Info request - I have an iPhone?

[Nghtmr9999]

Originally Posted by Bubba

I think the iphone is great. There may be other phones out there but the ease of use and the near invincibility of the phone itself. I say that because I dropped my into the toilet one night, yeah I know. It dried out and my son uses it now after we disinfected it. He had one before the one I gave him that survived a 100 foot fall from a ride at Six Flags.

The ease of use is Apples forte and they pull it into the iphone. Unfortunately they pull the rest of Apple's drawbacks also including the iron fisted policies protecting their property.

But this old fart likes it. I do miss .wav compatability and other formats.

Apple was the trailblazer in teh market, not the first but the most successful. Unlike the PDA market they tried to trailblaze the world was ready for this product. Apple changed the look and feel of the modern phone.

Yup, plus you have to love their app store return policy.

Apple's App store return policy can be summed up in one word... No
It's difficult finding good apps because you see both 5 and 1 star reviews. Annoys me >.<

[Zzyzxx71]

Wanna change the battery? No
Freedom within the app market? No
Complete 100% proprietary nature? Yes

Honestly the iphone has nothing featurewise that other phones have. Ditto for Macs.

More reliable? Not so. The damn things are x86 platform machines now. The days of then running Alpha chips are gone. There's nothing unique about them other than that pretty case.

They made a wizbang interface that's pretty - kudos for originality, but it's just a wrapper.

The biggest thing apple has going for them is a blindly following groupie culture. I work in IT as field engineer (design, maintenance, upgrading, consulting, etc). One constant about Apple users is that 90% of them claim Apple and Apple products are incredibly superior to everything else, but when you ask them to substantiate that statement, they start bumbling like a drunk kid at 3am on prom night.

I'm not claiming that regarding any particular reader/poster here, these are only my observations.

[Bubba]

I work in IT as field engineer (design, maintenance, upgrading, consulting, etc).

And therin lies your problem with understanding why the iphone is great. Less problems and ease of use. You most likely dont undertsnad that most people dont want to tinker with their computers or phones or such. They want it to run and without problems and teh iphone does this admirabilly.

[Zzyzxx71]

Originally Posted by Bubba

I work in IT as field engineer (design, maintenance, upgrading, consulting, etc).

And therin lies your problem with understanding why the iphone is great. Less problems and ease of use. You most likely dont undertsnad that most people dont want to tinker with their computers or phones or such. They want it to run and without problems and teh iphone does this admirabilly.

I understand fully well that most people don't want to tinker, I get paid to do the tinkering for them.

Other platforms operate just as well with the same amount of ease. I know this because I've set them all up. Regardless of what you choose, you still have to do something. most people just want it to "work" with no effort. Sorry, ain't gonna happen. Even with iphones you have to do something. (please refer to aforementioned blind faith in apple with no/little justification as to why).

You wanna talk about a company that has a hell of a racket - look into Blackberry and what they charge for licensing their BES servers. First thing I do at a new client during a review is (if they have an exchange environment) is recommend ditching their blackberries in exchange for activesync devices.

[Tim]

I agree with both sides here. I say sides because the argument I always see is that Apple is good for people not savvy with technology, and those who are savvy recognize all the smoke and shade that Apple devices typically employ.

My stance:

Apple is a shady company employing shady tactics. You think you own your iPhone? Think again. Apple says they are licensing it to you and that you don't own it. They say the second you modify it, license has the power to remove your ability to use it. So you've bought your iPhone. Want to install that fancy cool app your friend created? Think again.

Imagine buying a car, and the second you add new seat cushions, upgrade your stereo, etc., it stops working. How would you act?

Exactly.

Not to mention that Apple is somehow getting away with monopolistic practices that other companies have paid dearly for. Microsoft got burned hard for binding their software and hardwares together. Yet Apple is doing the same thing, stating that this is a requirement for them to offer a "premium" desktop.

I for one am looking forward to Apple getting smashed in several areas: #1 The whole BS that you don't own any Apple product you buy, merely are licensed to use it. #2 Their monopolistic practice of binding software to hardware with an iron fist. #3 Their closed door policy on using all of their products.

But at the same time, Pwnboxer is here to make the users happy (YOU!), and if you fell or the smoke screen and have an iPhone (like I did), then I'll support you by trying to make something cool for the iPhone

[Bubba]

Not to mention that Apple is somehow getting away with monopolistic practices that other companies have paid dearly for. Microsoft got burned hard for binding their software and hardwares together. Yet Apple is doing the same thing, stating that this is a requirement for them to offer a "premium" desktop.

Apple owns both the software and the hardware patents or at least the rights to them, whereas Microsoft doesnt own the hardware. Apple therefore has the rights to its products. The problem Microsoft ran into is that it was using strongarm tactics to make the PC maker to bundle only Microsoft products. And they were making the third party vendors at a disadvantage through their operating system.

IBM used the same tactics in the day when IBM was the PC. Then they lost the patent and the PC morphed into the system we have now.

In addition we must remmeber Microsoft was just another geek operation in someones garage until IBM propped them up. IBM really screwed up by not insisting that Microsoft sell their rights exclsively to IBM .. and Microsoft was hatched. Of course IBM at the time was into mainframes and the lucrative leasing/software/service market that prevailed in 1980 and PC's were just a sideline. Yep the good old days when 64K of ram was king.

So like any manufacturer Apple has all the rights to control its final product. Apple cant really restrict the mods in your iphone. However XBOX recently denied some XBOX modders access to their Live system. Which is their right as it is Apples right to restrict access to their system also.

I guess it all depends on which side of the fence you are on.

[LindlineOLD]

Make something cool for Windows Mobile.

[Tim]

Sorry not enough windows mobile users

[LindlineOLD]

Make something cool for me.

[Tim]

All right guys, thanks all for the information, looks like we do have a lot of iPhone users here!