Some VERY Interesting iPhone Developments

More info from around the proverbial “industry water cooler” has come out today on the iPhone. Some interesting tidbits are starting to put the puzzle pieces together on how the iPhone will operate with the Macintosh OS (and Windows). It appears, at least initially – and this is obviously subject to change – that the iPhone will interact with the Mac OS through iPhoto as well as iTunes but not show up on the desktop as a drive like iPods do.

Also of note is that it appears that there no place for a SIM Card even though it was announced at MacWorld that it would be on top. There is no latch or place to change or swap it or anything else (battery) out. EDIT: Upon further inspection it appears that there is indeed a slot for a sim card but it is VERY well disguised) It’s just one solid piece of hardware. This is obviously bad news for people trying to move carriers or take these overseas. It seems that Apple is continuing with prioritizing simplicity over options mantra. It does make for a better looking and feeling product. Or is this just preproduction models?
Also, a two year commitment with AT&T is a requirement for purchase. There will be no OEMed versions. Aftermarket versions will be hard to find as the price of purchase will also include getting out of a 2 year contract.

Additionally, the latest builds of the iPhone embedded OS (Which have just recently been updated to 1.0 status) do not include iChat. Whether iChat makes it to the shipping devices or comes in later as a firmware upgrade remain to be seen. Obviously the lack of such an important application at launch will be a disappointment.

Aside from these relatively small issues the reviews we’ve been hearing are great. Especially noteworthy is the Safari browser which has tabbed browsing. Also making the rounds are a VPN client which would be very exciting for business users. There has even been some speculation that Office documents will be supported.

The biggest raves we are hearing are about the form of the phone which “..is just perfect. Small enough to fit in a suit pocket without messing up the lines, with an unbelievably large, bright, blemish-resistant screen.” Also of note is the vibration setting which we can now confirm that the iPhone does have.

As we approach Apple’s most important product launch – perhaps in history – on June 29th, we are seeing the iPhone finally becoming ready for the masses.

Also check out the new brushed metal iMacs