Okay, my ten cents:
- I'm going to assume that the radio boffins at Apple concluded that they couldn't afford to mash so many different antennas into one case, so they had to build three different variants on the phone. Fine. I don't understand why they couldn't build a single U.S. phone that speaks CDMA and GSM, making it easier to switch carriers, or at least take your Verizon iPhone to Europe and buy a local pre-paid SIM card.
- I'm surprised Apple didn't step up with any sort of NFC support. The Samsung Nexus S came out, what, two years ago? Apple should be there already.
- I'm intrigued that Apple has decided to keep the iPhone smaller, with a 4" screen, versus Android devices that are typically 4.5" or thereabouts. For people with smaller hands, Apple is quite attractive. (Sony's Xperia line offers a variety of screen sizes, but they're not broadly available in the U.S.)
- I'm not sure yet how I feel about the new docking connector. Boo on Apple for not natively supporting microUSB, like the rest of the damn world. On the other hand, with their own connector they solve one of my biggest gripes about microUSB -- sorting out which way is up and down, particularly in the dark when plugging my phone in before going to bed. Nice that you can plug an iPhone in either way.
- Apple has made a bunch of smart changes that will go largely unnoticed and unheralded. The new camera (sapphire lens!) sounds great. The noise canceling and such sounds clever.
- Apple took a dig at other tablet vendors, saying that web traffic volume from iPads is much higher than the market share numbers, implying that other tablets might be sitting in warehouses or sock drawers. It would be interesting to try to sort out what's really going on there. Are Android tablets identifying themselves as smartphones?
- I'm intrigued by the new nano. It's gone multitouch with a bigger screen. It speaks Bluetooth A2DP. So who's the target market? People driving recent model cars with A2DP, and who know how to set it up and get it working, are likely also to own smartphones and want to use those instead (i.e., I'd rather pair my phone with my car, so I can receive calls as well). Maybe they're targeting the yuppie who wants to work out with the lightest possible device and cordless A2DP headphones? That's a pretty small demographic. They could be targeting kids, but if my 7 year old daughter is any example, she cares far less about music and far more about games. She has now taken over my older Android phone as a gaming device, and Apple offers the iPod Touch for her demographic.
- Apple's new headphones ... I just don't know. Maybe they're great. They look weird.
- Apple's new maps and such: are they allowing Google to write its own apps for the iPhone? Is it in Google's interest to port its great Android apps to the iPhone?