• CNET News.com, Friday, June 8, 2007 11 AM

It may be premature, but technology and business journals are already calling it the "Summer of Apple." Insofar as media hype is a big factor in a product's success (and it is), Apple's iPhone is well on its way to being a success. We're about three weeks away from the multimedia cell phone's much-awaited launch, which has fast become something of a widely anticipated global event.

As industry analyst Stephen Baker says, "Apple isn't just a hardware company, and they aren't just a software company. I think that's what's enabled them to be more successful in endeavors that are away from their core business." The iPhone, however, isn't necessarily a shift away from the company's core consumer electronics business, which is itself something of a recent shift, thanks to the success of the iPod. It also opens up a new product line for Apple, cell phones, after computers and iPod media players. One day the iPhone will completely meld with the iPod, and Apple TV, perhaps, will become the new third major product offering.

Why should you be excited about the iPhone? For starters, it's a smartphone that plays music and video. It has a new touch-screen interface, full Internet" functionality and it runs on Apple's Mac OS X-through which the tech giant obviously hopes to convert many a Windows PC user. However, Apple's trump card, Baker says, is its control over both the product's hardware and software.

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