Can't touch this

"So what happens when some weirdo crams a shiny new iPhone in a pocket with the inevitable ring of house keys? "

Well, they get what they deserve.

Are all American consumers this dumb?
Did some of you do this with your Nano and then whine about it?

If so, you have really screwed-up priorities.

You buy something expensive, you take care of it.

In regards to 3rd party (hardware) products and the inevitable iPhone case industry, I'm putting a feature request in now for a little push-in, push-out storage for that bluetooth earpiece.

Steve, my headline referred to the fact that almost no one is able to TOUCH the TOUCHSCREEN on the iPhone. My post goes into more about the hardware. I'm sure widgets will come along, and surely resolution-independence plays a role in some dev love later this year. Whatever.

The point is the Achilles Heel of this thing is gonna be that screen. A screen only a priveledged few have even touched. Hence, "you can't touch this."

Just to re-iterate what someone else said, Engadget confirmed NOTHING regarding 3rd-party apps, they just link to an analyst who says this in a blog (and who listed no source either.)

Please be a bit more careful with the headlines. It may come to pass that there will be no 3rd-party apps, but I don't think anyone knows for sure right now (maybe not even Apple!)

I think if apps are locked, it will cause a large furor as well (this is a 'smarterphone', right?) Apple may end up re-considering, depending on security and wireless (Cingular) factors.

The thing that surprises me, after reading the various posts and comments around the web, is that everybody is complaining about software-specific items that aren't included, like a YouTube widget for instance. Wouldn't it make sense that, since the iPhone is essentially a shell that surrounds it's software, that it can be upgraded in the future like the iPod. I can get firmware updates for my 5G video iPod through iTunes. Why not the iPhone? I think that as far as iPhone software goes, the possibilities are endless.

I've tried to impress on my new-to-Macs and new-to-iPod friends that these devices are not toasters. They are also not $30 el cheapo cell phones where no one cares if they get beaten up. If you treat Apple devices with respect you'll be fine (or in my case, maybe a little reverence).

I'm not saying iPods, MacBooks, iMacs, etc. are fragile pieces of porcelain. They're not. But they are high-end devices that work best and are best enjoyed with a little care. If you shove a $200 Nano without a case into your purse, you get what you deserve. Would you let your car keys scratch up a Rolex?

I have a theory why we saw no iWorks or iLife 07 at Macworld!
There is going to be a combination with the iPhone and iWorks/iLife the documents are made syncable...

By the time the iPhone get's released to the public Leopard is going to be there...

We didn't see all the widgets and final software - the device's software is probably in stable alpha or beta - did we see a single calendar screen? ;-)

There are more widgets to come from apple and probably 3rd party devs can add software later as well...

iChat can be incorporated later - SMS is more business for the carriers as they charge for every single message - so this is a giving from apple to cingular...

By any chance i WANT one of these phones - this is the greates technological move forward in mobile phones since the beginning of cellular phoning.

Sure there are areas that could get improvements but see the phone as it is - a piece of hardware that is driven by software! On the go iTunes buy and download can easily added via apps as well as music sharing between iPhones (if record labels allow this).

Enjoy the next year with me getting the best cellular phone currently announced.

You quoted Engadget as saying this is first party only, but Engadget doesn't say where they heard this. I find it very hard to believe that it is first party only when it says that you can run widgets on it and it is purportedly a "OS X" machine. I hate it when blogs quote other blogs who quote other blogs and perpetuate a non-truth. I have read nowhere that it will be 1st party only. Even if it were, we all know how the enterprising hackers in the Mac community would not let that happen.

Nick, thank you! ABC's "news" site is a tangle of links and chaff...

One of the better iPhone hand-wringing posts. Why won't people just let themselves be excited for a day or two? Screen smudge was something that concerned me as well. Anyway, I'd bet on Apple shipping a cheap-o case with the thing (like the vPod).

Third party apps don't particularly concern me, as I think you'll see this in future iterations of the product.