Apple iPhone 4 Razzles and Dazzles

Yesterday's WWDC keynote proves, once again, that Steve Jobs really knows how to put on a show.
In the end, the phone Apple launched this week—a vastly redesigned iPhone 4—is very much like the one that got Gizmodo into all that hot water. Yet, for as much as we already knew—and thought we knew—about this new iPhone, the announcement was still dazzling.
Certainly, Steve Jobs is among the industry's best showman. Of course, it does help to have something significant to show off. Lately, I think Microsoft's Steve Ballmer has too often found himself without much to talk about. Consequently, when he takes the stage, things just get weird. He's not a ringmaster like Steve Jobs.

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Yesterday, Jobs showed off the new iPhone 4. (It's not the iPhone HD or the iPhone 4G (as we thought it might be), though it is, to a certain extent, both of those.) Jobs' WWDC keynote was focused like a laser on Apple's second-most-important product. This, to me, is the sign of a good showman. Jobs knew that the phone had changed enough both inside and out that he could really and truly play it up—milk this 9.33-millimeter thick product for all it's worth.
The two-hour long razzle dazzle almost made you forget what Apple and Jobs didn't talk about: there was no iPad anything, or news of the still-orphaned Apple TV or any secondary hardware (no iPhone for the Verizon network—but you knew that already). That was all disappointing, though I almost think Jobs decided to give the industry a virtual nuggie: "Yeah, we let bits and pieces of information leak about what we were going to announce, but I'm tired of all you bloggers and other journalists talking about my stuff before I'm ready." Jobs may just have pulled whatever other announcements he was going to do for spite. Seriously, there were one or two parts of the keynote that sounded like clear lead-ups to something else.
Take the new iPhone 4 gyroscope. This little component adds another couple of dimensions of position awareness to the already motion-sensitive iPhone. Steve Jobs demonstrated the iPhone 4's new capabilities with a virtual game of Jengo. It was cool. I honestly believe that he just turned the iPhone and (and the next iPod touch) into a game controller. For what? The new Apple TV game console, of course. Apparently, that discussion is for another day. Once Jobs explained the feature, he glided along to the next major iPhone 4 feature.
Likewise, when it came time to announce one of the biggest upgrades—and the explanation for those two cameras—I saw another surprise product update opportunity. The FaceTime video chat utility is a wonder. It gives you a full-screen view of your caller and puts your head in a little thumbnail on the same screen so, I guess, you don't accidentally make silly faces. Since this is part of the newly renamed iOS 4 (what was iPhone OS 4), I immediately thought about how wonderfully this would work with an iPad—if the iPad had a forward-facing camera, that is. I waited for Steve Jobs to surprise everyone with an iPad update. He did not. In his defense, the newly minted 2 million iPad owners would probably have called for his head. I do, however, expect an iPad with a camera update in the fall or early next year. It simply has to happen.
The other sidelights of yesterday's WWDC keynote were iAds and the aforementioned iOS 4. I'm not sure why Apple went to the trouble of getting Cisco's permission to use this name. Honestly, the reasoning behind the new label escapes me. Does everything in the Apple world have to have an "i" in front of it? Will all outlying products like the Airport Express, MacBooks, and Apple TV follow suit? In any case, most of what Steve Jobs covered in the iOS 4 space was a rerun of Jobs' spring keynote.
We got a closer look at some of the first iAds, and Jobs made the startling claim that his company already has close to a quarter of the mobile display ad market wrapped up. That, of course, doesn't account for text-based mobile ads, which is probably a much, much bigger market.
None of this really matters because I think Apple has a suitably sexy and vastly-upgraded device on its hands. The iPhone 4, which is looking more and more like a mini iPad, has one of the highest resolution screens on the market and battery life and raw power (thanks to Apple's own A4 CPU) sound pretty good, as well. I'm sure we'll find out just how good they are when we test the iPhone 4 in PC Labs.
Nothing, though, was quite as intriguing or, in my opinion, as exciting as the new HD video capabilities. Lots of handheld devices can capture video. Many can share it with relative ease, but virtually none—certainly no smartphone I'm aware of—can also edit video. Apple's decision to port iMovie to the iPhone is a ground-shaking decision. One, it's an indication of the raw power users will find in this thin, handheld device. Two, the mixture of 720p, 30-fps video, iMovie, and the iPhone 4 instantly raises the bar for all smartphones and, especially, Cisco Flip-like video capture devices. No one other thing Apple did offers a clearer indication that the iPhone 4 is really a handheld computer—and a pretty powerful one at that.
Ultimately, Apple's "found" iPhone didn't steal the show. Instead, it was like a long trailer for your favorite summer blockbuster. It doesn't matter how much they showed you, you already bought your ticket.

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Apple iPhone 4 Razzles and Dazzles

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