Apple Announces iPhone

… And it’s got most of the features I wanted in an Apple Gazette post I wrote a couple of months ago.

It does run OS X (a stripped down flavor, I would say). It has an interesting interface (no keypad, just a touchscreen, which I think would be nothing like the clunky touchscreens of today’s mobile phones from other manufacturers). It would play music—integrated with iTunes. And it will run widgets!

Abe cites the highlights here.

Engadget has the full details.

Sweet, glorious specs of the 11.6 millimeter device (that’s frickin’ thin, by the way) include a 3.5-inch 480à — 320 touchscreen display with multi-touch support and a proximity sensor to turn off the screen when it’s close to your face, 2 megapixel cam, 4GB or 8 GB of storage, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP, WiFi that automatically engages when in range, and quad-band GSM radio with EDGE. Perhaps most amazingly, though, it somehow runs OS X with support for Widgets, Google Maps, and Safari, and iTunes (of course) with CoverFlow out of the gate. A partnership with Yahoo will allow all iPhone customers to hook up with free push IMAP email. Apple quotes 5 hours of battery life for talk or video, with a full 16 hours in music mode—no word on standby time yet. In a twisted way, this is one rumor mill we’re almost sad to see grind to a halt; after all, when is the next time we’re going to have an opportunity to run this picture? The 4GB iPhone will go out the door in the US as a Cingular exclusive for $499 on a two-year contract, 8GB for $599. Ships Stateside in June, Europe in fourth quarter, Asia in 2008.

And here’s a good read from Time about how great Apple is for designing the iPhone.

I’m wondering how Cisco will react to the iPhone moniker. They own the “iPhone” trademark.

I want one!