This is going to be a long post...
Is there anything new in the iPhone? IMHO, no. The iPhone is just a collection of previous concepts under Apple's interpretation.
The shape reminds me of the Sony TH55, it has the same clean face in a world of PDAs with too many buttons. A phone with a big screen is a concept started by the O2 by I-Mate and used also by HP in one model, which wasn't successful because the average user still wants a keyboard. A full OS, Linux, was introduced with the Zaurus and the Yopi. Using your finger instead of a stylus is posible in every PDA with touch-sensitive screen. A browser able to show a full HTML site just like the iPhone was developed for Windows Mobile, it was called Eagle or something like that. A PDA with screen rotation was first presented as a hack for Windos CE and later as part of PalmOS 5. Should i continue? Don't take me wrong, i do like the device, is just great, but i don't give Apple points for originality here, i do however give them points for taking all those things and finally do them right.
Now, to answer some of the posts...
Cingular HAS to be the carrier. As the bigger in the game it gives more oportunities to Apple. The iPhone has to start bounded to a carrier because this allows a reduction in the price, and the iPhone really needs that. The iPhone won't be available for Verizon, GSM is the best option. The iPhone already has several accesories, i suposse the "iPod connector" allows it to share those. RIM is crying.