Last week’s launch of the Apple iPhone may be the start of something big. Certainly for Apple and perhaps for the whole mobile phone industry.

Favourable reviews from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are a strong sign that Steve Jobs has done it again. I'm sure the iPhone will sell out and that Apple has another hit on its hands.

It also signals the end of the first phase of the iPod revolution. Of course the stand alone iPod will continue to evolve, but Apple has beaten the hell out of the high-end music player market and has now set its sights on the much bigger market for phones.

The first iPhone is a high-end, niche product but if they crack it, it may give the company entry into the huge global market for non-smart phones.

The iPhone launch also marks the end of an incredible two-year wave of innovation in gadgets and hardware.

In gaming, the launch of the Nintendo Wii, the Sony PlayStation 3, and the XBox 360 have created a revolution in the major console platforms. Handheld gaming now has the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS (and let us not forget the delightful debacle of the Gizmondo).

Microsoft finally managed to launch its Vista product, providing the software backdrop to what most people will be doing with PCs for the next five years or so.

Televisions have gone flat and HD Ready. Last summer, the market got a huge boost from the transition to HD in Europe. Some of this was driven by World Cup fever, as fans rushed out to buy fancy new TVs to watch the footie on.

There are now some great HD TV screens on the market, and they're priced incredibly cheaply (to the despair of some retailers, who are making almost zero margin on them.)

We've also said goodbye - in retail terms - to the cassette tape and the video tape and two new formats are auditioning for the next generation of HD media - HD DVD and Blu-ray.

So what's next? The current software craze is all about the interest around 3D virtual worlds and it's interesting to see Sony announce plans for a Home platform for the PS3.

Will Steve Jobs combine two significant hype memes and put a Second Life client on to the iPhone? This would certainly fulfill Linden Lab's mission to make its world available on as many platforms as possible, as well as providing the most Google-friendly headline ever: "The iPhone gets a Second Life."

Then all we need is Microsoft to make a virtual world announcement - let's see, um, "Virtual Vistas?" Or, how about "Worlds for Windows"?

Redmond can steal a march on Sony by making it available on the XBox 3360, and the stage is set for a consumer entertainment War of the Worlds, with people porting their avatar from their PC to their handheld games console.

And wouldn't that be fun to watch? If it comes true, you read it here first.

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