Yes, it’s sadly true: I had been contemplating getting an iPhone if prices dropped enough. TracFone’s coverage, customer service, and features leave a lot to be desired ... maybe I’m expecting too much from a relatively cheap product, but I don’t think so. Rather, I think that’s part of the problem—by piggybacking on others’ work (cell phones and networks) TracFone doesn’t have as much invested in their brand or name. And for me, some aspects of their operation no longer make sense. Actually, some never did: being forced to keep one’s phone active by buying more airtime is annoying ... and I’m facing that situation again in a few days.
But anyway, the iPhone—Lobo has one and it seems like a very handy tool. But I didn’t need to read any further than this headline for my temptation to evaporate: Apple May Use ‘Nuclear Arsenal’ to Delay IPhone Rival.
Silly me, thinking that their Borg was kinder and gentler than the Microsoft Borg.
No Longer Tempted by the Fruit–Borg
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You might want to
You might want to doublecheck the monthly fees.
You could get a reconditioned iPhone for not too much, but by the time you count data plans and the monthly fees, you're probably looking at between $90 and $150 a month for a basic plan.
And even though I am an Apple guy (and currently writing this on a iMac named MaKai) I am not sure I would use the internet access enough to justify that cost. Granted I am in a rural location and only "go to town" every month or so.
Let me tell you my Tracfone story.
Verizon is the most reliable carrier in my area. I was seriously considering a Treo. I've used a Palm for years and didn't think it would be that difficult. But every time I would look something up, I'd get a different price.
Finally I took advantage of my iMac's wide screen. I fired up two different browsers, went to Verizon's website, and copy-pasted the exact same information between the two windows.
Two different prices.
Twenty minutes later I had a Tracfone from Walmart.
Now it doesn't do everything I want, I'd love Bluetooth and a way to connect it to my computer so I could download selected address information. But as a basic phone, it works well.
I think I paid around fifty bucks for the phone and another fifty for the lifetime double-your-minutes plan. I've replaced the battery on the phone and replaced the plastic case with something a bit more custom. Throw in a wired headset, and I think that was another $60-$75.
With the double-your-minutes thing, I guess I spent about $20-$25 per month on average for the cell phone. I still have a landline too. And I use Google's Grand Central, which should roll out of beta this summer, that's the number I use on my business cards.
The really ironic thing about this is that Tracfone got the number from Verizon and it's piggybacked on Verizon's network. But I was willing to spend much more per month with Verizon than they are getting from me now.
Away from my computer, my handy Palm TX still can find WiFi hotspots that don't cost me anything to use.
I drool over the iPhone, but AT&T's 3G network isn't in my area, so I can't really justify the cost.
Even for a near rabid Apple fan…
Update - forgot to mention, the Bloomberg story quotes Cook out of context.
Here's more of the quote.
Cook:“We are confident with where we are competitively. We’re watching the landscape, we like competition. As long as they don’t rip off our IP, and if they do, we’ll go after anybody that does. I thought that might be your next question, so that’s why I wanted to get that out.”
Question: “Are you referring to Palm when you say ripping off IP?”
Cook: “I’m not talking about any specific company. I’m just making a general statement. We think competition is good, it makes us better. But we will not stand to have our IP ripped off. We will go after them with every weapon at our disposal. I don’t think I can be more clear than that.”
Fees and quotes ...
Thanks, NeoWayland, for your comments. I do have a TracFone, and I also have the lifetime double-your-minutes plan. But I barely use the thing, partly because in the rural areas I frequent, I’m lucky to get a signal. I was thinking that something different would work better—and would offer more features that I would use. But the cost is not a trivial consideration ... Maybe I should consider a Palm or similar thing instead. But I don’t want to need to start carrying a purse or clipping multiple gizmos on my belt.
And it’s precisely that “we will not stand to have our IP ripped off” attitude that soured me on Apple. At the risk of stirring up that contentious issue again, I continue to find the concept of ideas as ownable property unsupportable.
Blood flow
The lovely Sunni sed:
What fun is THAT??? Stiring the blood flow is a gift, not a "risk!" :-)
- NonE
Fun?
Losing friends over it isn’t fun. Been there, done that, have the scars to show for it.
Showing Scarz
I'm not sure that I want to be friends with those who are not open to having their ideas challenged. I can do business with them, but the idea "friend" seems to imply more to me. I have friends with whom I have disagreements, but not friends who require me to think as they do even when I have an articulate reason not to.
Oh. Wait. I DON'T have any friends.
Never mind.
- Emily
Besides...
Some of my most profound changes in mental direction have come from friends (and others) who have had the balls to challenge my beliefs. I respect them for that. And thank them.
I'm currently reading Ekhart Tolle's book, "A New Earth" and am finding the discussion of ego really valuable. I immensely enjoyed "The Power of Now" ages ago when I read it. He and Alan Watts are a pleasure to engage with, for sure.
- NonE
Oh, no ...
Oh, no—not another definitional disagreement! ;-) I have long been mulling the strong possibility that I am too quick to think of someone as a friend; but that wouldn’t apply in this case.
Actually, I don’t disagree with you here, Non; yet I would submit that there are probably circumstances for you that would be less than welcome for a challenge—or perhaps an idea that you aren’t ready to have questioned in the way a friend or acquaintance has put it to you. If I had suspected things would go as they did, I certainly would have chosen a different course. And, amidst all this bramble, individuals themselves change ...
I’m crushed.
There ya go!
I thought you sed you din't have no panache?!?
- NonE ;-)
That counts?
If so, I guess I was wrong. It happens quite a lot, you know.
Check your coverage Sunni
Check your coverage Sunni before committing to anything. AT&T requires a minimum two year contract for the iPhone I think, most of the other carriers have similar requirements for smartphones.
(multiple gizmos on the belt, um, erm, we won't go there right now)
I admit I don't like the intellectual property thing either, but I am willing to cut Apple some slack.
Before the iPhone, it was the cell phone carriers who were dictating the features that the cell phones and smartphones had, often requiring the manufacturers to purposely disable parts of the phone. And the UI's were just terrible.
Oh, just so you know, Palm is pulling out of the PDA business and shifting their entire Treo smartphone line to Windows Mobile. The Palm Pre will have it's own OS, but isn't compatible with anything else Palm has made, including their desktop software.
Welcome to the future.
I'm thinking about buying another TX just in case. But my next PDA may well be an iPod Touch, essentially an iPhone without the phone or camera.
Troglodyte?
So, just because I'm still using my Psion 3a daily, does that mean that there is no hope for me? Or does it instead show just how amazingly advanced I am for a human being?
Inquiring minds want to know.
- NonE
Even though my Palm TX has
Even though my Palm TX has more memory, a card slot, Bluetooth, WiFi, and media capability, it isn't my favorite Palm.
I'd still be using my m515 if it weren't for a battery glitch. That was my second Palm.
One great thing about all the old Palm devices is that the user controlled where the data went and how it got synchronized.
One of the things that really bothers me about the Palm Pre is that it's built to work only with the cloud-type calendars and contacts. That's the default option on the iPhone, but it's not the only option.
I don't want my calendars and contacts to live somewhere I don't control on my own computer.
Now I personally don't care if someone knows I have a doctor's appointment, but I would rather be a little discreet with my rituals. And when it comes to my relationships, well, I am not dating exclusively but it works better if one lady doesn't know exactly what I do and how long it takes with the others.
When it comes to my contacts, it doesn't matter to me if you know who my sex toy supplier is, or where I buy my groceries, but some of my professional and networking contacts have personal information attached to their records. It works great to remind me before I talk to them or write them. If I have to "purge" that information so I can put it on the cloud, what's the point?
Also, there are some of my contacts who would rather people not know that they are friends with a (pick one) naked Pagan libertarian troublemaker.
With the "cloud," you do not know who has access to your data, or even if it's going to be there tomorrow. AOL just dropped their file sharing. Yahoo is undergoing a major seismic shift. LiveJournal just fired a whole bunch of their staff.
Some people are happy sharing their entire lives online. I'm not one of them. I want control of the data because it's MY data. So right now the Palm Pre is not a realistic solution for me.
I don't know how that double
I don't know how that double posted, all I did was wake my computer up.
Deleted now.
I’ve given up.
I frequently get the “I wants” for neat toys, but most times, there’s no “I need” accompanying it. That’s certainly the case here, so I think I’ll muddle through with what I have. Thanks for the helpful reminder!
Maybe a Dell Android will soon join the mix
I am unsure how well one can anticipate costs or capability at this stage, but rumors abound
I would urge to look beyond
I would urge to look beyond the sensationalist headlines and consider the iPhone not for IP issues, but whether the price is right, the device is right, and the coverage is right, for your circumstance. I'm a huge Apple fan. I own several Mac and iPods, but I do not have an iPhone because I do not use my phone enough to justify paying the $$ to buy it plus the monthly rates. However, it is quickly becoming more than a phone. I used it for a few days last month and I really liked the mapping software. That almost seemed worth it for the driving directions alone when in a strange place.
Google now has made 1.5 million books available through the iPhone, and there are several thousand applications for the phone, so it is instead really a computer in your pocket, or purse. But I still can't justify the price based on my current phone usage. Ultimately you expect to pay $2k over the contract lifetime of your iPhone...
As for the fruit-Borg, Apple lives and dies by what it makes, and you will not convince them not to sue when necessary. Apple also is sued all the time by frivolous IP trolls. The "nuclear" comment is something an Apple person would never make, only a journalist. The journalist wants attention, and gets it through this headline.
Anders
Thanks, Anders.
IP issues are part of my general consideration; I know I can’t escape patents and such entirely yet, but I do like to add to the push toward open source. We have three Apple fans in the family, so I hear a lot about how great the company is ... funny thing, though: for all my griping here about my Linux box, it is more stable in some ways than the Macs.
I know that my issues don’t dovetail nicely with Apple’s—nor any corporation for that matter. Still, I do have some choice in the matter of who gets my money, and I try not to waste those opportunities.
Never? I dunno, Anders ... an over-eager, or tired, or careless individual can easily make that kind of “slip”. I know that some journalists have problems with quoting accurately, and that does leave me skeptical about much of what they write, but it is plausible to me that an Apple person could say such a thing.
You're right, "never" is
You're right, "never" is probably too broad a statement since the are over 30k Apple employees now. I would amend that instead to something that the comments Tim Cook made in the earning conference call, the probably source of this story, never once used that term. The journalist or editor who wrote the headline might as well as used the term "get medieval on their tails" and it would have had the same intent, and been as true. You could say they just reinterpreted Cook's strong words. And in the story Cook does lean heavily on IP protection.
I certainly disagree with Apple's DRM stances, and with many so called tech patents that are granted in general. My main gripe with Apple is they over-price hardware. I think Apple in many senses are on shaky ground anyway, as they did not invent multi-touch. However, I recently saw a Blackberry model where the edges and glass screen looked "identical" to the iPhone. Certainly that's deliberate, so it will catch someone's initial eye and make them think it's an iPhone, then perhaps the person will buy the Blackberry based on other features.
And, I'm by no means trying to tell you how to base your buying decisions. Heck, I know I have my own rules when it comes to whether I buy from this or that company. I'm no Apple apologist. I use open source software, and I think Linux rocks. However, I have no experience with Linux, though I use Unix on the Mac when necessary. However, I tried Windows XP. Can't stand it. I just know the ins and out of the Mac hardware and OS. Just as I moved to MySQL the moment I saw what it could do, if Linux is compelling enough I'll switch.
One thing I forgot to say was you need to check your network where you plan to use the iPhone. For example, when I tried the iPhone I tried the Edge, 3G, and wireless connections. If you don't get 3G in your area, you will hate the Edge internet connection. It's slow as molasses. If you have 3G, watch your battery power diminish very quickly. That might not bug people, but it bugged me. I do see more and more people I know switching to iPhones. Some day I may eat my own words...
Anders