I just manually installed the 2.0 update on my 1.0 iPhone. It rocks, I have to say. Feels like Christmas. The AIM app, as well as the Exchange/push integration (which I've tested out and works fine) is making the HTC's of the world seem insignificant. This update makes the iPhone 1.0 folks out here feel like grownups now.
Its hard to know when to drink the Koolaid and when not to... that being said, when Jobs first presented the iPhone, even a hardened skeptic like myself thought it would gain a strong following.
I kind of agree, but with the caveat that nobody's right all the time. (See also the "Don't let bozosity get you down" section of Guy Kawasaki's "Rules for Revolutionaries".)
OT : Does anyone know specific marketshare numbers about the iPhone vs WinMobile and Symbian? I am having a hard time tracking them down. Jobs claimed iPhone outselling all Windows Mobile combined.
Microsoft is selling 20 million devices/year with about 100% YOY growth if memory serves.
Apple is at 6 million/year, no YOY numbers yet.
Symbian is selling about 140 million devices/year.
The numbers are not to be directly compared if you care about "smart" part of the "smartphone" - most Symbian users are not using any smart features, whereas many of Microsoft users do and so does practically every single Apple user.
If Wikipedia is to be believed, iPhone is currently fourth place in market share, behind all the OSes you mentioned plus BlackBerry's. But Jobs could well be correct with respect to growth rates.
Is it just me, or do most of those critics seem correct? Obviously Ballmer has a conflict of interest and Dvorak shouldn't be listened too - everyone already knew that.
They seem correct because they almost all change their minds so they can't be wrong:
"Last year, Joe Q. Bloggs wrote 'Why the iPhone is terrible, stupid and will go nowhere and nobody will buy it'"
"So Joe, are you surprised by the iPhone's success?"
"No."
"Last year, Bill Q. Briggs wrote 'the iPhone is absolutely and without any doubt the. worst. phone. ever., bar none, and it has no redeeming features. at all. It is the "big rigs" of phones'."
"So, Mr Briggs, are you surprised by the iPhones success?"
"No. Anyone can see it's a great phone, I always said it had the bling factor."