Apple and Cingular team up...

Exciting news for gadget geeks and Mac-Nazis (and by the way, just because I'm the new owner of a Mac does not make me a Mac-Nazi. I'm talking about the die-hard "Mac is best and PC is evil. Die Bill Gates, die!!" people...). From Reuters via Drudge.

AN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. unveiled an eagerly-anticipated iPod mobile phone with a touch-screen on Tuesday, priced at $599 for 8 gigabytes of memory, pushing the company's shares up as much as 8.5 percent.

Chief Executive Steve Jobs said the iPhone, which also will be available in a 4-gigabyte model for $499, will ship in June in the United States. The phones will be available in Europe in the fourth quarter and in Asia in 2008.

Apple said Cingular Wireless, the No. 1 U.S. wireless network, will be the company's U.S. cellular partner.

Cingular said the contract is "multi-year and exclusive."

[...]

The 11.6 millimeter phone includes a 3.5-inch wide touchscreen display with multi-touch support and a 2 megapixel camera. It runs on Apple's OS X operating system, has the Safari browser for Internet searching and e-mail that can handle graphics and work with external e-mail services.

Now I had a Dell Axim PDA a while back. I rarely used it, opting instead for the good ole fashioned pencil-paper method of organization. When I sold the Axim, I looked into purchasing the Palm Treo, but I just couldn't see shelling out the money for the gadget as well as the monthly fee that Cingular charges for data transfer to PDA/Smart Phones. At a starting price of $499, I don't see me personally purchasing one--at least not when they first come out. I'd love to play with one for a couple of days, though...

For more, be sure to visit Popular Mechanics.