Never ones to miss out on a trend, Texperts Towers has been abuzz with the launch of the new iPhone. Key members of the tech team are eager to lay their hands on one. Why?

Well, for starters, it’s an Apple product, which means:

• Sleek design elements
• Form/function balance to die for
• Tightly integrated software and hardware
• Quality and reliability

There has been extensive coverage of the new product in both mainstream and techie sites, as one would expect. The techies tend to be positive, and the social networkers love it - Trusted Places has already launched a version of its site optimised for use with the iPhone. But it has its detractors too. Techies in particular are quick to point out that if you look beyond its sleek, saucy touch interface, there’s not a hell of a lot of cutting edge technology there. As El Reg says,

Should the iPhone have had 3G? Yes, and it would have lifted the handset even further above the heads of the competition. I would say that it’s worth waiting for the 3G model if you’re someone who expects to be loading up a lot of data when you’re out and about. Me, I’m happy to check websites, email, the weather forecast when I’m at home or the office, both of which have Wi-Fi networks available. Edge is slow, but it’s useable, especially for the apps that just grab a quick bite of data and are done, like Weather or Stocks.

And you know what? So are most people. Which is why Apple continue to have mass market appeal. People genuinely love using and interacting with this device. It may not be bleeding edge, but it uses what it has exceptionally well, all packaged up in a fantastic interface, and people dig it. Simple.

There have been a few gripes about the SMS interface and functionality - a little perplexing given Apple’s resources - but most people will cope. And at 6:02pm today, iPhans across the UK will get their hands on one, including several from our offices in Cambridge. Which, by the way, is looking increasingly likely, as there’s only 2 iPhans camped out in front of the 02 shop in Cambridge…and three O2 crowd control workers (with countless bottles of H2O cached in-store - presumably to slake the thirst of the drooling consumer hordes). No one at all over at the Carphone Warehouse…

This entry was posted on Friday, November 9th, 2007 by Thomas Roberts and is filed under Buzz. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.