ACI design win: So sweet and sexy - iLove iPhone for what it represents

By Matt Miner

Analysts, geeks and technology-interested individuals like me are falling all over themselves in praise of the iPhone.  This is a legitimate advance.  It integrates music (8gb at $599), phone, internet access and e mail in a single device.  It is nearly buttonless with a finger touchscreen.  The price sounds high, but when compared to the discreet cost of the devices it can replace (iPod Nano - $199, smart phone $250) and that it incorporates real internet functionality, form factors and whiz-bang gadgetry like sensors that adjust the backlight to ambient light conditions....Well - enough of being an unpaid Apple shill.  I will say this - I'm glad it has Intel Si baked in.

Here is what's cool about Apple: They are innovating.  They are moving things forward.  They are trying stuff.  These characteristics can make Apple a true longtime player.  It is this type of innovation that creates wealth.  The notion of integration has been around since the mid-1990s.  Why hasn't anyone brought anything out that really worked?  The type of press the iPhone is generating is this type that make the most talented people want to join companies like Apple.  Although success does not usually last forever, there is an element of self perpetuation.  The confidence that comes from being a leader and from back to back to back design wins cannot be found anywhere else.

This is what I aspire to.  I can't do the engineering, but I hope I'll be able to create an environment where talented employees can come up with compelling innovations (products or services) and we can improve the world across categories with our work.  So I'll continue to admire Apple and Steve Jobs and think about how to be like them when I grow up.  And I'll salivate about the phone - Dang!  Drool on the keyboard.  Time for more cotton rolls in my mouth.