I have made no secret in earlier posts of the low opinion I hold of the iPhone. I'm not going to reiterate the reasons why here, but dollar for dollar, the iPhone was and is overpriced, under-performing and unspectacular. Add to this a non-user replaceable battery, meaning you'll go weeks without your phone waiting for Apple Techs to replace the battery and ship it back to you, and I predicted a trendy loser of a phone.
Today, I'm going to recant some of that. I would have recanted a lot more, but Apple stepped in it again today with two stunning announcements, so this won't be an iPhone puff-piece.
Att released their quarterly and year to date financials this past week and I was dumbfounded to learn that 1.1 million iPhones had been sold since their introduction. Considering att only added 2 million subscribers in the same period and, even accounting for current customers who "upgraded" to an iPhone, Apple was the prime driver of att's financial good fortune.
Now granted, Apple did take some of my advice. Through rebates, they lowered the price of the iPhone from ridiculous to just overpriced. They are opening up the operating system to developers willing to pay the price next year, which should lead to a much more powerful phone. In conjunction with that, rumors are a new iPhone is on the way during the first quarter of 2008.
Comparing the iPhone to high-end iPods, it's clear that Apple is making a significant profit on the phones themselves, not to mention any monies they are receiving back from att. This should be the point where I congratulate Steve Jobs, eat crow, and go buy an iPhone. Fortunately for my ego, Steve Jobs opened his mouth again and stepped on his tongue.
Apple is apparently VERY miffed that 1 in 6 iPhones sold are not being connected to att. These phones weren't stolen, mind you. Apple made a healthy profit on each one. To Steve Job's amazement, people didn't actually obey his command not to tamper with the iPhone's software and hacks are now available to unlock the phones and program them for any compatible network world-wide.
Jobs retaliated today in two announcements guaranteed NOT to endear Apple to the American Public.
First, he is now refusing to sell iPhones for cash: only credit or debit cards will be accepted. Second, he is limiting the number of iPhones an individual can purchase at one time to 2.
The second bothers me philosophically more than materially as purchasing one iPhone is one too many. Purchasing more than two is completely unnecessary, unless you have money.......credit cards.... to burn and want your children's phones to match yours.
The first disturbs me the most. United States currency is good for all debts, public and private....until now. Who is Steve Jobs to dictate that an iPhone purchaser must leave an electronic trail of their purchases? What's the next step: compare the credit card records against the att activation records? If they don't match, are the Apple Police going to kick the owner's door down and take back the phone?
This action by Apple also opens a door and starts us down the slippery slope of becoming a cash-less society: something the government would just love. No privacy; all transactions available to the IRS and Justice Department with a simple secret warrant.
It's time for Steve Jobs and Apple to wake up to the fact that once their product leaves their hands, a consumer can do pretty much what he wants with it unless it violates the patent. Steve Jobs is not a god who can dictate his will. The people made Apple and the people can break Apple. Take your money and move on, Mr. Jobs. Self-proclaimed Sainthood does not become you. And with all the anger over illegal immigration boiling over, attacking American currency is not going to make you any friends either. Just take your money and go home.
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4 comments:
Mr Unloader,
I have enjoyed your blog immensely over the past few months. Most of the time I agree with you, sometimes I do not. My ATT Tilt I first saw on your site. This post though, I thought I'd respond to.
I think you are wrong. Jobs does not have a god complex, and it is not about the money. It is about him being a commie - plain and simple. And over on the left coast, it is ok. As long as he keeps making money for the capitalists on Wall Street, it will be ok with them too. Nobody has convictions anymore, nobody is willing to stand up for or against something - and so Jobs will get his wish, and will continue to be the commie that he is, and all those little kids (up to 25 years old) will continue to love everything he spits out, and get their daddies and mommies to buy it.
Remember, Jobs was the one who created the "Evil Empire" ad back in the 80's. Was that to throw us all off his real agenda?
I do see your point, though...he is a product of the 1960's left coast and has made his fortune in computers and electronics....just like Bill Gates. But Gates is giving all his money away now and is less involved with Microsoft. I think you've given me an excellent idea for a future post: comparing the two.
By the way, how do you like your Tilt?
Tilt is working out beautifully so far. I have it checking like 6 email accounts, so it is always using either wifi or 3G network, so the battery does not have that much life in it, yet I get about a 5-7 hours with minimal to moderate talk. Also, since it is doing so much "stuff" at a time, sometimes it takes a while to respond to commands, like answering the phone, which by the time it actually responds, the caller already went into voicemail. Oh well :)
Jobs is about control. He controls absolutely everything that revolves around Apple, and does it with ruthless disregard, and it is not for the benefit of us - his kills innovation, and the only thing that he allows is what comes from him.
On the other hand, it is truly a shame that Microsoft cannot find their ass with both hands - they could have really knocked the Zune out of the park - they have the money for it, but they didn't. The accepted the second, or even third/fourth/etc fiddle.
The only hope for knocking Jobs on his ass is now Google. If they choose to butt heads with Jobs (and I hope they do), maybe then Apple will actually do something worthwhile, for the betterment of the computing public.
I really hate Apple and Jobs - can't you tell?
Jobs and Gates are both just control freaks. It's their way or the highway.
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