iPhone for Lawyers

Today is the launch of Steve Jobs' new sensation the iPhone.  Starting with the selection of AT&T's slow network, it's too bad that business users, much less lawyers, are of little interest to Apple at this time.  The iPhone is clearly a consumer product.  But lawyers have the same frustrations with cell phones and Blackberries as everyone else.  These devices are just not very user friendly.

Lawyers love their Blackberries or Palm Treos because of their terrific ability to keep in constant touch with e-mail.  They do the job but are no match for the easy control and large crisp screen of the iPhone.  Lawyers in particular need to be be in constant touch with the Web, not just e-mail.  And that's a Web increasingly rich in video and other media.  Lawyers are eager consumers of online information.  That's no pleasure on the Blackberry or Palm Treo. 

Although there are hints of upcoming versions of the iPhone that will be addressed to business users and that some day the current one might be bought by AT&T business customers, it will be a long time before this will be a device used by many lawyers.  I hope that the iPhone will serve as a stimulus for adding features to the Blackberry and Palm Treo that will make them more pleasant to use, including a larger, higher resolution screen.  Put it on a high speed network and lawyers would flock to such a device.