The iPhone is supposed to be the "first widescreen iPod" and iPods generally require iTunes. Taking that last step and requiring an iTunes account, even though you might not ever intend to purchase any media, is really the only move for Apple. Why would they want to reinvent the shopping cart / checkout wheel that they already have? Why would they spend the time to build a separate website to authenticate iPhones? It only makes sense in the iTunes interface where the phone is already registered.
For that matter, why won't iPhone apps be selected and installed through iTunes as well just as games are for the iPod now? Taking it one step further, why couldn't there be an iPhone apps gallery in iTunes that anyone can post to just as there is a podcast gallery that anyone can post to? There could even be a migration path to a paid iPhone app marketplace right there as well.
What other choice does Apple realistically have?
I am growing really tired of all the iPhone whining in the press.
First, there's the issue of price. They really slurped up Balmer's kool-aid on that one. There are plenty of expensive smart phones out there - even some that run MSFT's own code. By reading the press, however, you'd think Apple is the ONLY expensive phone and the MOST expensive phone.
Second, there's the whingeing about iPhone service being only available by one carrier. There is no understanding at all that Apple had to toss Cingular a bone in order to obtain all the concessions that they were able to. Nevermind the fact that there is cost and risk involved in creating a new voicemail infrastructure and that Cingular/AT&T would hope to recoup that cost by locking customers in for two years. Do people honestly believe that Cingular/AT&T would change business plans and invest money in a product that could be carried by their competitors?
Third, there is all the complaining in the tech press about the iPhone being a closed platform. As if Apple will fail simply because they do not allow third party developers. The thing is an iPod with a phone, boys. It's going to sell even if for that. Personally, I am glad that Apple has security in mind from the ground up. I can think of another company that would have done things differently and had a brand new platform for phishing attacks and botnets... Although Apple's Safari SDK hasn't gone over too well, already apps have appeared for the iPhone utilizing Safari and the web. It will not be too long before the complainers will need to scrabble to keep up with the onslaught of iPhone web apps that will be coming this summer.
Lastly, there was that ludicrous furor over the DRM free song owner tags. This was a tempest in a teapot as far as I was concerned. iTunes has always tagged purchased songs with the user name and email. This hypothetical panic over having ones iPod stolen and being harvested for personal data is not only laughable but disingenuous. That personal data was ALWAYS harvestable.
Honestly, there has been far too much complaining in the blogosphere and tech press. Too much doom pandering. I would say it makes me want to buy an iPhone just to spite them, but I was going to buy one anyway. 
Good Grief! The most obvious and somehow overlooked reason for needing iTunes is to ACTUALLY PUT CONTENT ON THE PHONE! Steve Jobs said it from day one- if you know how to use iTunes and an iPod, you will know how to use iPhone. All content is synced to the phone via iTunes- music, videos, contacts.
I should add (since the closing sentence was deleted without me noticing) that this fear of data harvesting on DRM free tracks is preposterous. Nevermind that spammers have better things to do than steal iPods looking for new email addresses, muggers have better things to do than harvest a name and an email address one iPod at a time. It really is quite a silly hullabaloo.
Commenting by HaloScan
