Apple is smart

So the iPhone 3G is coming, and while it's got some nice additions, it isn't a huge step over the iPhone 1. But that may be really really smart.

• It lets them be cheaper, $199 rather than $399 if they'd thrown in everything. A much more acceptable price. They'll sell a ton more that way.
• It lets just about any application that developers create work on both the old and new models. This one is huge. One stable platform.
• Everything is software, so they didn't need to figure out the next brilliant idea--just get the hardware and tools so some developers can build it.
• And somebody is going to think of that brilliant idea...something people would buy an iPhone for just by itself.

On a very related note, I bought my first Mac; and first Apple computer since I got a Apple IIgs back in high school.

So Apple has not only sold me a iPhone, but also a computer (admitedly, it's the cheap Mac Mini--but it runs the iPhone programming tools just fine.) And my wife is insisting I upgrade the iPhone so she can have the old one :) Gotta love her for that!