Okay, so I have this iPhone. And it’s really really cool. It’s not so much a mobile phone that can also surf the web on a crappy browser as a mobile computer (with a really good browser) that can also receive phone calls. That’s a small but important distinction, and it is the one that made the iPhone reasonable to me. If it were merely a mobile phone with a mediocre browser, it’d be way to expensive and I’d probably not be interested.
It does lots of cool things, but you’ve all seen the commercials, so you know about that. I’ll just tell you what it does for me: it makes it so that I don’t have to open my laptop unless I am actually going to do some work.
That’s a big thing. I don’t have to open my laptop check email or Facebook. Or to see if one of you has commented on (or even read) this website. I don’t have to open my laptop to read my newsfeeds, or calculate something, or get directions to wherever I might need to go. I don’t have to open my laptop anywhere I am.
Think about that. I can now use my laptop for what it does best: creating things. I have effectively separated the creating of web goodness from the rest of my web interactions. It means when I have my laptop open, I am not distracted by NetNewsWire and its little red indicator telling me how many amazingly urgent and stunningly imperative things I still haven’t read, or by Mail doing exactly the same thing. The Gmail indicator doesn’t have to turn red. Hell, it doesn’t even have to run any more.
And then there’s the whole new development environment for me. Not just at the web level, but I’ve been dusting off my Objective C and considering a few applications for the device. The limitations of the iPhone compared to desktop development is challenging and exciting, and ideas for ways to push up against its boundaries seem to just jump out of my imagination.
We’ll see how the app development turns out, but the real point of all this is that I am excited about it. The iPhone is not just a mobile computer (with a really good browser) that can also receive phone calls, it’s also something that is inspiring me.
Oh, and yes, it’s just so much fun to use!
Welcome to the party Adrian! It’s great, ain’t it?