Wait A Minute! The iPhone Is Origami Done Right?

There has been lots written about the iPhone. First the hoopla, the swooning, and the drooling. Then the inevitable criticism from a chorus of boo birds because it doesn’t do this and it doesn’t do that. Heck, the jury hasn’t even convened, much less gone into deliberations on what is, at the least, an undeniably cool looking device, and the most successful marketing coup in quite some time.

This morning I saw this article (Perfect UMPC = iPhone?) linking to Rob Enderle’s Digital Trends column (Apple iPhone=Origami Done Right?) where he gives his thoughts on the iPhone (or what we know of it at the moment.) What is intriguing among Enderle’s thoughts is this thesis:

The iPhone, in concept, hits on almost all of the notes that Origami missed. It prices in at under $600 (granted with a 2 year cell phone commitment), is relatively small, has integrated WAN, and they figured out that by using Synaptics’ technology they could make a touch screen keyboard work. The iPhone’s interface is simple (even though the OS is based on OSX) and they did a great job of eliminating the complexity (in effect they completed where Microsoft didn’t).

Like I said, the book on the iPhone is still to be written, no matter how many iPhones are sold before and after the release (and there will be tons.) That said, Enderle’s thesis is an interesting one depending on what you need a mobile converged device for. Given my purchasing rationale for a UMPC, it would make sense (if I had a Mac to sync up contacts and email with, or wanted to stay completely in the cloud.) I think there is no doubt that however the iPhone story ends up, we will look back and say it did have a profound effect on mobile devices going forward. I just think it is way too early to start proclaiming what that impact really will be. But hey, the speculating sure is fun isn’t it? Let’s see where we are with this story in August, shall we.