Because the tech blog community hasn’t said enough about the iPhone in the last few days/weeks/months, we at TechStudy feel that it is time to tell the world over about this somewhat off-the-radar product.
For six months Apple sold hype. 2/3 of the U.S. population had heard of the iPhone before its launch last Friday, an astronomical number, and unheard of particularly for a handheld gadget. Apple sold hype, and millions of people bought it.
I reacted to the hype in two ways. The predominant feelings were that of excitement and hope; I have been a big fan of Apple recently (very happy with my MacBook Pro), and I was hoping the magical fruit company would similarly impress me with their latest endeavor. Lurking behind my naivete, however, was my father’s brow-furling skepticism that had time after time kept me out of trouble.
I held the little beauty in my hand for the first time today, and despite every sceptic fiber in my being, I had to admit that it blew me away. Now before you, faithful reader, hit the back button or whatever target key you have assigned for your facebook.com bookmark, let me say that this isn’t an iPhone puff piece. As Steve is my witness, we all know that there are plenty of these circulating the blogosphere at this very moment, and so the marginal utility of just one more wouldn’t really add anything to anyone’s life, particularly that of yours truly.
What I want to talk about is beneath the puff. Any review will tell you that the interface is beautiful, gorgeous, magnificent, stunning, etc. etc., but what does this mean for computing?
Right after I finished playing with the iPhone this afternoon, I received a text message from my girlfriend on my plain old LG VX8600. Now the LG is a nice phone. In fact, I would hazard to say that it is a top tier cell phone; but when I flipped that lid, read the new message on my boring old screen, and began typing a response, it felt like scrawling characters on a stone tablet using only a hammer and giant nail. I was a little boy forced to leave Disney World early because his sister came down with chicken pox. It just didn’t seem fair. Even typing on my MacBook Pro seems second class. Nothing will ever be the same!
Yes, I am overdoing it a bit for dramatic effect, but the feeling cannot be denied. This afternoon I experienced a closeness to computing that I have never felt before. Of course the iPhone isn’t perfect. In fact, there are many things that could be improved. But the graphical and nearly natural smoothness with which the user manipulates information on the iPhone is unparalleled.
After Apple introduced the first Mac 23 years ago, and brought folders, icons, and the mouse into our lives, computing was never the same. Now Steve (not singlehandedly of course; technology is a process) has done it again. Apple has brought a new mode of information interaction to the consumer-at-large.
When Walt Mossberg interviewed Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at the DConference last month, Gates spoke about the evolution of the GUI. He saw ahead of us a time when natural form factors would dominate the technological landscape, merging movement and information manipulation into one fluid system of data exchange. The iPhone is the beginning, the evolution is at our fingertips.
-Jake Levine
Posted by Jake Levine 
