Why the iPhone Matters

I'm already a fan. Farhad Manjoo explains why you should be, too.

"We all have phones and iPods, but the portable Internet is a fairy tale every tech company has been laboring to realize for a long while. So far, we've got nothing very great. The best portable Internet app is e-mail on a BlackBerry, and it feels stunted compared with what you get on a full machine.

Apple says the iPhone will give us the Internet on the go -- and because Apple has a vaunted history of making good on big claims about consumer technology, it's wise to take it seriously."

Update: Check out a video blog of the iPhone line in Manhattan. The feed stopped at 10:39 AM, so we don't, in fact, get to see any hipsters trampled in the bumrush for the door.