If you don't know about the iPhone, you will.
Basically, without getting into a long post that won't describe the product nearly as well as the press releases and media coverage will, I'll just reiterate why I have always been with Apple, and why you shouldn't buy anything else. And you should go watch Steve Jobs' keynote presentation, in which he presents all new products.
It goes like this: Apple made computers easier – and hence, more powerful, to use. Apple II, Macintosh. Yeah, pricing and marketing were problems until recent years, but market share doesn't matter much. The Mac OS made Windows happen. If it weren't for the Mac, we'd be still typing on the command line today.
When they introduced the iPod in 2001, everyone laughed. Come on, now – let's go back in time and remember everyone was saying Apple was crazy, why the hell were they going all gaga over that "MP3" business?
Then, when Apple opened their music stores, it was all topped by "who the hell is going to pay for something they can download for free?" Ah, the many people who want a reliable, clean download and don't have the time and determination of a bunch of nerdy students ripping stuff from the Internet. They just want it fast, reliable, and in their pockets in the morning. And Tower Records is out of business.
Then, television shows – who's gonna pay for something that "I can watch for free?" A bunch of people, for a million reasons. "Time-shifted media," people.
Then Apple shifted to the Intel chip, and suddenly enabled Macs to run Windoze. I submit to you, dear reader – if you can buy a Macbook that's pretty, sexy, and also runs Windows for $1099, why are you buying a Windoze-only machine again? Let's see – for about $1100, you get two computers (actually three, if you count the UNIX base that's directly accessible behind the Mac OS) for the price of a similarly-priced Windoze box. And you iPod is suddenly much more useful. As well as your iPhone.
Now, iPhone brings them all together – with one fell swoop, the blackberry, your cellphone, and your MP3 player all look pretty silly. Do they talk to each other? Become a whole much, much greater than the sum of several parts? I don't know about you, but I'd rather have all my contacts together synced between computer and phone, calendar, Internet, podcasts, music, movies, all of it together.
Even the venerated Korean market is going to have to make a run for its money. OK – so you can pay to download some TV shows on proprietary networks for a fee? Yawn. If and when an Apple store comes to Korea and starts making deals with Korean terrestrial broadcasters, the DMB bullshit going on in Korea is done. Bye bye.
Dude. So when's the iPhone coming out in Korea? I want my computer, PDA, iPod, and mobile internet device in a box. And on a sexy, all-touch-screen to boot.
Oh, and did I mention that all this shit is 11mm wide?
Dag. I hate to get all Apple-evangelical, but I am damn glad I have a Mac. That iPhone is going to sync all my shit up in one fell swoop. You still using Windoze? Exclusively, that is? I got Windoze love, now, don't get me wrong. I be running that shit in a background window. Gotta keep it for my Korean Internet banking and some Daum cafes, ya know.
