Will it be worth the hype, price tag, and inevtiably long lines? By way of an answer, some facts and analysis follows ... and then it's up to you to decide for yourself. For me personally, the answer is No - at least until an unlocked model with widescreen keyboard mode surfaces. But I'm still hoping to get a review loaner to play with awhile.

Basics

• Price: $499 (4GB storage) / $599 (8 GB) with two-year service agreement. Price point puts it at the very upper-end of carrier-supported handsets in the US, but less than unlocked flagship phones like the Nokia N95, which runs $700 without a contract.


• Service Plans: At least six iPhone service plans have been announced, all of which include unlimited data services and 200 SMS messages. The least expensive plan will be $59.99/month for 450 voice minutes and 5000 nights and weekends minutes. The most expensive is $219.99/month for 6000 minutes with unlimited nights and weekends. Early termination fee is $175, and it's unclear whether or not cancelling service will, in fact, also shut off iPhone's media and WiFi browsing capabliites. Individual and family plans will be available. See Apple's iPhone plan page for details.
  

  Pricing is more or less the same as comparable plans for other AT&T phones - for instance, AT&T offers a monthly plan with 450 minutes and 5000 nights and weekend minutes for $39.99/month. Add to that the "Media Max 200" plan and you get unlimited Internet and 200 SMS messages for another $19.99/month. That's one US penny cheaper than the entry-level iPhone plan, which offers the same amount of usage. Of course, iPhone will offer Visual Voicemail while other AT&T phones won't. Maybe that's worth the extra cent each month.

• Tech: Quad-Band GSM with Bluetooth, EDGE and Wi-Fi connectivity. Locked to AT&T network. EDGE is a lot slower than 3G for Web surfing, YouTube watching, and other data-intensive services. This could be a big sticking point for iPhone critics - Sprint, Verizon, and even AT&T offer much faster Web services on their 3/3.5G handsets. I wonder how many people (like my friend Don, for instance) will get excited by iPhone's YouTube client only to be bummed out when they realize that watching YouTube at dial-up speeds is kind of a drag. Apple's counter, of course, is "that's why it has Wi-Fi." But if you're used to EV-DO, you're used to broadband wherever you have a cellular signal.

  Given recent reports that some "made for iPhone" Web 2.0 apps run just fine on Nokia Series 60 phones - the Nokia S60 browser is based on Safari technology - it'd be interesting to do a side-by-side comparison of iPhone with Cingular's Nokia N75. N75 ain't as pretty, but it does 3G.

• OS and Apps: iPhone will run OS X, though it won't be as full-featured as an OS X Mac. And there's that whole wacky multitouch touschreen with the accelerometer doohickey. According to the Apple PR machine, Safari on iPhone will be like Safari on the Mac. iPhone will run all kinds of widget apps, including custom Google Maps and YouTube software. "Third-party apps" will come in the form of Safari-compatible Web 2.0 applications, many of which have already been published around the Web. iPhone will synch with iTunes and iSync (iCal and Address Book), and reports of limited sync functionality with Windows-based email and PIM software have surfaced.

  iPhone is also the new iPod, with widescreen video capabilities and Cover Flow navigation. This is the big point of interest for me, not so much because I want a wide-screen iPod with Cover Flow, but because I'm curious to see if and when Apple will release a non-phone iPod based on the new OS and widescreen functionality. On the one hand, it's the shot in the arm iPod needs to stay on top, and I imagine that a 80 or 120 GB iPod with the "new OS" and a multitouch touchscreen would sell hand over fist. On the other hand, iPhone sells for nearly twice as much as iPods, plus Apple gets a slice of AT&T's pie on each new service activation. While I'd be surprised if the new iPod was only ever available with a built-in phone, I wouldn't be entirely shocked by it. At the least, I imagine Apple will hold off on a revamped 6G iPod for awhile. Though I'm sure the rumor mill will start buzzing about it about 20 minutes after iPhone hits the streets.

Thoughts

• First Generation Blues: Conventional wisdom says don't buy first-gen Apple products unless you absolutely "gotta have it" as soon as it launches. Considering iPhone is more or less an entirely new hardware and software platform, expect bugs. Then again, a decent number of these things have been spotted in public over the past six months, so it stands to reason that Apple's been working extra-hard to get all the kinks ironed out before launch day. Still, something's bound to go wrong once a few hundred test units turns into a few million "Jesus Phones" being worked over by a demanding public.


• Will the Keyboard Hold Up? Half the reason I'm on the fence about iPhone has to do with price (and my still-binding T-Mobile contract). The other half has to do with the lack of a physical keyboard. I've used a few touchscreen-only phones in the past six months or so, and typing on them sucks, plain and simple. I was very excited to try out the Motorola ROKR E6 - a slim, light, music-centric phone with a touchscreen and real Web browser - only to be shocked that the virtual QWERTY keyboard was tiny and lacked a widescreen mode. I haven't yet heard if iPhone has a widescreen keyboard mode, so I'm guessing the answer is no. I have heard that touchscreen typing on iPhone is a lot more frustrating than Apple would have you believe. And that there's no QWERTY keyboard option for searching your contacts. We'll see.

  iPhone's target market isn't corporate BlackBerry types, and tech hipsters will figure out how to use the virtual keybaord if the rest of iPhone is up to snuff. Still, I've come to like phones that are either really tiny and comfortable or absolutely do it all with comfort to spare. iPhone is very slim, light, and sleek for a phone that does so much. And the screen is huge. But if typing on it is a drag, that'll be a big knock on the thing for folks like me who want ease-of-use for things like scheduling appointments and keeping up on text and email messages.

• Wait for HSDPA: While I understand Apple's rationale for going with EDGE wireless data instead of the faster but less available and more power-hungry HSDPA technology, the fact of the matter is a rev. B iPhone with HSDPA has got to come soon if Apple is serious about selling cell phones. Power users are used to high-speed downloads on Sprint and Verizon's EV-DO networks, and with the mobile music space heating up, it's hard to imagine people settling for EDGE for months to come when they can purchase and download 99-cent songs over Sprint's EV-DO network right now. Continued deployment of AT&T's HSDPA network across more American markets should to a 3.5G iPhone that can make the most of those flashy Web browser and YouTube apps, and make a mobile iTunes Music Store a reality. Apple knows mobile media is the short-term future of the cellular space in the US, so you know they're already preparing a faster iPhone.

At any rate, I'm as curious as the rest of you to see what this thing's like in person, and how the public reacts to actually using it. About three weeks ago I rented some office space in downtown Berkeley, CA. There's an AT&T store about four blocks from here, and while I've no plans to buy an iPhone, let alone stand in line for one, I may be curious enoguh to stay at the office until 5:30 or so Friday and then head over to the store to see if they've actually got the thing on display so I can check it out myself. Either that or maybe one of those PR folks will get back to me about a review loaner ...

In the meantime, however, don't take my speculating for it. Check out David Pogue's hands-on review.