Even Steve Jobs didn't know what he had on his hands when he announced the original iPhone as a combination of a mere "three revolutionary products"--an iPod, a cell phone, and a keyboard-less handheld computer. Once Apple introduced the App Store and opened it up to outside developers, however, the iPhone became capable of serving a rapidly growing number of functions--now more than 350,000 and counting.

But the iPhone has implications far beyond the phone or gadget market. In fact, it's opening the way to what Brian X. Chen calls the "always-on" future, where we are all constantly connected to a global Internet via flexible, incredibly capable gadgets that allow us to do anything, anytime, from anywhere. This has far-reaching implications--both positive and negative--throughout all areas of our lives, opening the door for incredible personal and societal advances while potentially sacrificing both privacy and creative freedom in the process.

Always On is the first book to look at the surprising and expansive significance of Apple's incredibly powerful vertical business model, and the future it portends.

Throughout his career as a professional writer and editor, Brian X. Chen has been recognized for pushing the envelope with aggressive news reporting and sharp social commentary. To wit: a diverse writing repertoire that includes covering Apple and Microsoft as a technology reporter at Wired.com and a former position as associate editor at Macworld.

A new media zealot, Brian enjoys experimenting with cutting-edge web tools to report the news. In August 2008, he led an interactive global study to investigate the iPhone 3G's network problems. The story was wildly successful, attracting 4,000 participants around the world who collectively helped conclude that the iPhone's connection problems were related to AT&T's overloaded 3G network rather than the handset. The study earned Wired.com nominations for awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) and the Online News Association (ONA).

Brian recently completed a book about the always-connected mobile future titled Always On, due for publication June 7, 2011.