Website design By BotEap.comI recently experienced a momentous event in my technological life. After several decades of painting in the PC world, I went out and bought an Apple iPhone!

Website design By BotEap.comYou have to understand the depth of my hatred for all things Apple. It probably comes from the early days of the PC when Steve Jobs and Bill Gates fought over the future of the personal computer. Yes, I was there, in the background. I never thought I would but low and lo and behold I did my due diligence and came to the conclusion that an iPhone could cost a little less than my Blackberry and have more apps that could make my life better (or so I told him myself when justifying the purchase). The monthly cost plus business data plan (required on both phones) was a few dollars less for the iPhone.

Website design By BotEap.comSo on Friday I picked up the iPhone, charged it up and started learning a whole new operating system and way of doing things. As I’ve always heard, the Apple device was very intuitive and I was able to move through the standard apps in no time.

Website design By BotEap.comOne of the biggest challenges I dreaded was linking my email to my work email account. I figured I’d be without an attached email system over the weekend. I had told our email guru in my IT department that I would bring him in on Monday to set up my linked email. In the meantime, I googled some instructions and decided to try setting it up myself. It took me about 5 minutes and I had my Exchange email, calendars and contacts loading on my new iPhone. I was dumbfounded, it was too easy. The only information I needed for setup was the same information I used for Microsoft Outlook Web Access.

Website design By BotEap.comThe next challenge was getting iTunes. I had downloaded it to my PC at home, but had never signed up for the service. I also refused to take the iTunes updates that seemed to arrive every week. iPhone uses iTunes to manage iPhone firmware, operating system, and other basic updates. At the same time, Apple wraps this simple update utility in a clever marketing scheme to sell me music and videos. So now I’m hooked on iTunes. I haven’t bought any music yet, but it’s only a matter of time until they suck me into their greedy little grip. The only bummer I’ve seen so far is that their Calendar app doesn’t have a weekly view (only daily and monthly).

Website design By BotEap.comiTunes is also used to offer free and paid applications for the iPhone. Another clever marketing idea. Those Apple people never miss an opportunity to take some of your money. I started downloading some of the free apps I had heard about and was very impressed with the methodology and speed of delivery.

Website design By BotEap.comI downloaded several of the apps starting with Urbanspoon, a weird little app that uses GPS coordinates (from the iPhone, a standard feature) to provide a list of restaurants and eating establishments near me. If you’re like me and my wife, we can never figure out where we want to eat out. With Urbanspoon I can shake the iPhone (yes, shake it, like shaking it with my fist) and the wheels on the screen spin like a slot machine and stop at a restaurant near us. Kind of like Russian roulette for food. I know it’s weird, but I like it and it works great.

Website design By BotEap.comThe next app I downloaded (also free) was a Kindle book reader for iPhone. I have a Kindle that I use for technical reading and other books, so I found this interesting. The screen is a bit small compared to the Kindle, but it was very readable in landscape mode. If you download the same book you have on your Kindle, the nice thing is that the iPhone’s Kindle app tracks with your Amazon Kindle device which page you’re reading. An amazing new use of new technology.

Website design By BotEap.comI could go on and on about the apps I’ve downloaded so far, like iHandy Level, which puts a spirit level on the iPhone to help hang photos, a banking app that helps find the nearest ATM and lets me bank online. on the move, and TV.com, an application that allows you to watch CBS videos (both shorts such as David Letterman’s monologue and full reports from CSI Miami). Some of the videos have a charge associated with them. I think I see what’s going on here, everyone wants my money.

Website design By BotEap.comSo now, here I am extolling the virtues of an Apple iPhone to millions of readers (well, maybe a couple of readers) who think Apple has been around forever.