The iPhone Hype Wave

It's Friday before Apple's WWDC in San Francisco, and it seems like everyone's got something to say about the new iPhone expected to be announced there.

The latest rumor is that the phone won't actually be available until June 16th. This is based on some inside information leaking from stores and support centers related to stock levels and suspended vacations. It seems reasonable, but a little surprising. Maybe they realized that with all the hype it would have been impossible to keep devices from leaking out early if they had been shipped to stores before the 9th, and I'm sure that Mr. Jobs doesn't want anyone stealing his thunder.

I'm going to buy one of these new iPhones. Here's why:

• 3G support (finally!)
• Good integration with Google mail & calendar
• Push e-mail / Exchange integration (for business use)
• GPS for Google Maps (help on my travels)
• The only truly usable mobile browser

Of course it looks cool, but so do the new Blackberries. My older Blackberry has been a workhorse, but suffers from lack of GPS and poky EDGE data speeds. These faults are corrected in the latest RIM models, but still the browser sucks and the screen is too small. That last compromise enables physical keys, but I find that my use of the device is 90% reading and 10% writing, so I'd rather have the screen real estate and deal with a virtual keyboard when I need it.

I wonder if more of the 'crack berry' crowd will migrate along with me. Any way you slice it, it seems like Apple is going to eliminate all but one of the reasons people had for not getting an iPhone. That last one, the virtual keyboard, may just be a matter of taste. Will it be enough to keep RIM in the dominant market position?