nice article on how the iPhone will become this year's No. 1 christmas
present. it's fair and balanced, a good read...

By Keith Shaw, Network World, 11/19/07

Steve Jobs has made my job harder. If he hadn't stood on the stage at
MacWorld in January and unleashed the iPhone on the world, I'd probably
be more excited about this year's crop of Cool Yule Tools, Network
World's annual roundup of the hottest technology toys and gift ideas.

As I opened up the hundreds of packages arriving in the office over the
past few months, however, I began to realize that the iPhone has skewed
the curve in terms of what's really exciting, innovative and fun in
technology. Like the Patriots compared with the rest of the NFL, there's
the iPhone - and then there's everything else.

It also didn't help that Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system has
laid a giant egg - not just with corporate users but also with consumers
looking to find some excitement in the PC space. When we were trying out
the PCs and notebooks sent us this year, we could judge our enthusiasm
for the hardware by looking at whether the system had XP (yay!) or Vista
(ugh!).

But all is not lost. In these pages you'll find the iPhone and 20 more
of our favorite technology gift ideas for the holidays. Head online for
more photos and reviews of this year's other favorites.

1. Apple iPhone $399

Hands down, the iPhone is the product of the year. Generating more
discussion in consumer and enterprise circles than any other device in
recent memory, the iPhone has revolutionized the way phone vendors think
about user interfaces. In terms of a digital audio player, the iPhone
(and iPod family) are light years ahead of everything else.

Sure, it's been overhyped to the point of nausea, but once you hold it
in your hands and see how easy it is to do things like initiate a
conference call, you'll be hooked. Yes, there are several issues
surrounding enterprise compatibility, pricing and application openness
with the iPhone, but this only paves the way for improvements in future
devices. I have a feeling the iPhone family will make the list of Cool
Yule Tools in years to come.

http://snipurl.com/1u6z0