I think that with the 3rd party apps out for the iphone, it will not approach the usability of a laptop but it will become a much more versatile tool. A tool that will be capable of doing more than just phone, web browsing, music and games.

All those things that RogerS opines about location based PIM/alerts/social networking will become a reality to the iPhone probably a lot faster than they will withe maemo unfortunately. It also looks like Apple was smart enough to also involve corporations and verticle markets to develop tools for the iPhone too.

Geeks and techies and obviously NIT fans will say that iPhone is a dumb and closed, but at the end of the day, if users and talented developers flock to the platform, we'll all be poorer for it because there wasn't a smart enough company to compete with it. I hope Nokia, HTC or SonyEricsson or someone is paying attention to bring to market something that will crush it or at least compete with it.

Personally, I like the iPhone, but at the same time, I wish I had more options that competed with it. Its user friendly (or dumbed down to some), small, and does a lot of things without filling up my pockets with 2 devices.

I don't know why we're arguing about closed or not, the point is, where is the alternative that compete with it? Its like saying your front door lock is dumbed down and too easy to use. Yes, you have to take your key to someone else to copy it so you can get into your house, but it works. Sure you can fashion your own so you can control every component so you can get into your house 6 different ways but at the end of the day, most people don't get satisfaction from tinkering something to give them their identity/individualism. They just wanna get in their door and get on with their lives.