This is a fair point. I believe that you are absolutely correct that the Apple design promise has incorporated beauty as a key component, however I still conte

This is a fair point. I believe that you are absolutely correct that the Apple design promise has incorporated beauty as a key component, however I still contend that there has always been an element of function as well, even if only implied. Consider Apple's early beginnings, all urban legends and anecdotes aside. Apple found initial success by providing "beautiful" products that were built so virtually any user could handle them - they offered simple, clean functionality, as embodied by the user-interface and the original Apple Mouse for navigation. Further, consider all of the Apple commercials from recent history - "I'm a Mac v. I'm a PC" - each episode was based on an implied simplicity (function) and beauty of Macs, as opposed to their clunky and confusing PC rivals. Apple has since pulled those commercials in favor of a new angle - perhaps, to your point, something that will focus not on function, but on aesthetic appeal alone going forward. To your point regarding AT&T, I agree that they are not solely to blame here. The dropped call problem with the iPhone 4 is certainly a design flaw, not one to be blamed on the carrier - though problems with AT&T are not to be ignored completely either. I would not be surprised if further design flaws emerge around the iPhone 4 in the coming months, but I believe that these speak more to my point here that Apple has neglected its promise for equal parts function and beauty. ...And as an aside, I was spurred to write the original post when I realized that the iPhone 4 received all of the really neat features that I had expected and wanted to see in the iPad. Apple has historically kept me drooling for the next great thing, but in this case, perhaps the release dates were just too close together and their lack of foresight too blatant for me to let go without a word or two on the topic.