iPhone therefore iAm?

The world was introduced to the iPhone yesterday (June 29, 2007). Along with many others, I am not at all excited (well, of course there are many many others who do not subscribe to this line of thought). Then why a post about the iPhone, you ask?

In a way that I cannot completely describe, I have looked up to Apple. Maybe not for their design, not for their innovation, but for their resilience. They have stayed alive making things that they like to design, in the face of stiff market opposition. And of course, whatever they make ends up looking very cool. I have seen (albeit with a pinch of salt), 'Pirates of the Silicon Valley' and do believe that Steve Jobs has made very conscious choices towards what products Apple makes.

However, with the iPhone, Apple has introduced something in the market that perplexes me and feels like something that (gasp) Microsoft usually does. Let me explain. Apple's iPod is an ingenius gadget. With the iPod, Apple became the market leader in portable music players. What did Microsoft do? It launched the Zune - a half hearted attempt at a portable music player with only one USP - wireless music transfer amongst friends (that the transferred music only plays for "three days or three plays, whichever comes first" is a less known fact). Needless to say, the Zune never became popular (many a technophile did criticize it thoroughly though). Microsoft took on Apple inspite of many years of market and technological disadvantage - in a product line that was far away from their core competency - just to get a slice of the pie.

Circa 2006, Motorola launched the Moto Razr V3i with iTunes included - marking the coming together of Apple and Motorola. Those who read my blog already know what my thoughts on the V3i are. The Moto Rokr that followed was not great either. Nevertheless, it took less than a year for Apple to dump Motorola and start designing their own phone. To be honest, Apple products take their due time to complete - so plans for the iPhone could have started even before the Moto Razr launch.

Bottomline - Apple backstabbed Motorola and launched a directly competitive product in the market. Doesn't that sound very 'me-too'ish in a Microsoft sort of way? Can anyone enlighten me behind what actually happened?

Whatever be the reason, I am not really impressed with the iPhone either. With a closed development platform, there won't be many third-party applications - something that I have to come to cherish about Symbian. No Apple, the iPhone may be cool, but I am not going to be an iLoser!

PJ Warning: If Apple had made this product, would they have called it the iPee?