• Made us expect too much
• Made Wall Street expect too much
• Gave Samsung, LG, Motorola, etc. a six-month heads up
• Undercut Apple TV buzz
• Possibly, if not probably, undermined current iPod sales
• Turned Cisco negotiations into a trainwreck

We don't agree on much, especially the 6-month lead up, since Steve chose to hit the launch button before submitting the phone to the FCC's leaktastic process of approval. And the Cisco negotiations? Despite the money, we're pretty sure that Apple sees Cisco's money/attention grab as a road bump on the way to selling all 10 million of the handsets in the first year. But...

some of Elgan's points are well-reasoned. As we said, it just gets a little shakier when he speculates that the rush to announce the iPhone was sparked by a combination of the imminent arrival of the LG KE850 and investigations into the stock-option backdating scandal. He's not wrong, per se, but there were definitely other, bigger factors going into the announcement. Whether you agree or disagree, it's an article worth checking out. – Matt Buchanan

How Steve Jobs blew his iPhone keynote [ComputerWorld via Slashdot]

Thanks to FastMac's extended batteries, we were able to post live from Macworld and CES without having to run back to the press room all the time to charge. Available in 15-inch MacBook Pro and PowerBook G4 models, these fit in snugly just the way the originals do. And at the price of $99.95 with a complete 1 year warranty, you can't go wrong.

The next time we do CES, we're going to buy at least two each. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Fastmac]

Otherwise, scroll below for a full gadget buffet.

Motorola: John Wernecke tersely offered that Apple "was and still is a business partner." Sounds like someone's not happy that their crappy iTunes phones aren't even worth bitching about anymore.

LG: More talkative than Motorola, Melissa Elkins said that LG "welcomes healthy competition" and thinks that the iPhone shows that "we're all moving in the right direction." However, the iPhone is "different [from what LG is doing]" and is "a little bit more in the high end" whereas they offer phones for a variety of providers at many different price points.

Samsung: Kim Titus thinks that "more excitement around phones and functionality is going to be nothing but good for the industry."

Nokia: Keith Nowak happily told me that Nokia thinks it's "exciting" because it's "making people aware that... internet and people are coming together." Moreover, it "follows what we've been saying for years." On exclusivity, it's "not abnormal" and pretty much all manufacturers do it. All of that being said, "nobody's touched it" so it's hard to comparisons.

Upshot? No one thinks that it's the end of the world. In fact, they think if people get used to paying more for phones with increased functionality like in Europe and Asia, everybody wins. Or they're agents of the Beast and are lying their asses off. – Matt Buchanan

Here's what I think we have to look forward to:

I think that iPhone-esque iPods will soon be released. Look for larger capacities, probably 100GB, and a very similar design to the iPhone. We'll be treated to the same great touchscreen that automatically rotates the interface depending on how we hold it, which will be perfect for watching videos. But we'll lose the phone functions, and with those we'll also likely lose the camera and OS X interface. What makes the iPod so great is its simplicity, not its robust set of features, and by merging that notion with the new iPhone hardware Apple will be giving the iPod a serious upgrade.

So what do you think? Would you rather spend $300 on a widescreen, touchscreen iPod with a 100GB hard drive or $600 on an iPhone with 8GB? I've gotta be honest… the idea of a high-capacity touchscreen iPod sounds like a sweeter deal than the iPhone, especially the first generation version that lacks 3G and GPS. The smartest move might be grabbing one of those and then getting an iPhone in a year when its feature set is really humming. –Adam Frucci

Apple iPhone [Gizmodo]

Business/Financial Props [Bodog]

Download Here: PDF
–Brian Lam

Macworld Keynote 2007 [Gizmodo]
iPhone [Gizmodo]

HTC
Foxconn
BenQ
Hon Hai Precision
Winstron
Compal Communications
Arima

– Jason Chen

BUT, and this is the most important point, Apple's already designed a 3G version that's "in the works" with the FCC. 3G lovers may want to hold out for iPhone version 2. – Jason Chen

Thanks Jon-Erik!

We're going to compare the iPhone to Windows Mobile 5 so you can see that WM can already do everything the iPhone can.

SMS: The iPhone has an iChat-like threaded SMS app. Windows Mobile has it.

Calendar: The iPhone has a calendar that syncs to iCal. Windows Mobile has that with the Missing Sync.

Photos: The iPhone has photo browsing. Windows Mobile has photo browsing.

Camera: The iPhone has a 2-megapixel camera. The Cingular 8525 has a 2-megapixel camera.

Calculator: The iPhone has a calculator. Every phone has a calculator.

Widgets: The iPhone has expandable widgets for Weather and Stocks. WM can install apps that can do Weather and Stocks, not to mention RSS, Skype, Emulation Gaming, hundreds of other things.

Google Maps: The iPhone has Google Maps. WM has Google Maps and Windows Live Search.

Email: The iPhone has rich text email. WM doesn't.

Browser: The iPhone has a full-screen zoomable desktop-like browser. Windows Mobile has Mobile Opera, which isn't full-screen and doesn't zoom.

Music/Video: The iPhone is video iPod. WM has portable Windows Media Player.

Touchscreen with Multi-Finger Gestures: Yeah, WM doesn't do that.

It seems Windows Mobile can match the iPod in pure features for the most part, but lacks some functionality in email, browser, media playback and touch-screen areas.

But you know what? Even though WM has all of these same apps, they're not as usable, not as complete, and generally not as good as Apple's solutions. That's why the iPod "won" the MP3 player race, and that's why the iPhone is going to win over Windows Mobile—not to mention all other smartphones.

And that's why we're ready to drop our Windows Mobile phone for an iPhone any time. – Jason Chen

iPhone [Gizmodo]

Here are some details that were left out of the Keynote.

The Color: The iPod isn't white for the reason that the screen's colors pop against a black background.

The OS: It isn't OS X proper, as you'd expect. And like an iPod, it won't be an open system that people can develop for. Remember, this is both an iPod and a Phone.

Music Store Access: None planned, as of yet.

Screen is the same polycarb as the iPod, with a touch element over it.

Accessories: Remember, this has an iPod dock connector, so many accessories will be fwd compat.

I didn't get a good answer on why the iPhone isn't 3G, unfortunately. I could be wrong, but I recall Phil telling me that when it hits Japan, they'll have to have to build a CDMA version.

WiFi or Cellular Data Syncing? No, only docking (This may be for iTunes only. Maybe data does sync, but I don't have any facts here.)–Brian Lam

Macworld Keynote 2007 [Gizmodo]
iPhone [Gizmodo]

What do I really think of it?

Well CD players and iPods both play music. But elegant design at the fundamental level of how it plays tunes is what helped it transcend the category. From what I saw, first hand, I think the iPhone is going to do this for cellies. I have a bit of sympathy for our friends at RIM and Nokia

First thing I did? I called my mom.

"Mom," I said. "I'm calling you from an iPhone"

Mom says, "Where? Huh? Who?"

I said, "Uh, its a gadget people have been waiting for for a long time. Never mind, I'll call you later."

Then I dug into the features.

It's easy to say how it worked — it did just the way it's supposed to, per the Keynote. The experience is very OS X like. So, lets go through each feature. Keep in mind this isn't the final firmware or hardware. They have months to fix whatever I bitch about.

Phone calling: Sound is clearer than average. The number pad is tucked away, so they depend on you having most numbers in speed dial. That's ok. Soft buttons are never going to be as fast as hard buttons. These were good, there wasn't much delay. But wihtout tactile feedback, its a little strange. (The faux dialtones are cool.)

Screen: Most gorgeous ever. Flawless. Dark, and contrasty. Bright colors. Photos looked natural. Touchscreen was better for multigestures, but the screen itself had a bit of rubbery feel as I flicked through with a single figner.

Gestures: They work! Multitouch is great for zooming photos. I likey.

Video: The pirates of the caribbean video was supposedly 640 by 480, but looked kind of blown up. I'm being picky, though. You can set the video to native res, instead of filling the screen. Maybe that was the 320 version of Pirates. I'm being picky.

Music: Um, I flipped through some songs, but without headphones, I didn't listen.

Images: You saw it from our liveblog. Thumbnails, and zooming using gestures. As you'd expect.

Browser: Perfect rendering of the page (saw the apple page and Google news) Like the opera browser, it scales down images. Didn't check Flash or Java/Javascript support. Flipped to landscape when I tilted (but only one side.) Zooming in with a touch and then back out made sense. And landscape mode is awesome.

Keyboard: The softkey, on screen buttons are small. Think index finger, not thumb. Maybe I wasn't doing it right. The keys pop up when I put my finger down on the keys, but do you think the proximity sensor knows when I get close (but before I touch), and if I hover with my digit, it'll blow up the keys so they're easier to hit? (Am I making sense?)

SMS: Didn't try.

Email: Typed around a bit. Wish the fields for To, and CC were smaller fonts. But I guess when you go to the main message field, it scrolls down.

Google Maps: Perfect. Maps DL'd slower than I'd have liked, esp considering the demo was on wifi (Was it on WiFi? I believe so, but will let you know if I am wrong.)

Widgets: Weather and Stocks are identical to the OS X Dashboard Widgets. Great

Camera: The camera didn't refresh fast in the dark meeting room. I wasn't that impressed, but it was pretty dark.

RAM Vmail: Didn't check, but looked at the messages, seemed straight forward.

Multitasking: Didn't have time to check!

We'll email Apple and ask them if you have any questions, and we'll update this post as we find out more from other journalists themselves. –Brian Lam

MORE: Gizmodo iPhone Hands On Part Deux: Why Isn't it White and Other Questions

Macworld Keynote 2007 [Gizmodo]
Macworld Keynote 2007: Chronological order [Gizmodo]

iPhone 360-Degree Photo Gallery [Gizmodo]
Macworld Keynote 2007 [Gizmodo]
Macworld Keynote 2007: Chronological order [Gizmodo]

The aspect ratio's a little disproportional—we're working on it.

Want pictures instead? Here ya go. – Jason Chen

iPhone [Gizmodo]

See the press release after the jump

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 9, 2007—Apple® today introduced iPhone, combining three products—a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod® with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps—into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting users control iPhone with just their fingers. iPhone also ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones.

“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.”

iPhone is a Revolutionary Mobile Phone

iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows users to make calls by simply pointing at a name or number. iPhone syncs all of your contacts from your PC, Mac® or Internet service such as Yahoo!, so that you always have your full list of up-to-date contacts with you. In addition, you can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and easily merge calls together to create conference calls.

iPhone’s pioneering Visual Voicemail, an industry first, lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages. Just like email, iPhone’s Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most.

iPhone includes an SMS application with a full QWERTY soft keyboard to easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. When users need to type, iPhone presents them with an elegant touch keyboard which is predictive to prevent and correct mistakes, making it much easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. iPhone also includes a calendar application that allows calendars to be automatically synced with your PC or Mac.

iPhone features a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac,
with just a flick of a finger and easily choose a photo for their wallpaper or to include in an email.

iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone which also features EDGE and Wi-Fi wireless technologies for data networking. Apple has chosen Cingular, the best and most popular carrier in the US with over 58 million subscribers, to be Apple’s exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the US.

iPhone is a Widescreen iPod

iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets music lovers “touch” their music by easily scrolling through entire lists of songs, artists, albums and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is stunningly presented on iPhone’s large and vibrant display.

iPhone also features Cover Flow, Apple’s amazing way to browse your music library by album cover artwork, for the first time on an iPod. When navigating your music library on iPhone, you are automatically switched into Cover Flow by simply rotating iPhone into its landscape position.

iPhone’s stunning 3.5-inch widescreen display offers the ultimate way to watch TV shows and movies on a pocketable device, with touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume. iPhone plays the same videos purchased from the online iTunes® Store that users enjoy watching on their computers and iPods, and will soon enjoy watching on their widescreen televisions using the new Apple TV™. The iTunes Store now offers over 350 television shows, over 250 feature films and over 5,000 music videos.

iPhone lets users enjoy all their iPod content, including music, audiobooks, audio podcasts, video podcasts, music videos, television shows and movies. iPhone syncs content from a user’s iTunes library on their PC or Mac, and can play any music or video content they have purchased from the online iTunes store.

iPhone is a Breakthrough Internet Communications Device

iPhone features a rich HTML email client which fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can be reading a web page while downloading your email in the background.

Yahoo! Mail, the world’s largest email service with over 250 million users, is offering a new free “push” IMAP email service to all iPhone users that automatically pushes new email to a user’s iPhone, and can be set up by simply entering your Yahoo! name and password. iPhone will also work with most industry standard IMAP and POP based email services, such as Microsoft Exchange, Apple .Mac Mail, AOL Mail, Google Gmail and most ISP mail services.

iPhone also features the most advanced and fun-to-use web browser on a portable device with a version of its award-winning Safari™ web browser for iPhone. Users can see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then easily zoom in to expand any section by simply tapping on iPhone’s multi-touch display with their finger. Users can surf the web from just about anywhere over Wi-Fi or EDGE, and can automatically sync their bookmarks from their PC or Mac. iPhone’s Safari web browser also includes built-in Google Search and Yahoo! Search so users can instantly search for information on their iPhone just like they do on their computer.

iPhone also includes Google Maps, featuring Google’s groundbreaking maps service and iPhone’s amazing maps application, offering the best maps experience by far on any pocket device. Users can view maps, satellite images, traffic information and get directions, all from iPhone’s remarkable and easy-to-use touch interface.

iPhone’s Advanced Sensors

iPhone employs advanced built-in sensors—an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor—that automatically enhance the user experience and extend battery life. iPhone’s built-in accelerometer detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, with users immediately seeing the entire width of a web page, or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

iPhone’s built-in proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. iPhone’s built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

Pricing & Availability

iPhone will be available in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US), and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple’s retail and online stores, and through Cingular’s retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple’s new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset.– Jason Chen

Product Page [Apple]

iPhone includes support for quad-band GSM, EDGE, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR wireless technologies.

iPhone requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X v10.4.8 or later and iTunes 7; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2). Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple and Cingular will announce service plans for iPhone before it begins shipping in June.

Axiotron [Gizmodo]

Since we have no reason to post fake iPhone concepts anymore (until the next version is rumored), here's a gallery of all of the iPhone concepts we've seen over the past couple years.

–Adam Frucci

Apple iPhone [Gizmodo]

Here's the iPod compared to the current market. On the smartphone side, it's got similar functionality, but it's much thinner than the Cingular 8525, our current favorite smartphone (which incidentally runs Windows Mobile). The iPhone also doesn't have 3G.

On the music side, it's got the memory size of an iPod Nano, but needs to cram in a lot more features. – Jason Chen

iPhone [Gizmodo]

Macworld Keynote 2007 [Gizmodo]
AppleTV [Gizmodo]

Macworld Keynote 2007 [Gizmodo]
AppleTV [Gizmodo]

PS, bonus shots of Steve looking happy, hugging children, and being a saint, after the jump.
–Brian Lam
Macworld Keynote 2007 [Gizmodo]

iWoz [Amazon]

Given Apple's numerous requests for permission to use Cisco's iPhone trademark over the past several years and our extensive discussions with them recently, it is our belief that with their announcement today, Apple intends to agree to the final document and public statement that were distributed to them last night and that addressed a few remaining items. We expect to receive a signed agreement today.

Here's a video of the iPhone in action browsing & playing music.– Brian Lam

iPhone [Apple.com]

In this video, take a look at Steve Jobs making his triumphant return to Apple, announcing a partnership with Microsoft. After that, a string of Macworld announcements rocked the Mac world each year. Here's a top ten list, counting down in order of importance:

10. 2004: Final Cut Express 2, XServe G5 machines, Office 2004, iLife '04

9. 2001: Powerbook Titanium announced

8. 1998: Interim CEO Steve Jobs introduces the iMac and the PowerBook G3

7. 2005: iLife05, iWork, MacMini, iPod shuffle

6. 2000: Announces March 24 ship date for OS X, shows iTunes, G4 laptop with 15.2-inch screen

The top 5:

5. 2006: iPod Radio Remote, iLife '06, iWork '06, iMac Core Duo, MacBook Pro

4. 2003: 12- and 17-inch PowerBooks rolled out, Safari public beta

3. 2002: OS X Software, Second-gen iMac

2. 1999: Jobs drops "Interim CEO" from his title, shows Aqua interface for OS X

1. 2007: iPhone, AppleTV (formerly iTV), Beatles on iTunes

– Charlie White

11:01: John's about to take the stage, and we're about to take all of his six-foot three-inch frame and his sexy, sexy guitar playing.

11:07: Want John Mayer's song Gravity? Click here.

11:07: Want his second song World to Change? Click here.

11:09: It's over! "See you all soon!"

11:10: We're about to go take some shots of the product. Come back in a sec!

Now he's got a picture of him and Woz on screen.
"Without the help of our families, we couldn't have done it."

Aww..–Brian Lam

Macworld Keynote 2007 [Gizmodo]
Macworld Keynote 2007: Chronological order [Gizmodo]

10:59: He says this is because of the new focus on non Mac stuff.

10:54: It's not an MVNO. If you want an iPhone you're going to need to get on AT&T.

Macworld Keynote 2007 [Gizmodo]
Macworld Keynote 2007: Chronological order [Gizmodo]

10:46: 4GB model = $499

10:47: 8GB model = $599

10:47: Shipping in June!

10:38: Listening to music via the iPod app.

10:38: Phone call comes in, music fades out, screen changes, and Steve answers the call.

10:39: He hits the "home key" because Phil Schiller wants a photo. So demanding. Couldn't you pick a better time?

10:39: Steve picks the photo from the photo album, hits compose, and sends an email to Phil.

10:40: Phil wants to watch a movie tonight, so Steve brings up Safari and looks up Fandango.

10:40: Steve hangs up the call, goes back to iPod, and the music starts up again. The crowd reacts as if he just offered everyone a free phone.

10:35: Eric talked about the engineering effort to get all the Google services on the iPhone. Praises Steve for the phone.

10:36: Jerry's talking about how great the internet apps are going to be on the iPhone.

10:26: Steve brings up the keyboard, starts typing, and finds Starbucks. Then, he punks them by ordering 4,000 drinks. Oh you!

10:28: Steve switches to sat mode and zooms way in on the Washington Monument.

10:29: Now the Eiffel Tower. Now the Colisseum in Rome.

10:32: Steve introduces Google's CEO. Eric Schmidt.