Apple's products, like Japanese manufacturer Sony, have always commanded a premium in the market.



While it's easy to say that a similar cellphone might cost significant less, and represent better value for money, is that really the case?

For starters, Apple has emphasized a great deal on the design and ergonomics of its products, as well as the usability of its products.

Witness the Apple Macintosh.

When released in 1984, it signalled a revolution for users everywhere.

Where computers used to be cryptic devices where you needed to learn to type cryptic codes to get it working, the Macintosh brought the Graphical User Interface (or GUI for short) to the forefront.

Suddenly, users who had ?PC Phobia? were taking to computers which seemed so much easier to use.

Likewise, for the iPhone, it looks set to conquer the smartphone market.

Instead of cryptic commands to perform complex operations, the Apple iPhone has incorporated several ?smart? features, such as the ability to magnify and reduce screen images by ?pinching? or ?squeezing? the iPhone's display screen.

It incorporates an ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts lighting levels in response to the lighting around, preserving battery life and making the screen easy to view.

The intelligence of the device also automatically switches the screen display from a portrait to a landscape orientation when the device is flipped from a vertical to a horizontal orientation.

And if you should answer a phone call, the iPhone is smart enough to recognize that the phone is being brought close to your face and the keypad automatically deactivates itself, so you don't hit a key accidentally when the phone brushes against your face.

Apple certainly has a multitude of competitors in the market and a sign that it is a lucrative market is when there are a multitude of competitors snapping at your heels.

While it is easy to brush off the Apple iPhone as an ?expensive phone?, it certainly will not do any justice to the design and effort which has gone into the innovative product.

Can you place a measure on being able to do something easily and simply, without having to fiddle through a thick manual, or look through several ?help? pages?

With the Apple iPhone, this certainly won't be an issue.