I didn't use the word "hobbled" by accident. Ok, it was a bad pun, but it does look like something that is purposely disabled in order to perform at all (i.e. it has its legs tied together).

Windows on a phone requires more than a touch here and there, so to make it work as a touch interface my guess is that they removed many features.

I too liked using the thumb in the demo, but they just used it to scroll through lists, and there is no reason to believe you can't do the same on the iPhone.

I have no problem with someone coming up with something even cooler than the iPhone, competition is a wonderful thing. But this demo sure didn't give me any indication this is even a functional device, much less an iPhone killer.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The MOST remarkable thing about the iPhone in my mind is that it changed the industry forever (thankfully for the better) and, besides a few nobility, hasn't been touched by a consumer. That should be a college case study by itself... Think of the market scramble when it actually ships!

I think my Moto Q is lookin' kinda sad...

Knowing htc they have likely been working on this long before the iPhone was announced. Htc has a huge research division, a portion of which is tasked to developing new uses and refinements to the user interface. This isn't a me-too product.

Of course using a mac means that this device will never be able to integrate itself into my workflow as well as the iPhone might.

The website worked fine for me this evening. Perhaps they couldn't handle the traffic generated by all the free publicity from their product announcement. Still, even though I was able to see what was there, real information was scarce. They have a video/ad that is supposed to show how cool it is, but it's pretty lame.

Touch screens have been in development for years by a variety of designers - including Microsoft. Steve over-hyped the iPhone touch screen at WWDC, giving some people the notion, by emphasizing patents, that Apple had invented the technology. I've no doubt they have their own patents, but Apple is not alone in the field.

In any case, you'll note it's the headline of the Macworld article that identifies the HTC phone as an iPhone rival. The HTC website doesn't mention the iPhone. Editors like catchy headlines, but this phone is no more or less an iPhone rival than any number of other smart phones already, or soon to be, on the market.

Would HTC like to catch some of the buzz the iPhone has stirred up? No doubt. Again, they're hardly alone in this.

There are some slick phone ads making the rounds right now, but Apple's are the best, in my opinion, emphasizing the iPhone's incomparable interface, ease of use and the substance of what the iPhone can do. I have a friend who just got a new Blackberry who is drooling over the iPhone, just the same, on the strength of those ads. Nevertheless, I'm advising him to wait till the iPhone has been out awhile and had time to mature. It will only get better. Which is not something you are likely to find people saying about the FTC phone, "hobbled" as it is by Windows Mobile.

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Don't anthropomorphize computers - They hate that.