You can't fit 40GB of music onto any Flash player. I can't fit my 100GB of music onto an 80GB iPod either. I think all iPods have some interface issues, but I still think they're the best. They suck less than everyone else (still) out there.

My definition of the "best" comes from a UI perspective. Assuming for a second any player you're going to compare can play the tracks. The iPod products have generally accepted decent quality sound output, management with iTunes is really second to none (I suppose that's also my opinion, but i've not heard of anything yet that rivals the combination).

I will concede that for it to be classified as a truly great phone we will need some tests beyond interface and features like visual voice mail. Call quality and signal strength along with battery life (real tests) will be very important. But right now it looks very good on paper and in live presentations.

I'm not trying to convince anyone that it's the best. I just think it's unfair to say it's not going to be good (or great) at anything because it includes the functions of many (possible) discrete products. Some of those discrete products in my opinion make no sense what-so-ever to exist in a discrete form. Like a discrete WiFi hand-held web browser (like Nokia 770 or N800). Same thing as having a discrete word processing machine (those did exist). Word processing on a PC is a lot better than any discrete device can ever be, if for no other reason than it's not discrete. You're able to leverage off everything else to enhance the word processing experience and functionality. Same with the iPhone.

The different functions will allow you to leverage off each other in ways that simple weren't possible or practical with so many other devices. Give this a couple of product cycles and I think it will really change our concept of the portable communications/media device.

The traditional PDA was killed by the "smart phone" - I think this new class of product can obsolete the traditional smart phone more handily.