After using the iPhone for a whole 6 weeks now I am convinced it is a huge leap in technology that no-one will get close to in years.
In my opinion, the iPhone and the eco-system around it is the best implementation done by apple to date. It is the result of fine tuning their philosophy of building the hardware and the software with one dramatic twist. It is not their software that is selling the phones.
The app store is the single greatest move apple has made. I don’t know if they or any of the application developers make any money right now but they will.
Microsoft have had a decent operating system for many years and there are tons of applications that have been built on it. People do not know about them though and if you do find an app the process of downloading and installing it is a pain. This coming from a guy that develops software for a living is not a good thing!
Apple took a concept given to them by the community an implemented it from a user perspective perfectly.
From a developer aspect it seems like Apple are very restrictive but they have their reasons. The issue is that many developers are used to working in the Microsoft or Linux world where nothing is imposed on you. Just because Apple are different does not mean that they are wrong. Time will tell if their tactic is right.
As for the phone itself this one is the best one I’ve had. Proof is that I am using it to write this post. Try doing that on most other phones!