For about a year now, I’ve been harbouring a guilty secret – last July, one of my co-directors (the grumpy one) acquired a new 3G iPhone – I knew I was locked into my contract with alternative supplier for another year and unable to upgrade – I was extremely envious, bordering on dribbling with jealousy. I had to wait.

So, a year passed and I waited patiently (NOT!) and earlier in June, Apple announced the revised, bigger, better iPhone the 3GS. It was time to pounce.

So, my shiny new handset arrived just after launch, courtesy of O₂ the sole supplier in the UK – I decided to go for a white one (I didn’t actually, it was sent in error but I couldn’t be bothered to change it) and it was the 16Gb version – I felt I couldn’t justify the larger 32Gb. It worked straight out of the box, after I had registered it via iTunes – the Apple application used for synchronising, backing-up and moving media to the device.

I have read several stories about the iPhones relevance in the corporate market – some very critical pieces, with CIO’s recounting doom and gloom, corporate security leaks, excessive consumer desirability, too many non-business functions and alike. From our perspective, a smaller business as we are, the functions offered are second to none – we use an outsourced Microsoft Exchange email service – the iPhone connects seamlessly to it and can receive ‘push’ email, ie near instantaneous delivery, to the handset – calendar, contacts and notes are all synchronised across all the machines I use, PC, iPhone etc. Yes, I did have this on my previous ‘phone, which was a Windows Mobile device, but the difference in the user experience is amazing. I can remotely wipe the device if lost or stolen and using the Apple MobileMe service, can send a message to the handset and locate it using Google Maps – very clever.

I have Google Maps, which orientate themselves correctly using the inbuilt digital compass, together with navigation etc. With the new version of the iPhone, I can link the device to my laptop and use the iPhone modem – this is called tethering and removes the need to have a separate 3G ‘dongle’ to connect when away from the office or Wi-Fi access point.

So what are my first impressions:

The device looks the bees knees – the screen surface is better and resists grease and fingerprints
It’s quick – all the function operate swiftly, with no delay
Email operates beautifully and web-browsing is very easy and clear
The extra applications that you can get, a lot of them free, really enhance the machine – I’ve got a spirit level and a torch – essential financial services items!

What is interesting is how a device like this can change the habits of both consumer and service provider. I read recently in thinkbroadband.com that 40% of all mobile web traffic comes from the Apple iPhone according to mobile advertising firm, AdMob, who collated worldwide statistics. The latest report weighs up estimated handset sales based on Gartner’s 2008 report and found that whilst only 8% of smart phones sold were iPhones, they made up for 43% of mobile web traffic in April 2009. That really does change the commercial model of the mobile ‘phone companies and moves away from just the provision of voice services.

For those who already have made the jump, the new iPhone might not appear to be much of a revolution – it is more of an evolution, but for me having just acquired the new model, it’s one of the best pieces of new technology I’ve had the pleasure to possess for a very long time – covet, over!

Written by Nigel Smith - Visit Website

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.