Google + GrandCentral = The Next iPhone App?

Hey Arik,

Talking of iPhones, you may enjoy this first-person story:

I finally got my hands on the little gadget they call the iPhone. I got mine on Saturday without having to wait in line. But, thanks to AT&T and their inability to predict the feverish onslaught of demand, the activation process took almost 17+ hours. I mean, come on, it was just another phone...

Read the full story at: http://www.orato.com/node/2928

Cheers,
Deborah

In the next six months, the iphone will justify more fan enthusiasm because of what many critics don't yet realize.

There will be a steady strem of tweaks, fixes, web applications and new capabilities, as Apple continues to improve the iPhone and introduce more people to the Apple experience.

It will slowly sink in that the iPhone is not just another phone, but a powerful hand-held computer, with easy, painless and free upgradable firmware and software.

I hope that the vision of Steve Jobs and Apple is rewarded and Steve becomes a gazillionaire.

The future is bright for Apple and the iPhone. Few realize the implications of the future stream of integrating the iPhone into a strategic vision of technology use for everyone.

Why are other companies and executives so unresponsive, visionless, arrogant, risk-adverse, and unimaginative?

Is it greed, timidity, pack-mentality, stupidity or what? Why the lack of American ingenuity and leadership?

With this plus the rumor of a nano-based iPhone, it seems wise to consider an idea that Apple may be pushing out: the phone functionality is nothing but software, and it can be downloaded for a fee from iTunes. That way, it can be customized as needed. There may be some hardware issues to resolve (like an antenna of some kind), but nothing that an add-on couldn't take care of, when it gets down to it. Apple's strength is the iPhone form factor and the software coupled to it; the phone is nothing more than bits traveling around. And the iPhone is the best iPod ever created. With a new hardware design where all iPods have a screen with a virtual scroll-wheel or the iPhone-type screen, software becomes the key. And Apple has iTunes to handle this.

The iPhone is a landmark piece of hardware, due to it's multi-point touch display & well thought out OS. Don't let that blind you to it's faults - none of which are fixable by downloading a tweak or patch: EDGE wireless data instead of 3G, no expandable memory and no user replaceable battery.

Apple says it's not a PDA, and it's not fair to compare it to Windows Mobile 6 smartphones. It's a fantastic video iPod...except that you have to delete your music content to put a 2hr movie on it. You have a great web browser, but are forced to surf the web at 128kb instead of 900kb if you don't happen to be close to a free WiFi hotspot. Why Apple chose EDGE when Cingular/AT&T rolled out 3G service years ago is simply baffling! When the battery starts to fail (and it will - they always do), you have to ship it to the factory to get the battery replaced.

All of this has nothing to do with the original post: Grand Central. This is an intriguing service, and I look forward to giving it a try! I'll be trying it out on a 3G capable WM6 smartphone, while I wait to see if Apple fixes my hardware concerns in iPhone v2.