The Real Genius of Apple's iPhone

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Incorporating the existing Mac OS X operating system into the unit is a major step forward, one which Adaptive Path President and usability expert Jesse James Garrett reckons will provide a major headache for competitors. "Apple has been able to work backwards from its own OS, making adjustments to work on a smaller screen," he says. "This is not functionality that you can tack onto the existing phone operating systems out there. That has to be very troubling to the competition because it's going to take them years to develop similar technical sophistication. Mobile-phone Web browsers are uniformly awful." The iPhone, of course, uses Apple's own Safari browser.

Fluid Function

While for now, the functionality is not as extensive as some of the existing smart phones or MP3 players on the market—a reflection of Apple's preference for simplicity—it's clear that the device has the potential to be developed in many ways.

"Its perfectly ambiguous form can take on just about any personal-sized functionality," says Pentagram partner and interaction design specialist Lisa Strausfeld. "It's a truly chameleon device that, in theory, can become something new years after you purchase it. On a more pragmatic and even environmental note, one can now purchase a new phone, camera, PDA, MP3 player, or fill-in-your-personal-size-device-here through a simple software download."

There are a lot of neat touches that will also likely be influential. Sensors in the handset detect when the phone is in use, freezing the screen and preventing an overactive ear lobe from ending a call. Other sensors can alter the landscape of the screen, to make long-form reading less strenuous. In fact, many of the more revolutionary design aspects of the iPhone are—in hindsight—quite simple, provoking the much sought after 'Why didn't I think of that?' envy so often prompted by a genuinely good idea.

Sign Language

One of the biggest challenges the designers faced was how to provide a suitably sized usable keyboard—something every PDA or smartphone maker has struggled with. Apple bypassed the need for a button-based keyboard by providing virtual, on-screen QWERTY keys instead—and incorporated various tricks to enhance the typing experience, such as predictive spelling and what MIT Media Lab professor John Maeda describes as the "hover-expand" behavior of the keys.

"Each key can remain small and within an orderly grid at first glance; then, by hovering your finger, the on-screen key is made bigger so that you can see it better," he explains. "It's a fairly simple idea and probably not brand new, but definitely a step forward in the awkward task of typing on a tiny virtual keyboard."

"The multitouch interface is a breakthrough," adds Jesse James Garrett. "We've seen interfaces like this done as research projects, in academia, but this is the first time that someone has brought it to a consumer product. In [Jobs'] demo, the functionality they showed only scratches the surface of what could be possible."

Opening the Field

"Scratch" is the operative word here, and concerns have already been raised about the practicality and durability of the iPhone's large, unprotected screen (and how to keep it clean). Questions also remain unanswered about the compatibility of a phone (for which battery life is paramount) and a music player (which is often used for hours at a time). Putting the two together could significantly limit a device's lifetime.

"With so much technology packed in and with all its sensors and multitouch screen, there's a lot that could go wrong," says James Tindall, a British Web site and software developer and designer. "But it's clearly a radical step forward. For me, the iPhone is a Phone 2.0. Like Web 2.0, it just does everything it should do, in the simplest, clearest, most intuitive way possible."

One thing is for sure: The gauntlet truly has been thrown down. No doubt between now and June, when the iPhone is released, competing cell-phone, smartphone, and PDA makers will be scrambling to come up with devices that have the look, feel, and functionality of Apple's offering. Let's just hope that the hardware makers and carriers alike grasp the power of user-driven design and great customer experience. Like the music industry before it, the cell-phone industry needs a shakeup.

Jessie Scanlon is the senior writer for Innovation & Design on BusinessWeek.com. Helen Walters is the editor for BusinessWeek.com's Innovation and Design Channel.