Chris Pirillo has a different view of the iPhone than I do

It would appear that Chris (and his brother) don’t share my pessimism on the prospects for Apple’s success with the iPhone. In responding to what his brother said about the iPhone, Chris writes:

My brother Adam isn’t a geek – and he’s never written to me about any other device (from Apple or any other manufacturer). It’s not even out yet and I already hate the iPhone… largely because someone else didn’t make it four years ago. Seriously. Apple gets the consumer in ways that no other company ever will. It makes my new Smartphone seem so… ancient.

I still don’t see why a business would spend that kind of money on employees for an admittedly cool smartphone with iPod functionality, and it is a phone priced completely out of reach of the folks I typically know. So either I miss the business reason for the iPhone getting into company hands, or I don’t know the right “typical” consumer who would be buying this thing. Priced lower, I can see it taking off. I just don’t see it bringing enough to the game to justify the planned price (and lock-in to a single provider to even use the phone). So tell me what I’m missing here, folks? Would you buy an iPhone and agree to a service commitment with Cingular? Will businesses buy these for their travelling employees? Is this going to succeed on merit, or one-upmanship, something else, or just not meet the market penetration Steve Jobs is calling for?

[tags]Chris Pirillo speaks of the iPhone, Another view of the iPhone’s future[/tags]