Posted on 08/08/2009 7:48:34 PM PDT by Swordmaker

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i am writng this post with my jailbroken iphone - runs the Google app no problemo...
Could turn into a “common carrier” issue: if AT&T is supposed to carry ANY phone conversation without regard to content, and “content” now includes data from user-chosen applications, does AT&T have any right to decide which applications may use their network? and does that right extrapolate to their partner who makes the hardware and tightly regulates the application market?
I’m thinking a creative lawyer should be able to smack down App Store restrictions: the only suppressed apps should be ones that demonstrably & technically harm the network. So long as Apple & AT&T have such a tight relationship (as to allow the latter to dictate app acceptance parameters to the former), ipso facto AT&T has no right to tell Apple to refuse apps (say, Google Voice), and so long as Apple rides the “common carrier” bandwagon they have no business limiting apps discernible only by nuanced content (vs. abusive network behavior).
 It's not a matter of the app not being able to run, it will. It's a legal matter over what Apple's contract with AT&T says they have to do with telecommunications apps.

 I'm inclined to agree with your assessment.
As I understand it, Apple has approximately 3% of the overall cellular phone handset market... but they have about 29% of the US Smart Phone Market and about 10% of the Worldwide Smart Phone Market.
 In the overall Cellular phone market, worldwide, the iPhone is still in the "Others" wedgie.
The iPhone being shackled to AT&T is the main reason I dont have one.
I was with AT&T a few years ago and got fed up with the spotty coverage in the areas I lived and traveled.
 I have never read a good explanation of Apples partnership with AT&T. I find it hard to understand Apples limiting their market share in this way.
Get a life!!
Could turn into a common carrier issue: if AT&T is supposed to carry ANY phone conversation without regard to content, and content now includes data from user-chosen applications, does AT&T have any right to decide which applications may use their network? and does that right extrapolate to their partner who makes the hardware and tightly regulates the application market?This could be fought, too, on AT&T's side by requiring regression compatibility testing (and charging developers for same) for 'foreign' apps.
And, I don't blame them. It is after all AT&T's * network infrastructure, backhaul facilities and switching systems.
 *Or leased
The iPhone is useless for texting. The virtual keyboard is impossible to use, so error prone. Perhaps a chick with small fingers can master it.
I have never read a good explanation of Apples partnership with AT&T. I find it hard to understand Apples limiting their market share in this way.And I wouldn't think that: a) the technology, e.g. any special requirements for remote updating of the iPhone's core operating firmware (STRTA OTA programming)
b) the need by Apple to spend resources to 'interface' with more than one carrier would have anything to do with it ...
 /sarc
I read recently that iPhones are responsible for over 70 percent of the bandwith consumed on the cellular network.
It took me about 3 days to get used to the keyboard, but since then, no problems. I do not have dainty fingers, much to my chagrin.
My only issue with my phone is that it is much slower since the big update last month. =(
As an Associate Editor of Reason Magazine, I suspect he has one.
I have found that the iPhone is an excellent tool to USE in my life. You should try one.
Last year, my iPhone saved me $2500 by finding an alternative source at a far lower price for a necessary product that I had little time to research or opportunity to shop for when it was absolutely necessary to buy it.
 In the year since that happened, it has saved me money at least once a week, although not on that level. That is priceless utility well worth the cost of the iPhone and AT&T service.
The explanation is quite simple. Apple required specific equipment additions and changes in software be made to the cellular network to support the iPhone's features, such as visual voice mail. Apple approached Verizon about making such changes and was told by Verizon to take a hike... handset makers Verizon claimed should know their place. In addition, Verizon insisted on being able to sell the iPhone's features only ala-carte... so much money for visual voice mail, so much for each email, tiered pricing on data usage, you want You-Tube connectivity? It will cost you extra. Internet access? More money. With those demands, Apple went elsewhere.
 AT&T agreed to do it and to sell the iPhone features as a package deal. AT&T invested over a billion dollars in upgrading their network for the iPhone features.
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