iFun D-Day for iPhreaks [updated]

Today is going to be the iPhone's Day. If you still do not know about it you must have been living in an internet-free area. The buzz generated around this Apple-branded mobile phone is simply amazing; and did not cost that much in marketing to Apple. Indeed, giving some iPhone samples for being reviewed by some prominent columnists and tech-geeks and you get the following result:

- Steven Levy (Newsweek) calls iPhone "a superbly engineered, cleverly designed and imaginatively implemented approach to a problem that no one has cracked to date: merging a phone handset, an Internet navigator and a media player in a package where every component shines, and the features are welcoming rather than foreboding. The iPhone is the rare convergence device where things actually converge. [iPhone] finally fulfills the promise of people-friendly palm-top communication and computing."
- Edward Baig (USA Today) finds iPhone "indeed worth lusting after. [Apple] has delivered a prodigy—a slender fashion phone, a slick iPod, and an Internet experience unlike any before it on a mobile handset. The most chic cellphone I’ve seen. [iPhone is] a breeze to set up and fun to use, evident from the moment you slide your finger across the screen to unlock it. It’s a wonderful widescreen iPod and fabulous picture viewer".
- Walter Mossberg and Katherine Boehret (WSJ) consider it "a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface... [The iPhone] works well...[it combines] intelligent voice calling and a full-blown iPod... [The iPhone] offers the best Web browser we have seen on a smart phone and robust email software. [The iPhone offers] the largest and highest-resolution screen of any smart phone we’ve seen, and the most internal memory by far. Yet it is one of the thinnest smart phones available and offers impressive battery life, better than its key competitors claim."
- David Pogue (New York Times) reports "The phone is so sleek and thin, it makes Treos and Blackberrys look obese. The Web browser is the real dazzler, [no] stripped down, claustrophobic My First Cellphone Browser; you get full Web layouts, fonts and all, shrunk to fit the screen. You scroll with a fingertip — much faster than scroll bars. You can double-tap to enlarge a block of text for reading, or rotate the screen 90 degrees, which rotates and magnifies the image to fill the wider view. [The iPhone is] the most sophisticated, outlook-changing piece of electronics to come along in years."

Some analysts evaluate the buzz and enthusiasms generated by the launch of the iPhone to the one generated around Starwars Episodes.
While the iPhone will not cross the Atlantic before the end of the year, additional information have been published by US Mac-dedicated websites. ThinkSecret reports some iPhone screen captures illustrating different functions of features, while illustrating how to eject the SIM card.
Our friends at ArsTechnica report that a Town Hall meeting was organized by Steve Jobs yesterday at Apple, mostly to explain to employees how the iPhone was important for the company. In addition, to thank associates, all fulltime Apple employees in the US and part-time employees who have been there for a year will be getting an iPhone at the end of July.
We will keep updating this news over the day to cover this event. Do not hesitate to react about it in the dedicated topic on our forum.
[update1]
Giiks.com published photo of an Apple employee leaving Cupertino HQ while on the phone with his iPhone... so it seems that some of them do not need to wait for the end of July before getting their new mobile phone.

[update2]
Thanks to Camille for his report and photos from New York.

Thursday evening, less than 24 hours before the iPhone launch, despite a hot and humid atmosphere, as well as some showers, 75 consumers are already camping in front of the Apple Store.
The first one to queue since Monday 05h00 was Greg Packer, quite famous for being the first guy to queue for any events taking place in USA. Other consumers camping in front of the apple Store are either fans or opportunists who will purchase an iPhone for friends or for putting on sale on eBay.




Scott (senior manager software editor and Mac fan) and John (musician, queuing to buy an iPhone for a friend), respectively number 12 and 13 in the line, are already there since Wednesday evening. They spend most of their time being interviewed by CNN, NBC and other news networks.

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