Tech media turns on Apple: Will iPhone, Mac suffer?

Source: Daily Finance

In a heavily commented post on his blog, TechCrunch, uber blogger Michael Arrington updated the world on how he ditched his iPhone and ported his cell phone number to become a GoogleVoice number. His rationale? He was sick of AT&T's (T) bad coverage and sick of Apple's (AAPL) heavy-handed restrictions on iPhone apps. Earlier this weekend, Jason Calacanis, Mahalo.com founder (and also former CEO of Weblogs Inc., which AOL purchased), wrote a strong anti-Apple manifesto on his semi-regular email newsletter. The newsletter reaches thousands of techno-fiends who follow Calacanis avidly.

Add to them GigaOm founder Om Malik, who ditched his iPhone last February and The New York Times' David Pogue, a true Apple lover, and we seem to have a budding rebellion among elite tech journalists against Apple. That's very bad news for Steve Jobs and company....

Uncomfortable questions for Apple, such as, why can't I tether my iPhone to use it as a data modem when other AT&T mobile data subscribers using other handsets can tether? Why is Apple preventing me from making VoIP calls on my phone by shutting out Google Voice? Why must I receive Apple's approval to put an app on my iPhone?

These questions will lead to discussions of other issues that will also work against Apple in the near or mid-term future. iPhone software is written in Objective C is a language that is very difficult to use for other types of software programming. It's hard to port into other programs and it makes developing for iPhone apps expensive. As handsets truly become replacements for PCs, then forcing software houses to develop two sets of code for a PC and an iPhone starts to be very unwieldy....



Read more: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/08/11/tech-media-turns-on-apple-will-iphone-mac-suffer/

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They pretty much nailed my grievances with my iPhone.

Even if I could get over my intense disdain for AT&T

until I read this.

http://calacanis.com/2009/08/08/the-case-against-apple-in-five-parts/

I used to have a Palm Treo with Sprint.

I could use the Treo as a modem for my laptop, watch video from my TiVo using Slingbox player, and use as much internet as I liked for for rates much lower than AT&T.

You couldn't take the phone outta the country, though. Only downside to Sprint.

I hope the government's scrutiny of these cellphone exclusivity deals yields something:

"Deals between cell phone makers and carriers come under scrutiny

Regulators in Washington appear to be drawing a bead on one of the more frustrating features of the cell-phone business: The exclusive deals that tie certain cell phone models to a particular carrier, such as the one that makes Apple's iPhone available only through AT&T.

The Federal Communications Commission has said it will explore the issue, and a congressional committee held hearings on it last month. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Justice Department has opened an initial review of the telecom industry that could explore whether those exclusive deals violate antitrust laws."

http://www.mercurynews.com/apple/ci_12764874

So I presume from all of these articles, no one considers Palm's Pre as a significant factor in these battles.

I work for an AT&T retailer, Apple will not let us sell iPhones because we are not a corporate store, causing us to miss out on alot of money. The iPhone will not picture message, you have to use email, the most basic crappy phones will do this. It will not file transfer using bluetooth and will not use many bluetooth headsets. Having said this I have an iPhone I use as a personal internet music fun device, I like it but it is dumb how much they limit it. Considering jailbreaking it so I can see what it can do.

* Microsoft has no standards control; the result being "DLL Hell", amongst other application incompatibilities, but Windows itself is such a slop-job that all the control MS would ever dare administer wouldn't work either...

By the time their iPhone came to europe... it was behind.
Every phone here with a camera, has 2, one face forward for Video chatting
Every phone here already does what the iPhone does for about 5 years now - sony came out with the Walkman phone first.
nearly all other touch phones are better as far as touch functions, and all cameras on modern phones are larger.
ALL phones (with cameras) have removable/easily upgradeable memory cards. Most use SDHS micro now (mine does)

All other phones have the very basic PICK UP and HANG UP buttons, that are pretty much necessary to have a phone.

the iPhone is behind the times, too expensive, too slow, too limited, and too kitchy!

that said it's doing very well here anyway, because it's Apple.

But because of European law, apple M U S T sell it stand alone, so that you can change the SIM and go with another carrier is you want.

apple was N O T happy about that :)

oh well. I have a Sony Xperia. Very happy with it, love the keyboard. I'm a large guy so a brick doesn't bother me. I'm hoping to get a Nokia when my contract is up (but that's another year off LOL). I am totally done with WinCE.

At least the iphone doesn't crash as much... well that I know of. But I'm glad I have easy access to my battery if I need.

I came from Windows Mobile -- while the iPhone isn't perfect either:

1. Battery life is better
2. It's MUCH faster
3. No hassles with mail tethering
4. How many people use the camera?

I do miss my AT&T Tilt's keyboard, no argument there... but that's the ONLY thing I miss.

Five years lead on the iPhone? Well, it depends which part of the spec sheet
you read. doesn't it?

Camera? Well, if you want megaoixels, you're right: At 3.2 Megapixels, Apple
is behind (compared to 5 or 8 for other phones). But if you want a nice, well-
balanced sensor with good low light performance and that rather-cool "auto
focus on *THIS* area" feature, well, then Apple's Camera doesn't look so bad.

Processor? Apple's processor chip is *MUCH* faster than Nokia's just-
announced "flagship" N97. And it has twice as much RAM memory. All three
generations of the iPhone have had hardware graphics acceleration, a trick
Nokia *STILL* hasn't learned for any of its smartphones.

And about that front-facing camera... Have you ever actually *USED* it in
any meaningful way? On all my Nokia phones, I've *NEVER* had a reason to
use that particular cost item. Someday, video calling may be a practical use,
but that day definitely isn't here yet.

Flash ROM? Well, if you add the optional MicroSD card, Nokia's flagship wins,
but otherwise, it's a tie.

User interface? Does anyone actually like the S60 touch interface? The reviewers
all seem to uniformly dislike it. Versus everybody who isn't somebody else's
partisan likes the iPhone UI. (Palm OS may be the most serious competition.)

The iPhone is the product all the other vendors wish they had. And this quarter,
in the United States, Apple will pass Nokia in overall phone market share.

Tesha

I'm getting ready to ditch my Treo, I like the iPhone type interface and all the apps but I'm hearing more and more downsides about it (particularly the lack of tethering and cost issues).

also the new palm hand-held looks pretty cool too but doesn't have all the apps that the iPhone and gPhone have but it is still brand new.

Android and the Palm OS look like the only serious contenders against
the iPhone in the future.

Tesha

had the iPhone, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

"Verizon rejected Apple iPhone deal

NEW YORK — Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. cellphone carrier, passed on the chance to be the exclusive distributor of the iPhone almost two years ago, balking at Apple's rich financial terms and other demands.

Among other things, Apple wanted a percentage of the monthly cellphone fees, say over how and where iPhones could be sold and control of the relationship with iPhone customers, said Jim Gerace, a Verizon Wireless vice president. "We said no. We have nothing bad to say about the Apple iPhone. We just couldn't reach a deal that was mutually beneficial."

Verizon's decision to pull the plug on talks sent Apple into the waiting arms of Cingular, which will be the exclusive U.S. carrier for the iPhone. "

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-01-28-verizon-iphone_x.htm

They'd take a deal now - the iPhone is a cash cow for ATT.

I have the same complaint's however, the positives still heavily out weigh the negatives. And since this is essentially a pocket computer if there ever was a must have feature for me I could always unlock the phone to do with it as I please.

Also, this platform is so new and still evolving, who's to say these current complaints will still exists in a year or 2?

As far as writing apps for it (or any platform nowadays and going forward) I recommend doing it in the www languages which are easily ported and supported by most platforms today and will totally dominate all platforms in the future.

True, some geeks will be turned off to the platform but this product isn't aimed at geeks, it is aimed at the common user and they have really done an amazing job thus far in providing a pocket computer that is easy to use and gives you a great experience.

I predict that apple will continue to see strong growth from the overwhelming positive experience it provides from it's handhelds to it's desktops and laptops.

1 mans opinion, true, but is this really LBN material here?

I don't have an iPhone, but I have an iPod Touch, and it has easily the best touch screen I've ever used. I'm reluctant to spring for an iPhone, particularly given Apple's control of apps, but I'd find it hard to settle for something with an inferior touch screen.

avoid the AT&T Fuze. Even if the new ROM (from May 2009) is installed, it's slow. Appallingly slow. And STILL buggy. Their predecessor, the Tilt, was rather better... :(

is failing left, right, and center, and is too stupid to realize why it is failing?

Apple's credibility with developers is in freefall, as much over the opaque and capricious approval process for the App store as over weirdness to do with tethering or their decision to block Google Voice.

Will iphone, mac suffer?