There are a lot of Apple-haters out there who are going to lose money shorting Apple stock.

Yesterday I got a chance to play with an iPhone (Thanks Gavin!). The pre-iPhone hype was off the charts but I will be damned if the little thing doesn't deliver. Simply put, the iPhone is amazing.

All jokes about the Newton aside, the iPhone will go down in history as a seminal moment in technology development. A 'computer in every home' is nice but I think the iPhone is going to be the first truly personal computer, one in every pocket.

Apple is on quite a role. They are better than anyone else at combining beautiful industrial design, cutting edge electronics, and user-friendly software. A lot of companies can do one of those three things well but Apple is just about the only company that consistently does all three. The Mac, the MacOS X, the iPod, iTunes, and now this. Wow. It is so rare to see a company live up to the marketing hype.

the first smart phone ever

A lot of hay has been made of the $600 price but the iPhone really replaces several of the gadgets you already have and pay for: a cell phone, an iPod, a PDA, and a Blackberry. And unlike most Swiss Army contraptions, it is actually better than every one of them.

The iPhone is a standard telephone. (Few cell phone carriers seem to care about phone call quality anymore.) It is an iPod with a totally new and much better interface. (And the old interface was already better than anyone else's.) It is also the best full-color PDA, with a calendar and text messaging and such, that I have ever seen.

As Steve Jobs said, it is the first "smart" phone that really seems smart. Once you get a quick demo, using the thing is just intuitive. The way a personal computer ought to be.

a truly personal computer

Having said all this, I think the most significant thing abut the iPhone is something no one is talking about. This really is not a phone to me so much as the first really great portable computer. This thing is the first truly personal computer, something that fits in your pocket and does everything you need: phone calls, text messages, surfing the web, watching video, listening to music, calendar and contact management, and games.

The iPhone is an example of a whole new world of devices. Portable computers with touchable screens and the power of a desktop computer.

A natural extension will be a tablet PC that really works. Instead of trying to make a Microsoft Windows PC smaller, Apple will be able to go from the other direction: making an iPhone larger. Using their touch technology and the always awesome MacOS, I see a future of small computers finally at hand.

Take the modular (and stable) UNIX kernal of the MacOS, add their touch-technology along with Apple's incredible flair for software interface design and the iPhone is going to morph into a huge software platform. (Once they open the doors to 3rd party developers.) Forget about the battle for our living rooms with all those junky "media PC's" - the next generation of personal computers are going to resemble the iPhone not an Xbox 360 or PS3.

Man of the year 2007 - the iPhone

But that is all the future - 12 to 24 months out. For the next 6 months, the iPhone is going to be THE gadget of the year the way the Razor was a hit for Motorola but more so. Once you see the darn thing in action, you will want one. You will need one. The iPhone has the eye-candy and animations that make guys eyes light up instantly. The word of mouth effect is going to create huge peer pressure for the Jones'.

Apple will keep the prices high until next year and the iPhone will be both insanely profitable for Apple and the new status symbol for those with money. If Apple is able to add in email capability for corporate Exchange servers, watch out RIM. Blackberry's are going to feel the heat. Only the truly hard-core are going to want to keep their Windows Mobile POS's.

2007. The year of the iPhone.