Well you have said many bad things about apple in the past, but the iPod's suck in my opinion, that's why i went to creative for my Music player (£30 cheaper for the same amount of storage!) iPods have a huge mark-up price. So if the iPhone does make it to a shelf near me, i am stearing well clear.

I don't think that Nokia, Sony-Errikson, Motorola, Vodafone and other phone companies and service providers will be too happy with it. I think that there is going to be a major war between current phone companies and phone-wannabees.

So true Chaky, it is going to lead to a full scale price and product war, who can get the lowest price for the newest phone.

I got mine free... doesn't get any cheaper than this. I got it from service provider. All I pay is monthly bill. Only bad thing for me is that I signed 2 year contract, so I am obliged to pay until feb 2008.
Apple and google will have to do something really radical to take over the market.

It could get cheaper, the company pays you to take away the phone!
but i just can't see people googling on their phone, i don't need to be permanantly attached to my phone using the net on it, i have a computer for that purpose, in my life it would be pointless.

In that case I would "buy" dozens of phones on a daily basis.
Googling on the phone... I can do that (but I never do) without buying gadgets from Google. C'mon ppl, it is a search engine, not a fashion statement.

you're all missing the point. the point is that google will provide FREE phone service FREE. You can't beat FREE phone service. This is just another opportunity for google to get richer and help people at the same time.

Everything is driven by tactical markerting, there is always a catch to free service, No company is so generous to provide free service without an intelligent profit making plan.

If it comes to that, there will be a war, in a sense of hostile takeovers and such. They will rather buy Google shares and take over control to stop that free service than to go bankrupt for loosing all of clients.

Like the 'free' braodband service that "Talk Talk" introduced in the UK. No catches apparently but the costs were made up else where in the phone bills! Nothing is ever 'Free'.