Comments on: Where Does Apple Get Off?

By: Dee

Dee — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:59:44 +0000

To ScienceGeek: this is because Australia has a lower population and government regulation on telcos. America doesn't have regulation, and has a higher number of telcos as a result. I don't know the exact effect, but I'm betting that there is a lot of noise out there (with networks, towers, etc), and add that to the highly dense urban populations (compared to Australia, that has a significantly lower population that the United States – at around 20 million), and that is a partial reason why calls drop out in the US, compared to Australia.
I agree about the plans, there are so many plans for Australians, but still, we are pretty much in the same boat. It's not a perfect technology and why pay more for downloads and internet content? To make a fashion statement? Are iPhones really necessary? I don't think they really are. They are a social thing more than anything else.
I haven't succumbed to the iPhone as yet. The technology has to be significantly cheaper (and the phone plan) for me to buy it, only because I've worked in one of the largest Australian telcos, to know that what people pay for data is a giant con. Why pay twice to access the internet?

By: Dee

Dee — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:53:23 +0000

It's called corporate love. Corporations scratching eachother's backs to benefit eachother,while smaller developers are out in the cold. Steve Jobs is great at it, and although I don't criticize him for that -every CEO is basically ensuring their company survives, along with jobs – it is about a monopoly, especially when only AT&T benefits. I suppose it could be worse. It could be Verizon. Still, free enterprise is about enterprise, not monopoly and monopoly isn't an ideal situation. Maybe that will change with the next CEO of Apple. Steve Jobs can't live forever.
I don't yet own an iPhone. In other countries, there are choices of phone plans. I'm not sure why this isn't the case in the US. But even with the choice, there is the other problem and that is that the telecommunications infrastructure doesn't really support the iPhone as well as it should, which in my view isn't Apple's fault, as they aren't in charge of telecommunications networks and perhaps this is the only reason why AT&T are favoured. They may not be the best or provide the best service, but telecommunications (dropped calls, etc) aren't about the technology, they are also about high populations, competing networks and the 'noise' that may also contribute to dropped calls.

By: ScienceGeek

ScienceGeek — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 04:46:42 +0000

This article might amuse you: a consulting firm suggested iPhone users have a type of Stockholm syndrome! http://www.strandconsult.dk/sw4031.asp To be fair, in Australia the iPhone is available through a variety of different telcos, so we don't have so many problems with drop outs and access to data. If I have a complaint, it's those piece-of-shit earphones that come with the i-whatevers and send more sound OUT than in.

By: SubmissiveD

SubmissiveD — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 21:53:48 +0000

My LG Net10 prepaid $30 phone from Kmart is sexy as hell. AND it makes calls. Which is what I bought it for. My $40 2GB Coby MP3 player has been dropped on concrete AND left out in the rain, and it still works (try THAT with an iPod!)

iThings piss me off frankly- I had iTunes because someone gave me an iTunes gift card…without jumping through hoops galore, I couldn't even download anything!! Not to mention what I had to do to actually USE the songs I bought since, horror of horrors, I don't have an iPod!

Maybe I'm just old school, lol.

By: @RedheadWriting

@RedheadWriting — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:36:50 +0000

Yeah – it just amazes me that Apple takes a holier-than-thou stance with the app store when there's a perfectly good installation of Safari on the iPhone. WTF?!

By: @RedheadWriting

@RedheadWriting — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:36:09 +0000

I hear you…I'm attached to this thing like….well, let's just say if they made iBoobs, I'd probably upgrade to those, too!

By: pattypunker

pattypunker — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:24:11 +0000

so what, no iPorn app? fuck! and also 3G sucks. 3G is slow as the last shit out of the heinz ketchup or my conditioner bottle.

whatever, love my iPhone. sexy trumps all.

By: @RedheadWriting

@RedheadWriting — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:59:50 +0000

Donna Reed, indeed! It's a catch-22 to be an iPhone owner: we fall captive to the sexy tech yet find ourselves at a bit of a loss when it comes to…service…performance…FLASH CONTENT. Rub your Blackberry naughty tonight, mkay?

By: avionicsman

avionicsman — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:27:38 +0000

well there is always porn hub and other sites you can watch from your iPhone isn't there?? I don't have an iPhone still a crackberry guy.

By: @RedheadWriting

@RedheadWriting — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:03:48 +0000

All great points, Larry. However, if you've ever been in the middle of the AT&T/Apple store "It's THEIR fault" argument (where each blames the other for performance issues), Apple chose it's bedmate poorly. Perhaps AT&T did as well. The network can't handle the data load and they've lost a lot of favoritism along the way.

And I can bitch about HD functionality if I wanna Thanks for stopping by!