I must admit something, I am a gadget nerd. There, I’ve said it. I’ve owned many devices just for the sake of it. I love technology and gadgets. I’ve owned many things that were ahead of the curve or new technology at their time. I had an early mini-disk player before they came popular. I bought a PS3 the week it came out. I had one of the first iPods. I even have a (still working) Apple Newton. But of all the things I’ve owned nothing has ever enchanted me or impressed me for as long as the iPhone. Even after having it for over a year, I’m still in love with this amazing little device. The iPhone is so much more that the sum of its parts. It is innovation and design at its very best. Other manufactures may be scrambling to add touch screens and app stores to their phones, but no matter how they try they will never capture that immeasurable and almost intangible greatness that the iPhone has. But more than that, the iPhone has moved past being a phone. It has become something else entirely. If the term “personal digital assistant” was coined to represent the digital organisers of their day, then I think something like “personal digital companion” could be suitably applied to the iPhone.
A lot of people don’t seem to get what makes the iPhone so great or why people love it so much. It’s not the touch screen, or the wifi, or even the App store. It’s everything. It’s the integration, the seamlessness. The ability to do practically what ever you want, find out any information you need, connect to the world and listen to your favourite music, all from the palm of your hand. Other phones may have similar features, but none have carefully crafted the user experience so well that you are encouraged to use those features.
What really propels it out of the smart phone category and into something new is the App store. The fact that there is an App for virtually anything you could want should not be underestimated. Slick and functional, they turn the iPhone from a clever and powerful smart phone into the digital equivalent of a Swiss army knife. No matter how obscure or specific, there’s probably an App for it. Need to convert pounds to kilograms, no problem, fire up a unit converter. (there are many). Need to gauge the sound level in the room? No Problem! Hear a song on the radio and want to find out what it is? No problem. Need that phrase in French or Spanish? No Problem. Check your web stats quickly and easily? Sure, there’s an app for that. Write a blog post? No Problem. Bored? Play a game, there are hundreds to choose from. Got a song in your head but don’t have it on your iPhone, no problem. It goes on and on and on and on. With the iPhone you’re connected to the world, you are part of the world, and you have the whole world of information at your finger tips, either through the web or a vast army of apps designed to make any given task even easier. No matter what anyone says, whether they be competition or curmudgeon, nothing out there comes remotely close to this level of functionality. Nothing. Not even by a long shot.
Mobile Phones, smart phones and PDA’s have had third party apps for a long time. Competitors think this is the iPhone’s killer feature and are rushing to bolt it on to their phones, but again are missing the point. Many have already had third party apps for years. With the iPhone though, Apple gave the App developers a strong foundation to build on. Apps for other devices are cold, functional and ugly. You use them only if you have to. Apps on the iPhone are beautiful, elegant and some are incredibly sophisticated. (fart apps not withstanding). The gorgeous design and well thought out usability of many a quality App encourages you to use it and explore more. This isn’t just a testament to the quality of Apple’s SDK, but also to the developers, many of them mac developers who have seen the potential of what the iPhone can do and created a huge array of various kinds of software applications.
I carry my laptop with me whenever I am away or need to work out side of the office. But I can live without my laptop. I can not get by without my iPhone. It is my doorway to the wider world. It does everything I need it to. It’s like a friend, ready to help with your data needs whenever you want it. It keeps you entertained when you’re bored, in touch when alone, connected when out and about. It is more than a phone, more than an iPod and more than anyone ever expected it would be. I think history will look back on the iPhone as being as much of a break through as the personal computer. It really is your personal digital companion.
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