Tog on the iPhone - and the iPhone price

Tog (the usability guru) has written an iPhone review -- without ever touching one. It's fun to read while we wait for the inevitably disappointing reality. I particularly enjoyed his comment on price.

The iPhone User Eperience: A First Look

... The industrial design is brilliant. Apple has created another piece of high-tech jewelry. Some fogies of advancing years have suggested the initial price point of $499 is too high. They fail to understand: The “cool” of owning this phone, particularly for the early adopters, is worth an easy $497, bringing the phone itself down to $2 even.

For those who might doubt such a high value of cool, consider the self-winding Rolex, which sports 1/10th the accuracy of a Timex at 1000 times the price. With Rolex, the technology is grossly inferior, and still people will pay thousands to own it. With the iPhone, the technology is clearly superior...

It can't help but be five times better than my $200 Motorola RAZR, meaning it's cheap by comparison.