iPhone 3G S and the 'Uh Oh' moment

08.06.2009
While those in the halls of Moscone West (and the rest of us virtually looking on via posted from within Moscone) cheered Apple's many announcements Monday, a small segment of the population undoubtedly reacted not with joy but rather foreboding. For, behind the and could be heard the faint sound of someone's lunch being eaten.

Twitter tells us that June 8, 2009 is hardly a red-letter day for Palm or the owners of a PowerPC-based Mac, but I'm addressing neither here. The isn't a bad phone for a 1.0 release and Palm's certainly going to refine it. And PowerPC Mac owners will get along just as well as those Mac users who stopped with Tiger because they needed the Classic environment.

No, I'm thinking of the people working in and hardware divisions and , makers of the Flip pocket camcorders. While we iPhone users can certainly celebrate functional GPS turn-by-turn navigation (with voice feedback, yet) from our phones and a video camera that supports on-camera editing and delivery, you have to think a few of the people responsible for such functions on separate hardware devices had a long "Uh oh" moment upon hearing Apple's plans.

Oh sure, TomTom's in on the iPhone by way of a navigation app and separate hardware device for using the iPhone in the car. Garmin surely isn't far behind. And the only shoots in VGA, while both Pure Digital's Flip MinoHD and UltraHD offer the advantage of 720p high-definition shooting. And, of course, the iPhone's cost-of-ownership-over-time is going to provide safe-haven for these devices for awhile.

But only for awhile. When iPhones are as omnipresent as iPods, look out. If every gadget manufacturer across the land hasn't taken a long second look at their business plan based on the iPhone existence--particularly after today's announcements--it's time they did.

Because in all the discussion of other mobile phones and mobile operating systems, people tend to forget that the iPhone is a portable computer that happens to make calls. And while that makes for diverting discussion when comparing one "iPhone killer" to The Real Deal, it's just as interesting to consider that the iPhone has (and will continue to have) a profound effect on our day-to-day digital doodads. Like so: How many iPhone owners would buy a pocket calculator, portable CD player, PIM, pocket recorder, VOIP handset, handheld gaming device, and, soon, universal remote, handheld GPS, or pocket camcorder?