When Steve Jobs is saying that Apple is reinventing the phone you can think it is extremely arrogant or perhaps it depends on the point of view. I don’t think they will compete with the current phones because it is not a phone. I think they are creating a new market for a new kind of device with a totally different user experience. So, yes, their phone is not the best. Weak on connectivity, control of the applications you can install, no Flash (from what we know but not sure). Yes, there are better smartphones with real keyboards. But, I think it is not important because I don’t think it is a phone. It just has some phone features.

It is like the iPod at the beginning. Expensive, with less features than some competitors. They created a new market : a new way to enjoy music. A new user experience. A new definition of what a MP3 player had to be.

I think their device is a hint at the future of mobile computing. And that’s why OS X is important. When they say they run OS X I believe them because it means:

1 – An Unix on phone. Ok. We already have Linux on phones so why not having a derivative of BSD too. It is a realistic assumption ;

2 – They are using ObjectiveC instead of C++ like Symbian. Totally realistic. gcc can already generate code for ARM. And porting the ObjectiveC runtime is not that hard.

3 – They have ported a part of the OS X API : probably Quicktime. But, here again we have Windows Media Video and RealVideo on phones so why not Quicktime. It is realistic.

4 – The core of their kernel is portable : PowerPC, Intel but before (NeXT era) it was working on other processors. So, having a version on ARM is not suprising.

5 – The only interrogation is the microkernel. I can’t imagine they have ported Mach. I suspect they may have ported L4 which would have some importance for the future.

So, I really think they have delivered a new embedded platform for mobile computing (not just phone). We are just seeing the beginning of what is possible. For having developped on Symbian, OS X, Win Mobile etc… I can say that having OS X and its software infrastructure on embedded device is probably what is the most important in this iPhone. It is a huge competitive advantage.

So, I expect to see several derivative of this iPhone in the future. Some will perhaps answer the points you raised in your post.

Of course : this comment is just a list of assumptions. I may be totally wrong. But, I don’t think the phone aspect is the most important in the Apple announcement.

The Cingular bitpipe.