Anyone getting an iPhone?

[plarval]

I'm a gadget guy and would love to have one, but financially I just can't get myself to spend that much. It looks pretty sweet though. Hopefully version 2 will work out the bugs, hold more music and somehow get cheaper. I still drool whenever those commercials come on though. Who would have thought in this day and age of technology a cell phone could get people this riled up?

[JoeyGee]

I'm a computer guy, and I do like technology, but I have never really been a gotta have it gadget guy. I remember back in the early/late 90's I worked with two guys who would get SO amped up every time a new Intel chip would come out. They would go the minute it was released and paid HUNDREDS for each one just to have the latest. If they waited a month, they would have saved a ton. A month or two later, they did the same thing for the next speed. And then repeated it many times.

The iPhone is just the latest in the "gotta have it". Wait long enough and the same features will be available everywhere for much cheaper. Tehnology just multiplies the money wasted on fads astronomically.

Of course, this comes from a guy typing on a 9 year old IBM ThinkPad 600e and using a work issued POS cell phone--which if it wasn't for work, I wouldn't even own a cell phone. I DO remember a time when we all didn't NEED one.

I'm not saying the OP said he NEEDS an iPhone, but I was on a roll

[Hellrazor]

I'll keep my cheap phone I got for "free".

[LinuxRandal]

What is a cell phone?








A device that would allow work to get ahold of me WAY too easy!
I'll stick with a $22 land line.

[leehljp]

What is a cell phone?


A device that would allow work to get ahold of me WAY too easy!
I'll stick with a $22 land line.

That is called WISDOM!

[prlundberg]

Not available in much of MN or anywhere in ND. No AT&T wireless in these parts.

The only thing groundbreaking about the iPhone is the marketing campaign. They even stole the name.

I must be getting grumpier as I get older. But lately I haven't been a big fan of Apple business practices.

Phil

[radhak]

This sums up what i feel will end up happening :

[scorrpio]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4VieMjZYfI

P.S. Once it holds 30+ GB, is offered on Verizon's network, has a slide out keyboard, and costs 2x less, I might consider it.

[Russianwolf]

touch screen dialing = scratched and smeared (facial oils and make-up) lcd, and lady's better trim those nails.

$500+50/month = VERY expensive

Features are nothing new. Look at the N80 from Nokia and a couple others out there that offer about the same. For less too.

Note: I still don't have an i-pod and never will.

[TheRic]

Many cell phones don't work around here. We are in a dead zone. Can go about 10 miles in any direction then your fine. Needless to say I don't have a cell phone, or do I want one.

I agree it's more hype than anything else.

[Anna]

I wish the naysayers would at least read the reviews (here, here and here) if not actually get their hands on the actual product before they say anything.

I know there's a lot of hype, but Apple hardly did anything, unless keeping things a secret is somehow orchestrating something. It's the media and the fans who are all agog about it. Apple announced the product in January, showed a couple of TV spots including the one during the Oscars, then nothing for almost 6 months. Their new TV ads only started showing a few weeks ago.

By the way, some AT&T customers have noticed they're getting up to 200 kbps on the EDGE network yesterday after a network system upgrade by AT&T. Of course it could be mass hallucination fomented by the highly-vaunted Apple marketing machine.

As for the price, equivalent data+talk systems at other companies cost upwards of $80 per month. THAT subsidizes the handset. With the iPhone, $59.99 gets you unlimited data, 450 talk minutes, unlimited night and weekends and mobile-to-mobile, and 200 SMS. I think that's probably going to end up cheaper over two years than the Nokia N90 or most of the other smartphone deals before the iPhone.

Anna

P.S. You had me crawling out of the woodwork (almost literally) because, well, as an Apple fangirl, I just had to reply.

P.P.S . In response to the original poster, I'm not getting one yet. As a relatively long-time Apple consumer, I've learned (the hard way) NEVER to buy version 1.0 of anything from Apple. They're usually good coming out the gate, but in 3 or 4 months, especially this close to Christmas and start of school, they'll come up with the next version that is faster, cheaper, and better.

[Mrs. Wallnut]

With the retail value between $500 and $600. I don't think that I will be getting one, any time at all because I don't use all those fancy things.

[gsmittle]

A fanboy here....

+1 on what Anna said! I just got a "free" RAZR when I renewed my contract this month, so no iPhone for me.

I love the technology, but right now it's too expensive and the wrong carrier for me.... but it looks WAY cool....

So the short answer is: when my contract is up in '09, I'll take another look....

g.

[Tom Miller]

I know there's a lot of hype, but Apple hardly did anything, unless keeping things a secret is somehow orchestrating something.

Yeah, they probably don't even have a marketing dept. ("All they did was put a spark on some tinder...") But, I agree that the pricing isn't at all exorbitant, at least when you compare it to other wireless internet access plans.

I'm a self-confessed gadget freak -- not for every last gadget that comes out, but when I find one that works for me I go all in.

I finally broke down and bought an iPod nano last weekend, after hearing there's a radio accessory for it. I likes my NPR on the weekends, and I've become a big fan of the podcasts lately. 'Til then, I'd been using my Palm for listening to my recorded music and podcasts, but it seems too fragile for using while doing my chores.

If I had need for wireless internet, though, I'd have it by now. But, I don't have any need for it, so can't imagine paying that kind of monthly rate.

Regards,
Tom

[Anna]

Yeah, they probably don't even have a marketing dept. ("All they did was put a spark on some tinder...")

Heh. I didn't say they don't market their products well. I was really commenting on the runaway hype. When a company hypes something actively, they generally fall flat on their faces big time. Origami, anyone? How about the Segway?

I generally do not buy stuff because it's popular (hey, I use Macs! What with the 5% market share and all ). I was pretty late in the iPod game, too. I was not a big portable music user. I got an iPod for Christmas two years ago, though, and it was just amazing. And I agree with the podcasts. And vidcasts. I also bought some TV episodes on iTunes that I watch on the iPod or on my computer. I've been wanting an Apple TV for a while now, but I'm holding out for a DVR addition to it.

With wireless internet, we're already paying more than the iPhone plans but we never use our cel's internet functions because, well, they suck. I think that experience will probably change with the iPhone which also uses wifi, and it's supposed to switch to wifi seamlessly (the ones you've connected to before) when you are roaming.

When the country has more wifi hotspots, especially on the municipality level, I can easily see the utility of the iPhone. Not so easy lugging around a 15-inch powerbook, but an iPhone or TabletMac would be just perfect.

Anna

P.S. One more link that discusses pretty much what I said in the previous post.