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iPhone iReports
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Posted July 11, 2008
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San Diego, California
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Break the shackles that limit this awesome product!
Several months ago I purchased an IPhone version 1.0 and I must start by saying the product is very impressive and is only getting better with the 2.0 release (even if for whatever they haven't fixed being able to rotate the screen to type text messages). Where the IPhone gets frustrating is when you start having to deal with Apple, specifically ITunes and of course, AT&T. Everybody has seen the impressive lists of things you can do with an IPhone but here are some of my personal do's and don'ts once you make the one way voyage across the void ... 1. Don't buy a new computer or laptop If you have a lot of music you probably don't have all of it on your IPhone (especially an 8 gig), so at some point you spent half a day patiently building a list of your favourites and syncing them to your IPhone. Now, let's say you buy a new machine which is not an uncommon thing to do. Guess what you now need to do - yes, that's right... you need to do this all over again! Oh, and make sure you backed up all your photo's that were on the phone before the leap because you can't get them out again on the new machine. Software design at it's finest! (Update: There are ways to make this easier, still not for beginners though... http://lifehacker.com/software/itunes/ultranewb--how-to-move-your-itunes-library-to-an-external-drive-238296.php) 2. Do work for a company that pays your phone bill (especially if you use exchange). When the IPhone 2.0 came out today the cost of internet went up $10, but if you are a business user it's an additional $15 to read your work email/calendar. This obviously makes sense because for all of us who's work email is on Exchange our companies are going to pay this for us right? Wrong, this cost just gets passed on to your average Jane/Joe who's company uses exchange. Now lets add on Federal Fees, Utility Fees, State Sales Taxes, City Sales Taxes it's closer to $30 per month more to run IPhone 2.0 and read your work email. It begs the question how they can get away with this, I guess this is what companies can get away with when there is only one service provider - AT&T in this case. 3. Do carry around a spare phone for tethering, or pay twice for 3G on your laptop. Let's just consider that with the IPhone a customer is paying as a "business user", $45 for data plus probably another $20 for text messages (+applicable federal fees, utility fees, state and city sales taxes). Now let's consider a valid use for a modern cellular service, tethering allows one to connect a phone to a laptop when working remotely and use it to connect to the internet. This would make a lot of sense with a 3G phone, and would seem like a something one should be able to do considering they are paying nearly $70 per month for data service. There is only one problem with this, AT&T also sell aircards for laptops to provide 3G service (another $60 per month). I guess the moto over there must be why let somebody pay once for 3G service when we can force them to pay twice. Fortunately in this modern society where we regulate monopolies I can go to another service provider with better ethics right... one can only wait for the day. In summary, this is an amazing product but after only a few months, the business model and practices of AT&T and Apple have left a bitter taste in my mouth. I hope your experiences are better! Happy IPhone Day! Steve
- TAGS:
- apple,
- iphone,
- technology
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