iTWire seems to be under the impression that Apple can't possibly make money by selling $400 phones tied to a single carrier, a carrier that over the life of the first 2-year contract will end up kicking back to Apple another couple hundred dollars or so in shared revenue. They go on to whine about why Vodafone (which they claim is the biggest carrier outside of China) was not used, which contradicts their own thesis that Apple went straight to the big players.
Either they did, or they didn't.
I honestly don't understand what the fuck is the deal with all of this whining about the iPhone from the business press. I own two and the damn things are nearly perfect. The problems that they have are very small, and they are workable. Why would I give a shit about the vendor lock-in if I have been an AT&T customer for over 5 years? I have had the same two numbers from AT&T Wireless to Cingular Blue, then Cingular Orange, then back to the new AT&T. Big fucking deal!
"But what if I don't want AT&T?"
Tough shit. This is not Burger King, you can't have it your way. Nobody forces you to buy an iPhone, there are thousands of cell phones out there, why all this god damn obsession with just one of many in the $400 price range? It's just a stupid phone! A very nice phone, but it is still just a phone!
They go on to whine about the international launch and how they could have sold so many more units and how come so many units did not get activated, etc. Who gives a shit? Unless you are an Apple stock holder, or you own stock in a company that competes with them, why obsess so much with it? It is a non-event.
"But why did they have to pick AT&T first?"
This has been explained over and over. Apple wanted complete control over the phone, which meant that the carrier had to share the risk of developing new systems just for one phone. It is obvious that AT&T was the one that made the cut.
Was that worth it? I don't know, but visual voicemail is excellent. I have hard hearing, and I detest voicemail. People leave me stupid voice mails with garbled phone numbers that end up being a complete waste of time for both of us. We do business together? That means that you have my email address, send me a stupid email, and we can talk on the phone as much as you want me to.
Here's a hasty comparison between my iPhone (1.1.3) and my previous cell phone, a Nokia 6030:
| Feature | iPhone (1.1.3) | Nokia 6030 |
|---|---|---|
| Can use by feel | NO | YES |
| Gigantic touch screen | YES | NO |
| WiFi | YES | NO |
| Surfing the net while not on WiFi doesn't suck ass | YES | NO |
| No need to carry iPod | YES | NO |
| No need to carry digital camera | YES (but the camera in the phone is horrible) | NO |
| Device itself is fast | YES! | NO |
| Easy to enter contacts | YES | NO |
| Easy to enter notes | YES | NO |
| Google Maps | YES | NO |
| Google Maps triangulation | YES | NO |
| Visual Voice Mail | YES | NO |
| Threaded SMS conversations | YES | NO |
| Can change face plates | NO | YES |
| Bluetooth | YES | NO |
| Great variety of third party wired headsets | NO (due to the plug and mike button) | YES |
| No need to ever remind the wife/SO to remember to pick up the stupid cell phone on the way out | YES | NO |
Please notice that this comparison is completely unscientific and very biased. I had to put up with that Nokia piece of shit for almost two years.
I still don't see why people are still freaking out about the impact of the iPhone on Apple's bottom line. They made a killing, to the point that the iPod already made the transition to the iPhone's touch screen style. A year or so from now there won't be any iPod classics left, and all but the shuffle will be fully touch screen.
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