Apple takes the wraps off its 'magical' iPhone

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Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs today put an end to rumour and speculation about when the company would make a play for a slice of the mobile phone market by showcasing its iPhone at the Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco.

In parallel with the unveiling, in a surprise announcement, the company also demonstrated its commitment to diversifying into other markets by confirming that it has dropped the word computer from its moniker and will from now on be known as Apple Inc.

But users hoping to get their hands' on the new quad-band GSM phone, which also supports EDGE, 802.11b/g, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR wireless technologies, anytime soon will be disappointed as it won't be available in the UK until the fourth quarter of this year.

The US will benefit from an appearance by the iPhone in June through an exclusive partnership with carrier Cingular, while fans in Asia will have to wait until 2008.

"iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years' ahead of any other mobile phone," said Jobs during his keynote speech.

"We are all born with the ultimate pointing device - our fingers - and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse...The iPod changed everything in 2001. We're going to do it again with the iPhone in 2007."

The iPhone essentially incorporates phone functionality with a widescreen touch-control iPod and email, web and mapping capabilities.

Advanced sensory technology, in the form of a built-in accelerometer, is intelligent enough to detect whether a user is holding the device in landscape or portrait position and can alter the display so that the content is viewed in the correct ratio.

The phone, which is just 11.6mm thick with a 3.5 inch, 320x480 pixel resolution touch-control screen, also knows when it has been placed near a user's ear and automatically switches its display off to save power.

Apple has used multi-touch interface technology to ensure that the phone's controls aren't over sensitive.

"It's far more accurate than any touch display ever shipped," said Jobs.

"It ignores unintended touches. It's super-smart."

Many of the phone's other features will also prove a coo for business users.

The device's rich HTML email client means that users can still access their POP3 or IMAP email messages while on the move, in addition to accessing the net using the Safari browser, while a calendar application ensures that users' schedule data is synched with their desktop.

The iPhone also comes bundled with Google Maps.

However, in contrast with the bumper features set, the operational performance of five hours' talk time or 16 hours audio playback - which is poor compared with many models already on the market - might be a bit of a letdown.

Nonetheless, Apple is hoping that its latest invention will be a hit and has set itself the ambitious target of shifting 10 million devices by 2008.

Experts are confident it will do so.

The device is "the most anticipated telephone since Alexander Graham Bell's original," according to JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg.

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