If you think Steve Jobs & Co. can't design an ugly product, think again.

Take the iBook, circa 1997. Coming in blue, orange and green, it was bulgy and shaped like a clam. It didn't inspire people to feel cool and sophisticated - it had the lumpy appeal of a chew toy.

With Apple on the cusp of introducing a fresh take on its already iconic iPhone, it's a reminder that the company is capable of screwing up.

Believe it or not, the iPhone has become a stealth hit over on this Soggy and Septic Isle. But this should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the psychology of the British punter.

When the iPhone arrived it here it was greeted with studied indifference. You'll recall that Carphone Warehouse and O2 stores stayed open late for a stampede that never came.

The splashy launch - and the glee at O2's discomfort that followed - only seemed to confirm the view that British punters congratulate themselves for being immune to imported hypes.

But this has been overtaken by another aspect of consumer psychology here. More than anything else, British punters love boasting about a bargain. Like tea, it's something that unites all classes. Even if one must lie about the "bargain" that isn't a bargain at all - and has just been bought on an already over-extended credit card.

The launch of the next-generation iPhone promises to be Steve Jobs' greatest stunt yet. Apple, Jobs' secretive computer and gadget company, has been quietly positioning millions of units of a mysterious new product - almost certainly the new iPhone - in key markets since March. And yet, incredibly, not one credible image of Apple's new product has yet been published.

If the new phone is a flop, it's going to be a doozy. Apple is promising to sell 10 million of the gizmos this year; many investors are betting the Cupertino, Calif., company will sell many more than that. Yet Jobs has managed to keep the look, the feel and a complete list of the phone's features under wraps.

Softbank, the aggressively-run mobile telecoms and internet conglomerate, will become the first Japanese carrier to offer the Apple iPhone.

The deal will, for the first time, take the iPhone into the world's most sophisticated market for mobile phone handsets. The design, the feel and the multi-media functions of the Apple may have wowed consumers in the US and Europe, but Softbank faces a huge challenge taking the device to the Japanese.

Regardless of Apple's plans to add business features to the iPhone, Research in Motion is and will continue to extend its lead in business phones, according to a new ChangeWave study. An examination of more than 2,000 corporate IT spenders has about 76 percent of all businesses opting for BlackBerries in May, up three percent from the last time the study took place in February; Palm was second place at 17 percent with other competitors filing in the remaining seven percent.

Gphone? Android phones? Is there a difference?

When I asked Google GOOG whether we'd see a Gphone this year, the response was that we would see "Android-based "phones in 2008. Splitting hairs? Maybe. But, in the end, it really doesn't matter, because the recent Android preview was pretty mind boggling.

Late last week, Google held its Google I/O developer's conference, where the Android phone was demonstrated....

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