Since almost everyone I know has an iPhone, this seems like a nice solution. I’m not the only one excited: Apple Has Finally Stuck A Dagger Into SMS. I Love It.

And for those time when you actually do need to message non-iOS users, there’s free Google Voice. Dear carriers: suck it.

Update: More iOS 5 details from Engadget including some good bits on iMessage.  Gruber also quips:

I’ll cancel my SMS plan as soon as this ships.

(A well-informed little birdie tells me that Apple’s phone carrier partners around the world found out about iMessages when we did: during [the] keynote.)

I think the developers, TheCodingMonkeys, have really knocked the Carcassonne App out of the park. It’s one of the best examples of gaming on iOS yet. I especially appreciate the ability to play several multiplayer games at once and have the app notify me when it’s my turn to play on any one of them. This enables real pick-up/put-down gameplay that’s perfect for the iPhone on the go. But even if you don’t play with people, the CPU players are pretty good and can present quite a challenge (if you want them to).  Furthermore, despite the fact that it’s only optimized for the iPhone right now, I’ve found the game to be very playable when pixel doubled on the iPad.

The game is on sale for just $4.99 which is a steal for something with this kind of functionality and replayability. That price goes up to $9.99 when the iPad upgrade, which will be free to existing owners, goes live later this year. If you do pick it up, be sure to send me a friend request so we can play some games and remember, “Sharing is Caring.”

Apple is, unsurprisingly, not going to stand still and let Google Android and Palm WebOS get the upper hand on features. They pretty much went down the wish list of features for the update and checked of every one of them: copy/paste, push notifications, better Bluetooth support, and so on. Pretty much the only feature left out is background apps which Apple again dissed as a large source of battery drain.

Flash is also still a no-show, but that’s not a surprise, nor something I think Apple plans on addressing anytime soon. In any case, I still don’t think Flash would be any good on any phone device at this time.

Consumers get it this summer… I can’t wait.

A note about the cloud:

Cloud synchronization is a key theme for many great mobile apps, because, with a persistent internet connection, the iPhone is a revolutionary tool to connect your life when you’re out and about with your life on your computer. This is vitally important to mobile computing because no one wants to enter much information on a little device, but we want that information quickly accessible when we’re out and about. Synching with the could is already working magic for the first 3 apps above (they wouldn’t be on any top list without this feature), and you’ll be seeing it all over the place over the next year (for example, iWork.com).

Genius.

Edit (9/25): Fixed link after all this time.

Need a hint? He’s an iron man.

Sweetness.

Enjoy.

(Thanks DealNews)

The iFund is a $100 million venture capital investment initiative that will fund innovators developing applications, services, and components for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch platform. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) has earmarked $100 million for this initiative and it will be managed by KPCB’s partners. Apple will provide KPCB with market insight and support.

More info on their site.

Check the new TV ads.

Woot.

Well there aren’t many answers, but here are a few good places.

For starters, read/watch all the info on the official page. Then Kottke has a nice iPhone info round up. Pogue answers more questions on these FAQs: 1 & 2. Finally, DF has some nice links & discussion here many cross over with Kottke and Pogue but there is some good discussion (search for iPhone to find them all).

I can’t say much original after all that. Of course I’ll be getting one. I will say that I’m concerned about how open the platform is to third party development. Right now the word on those is kind of a wait-and-see-not-really-fully-open but Rentzsch has a nice petition idea. I’ll still get one if it doesn’t have independent app development but I’d sure like the chance to write for the platform (I had several ideas as soon as I learned about what the device offered).

Anyway, there are still many questions that remain unanswered and a lot could change before the device is released in June.