I finally got an iPhone recently and I'm a huge fan, I'm already tinkering with writing some apps.  It's a fantastic piece of engineering, really a work of art in the way they put the whole experience together, AT&T issues aside. It's inspired me to consider some new applications that I hadn't thought of yet.

But that's not the point of this post.  Ever since I got it, I realized that I really didn't need my laptop anymore 75% of the time.  Most of the stuff I wanted to do on the road I could do from my phone now.  Last time I traveled I didn't even pack my laptop, and I didn't miss it once.

Most of my computer usage when I travel is pretty lightweight, and having my computer in my pocket has really made my technology usage more spontaneous and fun.  My social network usage has skyrocketed due to the fact that I can whip my phone out of my pocket and be recording a thought and done with it in about 30 seconds.

Grabbing your phone and staring at it for a bit is socially acceptable, at least where I've lived, and so now using the computer for bit is also socially acceptable now.

My computer usage patterns have changed.  I'm a lot more hesitant to bust out a laptop, fire it up, wait for it to load, fire up a browser, and go to the site I want to use when I'm in the middle of a conversation than I am to get out my phone.  I can pull out the phone and use it for a few seconds while not even leaving a conversation.

That was a huge revelation to me, I'm still kind of digesting it and its implications for software.