I not only disagree with your assertion of making MIDs obsolete, I’d say the iPhone is the first true “MID” although it clearly doesn’t have the Linux operating system as defined by Intel for a MID.

My point here has several arguments:

1. Wireless industry data continually supports most consumers don’t want most of the functionality offered on most cell phones these days. These consumers simply want great voice quality.

2. The iPhone is a “game changer” that seamlessly delivers the internet while mobile. This reference to the iPhone has appeared in printed media, the blogosphere, tv news, and whatever else I cannot think of at this time. Point is, the iPhone being a “game changer” tying it to ease of use for web access while mobile is the common theme amongst the media.

3. The iPhone greatest strengths are its’ services tied to the web, which will only get stronger due to Apple making the iPhone SDK available to developers.

Hence, I again argue that the iPhone is the first MID, it just happens to have phone capabilities, which the media never discusses as being the “game changer” of the iPhone.

Full disclosure: I’m a converted critic of the iPhone. I’ve felt that Nokia has had numerous smartphones that were/are vastly superior to the iPhone. Nokia still does. However, after receiving an ipod Touch as a christmas gift and becoming consumed by its’ ease of use, I bought an iPhone several weeks ago. Not because it is a superior phone, but because it has the superior mobile internet experience. In my mind, it is a phone MID, and as argued, the world’s first true MID.