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With the invention of the iPhone, Steve Jobs and Apple Computer have created a cell phone device that threatens to create hegemony over the entire cell phone industry. The problem today with sophisticated cell phones is that they are too difficult to operate. The buttons on the Blackberry Pearl require that you use a stylus to trigger them. Another cell phone, the Treo is not that much better in terms of operational design features.

Steve Jobs' creation of the iPod revolutionized the music industry, which had experienced no growth for years until Apple came along and sold a 100,000,000 iPods that required music and its associated royalty fees. The music industry should give an award ceremony just for Apple.

What Jobs has done for the cell phone industry is take it to the next level, and what a level it is. It really shouldn't be called an iPhone. The phone features of this device are probably the least interesting.

Imagine yourself struggling with the Pearl's small buttons. Now along comes the iPhone. There are practically no buttons on the device. It's got a large screen, which dominates the front of the device, and it is a touch screen. You operate it by finger alone.

It scrolls the various listings almost like a roulette wheel. It slows down, and zeros in on the item you want. As it is slowing down, you have the opportunity to re-engage the scroller. It's like it has artificial intelligence built into it!  That's how good the iPhone user interface is.

This flicking or scrolling feature also applies to iTunes software and your photo collection, address book, videos, and podcasts. With a 3.5 inch screen, movies are far superior to previous Apple products, and there's real time e-mail delivery similar to a corporate Blackberry but without the extra fees involved.

Without the small keys like I have on my Pearl, you have to touch the screen of the Apple iPhone to send messages. It is clearly not as precise as the tactile response of a Pearl, but the software wildly overcomes that deficit. The Apple software has spelling correction software built into it, so if you hit the wrong key the device corrects it.

Browsing the web with this device is a mindblower due to what is called the 'Pinch feature'. You can take a Web page that you are looking at, and with your thumb and forefinger pinch the picture wider or narrower, higher or lower. The real beauty here is the simplicity of the entire device.

Most products that are designed by engineers are created with an added level of complexity built into it. It's like a writer that wants to use words that very few people understand. Why do people design like this? Because they want to impress themselves (and others) with their brainpower. What is more interesting is how such designs survive to become marketed products.

The American car market self-destructed when for 20 years, the companies were run by financial / accounting types, not people who LOVED CARS. Apple has clearly developed a corporate culture that puts functional design first, and engineers, and software geeks second. From the PC to the iPod, and now the iPhone, we have a history of fabulous, sterling products coming out of this American design factory.

That being said, there are still many who prefer the Blackberry Pearl. Ultimately, each user has to decide which format (small buttons or touchscreen) they like best.