Just announced:
“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. “
Includes:
- Multi-point touchscreen and beautiful, rich interface
- Google Maps on mobile
- Full email (IMPA and POP) and what looks like a great browser (plus push IMAP and Yahoo! Mail)
- great looking SMS chat interface
- 2MP camera
- uses widgets
- sync with Mac & PC for contacts, calendar, photos, music, movies, bookmarks
- wifi, Quad band GSM + Cingular EDGE, Bluetooth (with Bluetooth headset).
- Runs OSX?!!
- 4GB or 8GB storage
- 320×480 screen at 160ppi (highest res ever screen shipped?)
- only one button on the the front 
Apple simplicity at it’s best
- beautiful industrial design
- sensors to detect when near ear, portrait or landscape orientation, and ambient light… Apple attention to detail
On first pass this looks absolutely awesome, even more than anyone could have expected. (watch the demos on Apple’s site)
Mark my words, this (as expected) will redefine the mobile phone experience for the rest of the industry. Not only is the UI rich and powerful, it is an integrated customer experience of hardware, phone OS, and applications/content that I spoke about in my Mobile talk at World Usability Day. Further the expected seamless full synchonisation of customer content between PC and phone (contacts, calendar, photos, music, movies, bookmarks etc) is a very powerful thing and at least a “mortally-wounding” (if not killer) app. Plus the fact that it uses (i’m assuming standard) Mac OS X widgets means the development effort required for (tech-savvy) people to make their own personalised little mobile internet applications is very low.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to work on the UI for this This would have been the project of a lifetime. Well done Apple!
The keynote will be available “later today” if you want to watch in all it’s glory and pick up on the extra details.
In the meantime there’s a bunch of great photos from the Keynote over at Engadget
I hope I don’t need to say that I’m getting one of these things… Gah!! US only in June, Europe end of year and Asia in 2008!!
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Posted by oliverw 
