Well, the iPhone is finally to hit the shops, stateside after months of much hype. So, there is no need for me to hype it too much. By now, we know all the cool features and I will be the first to admit that Apple have hit upon a very revolutionary product here. To put it simply, I want one. But I will have to wait a few more months before it’s European release and even then I might just wait until the 2nd or 3rd generation models.

Why so? Well, I do have a number of concerns about the iPhone. The first is it’s internal battery. You cannot replace the battery yourself, it’s sealed inside the case. Now this is the same as the iPod design, which was done, seemingly, to keep the design slim. No you can replace the battery for your iPod yourself by buy a kit such as the ones offered by Sonnettech. There is a danger of course of damaging the casing slightly. Now, you can also send it to Apple and they will replace the battery, for a price. So, back to the iPhone. There is a difference between a phone and an mp3 player. You need your phone always. If it’s brought back to the point of purchase, you can be sure that you won’t get anything fancy as a replacement while your phone is awat have surgery to have a battery replacement operation! The other question is of course, how good is the battery life itself anyway?

My other gripe with the iPhone is that it runs on the EDGE mobile phone protocol rather than the better, faster and more widely used 3G. This is especially true here in Europe. The decision to use the EDGe technology just baffles me.

And finally, the exclusivity with telecom companies. AT&T may have swallowed the Apple bait in the US but it seems that here in Europe the telcos are not playing ball. Why should it be exclusive? What ever happened to choice?

Some good new points reveal that AT&T may offer a pay-as-you-go option on the iPhone and that Steve Jobs is giving a free iPhone to all full time staff at Apple. There is also a new RSS reader for the iPhone here. But you can’t see it of course, because it’s for the iPhone.

So will it live up to the hype? I think it will. There maybe a few stumbling blocks with the 1st generation models, but the iPhone will be close to my ear one day!

update: There is a good piece I just spotted on the Wall Street Journal here where Mr. Jobs and the AT&T head honcho are interviewed. Also, have a look at Walt Mossberg’s video review of the phone here.

I could rant about this subject for eons, but there is plenty of debate on this subject all over the net. So, to finish off, I leave you with a cool comedy clip by B. Elwin Sherman….