• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, June 27, 2007

This is a big week for Apple.

This week the company will unveil the much anticipated, highly debated, but rarely actually seen, iPhone! There hasn't been much available out there for those of us trying to do research and determine whether we'll be buying one or not, until this past Friday when Apple released a 20-minute guided video tour, which can be found at its Web site. I, like many people I know, took the tour and learned about all the cool gadgets and functions embedded in the new iPhone interface. Just by virtue of the buzz, I almost surely will be buying one, but will it meet with expectations? If it doesn't, will that reveal a crack in the almighty armor of Apple?

As we all know, the iPod was, and still is, a cultural phenomenon more than a music device. It changed the commuting and music habits of millions upon millions of people. The iPhone has the potential to shake up the mobile phone industry in much the same way, but only if the visual voicemail and the new touchpad interface work as promised. In January I wrote that the iPhone has the potential to finally deliver on the promise of mobile advertising and if these functions work as promised, then we'll see the validation of so many mobile start-ups over the next two years. If these functions don't deliver, however, you'll see many people holding their heads in their hands while they try to find a way to legitimize their businesses.

The biggest fear I have is that the iPhone won't sync easily with my calendar and contacts in Outlook. From the research I've read, it's 50/50 whether this will work or not. I am now running on Vista, and the new WindowsMobileDeviceCenter that replaces ActiveSync is sketchy at best and still won't sync with my Samsung Blackjack regardless of how many tech fixes I find and how many firewalls I turn off. If the iPhone comes with the same lack of functionality, I will be disappointed and forced to return the phone, or sell it on eBay for twice what I will likely pay for it!

All that being said and all tech wizardry pushed aside, the iPhone is the focus of the tech world right now. Time magazine and all the major business publications are focusing on it and everyone is wondering whether Apple will succeed or fail with this new gadget.

The simple fact is that Apple has already succeeded in its own strategy to bypass the computer business altogether and give up on building market share for a tool that can be easily surpassed by mobile devices and useful external gadgets. It may have a minority -- somewhere around 3-5% -- of the total PC market, but it dominates the MP3 market, and will quickly amass a strong share of the cell-phone market with either this version or the next release, and then likely move forward with other mobile devices in the coming years.

The Apple iTV may have been a bust, but the company's history and continued path of innovation are driving its business. Apple's fans are loyalists; if this phone is a bust, which I doubt, they'll certainly make up for it in the next version. If you remember correctly, the first iPods had a horrible battery and would die in about two hours, but that problem was quickly fixed, and it never impeded the growth and adoption of the product.

Of course, we are only human and we tend to forget about the past. Remember when the Treo first launched? You couldn't get one to save your life. It took three weeks after you ordered it for it to arrive! Remember the first Razr from Motorola? The earpiece was so poor that you couldn't hear anyone if you were talking on the busy streets of Manhattan. Remember the first BlackBerry? It was a horrible device. but we only liked it because we could get our email away from the office. The audience is fickle but understanding, and we always give a little rope to those tools and products we like.

No, Apple won't succeed or fail on the legs of this one device alone, but people will debate and write about it for many weeks to come -- once they can finally get their hands on it, of course!