Believe it or not, there is all this noise for a reason:

People still stop and stare and ask about my iPaq, running win mobile 2003, running on tmobile, already over 2 years old. They think it is a marvel, a wonder...

but, frankly, it crashes during phone calls because the 2003 phone stack is a mess.

It cost me a decent amount, but not more than the iPhone will be costing people, and that was years ago. It has the memory and processor of the desktop I got in 1997... the iPhone easily outdoes it.

Basically, this brings devices like this into the mainstream or semi-mainstream consciousness. People will start at least hoping that their phone does things that frankly, win mobile phones already do. Now, most of them do it in asia or europe, but they can certainly already do it. These things beat blackberry's minimal service by a mile. We aren't talking 'long SMS/email' - we are talking mobile computers. That people want.

No longer will the other networks, particularly the GSM networks, be able to afford the poor offerings they have now. They will have to get HTC's newest offerings and support them. This alone will change the american phone and computer markets. After all, most of the time a desktop isn't necessary. A laptop isn't necessary. A good phone can do most of the things we need - ebooks, music, email, voice communication, camera - can all be done at the entry level on a single device. Most people probably won't need separate devices, and if they do for an application, like studio music or heavy gaming/computation/reading, they will pay to get a top of the line device in that market.

That's why the iPhone is an important start. Not in spite of the hype, but because of it.