Well today Apple, Inc. (as it is now known) has again rolled out a new product that is truly representative of the term "innovation."
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By now all the geeks of the world have seen what Apple has rolled out, the iPhone. Hell, it even made the home page of CNN as the main news blurb. While the excitement for many is palpable I think it should be tempered just a bit. You see, not everything is a sure fire hit. Although Apple has a great track record with the last 9 years of product roll-outs, I wouldn't say that the iPhone is the next iPod.
The iPod entered an immature marketplace, portable mp3 media players, and revolutionized it by offering a simple and elegant solution. It was easy for the iPod to achieve dominance in this marketplace. The iPhone however is entering a mature marketplace, the cell phone industry, so it remains to be seen what sort of market share the iPhone can garner. Cell phones typically all follow the same form and function model in terms of expected functionality and feature-set. Devices like the Treo and Blackberry are an evolution towards a more ubiquitous device but fall short by still holding onto some of the traditional cell phone features, like buttons (heh). Now comes the iPhone with one button.
I must admit the interface is elegant and simple. The feature of turning the device on its side to have it go portrait is sweet. Even sweeter is that it is running on OSX so it is fully networkable. Really the iPhone is an evolutionary step forward in terms of creating a single digital device that can do so much. The real test will be acceptance, market penetration and that ultimitely hinges on customer satisfaction.
So I say good job Apple, Inc. You have succeeded in creating a truly "innovative" product. Something the boys at M$ claim but never seem to be able to do. For example, check out their immediate release of a Zune phone. (Haha!)