Submitted by “A year ago, page after page of ink was spilled by prophets of doom fretting about the iPhone and how it would surely not be as good as this or that other phone. Were they right or did the first year of the iPhone live up to its hype?“
“A year ago, page after page of ink was spilled by prophets of doom fretting about the iPhone and how it would surely not be as good as this or that other phone. Were they right or did the first year of the iPhone live up to its hype?“
I think, the most part, it lived up to the hype. Before the iPhone, most phones were terrible. It wasn’t necessarily the hardware that was terrible (Razr was an incredibly well designed phone, although Motorola for the most part haven’t been able to pull off again), it was the software. Nokia probably had the best phone software. Windows Mobile was pretty bad. It would crash, you’d need the stylus, and doing things on it was just painful.
iPhone changed the game. It certainly wasn’t perfect. It was limited, but what it did do, it did exceptionally well. From visual voice mail to browsing (although the Edge network was painful), it was light years ahead of the other guys.
It was so well done, that it made one almost mad that the other companies hadn’t pulled this off.
Even if you hate the very idea of the iPhone, and will never buy one, it’s existence in the market has spurred the competitors off their collective asses. A slew of new phones come out that aren’t necessarily imitators of the iPhone, but they were developed to compete at the level of the iPhone. Which is a pretty high bar.
I love my iPhone. The software is great, visual voicemail is amazing, and it’s a well designed piece of hardware (I trained for a marathon with it, including a couple of spills on concrete). Perfect, no. Great, yes. Insanely great? Perhaps.
I found out it wasn’t about what the features are but how easy it was to use them.
I had a lot of the same features on my old phone. However I never used them much as they were to much of a hassle (and my old Phone was a G3 phone) But the iPhone things were layed out more natural making it easy me to check Email and browse the web.
As well the Google Maps saved my butt a few times already. (I had google maps on my old phone however it was clunky to use and I would rather get very lost until I Decide to use it.
As the article said it isn’t what it couldn’t do but what it does do. If the iPhone doesn’t do what you want it to do then it isn’t really for you. The only feature I would like is an SSH Client for it. But still that is a feature I would only use once every couple months.
Tethering
At&T plan prices
$80/mo for a phone? HUH? and thats only 450 minutes _without_ unlimited nights and weekends.
If you’re going to charge me that kinda money I need to use it as a full fledged internet that my router can use and serve to my desktop and laptop when at home. Then Id pay it.
I’m probably going to get a pay as you go phone and save a few grand lol
Edited 2008-07-02 18:24 UTC
I’m sorry, I am tired of hearing people whine about the cost of the iPhone plans.
The new plans announced by AT&T for the iPhone are now EXACTLY THE SAME as all other subsidized phone plans they have.
Up to now, iPhone 1.0 people were getting a price break on data and SMS usage every month as they had paid for non-subsidized phones. That’s now over.
Since the iPhone 3G is a subsidized phone, you now get to pay what every other AT&T subscriber already pays.
These are not ‘price increases’, they are ‘Ending AT&T’s subsidy pricing’
All I know is I went down to the At&T store and asked them if they had a booklet on the new Iphone. He said they didn’t have them yet but they have the old ones and handed me the pamphlet. He said the plans were basically the same but add $20 to the plan.
The Pamphlet in my hand reads:
450 anytime minutes
5000 nights and weekends
Additional minutes .45 cents a minuite <– lol
per month $59.99
After $20 the employee told me to add that brings it to $79 right?
I dont care if all phones are $20 more in a week. what I do think is messed up is we’re going to be paying a total of 2100-2300 over two years plus taxes. To what check e-mail on the way home from work? or to get GPS directions 5 times a year?
I understand this fits a certain market of people but the rest of us should be scoffing at cell phone pricing. And really take a look at what stupid suckers we are.
Edited 2008-07-02 19:45 UTC
Your math isn’t wrong, but compared to Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and other smart phones, the pricings are very similar. Arguably, you get a better deal with the iPhone as the technology is so much better, for the same price.
I don’t know where you got those prices. AT&T’s 450 minute plan is $39.95 a month. Add $20 to get $59.95 with the data plan. For the new phone, it would instead be $69.95.
Before I switched to AT&T and the iPhone, I had an HTC T-Mobile Windows Mobile 5 phone. It was the same slow EDGE network as I have now with AT&T, and the price I payed was about $100 a month for unlimited data and about 900 minutes of talk time (I think weekends were unlimited).
I pay about the same for my iPhone for a similar plan, and the iPhone is light years ahead of the HTC. I mean, I never want to see a stylus again. Also, while AT&T isn’t quite Verizon when it comes to coverage, it’s a lot better then T-Mobile, at least in Brooklyn.
I chose the 900 minutes as the iPhone is my *only* phone. Home, travel, and business.
So price wise, it’s about the same as other carriers with their smart phones.
… it’s a pain to use?? I had a string of “good” phones from Verizon. Every one of them had the same problem – contorted routes to get to the application you wanted. People that whine about the price of the iPhone are just that – WHINERS. They’ll settle for a phone that’s a P.I.A. to use just so they have something to brag about. They’re the same group that whines that Macs cost too much, while they put up with Window’s problems. Everyone likes to save money – it usually makes you feel good about what you bought. But what good is it if you have to struggle to use it? I never used much more than the basic “dial the number” on any of my old cell phones because jt just wasn’t easy enough, let alone “fun” to get to the additional functions on them – and I could never remember the PIN to my voice mail. Now along comes Apple and somebody there actually asks “why??” instead of being a lemming and doing things the same as all the other cell phones. Now, suddenly I can get voicemail, add contacts, surf, etc, etc and it’s actually FUN to do – what a concept!! Yeah, my last cell phone was cheaper – but so are two tin cans and some string. Winers, get a life!
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Where I live (France), I can have a N95 for €29 with a 2 year phone contract at €9.9 per month with unlimited data.
There is no iPhone for less than €299, subsidized.
Exclusive contracts with one carrier are illegal here. I wonder if that has anything to do with the exhorbitive price of the iPhone, or if the transport cost that much (oil price?).
It looks cool and all, but I’ll never buy a phone at €299 that does less than a €29 phone, even if it looks better.
It gets a lot of hype here as well, mainly because of ads and a lot of people buy it simply to look cool. I don’t get those people. To me, this is not an overpriced toy that you use to impress the girls, but a trap to ruin the bank account of the fools.
Edited 2008-07-04 14:55 UTC
I think you may radically over-estimate the number of people who buy phones to impress girls, look cool, follow fads, etc. I’ve known some shallow people, but I don’t know anyone *that* shallow. I buy a phone because it works well, is a pleasure (instead of a pain) to interact with, is sturdy, portable, and fits well into my life.
My iPhone fits all that for me. And I think it does for a lot of other people as well.