If you’re both a newshound and an Apple junkie like me, you just couldn’t resist hopping on some of the blogs reporting live from Macworld Expo, where even as I write this Steve Jobs is keynoting about The Next Big Thing.

 

Big news that I’m sure is causing a lot of analysts and commentators to eat humble pie (or crow, if you prefer): Apple IS coming out it a mobile phone. And they ARE calling it iPhone. (Not sure how that will work trademark-wise, given Linksys’ recent launch of its iPhone VoIP line.)

 

Here’s Jason O’Grady of XDNet’s Apple Core, quoting/paraphrasing Steve Jobs:

“Today, we’re introducing three revolutionary products
1. widescreen iPod with touch controls
2. revolutionary mobile phone
3. breakthrough internet communication device.”

 

Actually, it’s not really three products—its really one.

 

“"An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator,” Ryan Block of Engadget quotes Jobs as saying. “An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator.... these are NOT three separate devices!”

 

Jobs compares iPhone with the introduction of the Macintosh computer in 1984 and the iPod in 2001, in terms of its potential impact on the industry, noting that its been in development for 2 ½ years.

 

Images and details up just moments ago on Block’s blog indicate that iPhone uses one big screen to provide touch controls—no buttons. The device also runs OS X, making it essentially a portable computer.

 

iPhone features a 3.5-inch screen with 160ppi resolution, and is 11.6mm thin. It comes with a 2 megapixel camera, a headset jack, mic input, and iPod connector.

 

Okay, let’s pause for a bit while I wipe the drool from my mouth. I’ll report back later. Anyone still interested in Apple’s other announcement today, Apple TV? Didn’t think so.