When I was a kid, I naively believed that I could be elected President based upon a single promise: I’d get rid of all the ugly wires in the country. This movie usually played in my mind during summer family vacations, with my cheek mashed against the half-cracked, back window of our Delta 88 along stretches of I-40 or I-75, my view of the Blue Ridge Mountains or the plains of Kentucky obfuscated by that highway in the sky of electrical wires slung like a plumber’s saggy pants between telephone poles. “If only someone would get rid of those dumb, stupid wires,” I’d silently lament, “I could actually see the country.”

My fellow Americans, unless the damn vegans get Steve Jobs first, we’re one wire closer to making that dream come true.

Earlier this week, Apple Nation watched prostrate as Jobs unveiled the new 3G iPhone, complete with “near WiFi internet speeds”, GPS, and a newfangled add-on internet service called MobileMe. While perhaps none of the announcements at WWDC ‘08 were show-stoppers in and of themselves, together I think they reveal Apple’s seismic double-down of their bet on the future of personal computing: turning your primary input device from a Last Century PC (desktops/laptops) into a New Century PC (smartphones/ handheld devices) by killing the cable between them. Indeed, the only reason remaining to physically connect an iPhone computer to a desktop/laptop computer is the transfer of music/movies; but how long before Apple clears this last hurdle and the autonomy of iPhone is complete?

Before chalking iPhone up as boringly apolitical, consider the inclusion of U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel C.J. Wallington, Director of Advanced Technologies during Jobs’ keynote presentation on the benefits of iPhone 2.0. Speaking as to the importance of the handheld device in reference to field missions, Wallington said, “I’ve got to make sure that I can secure that device, I can lock it down, or get rid of it, destroy it, delete the information on it if I lose it. I’m talking about soldier’s lives.” Call me crazy, but critical to the lives of American soldiers sounds pretty serious. After all, every soldier in the field, whether in uniform or not, is the personified defender of “We The People” and, as far as I’m concerned, essential to an American soldier = essential to American freedom.

But… the iPhone? Critical to our freedom??

Come on, I can chug the Apple cool-aid with the best of them, but this smacks a little of commercialized Industrial War Machine agitprop, doesn’t it? Or does it?

During the nascent days of a little device known as the iPod, technology pundits coined the term “Trojan Horse” when referring to Apple’s soon-to-become dominant digital music player. The argument went something like this: Apple’s gonna use the iPod to tap into the average PC user’s workstation, show how bad-ass they are by flexing iTunes+iPod wondertwin powers and then PC users the world over will flock by the zillions to buy full-on Macs because the iPod’s mojo convinced them. Word. Get-some, Microsoft. 

Problem was, the First PC War was already over. The banner already hung from the rafters at Redmond and Steve Balmer still pimps his championship rings every chance he gets (and, unlike Bill Russell, he doesn’t plan on sharing). But what no one saw in those days was that the so-called “Trojan Horse” wasn’t intended to be some deus-ex-machina via the third-act of Steve Job’s career. Instead, as the miasma clears, we see that the iPod was Apple’s blueprint in-and-of-itself for something entirely different… the first act of a new play, the recon unit of an entirely new PC war… the Second PC War to redefine what “personal computer” even means. 

This computer will be so personal that you’ll carry it everywhere at all times, day and night, rain or shine, awake or asleep, and it will contain or access anything & everything you consider even remotely important about your life. Pictures, contacts, calendars, messages, documents, music, movies, the current GPS locations of your kids and even your cat, your entire medical history, high-resolution X-Ray and PET scans of your body, the latest news you want, scores and highlights, live TV. It will monitor your heart-rate and keep tabs on your pace-maker or hearing aid or artificial limb, communicate with your house, act as your credit card and start your car. And none of it will be done with wires!

The reason iPhone matters to everyday Americans is because the biggest players for global mindshare in the Second PC War are all either American or allies of America: Microsoft (U.S.), Apple (U.S.), Blackberry/RIM (Canada), Google (U.S.) and Symbian (UK). In the midst of a war on terror and soon-to-be $5.00/gallon gas prices, I don’t think the importance of this can be overstated. 

As we gear up, dress down and fire-up the Olds for summer, at least there’s a couple big things to feel good about and look forward to: the 4th of July when we celebrate our freedom… and the 11th of July when the new 3G iPhone is released. Here’s hoping that Steve throws a barbeque and eats heartily at both.

[ This article contributed courtesy of The BS Show's first ever guest blogger.  

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