I think market share is a perfect indicator of how successful smartphones have - or rather haven't - been. They've dropped enough in price over the past few years that they should have gobbled up a huge chunk of the overall cell phone market. After all, they offer nifty features like e-mail and web browsing.

But they haven't exactly taken the world by storm, in large part because manufacturers and cell providers have delivered to market poorly-designed, intentionally crippled devices. Just read online customer reviews of these devices - immense dissatisfaction. Consumers have voted with their wallets - unless their employer forces them to be chained to their e-mail 24/7, they've made other choices.

Apple's iPhone stands a good chance to reverse that trend. I played with one today at an Apple Store, and I was very impressed. It feels much more solid than most other smartphones, it's much more comfortable to use, the screen is flat-out incredible, the touch keyboard was easy to use, the browser was zippy and text was easy to read. The sound quality seemed fine, though it was hard to tell in such a crowded, noisy store.

I think for most consumers the iPhone succeeds as a single device they could carry that handles everything - PDA functions, cell phone, music and video playback, web browsing - you might want to do with a pocket computer. I don't think they'll have much trouble selling millions of units to affluent customers. Adjusted for inflation the iPhone costs substantially less than early home computers like the Apple //, Atari 800 or Commodore 64 did when they entered the market, and it's clearly at least as useful as those devices were.

I'm guessing the other cell phone manufacturers and cellular providers are scared witless. They should be. Maybe this will finally slap some sense into them.

I hope our resident believers in the no-God religion (atheism) learned something from it.

Do you believe in the divinity of Zeus? Isis? Thor?

No?

That makes you an atheist, too. I just happen to reject one more inane god concept than you do.

There are rumors that over a million iPhones have already been activated by AT&T. If that's truly the case somebody needs to hose down Motorola - it just s**t all over itself.

Wonder how long before Apple decides to leverage OS-X and enter the lucrative videogame space? Nintendo just proved you'd don't need bleeding edge hardware to launch a successful platform with their Wii - it's all about the interface and the games. Apple's strength is in interface and software. Seems like Apple could easily afford to blow $500 million or so in conjunction with Intel to launch their own videogame platform, with titles that would run on the Mac, the eventual successor to the AppleTV or the iPhone.

Can't help but think that Al Gore could have better spent his time stumping to get a high speed rail line built on the east coast, or in California. That would probably do a lot more to reduce greenhouse emissions than a concert that, based on the ratings, practically nobody saw.

If successful we'd have gotten something useful as the end result, and even if he failed it might have set the stage for a successful bid sometime in the future.

Why are people surprised that these Jeezus freak fundamentalist f'wits are constantly being revealed as whoremongering hypocrites? Their demented religion is demeaning to humans in general and women in particular. Of course they're all sex fiends and freaks. What else would you expect with a head full of obscene mush? Animals have more moral sense, or at least a better grasp of reality.

Vitter is Catholic.

So? The conservative Catholics are at least as nutty as the Protestant fundie nutbags, and they worship at the feet of a bunch of closet cases in dresses on top of it.

Given the recent history of the Catholic Church, were I a Catholic I wouldn't say a single word in public regarding "family values". Not when the church I belong to is forking over hundreds of millions to settle thousands of serial child molestation claims from those brave enough to come forward . . .

I think it's also important to keep in mind that culture like ours is a fairly recent invention. I don't think anybody knows exactly how it impacts, or is impacted by the evolution of our genes.

Compared to today's scumbag Republicans, with their whores, crystal meth and tawdry toilet sex, Larry Flynt looks like Abraham Lincoln.

VideoDog went back to finding stuff that was at least moderately funny.