It is important to understand what we’re doing here, though. Our goal wasn’t to provide a launchpad of iPhone apps for you (that’s what mojits.com and mockdock.com do). Instead, we wanted to provide some really killer apps. If you’d like to launch of Leaflets from one of those other launchpads — go for it!

We may get into the business of creating a customizable launchpad for iPhone apps at some point — but for the initial launch, our focus was on the apps themselves, not the tool that launches them.

Most people understand the first part of that, but many forget the last. The goal is not to produce the cheapest, most affordable phone on the market. The goal is to maximize revenue. This isn’t a commodity product with which you can make the argument that “it should be affordable to everyone, even in third world countries, blah blah blah (like perhaps an OS). It’s a LUXURY product and for those who think it’s worth the luxury price, more power to them to buy it, right? Doesn’t make them fools. You probably drive a more expensive car than you *really* need, but I don’t think you’re a fool for buying it. Consumers choose to save money on certain things and splurge on other things… nothing wrong with the iPhone being that splurge for some of us.

Also, if the phone didn’t live up to the enormous expectations, we’d all have returned ours within the two week period. I’m sure the return rate was in the single digits or less.

Too bad for you the site stripped it out, or would’ve been so funny!

Unlike you, I don’t need a Wikipedia link to explain myself, so here’s something for you: when you call people Mactards, thus implying that Mac users are retards, directly after stating you have “no bias” means you’re opening yourself up for critique, because what you just did can be considered either that “stupid” you so vehemently oppose, or “irony”.

Do you need a dictionary link for the word irony? :-)

Thanks, that does make sense to me. I’m not saying the iPhone is a piece of crap. It really is a nice device, and yes Faruk, it is quite easy to use. For that, they deserve to put a big price tag on it. However, why does everybody have to talk about how great their iPhone is and how cool they are for having it? Becuase they paid $600 for it, that’s why. And that is the part that burns me. It doesn’t do anything spectacular. It’s a PHONE! But, it was an expensive phone and that somehow makes it *so* stylish (tragically).

And I certainly dont think everybody is a fool for buying the iPhone (lol except my friend), but does every single solitary owner have to talk about how well it works? It isn’t rocket science… so they got something right for once. At $500, what is the big stir? Oddly enough, I would probably own an iPhone right now if it wasn’t so popular.

I really don’t know, perhaps they have some ingenius plans for the iPhone’s future that will make it all worthwhile. But at this point, it just seems like everyone is making a big deal out of something that is… not that great.

The iPhone is not a diamond ring. If it was, maybe I’d get some sort of belt where I could wear it on the outside of my clothing so everyone could see it all the time. Instead, I keep it in my pocket until I need to use it. I don’t show it off… I just talk about it to people who might want to purchase one.

I think you kind of nailed it with your statement that you’d own an iPhone if it wasn’t so popular. You’ve outed yourself as a bit of a counterculturist and the fact that this phone has become such a rapid and rabid part of our culture actually gives you an artificially negative opinion of it. That’s all well and good… just don’t extrapolate from that anything about anyone else please.

I completely agree that the iPhone is overpriced but as Mike pointed out the price is set according to what they think people would be willing to pay. There is no way that it is worth $500+ for a phone like this but I am just saying that because I want one and can’t justify spending it for the lower end. Nor do I want to pony up $600 for 4 gigs of extra storage. That said, had I been sitting here with $600 burning a hole in my pocket I would have wanted to buy one. Although I wouldn’t be able to get a hold of one anyways so no big deal. The only thing that would stop me if I had the money to spare at the moment is the fact that I have already been burned twice by being an early adopter this year and I am ready to let other people be guinea pigs for me.

On the same subject of not being able to get my hands on the iPhone and not wanting to spend that much for so little storage I hope Apple knows that does not mean that I want some iPhone Nano version that is within my budget. You have me sold on a sexy looking device and I do not want to settle for less when in reality I want more. Give me a little and I want a lot, give me a lot and I’ll be content.

Mike: Knowing how much of an Apple whore (and I use that term in the nicest way) you are, I appreciate that you threw Xbox into the list. It’s sad to think of all the people who talked trash about the 360’s when the system is actually awesome and in my opinion MS has failed to advertise the coolest features. People talk about the future of set-top boxes with games, internet, movies, etc.. Well XB360 has more of those features then they push. You can download HD movies, demos, cheap arcade games, chat online with either video, voice or MSN messenger. Hard to argue that they have worked hard to build out the online features and really only internet browsing and some more features geared towards adults are missing. I’d like to see them add a big news tab for instance or even better an RSS reader!

The fact of the matter is this: if you had a phone that was equally as “great” but was not produced by Apple, you would not be blogging about it. Well, you might be because you do indeed give great advice on products and technologies (agreed – hands down), but the rest of the blogosphere would be silent. That’s where the word “ridiculous” and Apple’s ingenius marketing comes into effect.

Using multiple backgrounds on one element allows you to save on the number of elements (less HTML) as well as minimize your amount of CSS rules (less CSS). Furthermore, the CSS3 border-image support makes it all even more efficient.

And I don’t see, in the least, what’s wrong with making something solely for the iPhone. It’s been done for a long time with Windows- or Mac-only applications (remember the old reasoning why Windows was better than Mac: because all the “important” software only runs on Windows), some web sites only work on certain browsers (I’m looking at you, MLS), game makes would only make their games for one playform or console, iPod only applications and accessories, etc. I, for one, think that introducing a product for the hottest gadget of the year (or past several years and probably several to come) is a smart and responsible business decision that frankly I wish I had thought of first.

The internet should be accessible to everybody. And so should transportation. But if I have an iPhone or a Ferrari, you have to recognize that the extra money I’m shelling out is for a better experience.

Maybe keeping the model of your quality apps, but allowing me to customize the placement of those apps on the home (as well as hiding them directly) on my own accord would be a viable solution? Again though, contrary to your business model by allowing the user to have the keys.