Jesus Phone MockupIt was a cold and rainy day in the summer of 2008 when I drove to the local SoftBank shop on a mission to be one of the few lucky souls to snatch an iPhone on the first full day of sales in Japan. I was really jazzed about finally getting my hands on an iPhone because the device was nothing short of beautiful. Even with fairly advanced mobile phones widespread in Japan, nothing could have prepared me for the way the iPhone ended up changing my mobile computing life.

The Jesus Phone, as the iPhone is aptly called, has turned mobile computing upside down. RIM revolutionized mobile email with their BlackBerry devices. Corporate customers flocked to the devices because of the BlackBerry’s flawless ability to disconnect email, contact, calendaring and task management from the local area network. Employees on the go finally had complete access to vital data when mobile without the need to use a notebook for access.

Unfortunately, RIM was only been able to excel in the email realm – their focus was solely on essentially extending Microsoft Outlook for mobile computing. RIM’s failure to capitalize past email helped open the door for Apple and the iPhone.

When Apple released the original iPhone and then the iPhone 3G a year later the devices were praised as the holy grail of mobile computing. The handset is powerful enough to include a feature-rich email client, is capable of browsing just about any web site without issue and has developers flocking to the platform like there’s no tomorrow.

Pre-iPhone

Before I acquired an iPhone I was stuck with the standard “advanced” Japanese keitai’s. While they lacked any power whatsoever, they were definitely great at one thing – email. Japan has been doing “push” email ever since email was introduced on mobile phone, way before it was made the “in” thing by RIM. Outside of email and yakking on the phone, Japanese keitai’s suck – there is really nothing revolutionary offered by the mobile providers.

While browsing the web is somewhat possible on a keitai, the experience is horrible. Most keitai’s come with two web browsers – a simple WAP browser designed to display text and minimal graphics and a form of Mobile Opera. The latter generally has advertisements appended to the top of every page and is slower than molasses in January and the former is not usable for anything other than basic web surfing.

Post iPhone

The iPhone changed my mobile computing life because of it is nothing short of powerful, combining the features of an iPod with a mobile phone and a mini-computer. Why lug around a heavy notebook everywhere you go when an iPhone is more than sufficient for most mobile use cases?

The ability to flawlessly check multiple email accounts with a powerful mobile client is unmatched in most mobile phones. Mobile Safari and web browsing is unequivocally unrivaled. While on the go, listening to music, watching videos or playing games could not be any easier.

Did I mention the App Store, even with all its flaws? There are apps for just about everything and there are a few I use everyday. Had it not been for the iPhone I would be carrying around a number of devices and items to satisfy my mobile computing needs.

The iPhone is fundamentally a mobile computer replacement – there is no need to bring a notebook for an overnight stay because the iPhone is more than capable of satisfying most people’s needs. Ask and ye iPhone shall do!

Conclusion

While the iPhone is not for everyone, there is no doubt it is the platform of the future. It is more than capable of fulfilling most consumers’ mobile computing needs. Even if you are a corporate customer tied to a corporate email system the iPhone is more than satisfactory.

Are you an iPhone user? If so, what drew you to the platform? If not, what is it about the iPhone that’s holding you back from moving in that direction?