Apple's sexy iPhone

I might have bought a Zune recently, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the design skills of the team at Apple. I knew that Apple would do a phone at some point, but I didn't know what it would look like (well, nobody did). However, what I did expect was that it would follow the elegant and simple user interface that Apple popularized in its iPod products, and to a certain extent, it's desktop computers.

In fact, I think the thing that Microsoft could most learn from the likes of Apple (and Google) is the ability to make simple user interfaces. Your product might be able to do more things than the competition, but if it is too busy from an interface standpoint or complicated to use, people won't use it (Zune seems to have got that right, at least from my experience of it in stores).

Anyway, Engadget has a great series of photos on the new iPhone product. I've always thought that creating a screen that stretches the full length of the phone is the ONLY way to make a smartphone something I would use on a regular basis. I have a cell phone by Audiovox that runs Windows Mobile, and the screen is larger than a lot of other phones that run the Microsoft mobile OS. However, if I were to use a mapping feature on the phone, the screen is still too small to show me much of the surrounding area - a bit like looking at a map through a keyhole.

A full-device screen provides lots of space for a map (and other things, like video), hiding the keyboard when you don't need it. That just makes sense. Of course, the big issue will be price. The Apple phone isn't cheap ($499 for 4GB model, $599 for the 8GB model, according to Ed Burnette). On the other hand, they have one heck of a supply network built through the success of the iPod, meaning they are likely to be able to get parts at a cost that others would find hard to match (economics of scale are great).

Likewise, Apple has done a good job of positioning itself as the Gucci of consumer computing products. iPods are more expensive than competing music players with comparable features. That doesn't matter, however, just as it doesn't matter to those who buy an expensive Gucci bag that comparable bags cost less.

Of course, the luxury branding only works if the product looks nice and has great functionality, something that holds particularly true in computing electronics. I'd have trouble believing that anyone who looked at the previously linked photos would think that the iPhone does not look nice, and if the range of features included in the photos is a guide to what will actually exist, no one will be hurting for functionality.

Would I buy one? It took me months to decide to buy a Zune, and then the reasons were mostly related to my desire to plug-in to Microsoft's home media ecosystem. I'll decide once the product is released.