Apple’s uber-cool iPhone is about to make a splash among consumers, especially those who crave the latest tech gadgets – and who have lots of extra bucks. It goes on sale at the end of June at AT&T wireless shops for $500 with 4 gigabytes of memory or $600 for double the file-storage space.

Three TV commercials show a no-keypad design that looks more like a touch-screen game player than a phone. The iPhone has an Internet browser, 2-megapixel camera, IM and e-mail capability. It also stores music, photos, audio books and video clips, leading CEO Steve Jobs to brag that Apple has "reinvented the phone."
The whole phone is a color screen, and users control all the functions with a single finger much like you would the wheel of an iPod X. A "visual voicemail" feature lets owners listen to messages, delete them, save them or scroll through ’em just like e-mail.

This is the latest entry in a super-hot line for Apple Computer, Inc. Its iPod is the most popular digital music player in history, with more than 100 million sold. Since the first ones hit shelves in November 2001, there have been five generations of iPod, two generations of iPod mini, two generations of iPod nano and two generations of iPod shuffle. "Along with iTune and the iTunes online music store, the iPod has transformed how tens of millions of music lovers acquire, manage and listen to their music," says a handout from the California company, which no one accuses of modesty.

Reviewer says: “Jobs succeeded in building expectations for what some have called ‘the God machine.’ The bar-of-soap-size phone is being coveted as a talisman for a digital age, and iPhone hysteria is beginning to reach levels usually reserved for video-game machines at Christmas.” – John Markoff, New York Times

Skeptics say: AT&T’s cellular network is slower than those of many rivals. The lack of a keyboard may turn off business users.

Blogger says: “ I really want to see how long the iPhone [battery] can run. Can a device that does video and audio, and sports a Wi-Fi radio as well as wide area access, really last longer than 45 minutes?” – Stephen Wellman, Information Week tech blogger