iLounge

Apple and AT&T have sent out a mass email with recommended preparation steps for the iPhone. The subject of the announcement reads “Get Ready. iPhone is coming June 29,” while the body lists suggestions for both PC and Mac users on how to get ready for the iPhone. These tips are broken down by sections, “Contacts,” “Calendar,” “Email,” “Photos,” “Music and Video,” and “iTunes Account.” Each section includes a brief description on how it works on the iPhone, and then an explanation of how customers can prepare. Of particular interest, the “iTunes Account” section reveals that an iTunes account will be required to set up the iPhone. Keep reading to see a summary of Apple’s suggestions.

Contacts
Since iPhone takes contact information from existing applications on your computer, Apple recommends using Address Book, Entourage, Outlook, Outlook Express, or Yahoo! Address Book to prepare your contacts for automatic synchronization with iPhone, and suggests you get phone numbers and e-mail addresses up to date. It notes that you can also enter contact information directly into iPhone, as well.

Calendar
iPhone can import events from your current computer provided you use iCal or Entourage on the Mac, or Outlook on your PC, similar to the way it handles contacts. Apple suggests that if you don’t already use one of these applications, you can start right now and be prepared, but that if you choose not to use a Calendar program, you can still enter appointments directly into the iPhone.

Email
If you’re using Mail on a Mac or Outlook on a PC, the iPhone will automatically sync your email account settings through iTunes. Most popular email systems, including Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL, and .Mac Mail, work on the iPhone, as do industry-standard POP and IMAP systems. iPhone will also be able to automatically retrieve your email on a set schedule.

Photos
Along with storing photos taken with its built-in 2-megapixel camera, the iPhone can also display photos synced to the device through iTunes. Photos can be imported from iPhoto on a Mac, or Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop Album, or any picture folder from a PC. While the iPhone can hold thousands of images, Apple suggests creating an album/folder with 50 to 100 of your favorite photos.

Music and Video
iTunes is required to sync your music and video to the iPhone, so if you don’t currently use iTunes, Apple recommends that you download it ahead of time and start a music and video library. It also suggests making a playlist of a few hundred of your favorite songs.

iTunes Account
In order to set up iPhone, you need to have an iTunes account. Apple recommends creating an account ahead of the launch if you don’t have one already, in order to save time. Note that iTunes is required to create an iTunes store account. If you already have an account, double check to make sure you have your account name and password written down and/or memorized.