Loren, I totally hear what you're saying. Here's my story/review in a (rather big) nutshell:

For the last 2 years I've been using a Nokia 6620 (Symbian Series 60). I thought it was slick at first because it could do so much and had so many features. However, over the last year, I've come to just absolutely hate it with the fire of a thousand burning nuns. There are so many nagging UI inconsistencies, and the thing is slow as hell (even though this is the one with the 50% faster processor over it's immediate predecessor). I can't get anything done quickly because either the thing is too slow to keep up with me, or I keep losing keystrokes to modal pop up windows that demand attention.

Nothing about the way it works is intuitive. I regularly hang up on people, because when I'm on a call and I get another call, I'm presented with a dialog that tells me there's another incoming call and gives me two options, "Transfer" and "Hold" (I think, working from memory here...). Every single time that happens I have to make a split second decision about which of those options will do what I want, and neither is worded in such a way that it's obvious what will happen. Sometimes I might want to keep the first on hold and answer the second; sometimes I might want to hang up the first and answer the second. Either way, I get about five seconds to guess as to which of those 2 options (plus the additional options of pressing either the green or red button) might do what I want. 9 times out of 10, I guess wrong and hang up on both parties. I could read the manual to figure it out, but I just refuse to do that on principle, and even if I did do it, that wouldn't help me remember what to do the next time. I'm a really smart guy, and if I can't figure some of this stuff out, how is anybody else even functioning with these things?

So, even though I'm the biggest techno-weenie in existence, this phone all by itself was slowly turning me against technology in general. I contemplated getting rid of cell phone service entirely because I couldn't imagine that any phone could be any better, and I wasn't going to put up with it anymore.

I've now become one of those guys that keeps saying "Just give me a phone that's just a phone, that only makes phone calls and does that well". I don't want a freaking camera; I don't use the one I have on my phone already. I don't care about the Internet on my phone. I don't use it on the 6620 because it's too slow, the browser sucks, and the data plans cost too much. The only advanced feature I care about at all is Bluetooth because I've got it built in to my car, and it's way too cool to just talk on the speakerphone with the phone still in my pocket.

I've had phones I liked before. I still have my Nokia 6190 from 1998, and I would have switched back to it long ago if it only did Bluetooth. I've looked around for new phones, but anything that does have Bluetooth also has the same problem of totally missing the point of what the user might actually want to do, which is usually just make a freaking phone call without any interference from the phone itself. The carriers are no help, because they've long ago been seduced by the method of selling extra features rather than putting any emphasis on improving the usefulness of their networks for voice calls.

So, I figured I was boned. I'm a Mac guy, so I was well acquainted with the iPhone from the first keynote. I thought it looked cool but didn't apply to me since I was looking for something simpler, and certainly not looking to spend that much on a phone plus a data plan. It wasn't until a few weeks ago when the commercials started running that I really thought, "You know, if anybody can make a phone that actually works for making phone calls, it's Apple". The actual phone call interface made it obvious what to do when I would get another call, for example. I started thinking that even if I only used it as a phone, it might be a great choice just for that purpose, even if I never opened the browser. It would be worth it to me to pay a lot of money for a phone that worked, but >$500 was just too expensive, so I figured I would wait until the first price cut to really look at it seriously. Even then, I figured I wouldn't get one unless I could get it without the data plan. $20 for unlimited is way better than the previous pricing, but I was still a neo-luddite, so what would I need the data plan for?

So, last Friday, I was sitting around watching TV at around 11:00 and thought, "Hey, the Apple Store's open until midnight tonight, I'll just go have a look at it at least". I drove there, spent about 5 minutes playing with it, and whipped out the credit card. Sold. Just like that. It really does work as advertised, and what's more, it works the way I dreamed it would. Not only does the phone work correctly, but everything else is so slick I don't mind paying the extra $20 a month for the data plan.

I'm a Google Earth addict, so when I saw that the onboard Google Maps had access to the satellite imagery as well as the maps, I wet my pants. Now I can sit around looking at aerial photography anywhere at any time (like in church today). My wife could spend days just looking at all the pictures of our kids we've taken over the years. Now, she can do that anywhere at any time. Even better, she can do it without me telling her how. My son, who just barely turned three, already figured out how to turn it on, unlock it, bring up the home screen, tap the photos icon, and start flipping through photos. When I won't let him play with mine, he walks around for hours at a time with his hand cupped in the air like he's holding it saying "I'm Daddy. This is my iPhone. I'm looking at pictures of my sweet kids.", while making the little photo flipping gesture with the finger of his other hand. He even rotates his imaginary phone 90 degrees periodically when a landscape photo comes up on his imaginary screen.

There's not enough good I can say about this thing, and I haven't been this excited about a piece of technology in a long long time. I feel like anyone who thinks it's not for them needs to just try it for a little bit. If they still think they don't want it, there's a good chance at that point they're just confused or lying to themselves.

Maybe my story sounds like I've been seduced by the marketing or the hype, but I don't care, because I'm excited about technology again. Hugo, if you're ever involved in any discussions at Apple about how the phone is being received, be sure to mention that there's a measure of success beyond just how many of these things are sold. For at least a few us, the phone's a success because it restores our faith in the ability of people to do things The Right Way every once in a while.

Numerical success isn't bad either, of course. Stock's up almost 10% in the last week to new all time highs. I've seen about a 2500% return on the Apple stock I bought back in 1997. It makes me really wish I had bought more than one share, though...