Forget about book smarts. The fact is this: there have few people in recent memory who publicly distorted reality as much as George Bush did, and got away with it for so long with so many people. But he's the President - he has some built-in credibility. How Steve Jobs does it is beyond me. All I can do is assume that it's a result of sheer genius.

And it's not that he's only got ordinary people fooled, those who are still learning how to check their voicemail or getting their first cellphone with a camera. Every article about the iPhone (presumably by a tech writer) goes on about its "revolutionary" design and the fact that it has finally "put it all together". Even this Slate article about the reasons "why Apple's new cell phone isn't really revolutionary" just focuses on things the iPhone doesn't have (like being unlocked, running third-party apps, etc.). Well that's like saying the first car wasn't revolutionary because it couldn't go as fast as a horse.

The main issue is much bigger. How has Jobs convinced almost every writer in America that those cool iPhone features are new and unique? Or that it's the most complete package ever provided in a cellphone? Almost no article worshipping, sorry, reviewing the iPhone mentions its competitors. And those that do, make the mentions so dismissive it's absurd. To those writers I can only say: that's not just negligent, that's pretty much a violation of your public trust as journalists.

Disclosure: After having a Sprint 6700 for a few years, I now have a Sprint Mogul (which retails for much less than the iPhone, especially with a plan). It has at least 90% of the features the iPhone has and can do many, many things the iPhone won't be able to. Bluetooth 2.0? Check. And I have a navigation system installed and using it (not possible with the iPhone). WiFi? Check. And it runs Skype which lets you make phone calls over the Web. Cellular internet? Check. And it uses Sprint's EV-DO, which is faster than both EDGE and even 3G from what I've heard. 2MP camera? MP3 and video player? HTML email? Touch screen? Check, check, check, and check.

What new things does the iPhone have? An innovative interface design. But you can download a copy of the iPhone interface for my phone here. I tried a demo - it's not bad, but there are others I like more. A longer battery life - I can't argue with that, though I'd like to see someone verify it. A multi-point touch screen? Fascinating, but almost every commercial I've seen shows the user only using one thumb. How much is this going to be used? The iPhone is a little thinner than my phone, but that's because it lacks a slide-out keyboard, which I love.

Are these things really enough to make it revolutionary? Please, please someone explain this madness to me. What is so exceptional here except the advertising? Stories about the iPhone belong not in tech magazines, but in marketing textbooks.

And, finally, many of the things this article describes the iPhone as lacking are available elsewhere - many on my phone (I'm not trying to advertise for Sprint - Cingular's 8525 is just as good, although its data plan is not; many others are out there as well). I have choices what browser to run (I've tried at least 6, and I like Opera and PIEplus the best) and I can open virtually any page on the Internet. I've got Java and Flash, news and weather apps, Google Maps in case the navigation system I also installed doesn't find something or to check traffic conditions, Office Mobile, a workout log, Pocket Outlook, 3D games with graphics comparable to the early Doom on PCs, and even an SuperNintendo emulator with dozens of the original games. That's the short list. I can swap in a memory card from my real camera and send the pictures instantly. I can use the infrared port with a remote control app and use my phone to change channels on my (or, more hilariously, my friend's) TV. Most usefully, I can tether my laptop to get broadband-speed internet anywhere I have service. Can your iPhone do any of this?

I'm not trying to prove that my Mogul is better and cheaper than iPhone. Although, of course, it is. But how has Jobs (again) managed to find a way to make billions by brainwashing 90% of people in America, including the journalists, into believing he's caused a revolution? That's more than George Bush had fooled at his peak. And he at least caused an insurgency.

Hey, thanks for pointing all of this out. I'm going to use my favorite browser and favorite search engine to find "smartphone reviews" and make an informed decision before I buy one.

The interface "skins" you can download you for other phones do not give you the resolution, or the responsiveness, or the applications of the iPhone. And of course you can use two fingers to type, whch is very useful - some apple videos to in fact show two thumbs being used, and I found that was actually the best way to type right from the start and not bad at all. I have used other smartphones including Treos and Windows Mobile phones. Simply put, the iPhone is not like them. There may indeed be applications that do some things the iPhone cannot, but for all the browser choices you might have I'd stil much rather use Safari on a very high resolution screen for actual day to day browser operation. Lack of flash sometimes gets in the way, but I do a lot more reading than I do watching videos (apart from video podcasts of course, which work just fine). I think you could summarize the differences in this way. Todays smartphones are built for people that Live to Work, the primary focus being on doing things you want to do day to day in a business if you want to stay tethered to it as tightly as possible. The iPhone is for people who Work to Live, people who do not need to be be tethered that closely to the business they work for, and have different asperations for a phone. What the iPhone does, it does very well - and that is the key, and why they are and will remain popular. Because they really are unique even though you can do all the same things in other smart phones. Understanding this is key to understanding the popularity of the device; if it makes no sense to you then the rise of the iPhone will seem as non-sensical as the rise of the iPod did, which caught so many people short-visioned.

I think you're giving Jobs more credit than he deserves. Personally, I think the iPhone is cool, but I am disgusted at what generates 'frenzy' these days. Paris Hilton? The iphone? I guess Paris is smarter than Bush, too. Not a surprise. Regardless, the front page of every news outlet should run stories every day until his term is up questioning the base of your smartness comparison, George Bush. Your well reasoned response to the iPhone has good intentions, but is misguided. I can only hope you devote the same energy to chastizing our current administration and lamenting the consequences we're facing as a result. I do, just not in this space (or in this space often).

New features are not the only revolutionary thing about a phone. Did the iPod introduce any new features to the MP3 market? In fact lacking what its competitors had, its sleek design and setup prove irresistible and popular. That's no reason to dismiss the iPhone.

It took awhile but this is the real baby face of the universal handheld device, and frankly it has exceeded my expectations. What a pleasure to use. The Apple iphone is the new rainbow queen in the falling reign of the fake phone princes. The amazing iphone interface cannot be compared to skins/ add-ons to inferior devices. Moreover, my plan is now $40 cheaper/mo. than the crackberry plan was.

I think you need to actually demo the iPhone. The interface is quite clever and exceeds the touch-screen in the PPC-6700, it's not just a nice skin over the icons, but a surprisingly intuitive series of functions: try skimming through album art in iTunes or 'pinching' a photo to zoom in. And yes, there are other devices that can do more, but how many of these things are useful at a given time? Do you really want to change channels on a TV or is this just another addition to a long checklist of features no one really uses? Also, of note, the iPhone uses Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and it gets to use many of the devices and additions that already work in the iPod's own accessory ecosystem, so things the iPhone can't immediately do will become something for Belkin to build. Ultimately, I don't think the iPhone is revolutionary, but revolutions—even in the computer business—are rare. But, the iPhone is damn cool.