iPhone: gimmick or must-have gadget?

Apple has unveiled the I-iPhone in this country, offering the chance to make calls, listen to music and browse the web.

The small object of desire will be available in November for £269.

But unlike many phones, it doesn't have high-speed 3G capabilities. So is the Iphone a genuinely innovative high-tech gadget or a triumph of the Apple PR machine?

What it does do...

More than 85 per cent of us own a mobile phone and one in five of us say we can't live without them. So what makes the iPhone different?

Well, it's three products in one - a phone, an iPod, and an internet browser.

However, that's not new - but it is the touch screen that seems to have the wow factor. You can even pinch it and you can swivel it.

And what it doesn't do

What is as interesting is what the iPhone can't do. It doesnt have 3G, a fast internet link that is equivalent to broadband.

Apple 's courtship of potential providers has been hot and heavy. Vodaphone and Orange were smitten with the iPhone, but in the end, they were jilted in preference for O2.

These days, customers are used to free handsets with the provider subsidising the cost to get us to sign a contract. But that won't be the deal here. You'll have to pay for the iPhone and sign an 18-month contract with O2.

Mobile wars

Once upon a time, Orange was the coolest name in the mobile world with its famous tagline: "the future's bright, the future's orange."

Now, Apple has made it into the nations top ten favourite brands - and today's launch of the iPhone has in effect declared war in the battle for the Christmas market with their competitors already on the defensive.

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