The rumors of an Apple-branded cell phone proved true on January 9th, when Steve Jobs announced the iPhone at the 2007 MacWorld expo. With their first venture into the mobile phone industry, Apple is seeking to create a stir akin to the commotion created by the extremely successful iPod mp3 player. The petite (less than half an inch thick and not even five inches high) cell phone seems to do it all; along with its voice capabilities, the iPhone is a music player, a digital camera, a portable computer/storage device, and internet/email portal.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the iPhone is the ground-breaking input system Apple has named “Multi Touch.” The only button on the iPhone is “home.” The rest of the phone’s controls are activated by the user moving their finger across a 3.5 inch touch screen, aided by three “smart” sensors. These sensors will shut off the touch screen display when the phone is held to the ear, dim the screen to save power when there is adequate light, and can sense if the phone is in portrait or widescreen mode with an accelerometer.

In spite of all the iPhone’s advanced features, Apple hopes that the iPhone will have the biggest effect on the way its users view calling features. The iPhone has “visual voicemail,” that allows a user to skip directly to the message they want to hear first. Conference calling has been simplified, and text messaging closely mirrors iChat, with the same sounds and new messages enclosed in bubbles.

The iPhone has a digital camera, and the photo software also comes with some unique traits. Users “pinch” photos to zoom in or out, and the phone has sensors that can distinguish whether the unit is in landscape or portrait mode. The iPhone is Bluetooth and Wi-Fi compatible, and will use Wi-Fi and EDGE abilities to connection to the Internet. The inclusion of Apple’s Safari web browser allows the phone to display standard web pages, rather than mobile-phone versions of the same pages.

Cingular currently is the exclusive United States provider for the phone, which will run $499 for a 4GB model and $599 for 8GB. iPhone users must sign a two-year contract with Cingular. The phone will be available for purchase in the US in June 2007 at Apple stores and through Cingular Wireless. Apple plans to have the iPhone available in Europe by the end of 2007, and to Asia in 2008.

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