Hopefully, unless they are under NDA, Alison might be able to weigh in with a response.

My experience with the PQD Suites may be better than yours, or perhaps my standards are not as high – I don’t expect perfection. When I convert DVD’s I have 2 standards. One is if I have physical possession of the disc, the other is if I do not (like I borrowed my mom’s to copy for her) If I own the disc, I start at a file of about 500mb, because if I’m not happy I can just re do it. For the ones I do for other people, I keep the file size at about 1G, which has pretty impressive results, at least in my opinion.

What I like about the suites is the level of customization available – you can choose your frame rates and audio bit rates so you get just what you want.

If you haven’t tried using it recently, I would check out the free trials (I think they limit you to like 5 minutes) but that should give you enough time to see if it will live up to your standards.

I think that Quicktime Pro also has some options for converting into the Apple formats, but since I am satisfied with what I currently use I have never checked it out, but you may want to take a run at that as well and see if it may meet your needs better.

Also, iPod Lounge put up an article describing an email that AT&T/Apple sent out http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/apple-sends-out-get-ready-iphone-email/
that describes the compatibility with Outlook for contacts and email. Since most PDA’s sync with Outlook, it “should” be a matter of syncing the mobile device first, then the iPhone to get your contacts and email.

That may help you develop some additional questions when you get your chance, but I suspect that it’s gonna be one of those “hands on” learning curves, since it a whole new approach to a phone device.

I personally want to know if the Astraware catalog of games will be able to work on the iPhone, since they account for the majority of the games I play on my mobile devices.

For free options, there is Jodix or Videora, although they take longer and can sometimes covert the audio and video out of sync, which can be quite frustrating.

My TV To Go also has an option to convert your MS-DVR format recorded shows from Media Center into an iPod/iPhone friendly format. The interface is simple, and easy to use, and it works very well.

I’m sure there are other options as well, but these are the ones I know off the top of my head. I have used them all, and am speaking only for my own experiences.

I’d really like to know about the eBooks as well, but I imagine that will come down to one of the 3rd party apps that will be developed for anything beyond simple text files.

It would be interesting to combine my smartphone and iPod, since I rarely leave the house without both of them. So far, I’m drooling over the shiny, but not quite ready to make the leap at the end of the month – until I see some objective reviews and hear more about the drawbacks of the device. Besides, I’ve yet to give up my old Samsung i600 clamshell smartphone, because it has nearly everything I want in a smartphone, except bluetooth. But, since it’s primary function is as a phone and secondary function is to allow me to read ebooks, it does everything I need it to do. Besides, I would feel funny holding my my iPod to talk into it.

I’ll look forward to hearing your impressions – and reading the answers to the questions you have!