Why isn't C&P on the iPhone yet?

We're talking about Apple here. Apple wouldn't release a solution to world hunger until the thought it was implemented perfectly. This attitude is what makes Apple great and sets them apart from companies like Microsoft.

Is it a little strange that it has taken them this long to come up with C&P? Sure. Is it really that surprising? Nope.

They are waiting to get right a boot-up sequence to demonstrate the C&P ;)

One interview with Steve he says iPhone is a device without 'verbs' - think he meant abstract commands like cut and paste. its actually pretty bold to leave this stuff out - and it does work maybe 95% of the time.

you do hit moments thought when you want to grab a bit of text - its rare but it does happen.

maybe part of the reason is they are trying to defend the design decision - see how far they can go this way before giving into convention. as a designer I respect that, as a user more flexibility meeting user needs is helpful.

"But here's why my reasoning falls down: I can't think of another reason Apple would keep it off the iPhone."

Same reason Apple doesn't have a proper two button mouse...pig headedness. Or perhaps they just haven't figured out how to implement a two button mouse either.

Screw Cut & Paste - what about LANDSCAPE TEXT ENTRY in ALL (primarily Mail and SMS) apps?! That's the biggie that needs to be rectified in my opinion.

As for cut & paste, has anyone suggested doing something as simple as double click over the text you want to copy (exactly the same as double clicking over text on OS X), the swipe right to copy, reposition cursor, then swipe left (or right, again) to paste? Similar to the action you use for deleting a text message session - swipe to reveal "delete" then swipe again to paste.

Re: worst error message ever

Only slightly paraphrased:
Windows has detected that no keyboard is connected. Press any key to continue.

As others have noted, the proof-of-concept video doesn't prove the concept very well. Since - despite trying - the community still can't figure out how to make it work, I don't see a reason to doubt Apple's assertion that they haven't either.

Personally, I think data detectors might be a better way to go. For photos, if an email is already being composed the "Email Photo" option should attach the photo to the current email. For phone numbers, an option to text or add to contact would be nice. Emailing or texting contact info would be amazing. The only other time I really wish I had copy & paste is when I get an MMS message sent to my number rather than to my email - it would be REALLY nice if the interface would link us to viewmymessage.com with the complex code already filled out.

Interaction design isn't always easy, no matter how simple it might sound at first. Snarky blog posts with sideways digs at AppleTV, conspiracy theories and back-handed quoting don't really add much to the conversation about what interaction issues are going on right now, and might lie ahead for multi-touch devices.

the phone doenst need copy and paste . .
they just need to recognize important text
and allow you to use it in different ways . .

Bear in mind they only get one chance to implement this. Once it's done it's done and they can't go back and change it if they think of a better way. Implementing it early and making it a 'little more complicated than most other functions' is a one-way street. I'd rather they wait and get it right.

I watched the video you linked to and it seems to me that there are some serious flaws with what is presented. Firstly, it is obvious that this idea was generated by a very experienced computer user who is happy with the idea of modes and multi-stage operations. 'Real' users are not so comfortable with such things and find them very confusing. Another issue is that the paste operation uses the same action (one finger hold, second finger tap) as the 'start-of-copy' operation. What context makes that action behave differently in this situation to bring up the clipboard for paste rather than start another copy?

As I say, I'd rather that Apple wait and get it right.