Steve Jobs has done it. The iPhone, judging by the first round of hands-on reviews, is going to be a hit. The six-month build-up to the launch of Apple's new "jesusphone" allowed expectations to build to dangerous levels; the device has, astonishingly, lived up to the hype. The four reviewers found different things to dislike. Walt Mossberg complained about AT&T's slow Edge network, for instance, and Newsweek's Steven Levy found the keyboard frustrating. But the key conclusions of the early reviewers are almost identical. Here they are.
Talk about hype. In the last six months, Apple's iPhone has been the subject of 11,000 print articles, and it turns up about 69 million hits on Google... As it turns out, much of the hype and some of the criticisms are justified. [David Pogue of the New York Times]
And there it is: one of the most hyped consumer products ever comes pretty close to justifying the bombast. [Steven Levy of Newsweek]
Expectations for the iPhone have been so high that it can't possibly meet them all. It isn't for the average person who just wants a cheap, small phone for calling and texting. But, despite its network limitations, the iPhone is a whole new experience and a pleasure to use. [Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal]
The mania over Apple's iPhone launch has created stratospheric expectations that are near impossible to live up to. Yet with a few exceptions, this expensive, glitzy wunderkind is indeed worth lusting after. [Edward Baig of Newsweek]
