I frequently get asked why I don’t get the iPhone and my typical answer is… I need a keyboard and the iPhone’s screen just doesn’t cut it. Although I said early on I wouldn’t buy an iPhone, I did decide to use the bPhone theme just to make my iPhone friends happy.

I’ll post more here about my transition to the Crackberry way of life, but for now enjoy the closest I’ll get to the iPhone.

Last Summer I wrote why I wouldn’t buy the iPhone when it first came out. My core reasons then were Apple’s lack of experience in mobile devices, but even after their 2nd generation phone I still don’t have one. My current reason (in addition to AT&T’s death grip on the device) is its lack of tactile keys. This deficiency directly correlates to my speed in typing, which is a critical feature for me.

So, when Verizon came out with Blackberry Storm’s claim of a clickable screen, I thought it might solve iPhone’s glaring problem. This weekend while shopping at Circuit City, I saw firsthand, while it’s clicking is unique.. it’s still not functional.

I know iPhone and probably Storm users will say the speed isn’t that much slower, but according to this FierceWireless article, that’s not the case. Here’s the gist…

User Centrics, an analyst group out of Chicago claims that the iPhone’s touch keyboard takes twice as long to type with than conventional QWERTY keyboards

For now, I’m a power user sticking with my Treo and as long as Sprint keeps the all-you-can-eat for $99/month plan, I’ll be hard pressed to leave… unless someone builds a better phone with actual keys.

In the meantime, here are my top 3 reason to wait on buying the iPhone.

1. Building a mobile operating system is really hard. - Just ask Microsoft, which took a long time to catch up with Palm and all the other “no-name” companies that have tried to enter the space. Warning… issues for the early adopters right around the corner!
2. All Apple’s products DON’T just work. – With this complex hardware, Apple will look more like Microsoft with unexpected re-boots and errors. Every blackberry, treo and sidekick I’ve seen or supported for my IT clients has locked up or been forced to reboot. I’ve been a Mac convert for 8 months and I love my Mac and iPod, but I still run into issues. Many Mac fanatics deny this and act like it must be my machine, but in their weak moments they know Macs have issues too. The complex engineering required to build a phone with a browser, camera, maps and 20 other apps will be shown in the first two weeks of its sale.
3. Apple sells the sizzle first, then cooks the steak. – They love to look great first and work well second. Steve Jobs has made a mint with great interface and design and has recently grown his company from the profits of the iPod not the computer. The average consumer is content with their crappy PC and incessant error messages. Their impression of most Apple products (sans iPod) is pointing out how “cool” it looks, but they can’t see the difference how it actually works better or worse. The average consumers WILL see the faults in the iPhone very quickly.

Let me be clear, I love Apple products. I’m a user on MacMeter.com and I am officially a Mac convert, but I also know mobile devices. I could go on and on about how much Cingular’s (I mean AT&T) data network is still lagging behind Sprint and Verizon or how every 3rd generation pda phone still isn’t perfect, but waiting for the 2nd generation iPhone is smarter. In the mean time, I’ll patiently sharpen my steak knife while Steve’s engineers clean up the early bugs and build a reliable mobile platform. Then, I’ll be ready to eat at the Steve’s Steakhouse.