I have to admit, when I started reading this blog entry of Leander Kahney and Pete Mortensen, I thought it was missing a point. But when I continued reading, I knew they’re right.

Aside of a few other factors of influence, like ease of use and being there in the right time, what made the iPod the market leader of mp3 players wasn’t the iPod. It was iTunes.

With the tech world watching Apple these days, everyone seems to know or have an advice what Apple is supposed to come up with. An “iPod to make phone calls with” seems to be the most commonly believed expectation, followed by a phone with “seamless iTunes integration”.

But I believe that is just the tip of the ice berg actually. If Apple will come out with a phone, its user interface will be so blazingly simple, and synchronizing features will just work, so everyone will be blown away. Facing the elegance and simplicity, we’ll be asking ourselves “why hasn’t anyone else come up with this?”.

Think of the introduction of quite complex applications such as iMovie and GarageBand. Even in their earliest release versions, these programs hit the nail right on the head, with regard to usability and working how consumers think.

Personally, I’m waiting for another phone introduction from Nokia, the N95, expected to hit European markets within the next couple of months. It’s got quad band, Wi-Fi support, bluetooth and all the bells and whistles you could expect from a smartphone these days. Its camera is 5 megapixels, which is a big leap compared to my current 1.3 MP of my Motorola RAZR (which admittedly uses outdated technology).