The iPhone may be many things but a smartphone isn't one of them.

iPhone is not a smartphone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone

It's a high end feature phone.

Ironic isn't it Bill?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/23/iphone_will_fail/

Time for you to get a new job.

For not being a smartphone, it seems to be a quite popular smartphone.

You utter swine, I wanted to make that comment! ;-)

I do think it's interesting how you'll never see any journalist - or analyst - admit to being wrong. Most have a poor record of predictions.

iPhone most certainly is a smartphone - featurephones have a single CPU tasked with executing the radio stack and the 'OS' (for want of a better expression) - smartphones have a distinct baseband CPU to deal with the cellphone network, and another CPU - the application processor - running the OS and applications.

Erm, smartphone, well I think it's probably because firstly it's a phone and um, secondly it's about as smart as any other phone out there, hence, I'm guessing the tag "smart phone".

I know there are some techie nerds out there who will quibble over the technicalities and say "ah but it doesn't use hspda pcmcia or hsbc" or some such other c**p acronym. Personally I don't give a s**t, if you can add apps, swipe your finger accross the screen to unlock and use your fingers to zoom in and out of your photos, oh and browse the web and receive your mail and use visual voicemail and have your iTunes music on it and be able to flow through your album covers with a swish of your finger......shall I go on?

Oh and it's kicking the asses of all those other clunky, ugly PC like plastic keyboard "smartphones" LOL that are out there already, DESPITE all the nay-sayers telling us all it was going to be a massive flop. Stick that in your pipe Mr Gates and inferior OS worshippers (only joking about the last bit.....partly :-) )

Apple will add new features with new firmware.

It runs a proper OS that can have applications programmed for it. While you can't install them at present it may be an option later.

A dumbphone has really small firmware which is fixed and has no programmable API (Java doesn't count).

"smartphones have a distinct baseband CPU to deal with the cellphone network, and another CPU - the application processor - running the OS and applications."

Nope. Symbian OS can run both stuff on the same chip, and its the advantage this OS has :)

That said, if the iPhone is a smartphone, then my SonyEriccson W300i is an über-smartphone. Why? Because I can *develop* *actual* *applications* on it. Even if it is Java MIDP.

I do think Java might count as a programmable API; it gives me access to almost everything in the phone, even Bluetooth, OBEX, GPRS/CSD and some other nifty features I haven't tested yet.

HTML/Javascript, on the other hand, is not a *real* programming language. Guess who's stuck without a (publicly accessible) programmable API. Symbian has an open standards API for development, and hell, even Micro$oft has a fairly decent API on Windows Mobile.

A smartphone's advantage over "featurephones" and "dumbphones" are business-oriented applications that *gasp* actually aid you to do your job. I doubt video and mp3 playback counts as a "productivity increasing" task...

I wonder how would these stats look like if they segregate corporate buyers from personal buyers. I'd bet most of those "smartphone sales" were to individuals ...

"Personally I don't give a s**t, if you can add apps, swipe your finger accross the screen to unlock and use your fingers to zoom in and out of your"

So by your own definition then it's not actually a smartphone seeing as you can't actually add apps? Unless of course you're one of those who believe non-flash based site browsing is by some twist of the imagination classed as adding apps or unless you seem to think that having to crack open your phone and hack it to high heavens is an acceptable method for customers to add apps, in which case you might as well class just about every phone as a smartphone, because you can physically open up any phone and hack it to change the way it operates to "add apps" as it were.

The iPhone is more limited than 5year+ old Nokia/Ericsson/Samsung/Motorola phones. If it IS a smartphone then it truly only barely makes the grade. It's certainly not smart in that you can use it in a business environment by syncing it with your standard Office software and install custom apps.

It may be classed as a smartphone in America, but to the rest of the world it falls short. Excluding the touch screen, it has the functionality most phones had 5 years ago

" ... it has the functionality most phones had 5 years ago". Clearly, with the full stop missing from your post, El Reg has deleted most of your message which would have gone on ...

" ... apart, that is, from:

Easily accessible FULL internet use

The ability to join calls at the press of one (simulated) button

A widescreen Music and video player ..."

I was around 5 years ago and NONE of the phones I can recall had any of those features so do your homework before opening your browser!

Oh, and while I'm here ...

Omigod! Apple are gonna go bust!

Omigod! This device stinks/is useless/has nothing new/is Apple's Nemesis/will never catch on/will sink Apple/is the worst thing since nuclear weapons/has a battery life of three minutes/is made of hard cheese ... (circle as appropriate).

It's a smartphone for that hipster idiot in the PC v. Mac adds. Of course he's too cool to need anything other than web pages. Who would dare insult a phone with a spreadsheet or a custom GPS app? That is sacrilege in the Mac world of Cool. Youtube is all thy shall ever need.

See for Mac users cool = Something to look at.

For the Rest of Us cool = Something you can actually use.

On a practical note the Iphone has to billed as a smartphone just so marketing can call it the top selling anything. And considering Smartphones don't sell that much it's not that bold a claim anyway.

Now if someone were to bundle bog-standard cell phone capabilites into a Playstation Portable that would be cool... and it would probably cost the same as an Iphone. Only difference is the PSP would be worth it.

You read the article, right? Sounds to me like the iPhone is 'cool' for most people, not just Mac users.

I have no idea what the official definition of a smartphone is, but stuff like its video playback beats basically any smartphone on the market; and I think more people find that useful than a spreadsheet app - hence the sales figures.