There are a large number of reasons for that.  The impressive design of the phone itself, the brand name of Apple, the marketing of the phone.  But one thing that has stood out amongst all these factors as a driving force behind the success of the iPhone is the applications that it is able to include.

Applications

Think about what you use your phone for these days.  The mobile phone has moved far beyond simply being a phone – instead we use it for such a variety of things as

* An internet browser
* An email tool
* A games console
* A portable word processor

Applications have dramatically increased the functionality of the mobile phone – from allowing it to interact with your company’s database through to giving you instant translations for when you are travelling abroad.

When you consider that one of the most celebrated aspects of the iPhone is the sheer versatility of it you see why the apps has become one of the foremost reasons for the success of the mobile phone offering from Apple.

It is the apps that allow the iPhone to appeal to such a large market audience.  It caters not just as a general phone but to such niches as business people looking for a phone they can integrate into their lives to help keep up to date on the move through to teenagers who want games to play and music to listen to – as well as the basic phone requirements.

The apps part of the iPhone allows all this and far more besides.  It is because of these apps that Apple is able to get the market share that it has – and why the iPhone is continuing to grow.

But what few people seem to consider is the impact that the iPhone has had on the wider technological community.  It is something that should be considered though as it is clear that the influence of the iPhone is far from limited to the mobile industry.

A Dream Reborn

One consideration should be what was once a technological ‘ideal’ in the 1990’s, a dream gadget that was able to combine all other gadgets.  This fell away as the sheer number of gadgets that we have available to us multiplied to a vast degree.

Mp3 players, portable web browsers, mobile phones, PDA’s, the list is endless.  And it became too much to expect them all to be reduced down to one or two ‘universal’ gadgets that we could use.  But the iPhone has changed that perception dramatically.

By bringing together a wide range of gadgets, from web browsers to MP3 players, it has distilled them down into the one touch screen device.  More it offers a huge range of other functionalities through it’s wide ranging applications – from acting as a translator to a tool for doing your banking on.

This collection of gadgets in one place has changed how we look at technology again.  What had all but disappeared as a dream has risen again, the universal gadget may not be something that we are actively seeking but when you consider what you now expect your gadgets to do, the wide ranging functions you expect them to carry out, you see that it is something you are at least partially looking to achieve.

The iPhone has changed how we think of our mobile technologies and caused us to reconsider wat we expect from our equipment.  Far from being limited to the mobile phone industry it’s effects really can be felt everywhere.

So, how can you use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a disk drive?

The solution is a new application called the iTunes Explorer for iTunes 8 and iTunes 9.  This application uses iTunes as an Explorer window so you can search for particular files and drop them from your computer into your iPhone or iPod Touch device.

These devices have anywhere from a 7 to 60GB storage space.  In the event that you haven’t got a flash drive or blank CD on hand to store files, you can use your media device to do it.

Now, you may have to jail break your iPhone in order to obtain this functionality.  Jail breaking is a term that applies to modifying the original software for your device.  When you jailbreak an iPhone, you technically void the manufacturer’s warranty.  Some people are unwilling to do this to their iPhone.  Others don’t really mind modifying their devices with the idea of creating additional functionality.

Whether you decide to jailbreak in order to turn your iPod Touch or iPhone into a disk drive is up to you.  I suppose it depends on how much you want to able to use your device as a disk drive.  Of course, there are people out there who jailbreak all the time in order to push their personal devices to the technological edge of functionality through applications that are developed by unofficial installers and application creators.

Such a decision probably depends upon whether you are a technology enthusiast or just an everyday person with an iPhone or iPod Touch.  While voiding the manufacturer’s warranty isn’t something that goes highly recommended, some enthusiasts feel that the risk is worth the payoff in order to be able to enjoy every technical application available, whether Apple declares it to be official, or not.

So, the decision is yours, go official with a little less technologically advanced device, or go unofficial and turn your iPod Touch or iPhone into a disk drive.