What's So Great About the iPhone? Widgets!

The Apple iPhone is a breathtaking departure from the stale smart phone market. Everyone loves the iPhone's huge screen and eye-candy user interface. But many expressed disappointment when Steve Jobs announced that the iPhone applications environment would not follow the PC model of software installed on the phone, but instead a "thin-client" model of Web-based applications launched through the phone's wireless connection to the Internet. I think the focus on Web-based applications and widgets, rather than directly installed on the phone, is one of the best things -- possibly THE best thing -- about the iPhone. I know this because I've been using iPhone-like widgets -- first on my Treo, then on my BlackBerry Pearl -- for a year now. You can run iPhone-like widgets, too -- on just about ANY PHONE!