iBuzz

According to Matt Hurst the iPhone buzz has peaked which means that I'll fashionably late with my contribution...

I don't expect to get an iPhone anytime soon - I'm still perfectly happy with my ancient Samsung i500. But I'm amazed that Apple decided to jump in bed lock in to using AT&T as a provider. (Apparently the first day the iPhone was released AT&T Edge had widespread network outages, affecting non-iPhone users as well as iPhone users.) And I'm thrilled that Apple decided on a closed platform - it will be way amusing to follow the inevitable opening of the iPhone by hackers. The checklist below (from IP) is already yesterday's news:

1. Break DMG Password *COMPLETE*
2. Break Activation *COMPLETE*
3. Unlock Phone
4. Run Third Party Applications
5. Allow DUN/Tethering
6. Remove IMEI Transmitting
7. Enable Disk Mode

Yes, it would be cool to be able to use an iPhone on whatever network you want - but there's a socially interesting issue here also. My smartphone holds my information, some of which is potentially quite private (e.g., what doctors do I go to? when am I out of my house?), and which we know is not always very secure. I think I know how and where my Palm/phone device keeps this information, but on a networked device with a closed architecture, what guarantees do you have? We know how careful Apple has been with DRM in iTunes - it'll be interesting to see how much effort Apple has put into locking up its customer's information.