Smartphones are evolving at such breakneck speed, thanks to Apple and Google, that they’re killing a whole range of gadgets…

The demise of the legendary Flip camcorder says it all.

Is your product (or company) geared to deal with such an incredible onslaught of change?

It’s not really purple in color. But I did mean that it is Purple.

Why?

It’s because of the way it was successful in creating an entirely new industry of “athlete marketing” like never before. Because of how it created a frenzy among consumers. Because of the innovative ways Nike marketed it [for instance, they paid $5,000 in fine for every match that Michael Jordan wore these banned (then) shoes on court].

Not even Apple – to this date – has been able to match the hysteria that these shoes created (have you ever heard anyone getting mugged or killed for an iPod or iPhone?)

And yes, I was a teenager when I read and watched news about people getting mugged and killed for Air Jordan shoes.

Now go make your own Purple shoes.

The iPhone launched at $599 (8GB) and $499 (4GB).

About two months later, Apple deprecates the latter, and slashes $200 off the former.

The early adopters get mad.

Should Apple care? They didn’t have to. But they did (Steve Jobs letter).

Great strategy (in-store credit). Great PR. Gotta love Apple.

As a follow-up to my original lusty iPhone rant, I decided to scour the web for a closer look at the iPhone.

The hype is dying. Real people have used it, some have heard about real people using it, but everyone definitely has something to say about it. So go on and see if you can cut through the hype yourself.

Here come the critics:
Between Scoble and Kidrosky, they’ve got a few valid points:

From Paul Kidrosky:

1) The touchpad. How do you operate a touchphone in your pocket, or under a table by feel at a meeting? You scoff, but you’d be amazed how often that is how business emailing happens. …
2) The closed system. Is Apple serious that it won’t let third-party developers build software for the thing? If so, and put simply, the device will fail. A closed-box consumer electronics mentality will work in music players, but the future of mobile devices is as a platform, and that requires…
3) The Cingular relationship. While every wireless carrier has its haters, Cingular has more than most (both for its service and for its Edge network). Tying up exclusively to Cingular forces some of the loudest among the digerati to wait for an unlocked iPhone before they can begin touting …
….

From Robert Scoble

6) Battery is only up to five hours and is not replaceable (if you play video). …. Watch a video and your battery is dead. Now your cell phone is dead too. So, you won’t want to watch a video on a plane flight with this thing like you would with your iPod.
7) It’s Cingular only and GSM. That automatically keeps more than half of Americans from considering this and for the rest of the world? They are laughing about the iPhone now.
The camera sucks. It’s a 2megapixel device without flash, without zoom. Nokia’s newest cameras…
9) No GPS. …

From Seth Godin: Inventing a new cell phone

Here’s a few things a reinvented cellphone might be able to do:

* Let me leave voice mail for groups of people all at once.
* Let me initiate conference calls with groups of people with just one directory entry.
* Let me call friends based on where they are at a given moment.

iPhone trashed by Robert Scoble and others:

Comedy: iPhone being used as a universal device – for doing, er, everything!

Two nerds:

iPhone quick demo:

Steve Jobs presenting a closer look at iPhone:

More links:

Pogue’s Posts: The Ultimate iPhone Frequently Asked Questions

From Engadget

The Uber Geeks: iPhone misconceptions corrected

- Ravi Jayagopal