Too many technology analysts that aren't on the Apple Cupertino Payolla Bandwagon have honestly concluded that the iPhone is saddled with too many limitations and the usual staggering Apple Premium Greed price structure. These analysts all to a person have said that the iPhone will either make an insignificant dent to the mobile phone market. to outright FLOP!

Apple has already been planning rebates on the iPhone and it hasn't even been released yet, if it isn't late (like OS X 10.5) again!

"Already Despirate Sign, Apple Plans iPhone Rebates"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20070418/bs_nf/51583

In 6 months, I'll be quite happy to yell out loudly .... I TOLD YOU SO!

Ps, The Apple TV has already FLOPPED.

are you the guy that said the iPod would flop for the same reasons?

When the iPod first came out the alternatives were pretty poor and the Apple phenomena was nowhere the size it is now. The iPhone is different as there are better phones out there for better prices too. Also Apply used to be seen as the good guy compared to MS but is now seen as just another greedy corp. It'd have to be a lot better than it is to get me to lose my N95.

The problem with the Apple TV is that it's a great product with no content outside of the US.

If you could load a DVD into iTunes and it would rip it down as simply as a CD can be, to the hard disk and even with simple DRM if needs be by the movie studios, then it would be useful.

However, anywhere outside the US of A, there is no video content on the iTMS which makes the product pretty much a white elephant.

Well as much as i love the iPhone's UI and its design I am not at all sure that it will be the raging success that the iPod was/and is. The mobile market is a very different animal with a completely different set of rules both in terms of the buying decision and also usability. Commercially today contract mobile customers do not 'buy' handsets... they given new ones to ether remain with their current network or when they move to a new one. Handsets have incredibly short product life-cycles at the 'I must have one' phase of their lives. So even if Apple manage to get the 'subsidy' right for iPhone the moment when its 'a must have' will be gone in a blink of an eye.

Then there is the issue of 'usability'... for better or for worse mobile punters out there have got used to the way mobile phone UI's work and also to the physical issues of the devices. Multi-touch touch sensitivity may not be all that well received when it becomes obvious an hour after getting your shine new iPhone that all you've learnt about one handed mobile use goes out the window... nothing tactile to allow you to know whether your fingers are pressing a button or not etc etc. It's a little like cars in my opinion... we have a steering wheel, some pedals and so far no one has un-seated that UI! I expect the 'learnt' behaviour of 1 billion + mobile users around the world will be a tough nut to change!