Hey there Paul
Just wondering who said it was "the first" at anything...?
Like Apple or not, from a pure design perspective, I absolutely applaud the level of industrial design in the execution of the way the iPhone (and iPod for that matter) just "work" for most humans. The servicability of the GUI is second to none - everything is beautifully logical. It's a object lesson in designing a device which needs to work the way humans think a device should work. Whereas most people can fumble around and use the other HTC-style devices and others like them, sure, (including the N-95 from Nokia) they just don't reach the level of intuitive usabilty that the Apple offering has achieved. If anyone disagrees with that then they are probably just being "Applephobic" for the hell of it. Like their approach or not - they are amongst the best at designing human interfaces and have been for decades.
I personally don't like mobile phones either, and would rather not use one if I didn't have to, but I do - as an IT director my job depends on it unfortunately. I don't want a silly camera in my phone, and I don't listen to music from anything other than my very decent HiFi sysetem, but you can't deny that these guys have just done a better job for the rest of the population who think that these trinkets are necessary. The success of this device overseas is already proof of that. I can't remember any other device getting the same level of fanatical attention that this one has - so why? I can't see myself chanting over it, but a lot do. Go figure.
For now I have to battle along with my N-95, as much as I really dislike the fiddly nature of the mechanics, and ill-conceived user experience. I bought it to replace my even-worse JasJam - which, with Windows Mobile 5 & 6 was just a GUI disaster. I can't begin to tell you how much I loathe its design execution. What a mish-mash of ill-connected applications and tools. It should still be in beta.