iPhone Envy

The world's gadget manufactures are in Las Vegas this week, hawking their wares at the annual Consumer Electronics Show. This event always includes some drool-inducing product announcements, and this year has been no exception. We've seen a satellite dish that you carry can around in a briefcase, a new gadget from the makers of the Slingbox for watching YouTube videos in your living room, and, of course, a giant flat screen TV. But so far the showstopper at CES isn't at CES. It's at MacWorld.

Apple's Steve Jobs once again proved he knows how to launch a product today, announcing the release of a new portable device that will "reinvent the phone" (read a minute by minute account , or go with this sober summary from the New York Times). Although it's unclear whether the phone will live up to Jobs's lofty promise, a quick look at the specs on Apple's website makes me look askance at my brand new BlackBerry Pearl (and every other cell phone, for that matter). The iPhone has a touch screen keyboard, Wi-Fi and cellular Internet access, the Mac OS X operating system, and can play MP3s and widescreen videos just like an iPod.

How could you not love this thing?

Follow Max Chafkin at @chafkin
Follow Inc. magazine at @incmagazine