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Today was Steve Job’s Macworld 2007 keynote. It was badass. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but then again, it never is. I’m always pleasantly surprised with Apple’s new product announcements.

First, Sir Steve covered some updates about the iTunes store, as in how many movies, songs, and TV shows they’ve sold in the past year. This lead right into the Apple TV device. I’m not overly impressed with this device. It basically lets you stream content from iTunes to your TV either wired or wireless. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really neat, but it’s not really anything revolutionary, in my opinion.

Today’s big news was Apple’s release of the iPhone. This thing is great.

iPhone combines three products—a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching—into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone.

Multi-touch

iPhone features the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse. It’s an entirely new interface based on a large multi-touch display and innovative new software that lets you control everything using only your fingers. So you can glide through albums with Cover Flow, flip through photos and email them with a touch, or zoom in and out on a section of a web page—all by simply using iPhone’s multi-touch display.

Intelligent Keyboard

iPhone’s full QWERTY soft keyboard lets you easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. And the keyboard is predictive, so it prevents and corrects mistakes, making it easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones.

OS X

All the power and sophistication of the world’s most advanced operating system—OS X—is now available on a small, handheld device that gives you access to true desktop-class applications and software, including rich HTML email, full-featured web browsing, and applications such as widgets, Safari, calendar, text messaging, Notes, and Address Book. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background. This software completely redefines what you can do with a mobile phone.

Wireless

iPhone uses quad-band GSM, the global standard for wireless communications. It also supports Cingular’s EDGE network, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, which links to Apple’s new, remarkably compact Bluetooth headset.

Built-in Advanced Sensors

iPhone’s accelerometer detects when you rotate the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display, so you immediately see the entire width of a web page or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

The proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away.

An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

Technical Specifications

The iPhone isn’t expected to start shipping until June 2007, so don’t let me give you false hope that this thing is on the street right now.

Apple is partnering with Cingular/ATT Wireless in the US exclusively. Pricing is $499 (w/ two yr contract) for the 4 GB model and $599 (w/ two yr contract) for the 8 GB model.

I’ve got a Nokia E61 w/ Good Mobile Messaging (Cingular sanctioned, BlackBerry-like application) for work, so until Good ports over to OS X for iPhone, I’ll be sticking with my E61. I’m still holding my breath for the new touchscreen iPod (non-phone version). Hopefully, Apple will release it sometime in the next couple of quarters. Hopefully…