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Mobile phone According to some people, the most important question about the iPhone is "does it blend?". Although quite amusing, the more important question to me is whether Apple is listening to the feedback of customers. In prior stories I have expressed confidence that there would be continuous improvement in the functionality of the iPhone. For the first six months I would give them a B+. The two big issues remain to be the applications and the network.
On the network side, I am still not very happy with AT&T primarily because of poor local coverage. However, I have learned about a new tower about two miles from my house that is scheduled to be turned on in late February. That could potentially make a dramatic difference for many people in my neck of the woods. In a few weeks I’ll be in South Africa and will get a chance to see how the International aspects of the AT&T service work. Stay tuned on that.

The bigger question for most people is about applications. The “standalone” applications such as the calculator, calendar, photo gallery, clock, and offline email have not changed. There is still no “notes” application that syncs with anything and allows cut/copy/paste. The “networked” applications, such as stocks, weather, over the air email, and YouTube have not changed. iTunes has been improved and "maps" has had a huge improvement with the addition of a location function that uses radio signals to estimate your current location. Not as accurate as GPS but pretty good. I used it at the Albany airport this past weekend and it provided very good directions to where I was headed. The "Web 2.0" applications, through the Safari browser, are still a disappointment but I am sure there will be many useful webapps soon.
Webapps are most useful when they are connected to the network, preferably a fast one. The presumption with webapps is that the data — travel itineraries, frequent flier numbers, healthcare information, personal financial information, etc. — is on the server. That model only works if you can get to the server. With 16 GB likely on the way for new iPhones, there will be plenty of room for pictures and music and have space for local data.
Local data will allow a lot of useful applications even when there is no available network connection.
The other limitation of webapps is the interface. In theory you can do anything in a web browser but the human interface is not always ideal. That is why millions of people use Quicken instead of quicken.com. This will change over time as web standards evolve but in the short term I believe there is a rational need for local applications. There are many applications that could be local applications with local storage on the iPhone. Both the app and data could be synchronized (backed up) through iTunes. What we are all anxiously waiting for are "third party local applications" on the iPhone as a supplement to Apple’s apps and webapps. Apple announced that that they will have a development kit available in the first quarter and many are waiting to see what the SDK will allow and what "approvals" will be necessary and whether AT&T will have any say in "certifying" applications. The clock is ticking and I can hardly wait. Following the political scene is exciting but third party apps for the iPhone will be more exciting.
The most subtle change in the latest iPhone update last week was the ability to move the home screen icons around, and to create up to nine pages on which you can place icons or web address links. The iPhone comes with just seventeen icons. The home row plus nine screens of sixteen each will allow 148 applications. One that I am hoping for is Opera Mini.