iPhone unvarnished

Kottke.org has produced an iPhone round-up worth reading through. I watched all of Steve Jobs’ Macworld keynote this morning (man, can that guy keep an audience rapt or what?), and while I was thoroughly impressed with iPhone, I was more jazzed by Apple TV. The iPhone is probably too expensive for me at this point, especially after you throw in all the service charges from the carrier. For example, I pay $5/month just for 2Mb of monthly data transfer from Rogers — a fraction of what you would use with an iPhone.

Home entertainment needs the kind of integration between high definition systems, image collections, movies, TV and music that the quite affordable (US$299) Apple TV set top box provides. Unfortunately, if you subscribe to Shaw (the cable monopoly in Greater Vancouver) you get stuck purchasing their overpriced and lacklustre Motorola digital box.

The strength of Apple’s products (and marketing) over the past couple of years has made me sit up and pay more attention to this computing underdog. I’ve been asked whether I’m going to invest in a Windows Vista system. My short answer is not soon, and (right now) I’d like to avoid it completely if possible. Whereas the new Intel-based Macs are a big draw. I’ve not been a Machead since I let go of my LC-series system in 1996 (although I tote around a 12″ iBook for browsing & blogging). Today’s Apple computers are extremely appealing.