Editorial: How much is too much?

Friday, June 29, 2007 | 7:21 a.m.

To those of us who remember rotary phones, Apple's iPhone, which goes on sale tonight, is more than revolutionary, as company officials and technology critics say it is.

The iPhone is a reminder of the pervasiveness of technology in our lives - how did we ever live without a cell phone, much less e-mail? Yet the rapid pace of technology is also creating a world that desires to be perpetually plugged into something - TV, videos, computers, MP3 players, cell phones or instant messaging.

Apple understands that. The iPhone is revolutionary not for doing something new as it is for doing it all. It plays music ; shows videos and photos ; takes pictures ; handles e-mail, voice mail and instant messaging ; keeps a calendar and an address book ; and surfs the Web. The iPhone does it all seamlessly in one sleek box that fits in the palm of your hand.

The demonstrations of the machine, as seen on Apple's Web site, are jaw-dropping.

A user could, for instance, type in an address and get driving directions, a map - with a satellite picture - and real-time traffic conditions. The iPhone can place businesses on the map, and with the touch of the screen, the user can call the business or link to its Web site.

There are two versions , each with memory - four and eight gigabytes - bigger than the average home computer. Critics say that despite some flaws, the main deterrent will be price: $500 for the smaller of the two, not including a monthly service plan.

Apple will be followed by others competing to push the technological envelope, and it will become increasingly clear, as it did with cell phones, that you need to have this latest gizmo in your pocket so you too can be plugged into the virtual good life 24 hours a day.

While Apple has created what would seem to be an impressive machine, we marvel even more at the exponential growth of technology. We now can have the world in the palm of our hand, yet in a few days or months or years, we will again be marveling at the latest advance and we will still wonder: How much is too much?