Shut Up About the iPhone, Already!

PC Magazine via Yahoo ^ | 6/25/07 | John Dvorak

[Vermonter]

We're not allowed to post any content from PC Magazine here, but Dvorak's column on the iPhone may strike a chord with some here ;-}

Shut Up About the iPhone, Already!

[Star Traveler]

You’re kidding of course — because that’s what the iPhone does with voice mail messages. I suppose you already knew that... LOL!!

[Fawn]

It stores pictures, plays/holds music and has access to the web?

[Aquinasfan]

If they could put your voicemails on a list like your text messages, then let you click on them to open them, erase, fast forward, save, etc.

Vonage does that, but you have to log onto your account on-line.

[Star Traveler]

If Dvorak is against it, I’m usually for it... That guy is useless...

[BigCinBigD]

I have a cell phone. All it does is send and receive calls. I feel so 20th century. :o(

[ken5050]

I feel the same way about Hillary, and Obama, and Reid, and Durbin...

[Aquinasfan]

Ah yes, the iPod. Anybody want to buy one? It's about the mose useless overpriced toy I've ever purchased.

Hook it up to a Soundock and it makes a nice little stereo for a college student or apartment dweller. I don't use my iPod much either.

The same functionality is great in a home stereo/theater system though, when you can use your TV screen to scroll through your entire music collection to select an artist, album or track; or switch to TV running through your sound system. I use this all the time. Didn't play my CDs much before.

[Aquinasfan]

And I still have that original black rotary-dial wall phone on my wall too.

When my folks died years ago, I turned in their old black rotary-dial phone. I think it was made of cast iron plastic. Anyway, they had been leasing the phone for 35 years from Ma Bell. I think they paid about $2k for it. AT&T told me that I had to turn it in at their service center. When I went down there, I asked if I could keep it. They absolutely refused. I couldn't figure that one out.

[NativeSon]

Who would buy a $500 phone and pay $100 a month or more to feed it?

The same people that would kill you for your new sneakers.

And why?

Bad wiring?

[George W. Bush]

The way some PC people get deranged about Apple product reminds me of the way RATS start sputtering and turning colors if the name “Rush Limbaugh” is mentioned in their immediate vicinity.

Sure, just throw gasoline on the fire. You know that Rush uses Mac Pro towers at work with huge displays (four or more per machine) and has Macbook Pro's for mobile. And he will certainly have to have an iPhone too.

[George W. Bush]

AT&T told me that I had to turn it in at their service center. When I went down there, I asked if I could keep it. They absolutely refused. I couldn't figure that one out.

Too durable, never needed repairs unless struck by lightning very directly (because they were designed to withstand bazillions of lightning strikes in above-ground telephone wires on poles in rural America). That's why I keep mine though I use wireless phones usually. Even with underground lines, a hit near the junction boxes can take out the newer phones. They tried to coax us out of these cast-iron wall phones for years but they finally gave in and let us buy these. I have a spare one too (for that matter, I have one of the old dialless party line phones in the basement that belonged to my grandparents). I just love tormenting the under-twenties with this old behemoth wall phone. They look at me like I'm a caveman. LOL.

Also, Bell wanted to sell their own phone lines after the breakup of the monopoly, big profits, more repair fees, etc.

[antiRepublicrat]

with STAMPS on the top right corner ...

Or Green Stamps.

[antiRepublicrat]

The one very real problem with the iPhone in the high-end market is the iPhone’s inability to work with a Microsoft Exchange server.

It can using standard POP and IMAP. When people say it won't work with Exchange, they mean it won't work with Microsoft's proprietary mail protocols.

[Clara Lou]

Now, that’s my question. The answer is: We have a generation of people who need toys at hand all waking hours, the cost be danged.

(I went to Lowe’s for a gallon of custom paint. The young man at the desk was very knowledgeable, but addicted to text messaging. I’ll bet he read and sent text messages 15 times between the time I first spoke to him and the time he gave me my bucket of paint.)

[mvpel]

The list price of the RAZR is around $400-$500, and they sold 50 million of ‘em. It’s a very nice phone, with a lot of nice features that I use every single day. Plus it’s tax-deductible as a business expense.

[mvpel]

I have a cell phone. All it does is send and receive calls. I feel so 20th century. :o(

[Sicon]

OK, almost 100 replies and no one's done it yet. I am happy to oblige:

Behold, the iProduct

[SunkenCiv]

Billthedrill: Ridiculous looking thing - where's the crank? How are you supposed to get aholt of the operator without a crank? Sheesh.

LOL! I'm glad someone talks sense around here. ;')

MediaMole: The one very real problem with the iPhone in the high-end market is the iPhone’s inability to work with a Microsoft Exchange server. That will keep a lot of business users away from the iPhone.

LOL! And some don't.

Had it not been for Apple's run of success, there wouldn't have been cell industry partners to make this idea work. Others have tried over-the-phone web, and it hasn't been accepted (or much worth a damn).

That said, I'm not in Apple's marketing demographic. I have a prepaid phone which lasts four months per dose.

Also, BTW, I've been a fan of Dvorak's since his Infoworld days.

[diverteach]

“It stores pictures, plays/holds music and has access to the web?”

Yep! You forgot GPS mapping, SD memory card slot, touch screen, the works. Only thing is because it’s older, it has a slower processor. The cost was half the price of the iPhone and net access is an additional $20 month.

[Lx]

I was joking.