8GB model - $599
4GB model - $499

Cingular has a 30 day return policy.

i'm following the keynote via macrumors.com and was knocked over by the iPhone...but then S. Jobs stepped on my n..ts when he announced the price. I can understand the rationale - given the iPod price structure.

But the price is going to have to come down to get high volumes....I've got a SE w810i with two spare 1 gb SD cards and it does a good deal of what the iPhone can do - just not as elegantly.

And cingular as exclusive partner....hmmmm, locked phones, poor service, etc....

IMHO

Okay, when you are all done hyperventilating, lets take a cold look at this. Its a touchsceen-only phone with gestures added. Its not all good news.

On a small phone of this size, that on-screen querty keyboard can only be so big without eating up usable screen space. And anyone who has used an on-screen keybaord - they are everywhere on Windows mobile and Sony's P990 etc, know they are not really the best for heavy data entry. So this thing wont replace your blackberry, E61 or M600i.

You'd still want a hard keyboard - and I have no doubt Apple is ready to sell you a very expensive bluetooth one that will eat up your battery life.

The rest of the device seems good - very good actually,although I'd like to hear more about battery life. But i'd say that as usual Apple has just sold a beatiful looking device that makes a questionable compromise, over which they will sprinke "Appledust" and everyone will gloss over.

^ I think you're right. However, that's the same thing "experts" said about the original iPod. I think a $399 price point would have been a little better for the base model, but I'm still buying one.

My company is 100% Apple and this is just another beautiful addition.

Guess we all have different experiences with Cingular as I've had very few problems with service and they are quite happy to unlock your phone if you ask.

I second that. And no one can rival their international coverage. Try taking your verizon phone to the middle of India, and making a call.... I guarantee NO ONE can hear you now!

A couple of followup comments:

1. Keep in mind iPod has like 75% market share and i think we all agree, there are not 'real competitors', just copycats. So apple could keep the price up.

2. Phones, whether iPhone, etc. are more a commodity - what's hot today is old by next week. I'm not saying someone else is going to duplicate iPhone (eg 200 patents)....but now that the cat is out of the bag, damn if other's are going to try to emulate (eg copy!)....and of course as consumers, we hope others will come out with something quickly.

3. As far as Cingular, surprised to hear they unlock phones....was never the case in the past. If so, stand corrected. Both Cingular and TMO gsm so works worldwide, Verizon is CDMA so coverage limited internaitonal. But when it comes to voice and data plans, TMO is much better (and service also)....again POV.

So how does this work? Is it tri or quad band? When? I want one.

I answered my own question: quad band.^ ^

Run Safari and Mail on it ^^.

I don't care if it's locked.

Available in June, though. Grr.

Are they killing the iPod with this, though?

At the bottom of the iPhone page at apple.com:

This device has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.

So what's the official GA date?

Edit: June? Teases.

Yeah but I'm not going to get iPhones at those prices though...

Pretty device, nice form factor and integration concept.

I would be interested as long as the battery life is comparable or better than other mobiles and the phone can make and receive calls with no problems which is why i am a huge Nokia fan. A phone that can't make or recieve a call with ease and little frustration will eventually become a paperweight.

I will give this new iphone 8 months of early adopter use before I would even think about shelling out for it. In other words let others go through the pain of firmware, reliability, quality and other various issues. They can work out the kinks and i know exactly what to expect and to avoid.

Apple == Nouvelle cuisine?

I'm not impressed. Let's start with the price. $499 w/2yr contract. That means the price w/o a contract has got to be $900-$1000 (more, much more initially). Seriously, the "Ill

Non-tactile keyboard. Good luck with that.

Nothing here to make me want to ditch my Pearl.

This puts MS Smartphone interface to shame.

I have a Tmo Dash and it does have very similar functionality, but not the polish this phone appears to have.

How did they get enough performance out of the device to do such slick scrolling? Why hasn't MS figured it out after all these years working on PocketPC / Smartphone?

I wonder what the unsubsidized price will be. Not sure I would want to pay $600 for a 1.0 device and be locked in to a 2 yr contract with Cingular.