Look people have ipods people have cellphones who in the right mind will spend this much for something they already have?

Or a Walkman and a fanny-pack full of cassettes? I agree the intro price is high. As it is with all new technology. But they couldn't get by with the $500 price tag, and be the #1 noticed item at this year's tech show, if all it was was a iPod / cellphone combo.

Amazingly, the iPhone has been available for sale in Canada since 2004 (if not even earlier):

http://www.comwave.net/CDN/iPhone/faq.htm

http://www.voip-news.com/blog/20070115/c......-canada/

It's obvious the majority of posters on this thread do not know what this new iPhone looks like or does. It is a game-changer. It is the first generation of a combination cell phone, music player, video player and internet browser (that's right, browse the internet at the coffeeshop without need of your laptop).

The screen is 3.5 inches, not the size of a postage stamp. You manipulate information on it using a new type of touch-screen technology that looks like magic. For example, to scroll through your list of contacts, you can either drag the list down with your finger as you might imagine, or you can flick your finger down the screen, making the list move quickly as if it were a virtual rolodex. You can re-size a photograph on the screen by using your thumb and first finger, in a diagonal motion. It is amazing-looking, and I guarantee some tech-savvy magicians are going to come up with some very cool tricks to do on this thing. It has only one external button, so the blackberry-type functions are mimicked by using a virtual keyboard. In sum, it is the typical Apple elegance and superb industrial design that Apple's fans have come to know and love. And I guarantee that almost everyone who sees it in person is going to secretly lust for one.

I'm certain it's a wonderful thing. It's also w a y too expensive for me. I am never going to be able to afford one so it's not in my cards.

That's just not going to bother me all that much.

I already have lots of ideas bouncing through my head Since you can scroll through pictures by touching (or flicking) the side of a picture, you could simulate some interesting color changes.

Derek Merdinyan

The iPhone will be one of the first mobile devices to feature multi-touch input technology. I just ran across this video demonstrating the possibilities of multi-touch input technology. It looks like magic:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=89sz8ExZndc

Say what you want, but that is some great technology...that will be the new interface for all new electronics

Maybe for Apple products - they patented it.

Derek Merdinyan

This is an incredible product!

You can watch a 20 minute intro to the iPhone on youtube....

Part one
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XpXmWpZmMRs&a......;search=

Part two
http://youtube.com/watch?v=s-goZmsS_lE&a......;search=

Part three
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Vtu914wUI&a......;search=

So much more than a phone!

I want one . . .

I think I want the second generation of the iPhone.

I plan on getting a Skype phone but first I am doing my homework and making sure that it will work as good as my Skype does on my Laptop.

I pay $30.00 a year for unlimited phone calls to any landline phone in the 50 States, Canada and Mexico. The sound quality is a little better than my regular landline phone and much better than any cell phone I have used.
The Skype phone is Wi-Fi but my understanding is it won't work with all carrier's of Wi-Fi. I don't know why this would be so but I think as Wi-Fi phones become more popular this problem will go away. I remember when cell phones were new, coverage was very meek as well but due to cell phones growing popularity most of the country is covered.

Anyone not familiar with Skype but want to try it out for FREE just go to http://www.skype.com for the download of the program and you can talk to anyone else who has Skype on their computer. Talking computer to computer is always free with Skype but to call landline phones will cost you money.
Many times Skype will have a free offer to call any landline phone for ten minutes just so you can see if you might be interested in making the purchase.

$30.00 a year for unlimited calls (no minutes to lose or rollover) sure beats the cost of a cell phone.
Iven

If you want to make phone calls, then the Skype thing sounds like a good deal.

If you are looking at an iPhone just as a cell phone, then you probably don't want one.

How much does it cost to buy? How much does it cost to use?

$499 for the 4 GB model
$599 for the 8 GB model

Pricing Info: http://www.apple.com/iphone/easysetup/rateplans.html

As for Skype, Andrew Mayne wrote up an interesting article the other day about the usefulness of Skype for magicians: http://itricks.com/magiczine/archives/371

Derek Merdinyan

Apple now has a guided iPhone tour on their site. If anyone is confused about it, this will help clear it up.

If you liked the iPhone comic strip I posted earlier, they brought up the storyline the day after father's day. Start reading here, and keep clicking the right arrows and reading the strips until you get to the current one.

Oh, and check out this 1900 by 1200 JPEG picture if you want a great wallpaper to help celebrate the release of the iPhone.

Thanks Derek for the article link. One little correction to the article.
Skype is not audio only but is also video if you have a webcam and choose to use that tool. I don't know if webcam's can be used with conference calls.
I don't pay $5.00 a month for my Skypeout number, I pay $30.00 a year but that might be because I got my Skype number early when they were running a special but $5.00 a month is still cheaper than Vonage and all the other phones out there.
when the writer say's that Skype sounds even better than a regular phone, he is right on the mark.
Iven

OK You can buy one for from $500 to $700, but what is the monthly bill after you shell out the purchase price?

Mr. Angello - There's no $700 model (yet... haha) pricing plans are available on the site http://www.apple.com/iphone/easysetup/rateplans.html

Irossall - Send Andrew Mayne your clarifications, he wrote the article. Video conferencing is possible on iChat, but I'm not sure I'm not sure about Skype, never tried it.

Derek Merdinyan