Apple set to debut iPhone today

In the US today there will be only one technology story: the iPhone, writes Karlin Lillington.

One of the year's most awaited product launches kicks off at 10am Irish time, 6pm in manufacturer Apple's home state of California.

Apple and its sole reseller, mobile operator AT&T, will add 2,000 extra employees to deal with the expected floods of early adopters who will want the slim device from day one.

After that, Apple has offered what may be an overly modest sales estimate of 10 million of the phones by the end of 2008, when it will also have been on sale in worldwide markets for a year. That means just about 1 per cent of the global handset market.

Yet even in advance of excellent early reviews this week, which will likely spur additional sales, the iPhone was polling well with consumers. A substantial survey of 11,060 people by market research firm M:Metrics two weeks ago revealed that almost two-thirds of its survey sample knew about the iPhone and 14 per cent had expressed a strong interest in buying one. M:Metrics estimates that that's a potential 19 million US customers alone.

Despite the extra help and the fact that people have been camping out in front of various retail Apple Stores across the US this week to nab an iPhone, no one knows if there will even be enough of the devices to go around today.

Neither Apple nor AT&T will confirm the number which will be available - though Silicon Valley media sources say rumours are that three million will be on stock, replenished weekly after that.

On the other hand, perhaps the high cost of the mandatory two-year AT&T contract, at from $60 to $100 a month, will blunt sales - if not the fact that the iPhone's lack of a conventional keyboard is worrying SMS fanatics.

There's also no instant messaging, no 3G capability, no GPS, no outside ringtones or voice dialling.

On the other hand, the iPhone is probably the sexiest thing ever to happen to handsets. Expect serious techno-lust to take over in the US from today.