Dan Blank: Publishing, Innovation & the Web

When we all go back to work this week, it will be one changed by the iPhone. Increasingly, you will see this little gadget being fiddled with, along with sideways glances from those around it. The bottom line: expectations for mobile phones, and portable computing, has been lifted dramatically.

I spent some time fiddling with the iPhone in my local Apple store over the weekend. My first impressions:

• They were in stock. This will truly be an evolution in terms of adoption. Regardless of the price of the unit, people are being locked into 2 year contracts, when most are already within a contract with their current provider.
• It was both familiar and startling. To view websites just as you would at home was incredibly compelling. The little finger motions you used to navigate them, equally so.
• The screen seemed huge. I believe this is the largest screen on a smart-phone, but perhaps it was simply the design and the need to touch it that made it seem dramatically bigger than others in the field.
• The inability to watch flash-based videos in the web browser was a bummer. I knew about this before hand, but really saw it as a stumbling block. I played with the special “youtube” section, but it seemed odd to start building a wall like this.
• It was the first time where a device felt like having a computer in your pocket.

I found myself seriously considering purchasing it, before I came to my senses. It seems to have really lived up to the hype. I will wait until my current contract expires, and the product evolves.

That was the most fun I have had at the mall in a long time!