One of the big concerns I have with the analysis of the mobile phone (for example Om's round up here) is the implicit assumption the iPhone 2.0 is a mobile phone.
It is not.
The iPhone 2.0 is a mobile computing platform. Why do you think the keynote spent so much time looking at the Apps?
Its the mobile computing platform is the game changer. As a straight phone (even smartphone) the iPhone has great usability but is only so-so in terms of extra features (as many a blogger will tell ad nauseum). But as a mobile computing platform nothing compares.
More importantly, Apple is repeating the iTunes/iPod strategy of building a seamless end-to-end system. In this case it is a seamless end-to-end mobile computing platform. One that includes development, hardware and distribution of the applications.
Apple is pursuing an edge strategy that re-defines the general idea of mobile towards the definition used by Tim O'Reilly in his recent Web 2.0 keynote in San Francisco, 2008. It drives innovation to the edge and upturns the existing industry.
iPhone 2.0 is NOT a mobile phone. It is a mobile computing platform.
Tags: iPhone, mobile phone, mobile computing
