Mr Anonymous says the iPhone keyboard is crap: quick, write a column!

I'm surprised that John C Dvorak needs more fuel to fire his Apple fan-taunting, but it appears that he's now using anonymous phone calls as the basis for his columns.

He writes:

I got a call last night. "I think it's time to sell Apple short," said the voice.

"I think that's premature," I responded. "What have you heard?"

"The keyboard is a disaster, and people are going to return the phone in droves. I'm guessing 20% will go back."

"It's not the scenario I'm predicting," I said. "Besides, Jobs said the keyboard is great."

"No, he didn't. He said that if you 'trust the keyboard you can really fly.' Nobody will get that far. It's frustrating to use."

The conversation drifted off and I wasn't convinced, because I do not think people are going to buy the Apple phone because they want to type on it.

OK, so (perhaps surprisingly given how readily he lays into the iPhone) he doesn't fully agree with the anonymous voice, but it's enough to write a whole column on it.

Yes, I'm aware that I'm perpetuating that.

I really can't see Apple putting out something that's been afforded so much R&D, that one-fifth of people are going to return due to a dodgy virtual keyboard.

Most gadgets take some time to get used to. Remember sorting out T9 text messaging, or the odd gesturing you had to do with your stylus to write on your PDA? It may be intuitive, but that doesn't mean that it won't take a while to get used to how it functions, and the way to get the most from it.

Mind you, some consumers are Powermat: Revolutionary Gadget Charging

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