The iPhone Is Here. Is It The Tipping Point?

Engadget provides these photos and specs of the ultra-thin 11.6 millimeter device which includes a 3.5-inch wide touchscreen display with multi-touch
support, a proximity sensor to turn off the device when close to your cheek, a2 megapixel cam, 8 GB’s of storage, Bluetooth with EDR, WiFi that
automatically engages and quadband GSM radio with EDGE. It runs on OS X with support for
Widgets, Google Maps, Safari, and iTunes. A partnership with Yahoo enables free push email. 

UPDATE VIA ENGADGET – "Apple quotes 5 hours of battery life for talk or video, with a full 16
hours in music mode –no word on standby time yet…The 4GB iPhone will go out the door in the US as a Cingular exclusive
for $499 on a two-year contract, 8GB for $599. Ships Stateside in June,
Europe in fourth quarter, Asia in 2008."  Expect Apple to eventually offer the iPhone via carriers as well.

It appears that Apple has created another brilliantly designed device. As we wrote earlier, it could provide the tipping point that digital music downloads needs:

• Tipping Point #1 – It appears sexy enough to make people pay attention to the fun f have having you music available to you 24/7.
• Tipping Point #2 – It should raise the bar for other device manufacturers and cell carriers to raise the bar and improve the cell/music experience.
• Tipping Point #3 – All of this activity will lead to more download sales as well and ringtones, ringbacks, etc.
• Tipping Point #4 – It will make iTunes so
  popular that it will: a) force more major labels to embrace mp3’s if
  for no other reason than to blunt Apple’s dominance, b) force the
  courts to make Apple liscence or open up its closed DRM, or c) do both.