The biggest talking point from the list above was the floppy disk drive. I remember the controversy at the time and people saying that the iMac was doomed because of the lack of a floppy disk. The iMac was a run away success and floppy disks died.

Let us fast forward a few years to the end of 2005. Apple now owns the MP3 market with the iPod and its best selling model is the iPod Mini. Apple kills it and introduces the iPod Nano.

Fast-forward again to January 2008 and Blu Ray is declared the winner in the HD disk format war as Toshiba waves the white flag. At the time Steve Jobs says that Blu Ray is the better of the two formats but it is immaterial because downloads are the future, not physical media. Hit the FF button again to October 2008 and at an Apple keynote Jobs describes Blu Ray as "a bag of hurt". Phil Schiller then reminds everyone that you can download HD movies from Apple's iTunes.

To this day Apple doesn't ship a product with a Blu Ray drive. It is possible to attach an external Blu Ray drive via USB or FireWire and you can back up your stuff to Blu Ray disks but you can't play films as Apple is still to integrate the "bag of hurt" into OS X. And I very much doubt they ever will.

As interesting as these stories may be they don't explain why Apple should kill the iPhone. Well Apple are not scared to kill a top performing product when a better one comes along. They are not scared of killing off old and redundant technology and also they are not scared of ignoring a new technology when, despite its popularity, it really is defunct.

The use of voice technology is very popular but it is old hat. Apple has created something far superior in FaceTime. Although FaceTime is WiFi only, various people have got it working over 3G using a MiFi or by cracking Apple's software and making a few modifications. 

Their are problems that American users have with AT&T's network and in the UK O2's network has come in for some stick. In the UK all the major networks (O2, Three, Orange + T-Mobile and Vodaphone) all carry the iPhone. Included in all the packages is voice minutes and text messages as well as capped data.

So why not dump the minutes and texts and go data only. If I want to talk to someone I'll be able to use FaceTime, Skype or some other VIOP solution. 

Apple has already started down this road with the iPad. It can make and receive and calls via VIOP, as can the iPod Touch. The future is data only as it offers more flexibility. When my Skype 'Online Number' is called it can ring on a computer, an iPhone, an iPod Touch or any other device that can run Skype's software. I am not tied to any location or device.

Apple always looks forward and not back. So it is only a matter of time before it kills the 'Phone' in iPhone.