Apple iPhone

The internet is abuzz with news of Apple's iPhone. Certainly an object of desire, though there's no mention of how much it will cost in the UK (but what's the bet it's £499), or if it will be exclusive to any provider, like it is in the US (Cingular/AT&T).

It looks cool and one of the more interesting features (for me at least) is the use of OS/X. I've already read posts on Slashdot by people wondering about whether or not it'll have IM and SIP clients - I'm wondering if you could get Asterisk to run on it and use the GSM phone as a channel. No word on what processor it uses - I'd speculate that it's using the Cell processor (assuming Sony aren't taking up all of IBM's capacity).

Apple are partnering with Google (with Google Maps - including a press to call button on search results) and Yahoo for Push-IMAP mail. I'd never heard of Push-IMAP before today. It appears to be an extension of IMAP to make IMAP act more like a Blackberry - instead of the client occasionally polling the server, the server pushes notifications out to the client. According to the wikipedia article, it's also supposed to replace the role of SMTP in client/server setups as well (though you can already do this with a little bit of effort already with IMAP). It was developed by Oracle (who, I have to admit, aren't the first people I think of when I think of email). I find the fact that Apple are partnering with Yahoo over this a bit odd - what about Apple's own .Mac service?

The thing is, at that price I don't think I'd want to carry it around.

One other note, Apple Computer, Inc have changed their name to just Apple, Inc. I feel kinda saddened and nostalgic. But then I've been using Apple computers since my childhood, and I think that has something to do with it.