xargol's weblog

Those who know me well know me as a Microsoft guy, and I’ve never been one to care much about Apple. However, while following some of the countless liveblogs from Steve Jobs’ keynote at the Macworld Expo earlier today, I was struck with awe.

After the usual sales number bragging, Steve Jobs moved on to introduce the Apple TV. Nothing out of the ordinary; just a simplified copy of Windows Media Center. The real hit, though, was the Apple iPhone.

iPhone has been widely rumored about for quite a while, but I think everyone was taken by surprise by the state of this long-secret product. For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last, umm, two hours, here’s a rundown:

The iPhone, while of course being a mobile phone, is also Apple’s next generation iPod. In addition to that, it’s also a what they call an “Internet communications device”. And, man, does it deliver!

It is a wide-screen touch device powered by Mac OS X as its operating system — it allows you to do all the usual iPod stuff, i.e. listen to music, watch movies, etc., plus browse the web using the integrated Safari web browser, utilize widgets just as you would on a computer, view maps using the integrated Google Maps application, and so on.

All this in a slick, fit device you navigate through a beautiful trademark Apple-interface. Drool.

Words don’t do this phone any justice though, so make sure you head over to Apple’s iPhone site and check it out for yourself.

I genuinely believe this phone to be a leap into the future, and I’m very excited about where this is headed next. Apple really gained my respect with this one.