So today was the Cult of Apple’s big day for the iPhone 4 announcement. The big news? FarmVille is coming to the iPhone! No, really, it is the big news. They needed this so that users won’t miss the feature that it still doesn’t have, the ability to make calls on a reliable network.

So, what did we learn today at Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference)? Well, for starters, we learned that the iPad is “magical”. It took Steve almost 90 seconds to use this adjective in his keynote, mucho restraint! Then, of course, he had to mention HTML5. However, he made no mention of the dedicated site they created and how only Safari displays it correctly. There have been over 2,000,000 ipads sold since the release in April 2010. That is a very impressive figure, no doubt about it. It just goes to show you that so many of the device makers out there are really missing the market by not bringing a worthy Android based tablet to market yet. And by worthy I do not mean a Chinese iPad ripoff running Android.  There are also 8,500 native iPad apps in addition to the over 215,000 iPhone/iPad apps. There have been 35 million app downloads and 5 million ebooks downloaded. All very impressive numbers and demonstrates a real success on the part of Steve to sell the walled garden delivered by sippy cup to the devoted followers.

Of course, the big announcement at today’s event was the iPhone 4. According to Steve, the phone is 24% thinner than the iPhone 3GS, and has a 5MP camera with flash. He discussed that using 5MP with ‘bigger’ pixels provided a superior image than an 8MP camera with more condensed and smaller pixels, which is generally true. I’ve compared 8MP and 5MP images from Android devices and more often than not, the 5MP images are better. I don’t think we need a megapixel war on smartphones, as 5MP is plenty for these types of devices. As many suspected, the new iPhone has a camera on the front that will be used for video chat. This feature is called FaceTime and supposedly was developed using “completely open standards” and took 18 months to complete. If this feature works as advertised, it will be a very compelling feature. The new iPhone’s steel frame has been engineered to function as an antenna that is supposed to help with connectivity issues. (Good luck with that!)

Some other numbers from todays announcement:

• iOS (New name for the operating system – with a license from Cisco to use the name)
• Apple A4 processor
• Dual mics with noise cancellation
• 802.11n WiFi
• GPS
• Compass
• Accelerometer
• Quad band HSDPA (7.2Mbps)
• Gyroscope (More on this below)
• Improved battery that will provide 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, or 40 hours of music. If this is delivered, indeed it will be very impressive. Android manufacturers need to take note here!
• HD video (720p at 30fps) with flash (No, NOT that Flash!)
• New “Retina” screen at 960×640 resolution and 326 pixels per inch. (DAMN Nice!)

I did enjoy watching Steve struggle with his presentation as his demos could not be accessed due to network connectivity issues. I laugh as many Apple Fanboys ridiculed the troubles that Google had at their developer’s conference last month.

So how much will it cost? $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model. The good news for current iPhone subscribers is that if your contract is set to expire at any time in 2010, you can get this pricing. Otherwise, you will be looking at a $399 and $499 price point for your upgrade. This pricing is pretty much in line with other new smartphones hitting the market.

Another announcement was iMovie for the iPhone. This app will be available to purchase for $4.99. Video editing for a device the size of a smartphone? Neat idea, but I’d have to use it to believe it would actually be something more than a toy application. And lastly, let us not forget iAds which was developed by Apple to “help their developers earn money.” iAds are coming in July, just in case this was a key feature in your decision making matrix.

In regards to the Gyroscope mentioned above, this really does set a new standard for mobile gaming and motion control. Personally, I’m not a huge gamer on my smartphone. In fact, I don’t believe I currently have any games installed on my Droid. However, I realize this is a personal preference and many people love to play games on their smartphones. Combining the gyro with the compass and accelerometer, you now have six axis of motion. I wonder though, could the gyro also be used to stabilize the iPhone’s video and cameras? That would indeed be an impressive implementation of a gyro.

So, will I be buying an iPhone? (I’m sorry, I just had to!) – Of course not. It seems that Apple still doesn’t understand the Internet and the open nature of the cloud. While the Apple devoted will be using this phone for the next year, Android devices will continually be released with new upgraded hardware configurations along with the maturation of the operating system beginning with Froyo (Android 2.2).

Oh Yes, and then there is this tiny little issue called AT&T. I still hold that the ability to make a phone call on my mobile phone when I need it is still the “killer app”.

Till next time!