Over all, Apple has done a great job with this and I am very excited at the step forward that this represents for Universal Accessibility—as well as the opportunities that it presents for future applications. The iPhone is home to many a valuable third party applications and having built-in accessibility at no additional cost is something that everyone in the Blindness community should celebrate.

Now to the nitty-gritty. The iPhone 3GS is a device with a very large touch screen that supports multi-touch. Meaning, unlike most touch screen devices, it is capable of detecting where multiple touch points are. Therefore it is not necessary to use a stylus to operate the device. In the United States, it is sold and operated exclusively on the AT&T cellular network. The device is a Quad band GSM phone, capable of operating on 99% of the world’s GSM cellular networks.

The device comes pre-loaded with many applications found on most smart phones. All the Apple-supplied applications appear to be fully accessible.

It is worth noting that there is a learning curve to the gestures used to control the Iphone when Voice Over is running. Reading the directions is definitely a must. As you move your finger over the screen the phone begins to announce what is under your finger. Much like System Access from Serotek announces what is under the mouse. Double-tapping an item activates the control you are on. The plus to this approach is that you will get an idea where items are located and will in the future be able to access them much quicker.

Perhaps the most challenging thing is learning to use the keyboard. When you are in an edit box, the bottom half of the screen displays a QWERTY style keyboard. The same touch and tap method is used to type. It takes some getting used to and at first can be frustrating, given the small space the keys are in, but my experience is that my typing speed is already beginning to increase.

Making and receiving calls is smooth. Apple has taken care to make sure their interface style is consistent across the device and this care shows. The voice command function works very well, and extends beyond the calling contacts and dialing phone number area. You can use your voice to tell the iPod application to “play songs by Jessica Simpson.” Or “shuffle songs.”

Sending and receiving E-mails and text messages is easy once you get the typing thing down.

Moving on to 3rd party applications:
One of the major draws to the iPhone platform are the many applications that are out there for it. Ranging from the totally useless, through the mundane, all the way to the utterly awesome and useful, there are literally thousands of apps out there. I have found them to be mostly accessible, with unlabeled buttons to be the most challenging portions. It is my hope that convincing iPhone developers to lable their controls will not be too difficult.

A few examples of these applications, that I will use daily:
Youmail–this company provides enhanced voicemail not only ffor your cell phone but for your other phones as well. Now I have one voicemail box for my work phone, cell phone, and home phone. I was using this service before I had the iPhone but the iPhone app provides direct access to my messages in the same visual voicemail style (voicemails show up much like E-mails, allowing you to decide which ones to listen to.)
Alarm.com—this application allows you to control your compadible security system from your phone. Very nice for hwen you need to let that service person in your house but you don’t want to give them your alarm codes (for obvious reasons). You can view status, history, arm and disarm, and view video feeds (if you have any cameras connected to your system.)
Pandora—if you are a music fan, you have probably heard of Pandora. The iPhone ap lets you take your customized radio stations anywhere with you.
GVMobile—allows you access to your Google Voice account. Google Voice is outside the scope of this discussion but is sort of like another cell phone number. You can check your messages, send txt messages, make calls…
Grill Guide—custom meat cooking times based on thickness and how you want it done. Pretty cool!
Facebook–The official facebook app is very accessible and provides great mobile access to the main features of the full website.

Being something of an early adopter, I was ready for this to be much worse than it is. I am very happy to report that I can recommend this solution to a blind person as a viable, accessible cell phone solution. Given the fact that it is included out of the box and does not cost extra, it is something to be strongly considered. Besides, the phone is really pretty and I’ve gotten more than one compliment and “wow” today. Most people are shocked to hear you tell them it works for a blind person and it tends to spark some interesting (and good!) conversations about accessibility, blindness, etc.

So in closing, thanks Apple for stepping up to the plate. Keep up the good work.