Not many cell phones are designed to serve up the whole Web. The underlying operating system either doesn't support it, or cellular carriers have limited the access.

But cell phone makers are increasingly indicating that they want to improve the user experience and not just their hardware designs, said Jon von Tetzchner, chief executive of Opera Software ASA, a Norwegian maker of a Web browser that has versions designed for use on mobile devices.

"Apple is lifting expectations on what you can get," von Tetzchner said. "Anyone competing with them will have to match it."

The proof will come once the iPhone gets into users' hands.

The all-touch-screen device, which lacks a button keyboard, will force users to get accustomed to typing messages on a virtual keyboard instead of regular buttons.

The fact that it will be using a slower 2.5-generation network instead of a 3-G network might also hamper the experience of data transfers or Web access, though Gartenberg noted that it's not just the bandwidth that matters, but how well the handset's software is designed to optimize the use of the bandwidth.

Many people are already clamoring for the gadget. More than 1 million people have signed up with Apple and AT&T for more information.

Not everyone will be lining up, though, when the phones are made available Friday at 6 p.m. local time for each time zone.

San Francisco network administrator Scott Buzzard, 31, says he's not tempted to trade in his Motorola Q - a smart phone that the iPhone will be competing with - anytime soon. He says the iPhone's price is too high, and Apple is inexperienced in the cellular market. His biggest worry is the touch screen and the software that underpins it.

"It looks cool and Apple has historically made great products, but the iPhone sounds too robust for its capacity - they're packing too much into a phone," Buzzard said while shopping at the CompUSA store in San Francisco. "I don't want to be the early adopter on an untested product."

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