Dr. Marty Cooper, inventor of the mobile phone, likes the iPhone

Engineer and all-round-nice-guy Marty Cooper told some gathered reporters and industry folks that he likes the iPhone… and Samsung and Motorola phones, but for different reasons. He did, however agree that it’s not as good as everyone says but he does enjoy using it.

He was talking about the future of mobile and his point was fairly simple: have faith. Things can and will get better with better and easier access to high-speed data over the air and a potential 10-fold decrease in prices. As he pointed out, the only way to make networked mobile gaming as popular as something like World of Warcraft is to offer gamers 1 gigabyte of data transfer a month for something like $10 — something you’d be hard-pressed to offer right now. With the introduction of open platforms and the eventually movement away from handset and to “networked tool,” he sees true non-voice-centric mobile networking as a true and potent force for change.

And just to remind you: he liked the iPhone. Take that, haters!