of the HTC and the screen from the Nokia 9500 (640x200) which means that reading documents in landscape mode actually works (shame no one makes it).

So is the "iPhone" a killer phone? In terms of looks yes, in terms of features not for me. Perhaps a MK II version will add those missing features but until then I'm still a little underwhelmed.

One interesting question that the software developer in me is asking just how crippled and different the version of OS X and how hard will it be to write code?

Finally what are Microsoft going to do to compete?

[1] iPhone is a Cisco trademark so what it's really called longterm might be an issue.