No we still haven't held one ofthese things, and with that price tag, it'll probably be awhile. But we've read the reviews, and for all the talk of "justified hype," on paper at least, Apple screwed the pooch by not providing direct iTunes Store access/purchase via iPhone. Bare with us here. Via AP:
Some music industry watchers are surprised the iPhone will not offer over-the-air song downloads at launch. They see such a feature as the Holy Grail of digital music sales, allowing subscribers to buy music on impulse while on the move.
Sure, there are other phones that offer cellular MP3 downloads, but not on phones we'd actually be interested in having, and not from iTunes ever-expanding store. We've spent embarrassingly little on music over the past few years (we're ashamed -- honestly), but if possessed of an over-the-air iTunes-purchase ready iPhone, we bet our music purchases go through the roof (like AT LEAST two tracks a year, if not three).
How many times have you spent a day off walking the city when you pass by that loud-
blaring car that's got that Rhianna tune that you know you won't give
a fuck about in two weeks but need it now. Usually we make Blackberry note to Hypem or elbo.ws it when we get home, but if we could impulse buy it that second, to listen to the rest of that day, well shit that's worth a buck. And the $599 before that. At $600, that's a bona fide bargain!
But while it can't access the iTunes store just yet, here are a couple of the iPhone's cooler functions in action.
