I’ll start by saying that I think the iPhone is a really, really impressive piece of work. I don’t doubt in the least that it will have a serious impact on the wireless telecom industry… over time. The hype has proven to be true, though only to a degree. Apparently one of Microsoft’s greatest contributions to the world of computing has bled over to Apple: the self-imposed wait for 2.0. From what I’ve seen so far, that’s a fair idea.

The first version of the iPhone offers too few functions for me to knowing dive in and drop $600. I’m a long time Treo user, a Palm OS freak, and a gadget lover in general, and the iPhone doesn’t offer the ability to add software. I’m just not into that. Like my Treo (or really any PDA ever made) I need to be able to make my device function as I need it to, otherwise I can’t warrant that kind of expenditure. I got a Katana from Sprint instead. Free Bluetooth. Ahhh.

I realize that this isn’t something that most people need, though. I drove my daughter over to The Grove yesterday so we could drop in to the Apple Store (and visit the sickening American Girl and Pottery Barn Kids stores) and get our hands on an iPhone. The crowd hovering like Vultures over the iPhone display table was thick and unmoving. We hung around for a bit, listened to the band play, and looked at the fish.

In the end, we left without having touched an iPhone. I’m sure that some of my blase attitude stems from the fact that I’ve not yet touched one. I defend that with the fact that I am a lifetime Apple fan, having had not just Macs, but at least one example of every single one of Apple’s major model lines. My list of Apple machines I’ve not had is far shorter: The Apple ][ GS, any of the Performa machines (what a sad name), a PowerBook 540c (man, I really wanted one of those), and a Mac G5.

I make no apologies, either. Of course, I don’t leap out and buy everything that Apple ships. My only iPod is a 60GB Video. I replaced my 7 year old PowerBook “Pismo” with a MacBook Pro. My daughter uses a PowerMac G4. Yes, my wife uses Windows XP on my old Toshiba lappy, but what can one do against the forces of nature. That makes me wonder. How many first day buyers were Windows users? I’m sure we’ll start getting stats from Apple soon.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is a simple one. Once the iPhone can replace my soon to be retired Treo 650 or my Palm T|X then I’ll switch, and gladly. In the meantime, I’ll stick with Palm, but I do use iSync. When the time comes to switch, I will. You can count on it.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: Opinion