Apple iPhone hits US stores today

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The crowds have been camping for a week to get it, and the media can't shut up about it. Finally, six months after Apple chief executive unveiled the device to the public, the iPhone goes on sale for the first time this evening across the US.

Apple's iPhone hits store shelves at 6pm local time in a retail spectacle that has whipped gadget fans into a frenzy over a device that is built on tried and tested, older mobile phone technology rather than the latest innovations.

The product, which melds a phone, web browser and digital media player, deepens Apple's transformation from a maker of stylish-but-niche computers into a broader consumer electronics powerhouse with interests in audio and video hardware, content, software as well as desktop and mobile computers.

The sleek and shiny iPhone is a gamble by Apple, which is trying to expand the market for the company's software and media services in order to appease record labels, TV and movie companies keen to maximise digital sales of their content. The iPhone also represents another attempt by Apple to tackle the business PDA market, something it hasn't tried since the failed Newton device in the early 90s.

The reputation of Apple boss Steve Jobs as a technology trendsetter rests on whether the iPhone can do for mobile phones what the iPod did for digital music: unify a fractured and confusing market behind a slick, easy-to-use product that users will aspire to own.

"They want to extend the dominance they have in terms of their ability to create really elegant hardware and software integration," said Mark McGuire, an analyst with market research firm Gartner. "This is the next big business unit for them."

However the iPhone is not as adventurous as the marketing hype would suggest. Rather than take a risk by deploying recent technology innovations, or try to tackle supporting the power-hungry 3G UMTS mobile phone system, Apple has built the device out of older tried-and-tested - albeit best of breed - technologies.

"Its core technology platform is relatively conservative for a mid-2007 smartphone. The iPhone lacks some high-end features such as GPS, video capture, 3G support and a replaceable battery" added McGuire.

Apple claims that the iPhone will deliver around eight hours of talk time, six hours of browsing and prolonged data use, seven hours of video playback or 24 hours of audio playback. Good numbers, if it actually measures up to the claimed figures.

Anticipation is running at levels usually reserved for the arrival of rock stars at a signing session or the introduction of a new video game console.

Customers are pitching camp outside Apple and AT&T stores across America, major newspapers and news websites have plastered their front pages with iPhone stories for days, and no tidbit has been too small to report for the galaxy of enthusiastic tech blogs. People are even working a good trade in selling their services as queue position holders, charging upwards of $200 a time to stand in line for you while you get on with your life.

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