The iPhone 3 gee, I don't know...

Caveats: the new iPhone 3G looks like an impressive device, and a nice evolutionary update to the original iPhone. It's surely an engineering marvel. But today's announcements were way out of line with the rumors and conjecture put forth by people who follow Apple.

I think the 1.5 years that have passed since the iPhone's introduction- combined with Apple's history of surpassing expectations, the intense competition in the mobile space and Steve Jobs' personal interest in the iPhone, and Apple's total radio silence on the issue- lead to expectations that Apple would re-invent the iPhone today, or at least take a few big steps toward getting there.

That was my expectation.

What was announced was essentially iPhone 1.5- everything you love about the original, with the expected upgrades in the areas that people expected, and a price to help move these things into the hands of everyone who wants one. This is what I thought we'd get for the holidays last year.

Here are my initial thoughts:

<> The most revolutionary part of the iPhone 3G is its price.
<> I like the tapered edges, but the 3G is slightly wider and thicker than the original. I'm very surprised by that. I suspect it might have a nicer feel than the original, and it's slightly lighter, but I was hoping for something more along the lines of the iPod touch. Based on a spec comparison, the new iPhone is 1.1mm wider and .7mm thicker than the original (though 2 grams lighter- possibly because of cheaper plastics being used on the back, as opposed to metals in the original- though this is just speculation).
<> No major new software features announced as part of the 2.0 update- not even copy and paste.
<> July 11 release date (and "early July" release for 2.0 software) comes as a surprise, given how Apple had originally said late June for 2.0 software and reports had posited a possible iPhone release today or within the next couple of weeks. Something's fishy about the timing- sounds like some of those supply problem rumors were correct. Having no iPhones available from the time they ran out several weeks ago through July 11 could not have been the plan all along.
<> I'm surprised the 3G looks almost identical to the original iPhone head-on.
<> No front-facing camera for video chat.
<> No camera upgrade (still 2 megapixels).
<> No new iTunes announcements (such as over-the-air podcast updating).
<> High-end capacity tops off at 16GB- so no new capacity offered over current iPhone.
<> Sounds like they fixed the recessed headphone jack- that's nice.
<> GPS included. I'll bet it's the GPS that's adding the additional size!
<> No mention of any improvements to the keyboard (no haptics, no mention of landscape mode keyboard support).
<> Is there an upgrade path for current iPhone owners? No mention at all of this.

WWDC is a developer event, and the keynote was very clearly aimed at providing information targeted at developers. So forthcoming announcements prior to launch could certainly address a lot of the software-related points above.

I haven't seen the keynote video yet (looking forward to watching it on my Apple TV tonight), so it's tough to know for sure how the keynote played out.

But, there's definitely a very tenuous and rushed feel to a lot of this. It's hard to pin down, but it kind of feels like at some point fairly recently, some major problems were encountered with the "real" iPhone 2.0, causing Apple to rush back to the drawing board and whip up something evolutionary to release at this time of the year. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the next iPhone is dramatically different from the iPhone 3G, and if the original plan had been to release that version at this time.

Anyway, wow. I feel like I was dealt a good, solid dose of reality today. Perhaps I need to get out a little more? ;)