Well the time is almost here!

The second coming (of the great prophet Zarquon of course, not that other guy) couldn’t garner as much online column inches (or is it pixels when online?) as the ship date for the iPhone.
It will of course be a “1.0” device and as soon as it ships, assasinations from the same media outlets currently building it up, will cut it down in its prime. It will not (and can not) ever meet the expectation being put upon it, nothing ever could (except without some help from alien technology, and the US Gov. keeps that all for themselves). Apple knows this of course and there are a few in Cupertino who are getting a tad nervious at this point waiting for the backlash.
The new adverts are a little understated and you can expect Walt Mossburg to start downplaying the device on the orders of Jobs and Co real soon.
I expect that Apple and AT&T will sell as many of the devices as FoxConn can make and that the new version (recently ordered from a second fab, Quanta) will take the European market by storm with what I suspect will be 3G/HSDPA instead of EDGE and an extra camera on the front for the new “iChat video” function, missed off the Rev 1.0 for connectivity bandwidth reasons.
In a bid to address the “no third party apps” whinging, it looks like there will be an SDK released at WWDC, although there is no indication whether this will be a full compiler system or a widget/gadget type system. If the company has concerns about 3rd party apps causing instability on the phone, the second option seems to be most viable as the widgets run in their own protected environment and a widget maker SDK is already in developmnt in the form of Dashcode.
Pricing is still a bone of contention, I know the US have traditionally had vastly different pricing structures for their mobiles when compared to the UK, however very much doubt the $500-$600 US tag will translate into £250-£300 when it reaches the UK, I am convinced it will be nearer £400-£500 because that is the way Apple work, and as for $100 US extra for 4GB of flash – they are kidding right? This is the same flash memory I can get in a Samsung branded memory key for £20 from 7DayShop.
I still haven’t decided whether the device is a fit for me. The limit placed on the size of the flash memory and the phone tarrif that will accompany it’s purchase may make it the wrong device, no matter how cute and cool it is. I will just have to wait and see.