If you see a knockoff, you're missing the point

Sure, it looks like an iPhone, but designers who complain about the mimicry are missing the news. Verizon's sexy Voyager, due Thanksgiving, matches Apple by giving U.S. consumers the real internet via cell phone -- not the resized, reordered images of WAP pages, but a full HTML browser. Since we predict this phone will be cheaper than Apple's, and avoid the glacial EDGE network, consumer adoption should spike.

Evidence? Most cell phones in the U.S. have some access to the internet, including the one probably in your pocket. But 75% of us don't use the mobile web -- the WAP interface is too archaic, logging on too difficult, screens too small, and networks below 3G too dang slow. Unless you love ESPN or trade stocks, you probably have never booted the browser.

Now, as handset makers emulate Apple and give us real HTML, the internet will become truly unplugged. Early reviews say the Voyage interface is not as clean as Apple's. No matter. Competitors will pile on. About 50% of children in the U.S. now have cell phones, and you know they'll want the Web for Christmas. Apple will respond with a 3G iPhone that actually takes good pictures. Advertisers, stayed tuned -- Google will soon be in our pockets.