Steve Jobs admitted that he’s nervous about the iPhone launch and has butterflies in his stomach, according to USA Today on Friday.

"We wanted to make a phone so great, you couldn’t imagine going anywhere without it," Jobs told USA Today on Thursday. "That was our goal, and we think we achieved it. That’s why we have such butterflies in our stomach. We get to see Friday if people agree with us."

Asked why the iPhone has taken the country by storm, Mr. Jobs said, "Mobile devices are really important to people. It’s not like this is an obscure product category that affects just a small part of the population. People have seen in the demos and our ads something they instantly know they can figure out to use. People throw technology at us constantly, and most of us say ’I don’t have time to figure that out.’ Most of us have experiences with our current mobile phones and can’t figure them out."

Some have wondered why Apple chose 6:00 PM on a Friday night to make the iPhone available. Mr. Jobs explained: "It seemed like a good time. People are off work. It’s a time that’s democratic. It’s still light out. Everybody is available at that time. We didn’t want people to have to take time off from work. We wanted everybody to have the same chance."

Mr. Jobs also weighed in on the EDGE network issue. "EDGE will be faster than people have read in the reviews. Some of the criticism of EDGE is more theoretical. Blackberrys use EDGE, and in many cases is slower, because our software is better." Randall Stephenson of AT&T agreed, adding: "I carry a 3G phone and the iPhone, and in terms of the general experience, it’s comparable. I’m not concerned."

Mr. Jobs and Stephenson answered many other intriguing questions. The upshot is that if Apple and AT&T run out of the iPhones, they’ll scramble to make more. Customers will have to wait, and then come back later. (No rain checks.) On the other hand, maybe a complete sellout on iDay One isn’t so bad. It would calm those butterflies.