Some old words of wisdom say imitation is the truest form of appreciation. News last week spoke of a programmer who really appreciates the yet-untouched iPhone. He managed to simulate the behavior and interface of the iPhone on his E-TEN M600 smartphone using Pocket Programming Language (PPL) coding.

This was no ordinary iPhone skin. The simulation was quite convincing and people all over the world rushed to see it on the developer's webpage, getting it suspended (it is currently not available, but try later here).

All cheers until the programmer posted the demonstration video on YouTube. Apple raged as usual and made YouTube remove the video after being available for a couple of days. The programmer's site is currently down, so for now I can't give you a location where to see it, but it should be somewhere on the web.

"I've actually been quite busy developing my very own iPhone interface for the PocketPC. After looking at the functions and interface on the iPhone, I was keen on bringing it over to my Eten M600 PPC. The iPhone interface was practical, looked neat and it was way cooler than any wm5 theme...

Although this looks like an iPhone, it will never be an iPhone. But until it is released in July this year, all we can do is to try and imitate", said the humble yet very skillful programmer. Judging by his words, he might have been one of the first iPhone buyers. Now, he's just wrongfully outlawed for trying to imitate (successfully, I might add) the mighty iPhone.

It's highly likely that this software (or another, just as well) will 'leak' on the web, way before the June launch, for anyone to download and use on PocketPCs. Then YouTube will be filled with demonstrations, to Jobs' delight.

I really don't see why they had to put down the video: it was his device and his software in a short home video demonstration. What wrong does that do Apple (if not free advertising)? Well, their legal team knows best.