The word in London
The word in London is that London may get version 2 of the iPhone, when it is released here, late this year, since version 1 had so many problems and has received so much bad publicity. This, as other version 2 talk, is just rumor.
However, it has the ring of truth, because everyone in London seems to have heard about the many basic shortcomings of the version 1 iPhone (no copy/paste, no Java or Flash support, no A2DP stereo Bluetooth, no internet text messaging, no voice dialing, the cheesy low-res camera and of course, the headphone jack that doesn't fit any headsets but Apple's). If Apple will include the features that are considered basic, in every modern smartphone, before the European release, they can expect to sell plenty, over here. However, if they try to release the version 1 iPhone over here, they won't have near the excitement that they had in the USA on June 29. A few Apple evangelists will rush out to buy it and that will be it.
The word is out about the version 1 iPhone. Apple has to fix those most basic shortcomings soon, if they don't want the iPhone to become the Edsel of the smartphone world. For those of you too young to remember the Edsel, it was a great car, before it's time. It had many great features, but it lacked some of the features that were considered standard in most other cars. Sound familiar? The Edsel was a great idea that failed miserably. Many of those groundbreaking features in the Edsel, went on to become standard in many other vehicles.
I am a Mac evangelist and I believe that Apple can get these problems fixed soon. But, I just hope that it will be soon enough. Now that the iPhone is public, it gives Blackberry and PalmOne something to shoot for and you can bet that they aren't just sitting around waiting for version 2. Apple will have to get version 2 out soon or risk being eclipsed by Blackberry and PalmOne.