The announcement of the new Apple iPhone (
http://www.apple.com/iphone/) has created a lot of excitement in the marketplace, but unfortunately it won't be very useful for most health care professionals as it will only operate proprietary Apple software and will only work on one wireless network initially.  Yes, I love my iPod and am infatuated with the various photographs of the new phone, however how useful will it be without all the various programs such as ePocrates, medical calculators, reference books, etc., that I use every day in clinical practice?  Probably not much, unfortunately.  Initially developers thought it would support Mac OS X applications, however it appears there will be NO 3rd party application support at all!  For example, you won't even be able to synchronize with your Outlook calendar, no support for Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, etc., and no medical applications.  I wish the news was better, but this looks like a very expensive toy without much practical use in the medical field.  Hopefully, other companies will be able to replicate the innovative design and interface of the iPhone to offer support for the thousands of Palm and Windows Mobile applications that are available.  Time will tell.