The iPhone's Killer App
I don't own an iPhone. I don't even own a cell phone. But I do recognize the iPhone as being a pretty cool device.
Still, I didn't see any need for me to buy one, since I don't have much use for a cell phone. Nor do I need it as an iPod, since I already have one. And I don't need a mobile internet device, since I'm not usually very far from a computer anyway. And I own a PSP and GameBoy Advance, so why get an iPhone for a handful of games?
Coming from that perspective, I was rather ho-hum about Apple releasing a Software Development Kit for it. Yay. More cell phone stuff I'll never have a use for.
Then, I actually watched the QuickTime presentation about the SDK. The SDK is the killer app for the iPhone. I was taken aback at the potential that this opens up for the iPhone. The handful of apps they showed that were developed or ported over a couple of weeks were pretty amazing, and it will be really interesting to see what kind of apps come out over the course of the next six months or so. Apple's means of distributing the apps is very smart too, since it allows them the control they want, but still gets developers' apps into the hands of the users. (Of course, there will be the inevitable unauthorized apps that run on unlocked iPhones, but that's beside the point.) Apple has truly developed a mobile computing platform here, not just a cell phone with a few extra multimedia features. As impressed as I was with the iPhone originally, I underestimated it. I can see myself buying one this year, as I'm sure someone will come up with some application for it that I can't live without (despite the fact that I'm living just fine without it right now). Stella for the iPhone, anyone? Or maybe PhraseALator? 
The enterprise features also announced are really impressive, too. But given the sorry state of our IT department here, I'm unlikely to ever see any of those features implemented where I work. Still, as the software begins to start flowing, Apple is going to sell tons of iPhones. (Which makes me wonder... how many iPhones in a ton?*)
Oh, and this is all going to work on the iPod Touch, too. Nice bonus there. Can a tablet Mac be very far away? I'm guessing the '08 WWDC.
(*About 6000, as it turns out. So that's a pretty easy goal after all. )
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