Mr Jobs

I've been an Apple "fan boy" since 1978 when I first bought an Apple ][ and have been recommending Apple products for 30 years and this is the first time I've been really pissed off at Apple.

I bought an iPhone but AT&T service in my area was spotty at best and I was forced to cancel the contract for the phone. AT&T allowed me to keep the phone which I've been able to enjoy as a laptop replacement using wi-fi in my home.

You have developed the most important and potentially useful device in decades with the iPhone. However, the lack of software and developer tools as forced me (and thousands of others) to look elsewhere for useful software. I didn't want to "hack" my phone to install 3rd party software but the availability of useful software made it necessary to install the Installer.app on my phone and the usefulness of the phone was dramatically increased. I didn't install the SIM or Ringtone hacks (which I do think you should stop, you have contractual obligations).

I am trying to understand what is gained by not allowing software development. There is no way that Apple can create all the software that people want to
use on a pocket device and you've got a LOT of excited people wanting to develop for this product. This is not the time to think small. You need to open the iPhone for development or you are going to lose your lead to other platforms that do allow development for their pocket devices.

But that's not what I'm pissed off about...

It's this Apple USB cable that I got with my G5 Mac PowerTower, it's a cable extender for the keyboard. The iPhone's USB cable is a bit short for my needs so I wanted to use the cable extender to give me some extra length and guess what... the female end of the cable has a small "v" that prevents the cable from being plugged into a standard USB cable, not even an Apple USB cable.

I realized, that in a nutshell, this represented the reason that Apple has so many detractors and why Windows (a pile of sh*t) was able to beat out a clearly superior computing experience, it's that you go out of your way to make things that would be useful and make them incompatible with standards. The cable extender not only doesn't work with a standard USB cable the production cost of this cable had to be more than a generic one.

You are currently riding a high, creating some great products, but just like in the 80's you're going to piss off enough customers that they won't buy Apple products, no matter how good, just because it came from Apple.

B Hartman

Boom. After the v1.1.1 iPhone update all of my other iPods suddenly became old-fashioned.

Wow, some people are just never satisfied, are they?

The main reason I use an iPod is for the Audiobooks and Podcasts. There's music a'plenty through Aquisition and even the Album Art can be fixed through Fixtunes. Not to mention PandoraJam etc.

So my reaction to the update is "...yaeah, well (shrugs)". Although, I am pissed that iToner does not work. Jeez, they could have at least added Flash support or thrown in a Google Reader or something (the latter not even cannibalizing any of their revenue)...

Also no landscape on EMail, and Notes. For that matter no Ringtones of capabilty to make any either via the Wifi Store.

About the only useful feature I can see is the abilty to turn off data roaming. More use to their under-acheiving Partner, AT&T, than their Faithful.

I only regret that I have two thumbs to "thumb down" this upgrade.

Was looking forward to downloading podcasts :-(

First comment from me, but I am an avid reader. Fantastic blog, thanks for your work.

I am really suprised at the lack of response from the blogosphere on how big of a fiasco the WITMS store is. No podcasts and wi-fi only? This strikes me as massively worngheaded -- or at least a natal version of what they are hoping to accomplish with it. I just put up a more lengthy rant along those lines here.

Blah, I lost my 3rd party apps for this?

I don't think any of you are thinking of what the iTMS would do to AT&T's poor EDGE network. If you were allowed to download songs over it (and lost of people would), the whole network would probably come apart at the seems. So, keep those technical problems in mind before you complain about the lack of iTMS support over AT&T's network.

But, as far as podcasts and video...yeah, I have to wonder what Apple is thinking. One of Apple's major selling points has always been it's ease of use, and forcing people to go home to download video and podcasts seems rather cumbersome. It goes against Apple's design montra if you ask me.

As for people's phone breaking with the new update. Well, two thoughts spring to mind. One, Apple warned you, you knew it wasn't legal, why did you do it? But, two, c'mon Apple. There are so many people who want this ability, wouldn't it make sense to, at very least, give it to them on the sly. Sure you don't have to officially support outside apps and unlocking the phone, but you don't have to destroy it either. Case in point, .m4p's, anyone who knows anything about Apple's "protected" iTMS format knows that you can burn all your songs to a CD and then reburn them as .mp3's, you even said it on your own website! Do the same with the iPhone!

Just my thoughts...

After everything is said and done, the iphone is still a spectacular divise. The firmware upgrade makes it dazzling to say the least.

I bought two songs from itunes and I checked all the new additions. Also this upgrade only gives a flavor or what bigger and better things Apple has planned.

Most people that comment on iphone do not own one;others want to hack it for vicarious reasons not necessarily to improve its functionality.

Thanks Apple! I love my iPhone. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than any other smart phone/device? Absolutely.

Perhaps all of the endlessly carping Generation 'Now'ers can start their own companies and implement all of these complaints.

Kudos, Apple.

Wow, I just bought a song from the Itunes WiFi store and it downloaded in about 30 seconds. This iPhone justs gets better and better. I know of no other cellular telephone that can dynamically improve upon itself after the consumer has bought it, but the iPhone does.

All other cell phones become obsolete after you buy them, but the iPhone has the ability to remain relevant. I'm impressed.

I have an iPhone. So far I am not knocked out by the features or the operation. It works as advertised (sorta). Like all Apple products, it has a fabulous interface and poor hardware technology, and even poorer compatibility. I can't get it to sync properly with anything but a Mac. It also seems to like to lose data because of poor sync software. If ever get it to pull some of my existing songs, calendar, and contacts onto the device, maybe I will feel better about it. I want to like Apple products because of their attention to human aspects of computing. However, they just don't seem to get the "works" option right. Now, pardon me while I go buy a third battery for my 18 month-old MacBook.

Umm... software that makes you use only certain services... that sounds like Microsoft. I had to read the title twice after reading the summary, because I thought Apple was the hip-cool-company that allows its users to be free, etc.
Man - when Apple tries to act like the giant it's trying to destroy, it's pretty pathetic.

So, Apple. Good luck spinning that one.

My only beef with the new ITMS wifi store on the iPhone:

I was jonesin' for some ringtones after the 1.1.1 update, since it wiped out my iToner ringtones (it did, but it didn't... long story)

So I log into into wifi ITMS, figure I'll pay the .99 + .99 for a ringtone that would never be wiped by an update. After much browsing, I realized that the wifi ITMS store doesn't show the 'ringtone' icon.

Disappointing, yeah, but no big deal

My first (and last?) experience was anything but smooth. After appearing to download a song, I got an error message stating that I would have to download the song on my computer. Fine, did that, then tried to do a manual sync, and it wiped out all but one playlist (containing my own music, obviously non-DRM). Now it will only do a sync if I let iTunes decide what I'm going to listen to. Are we rushing things to market a bit, Steve?

I can not conect to an wi fi network to use my Wi Fi buton on my i phone

To everyone upset about the loss of third-party apps for the iPhone I have one thing to say, "patience young Jedi".

I do not know why you'd be pissed about the lack of features. You obviously should have known what the features were before you bought. With that said, Apple clearly cut back its planned feature set likely to get the device out on schedule. I expect once Leopard ships, we will see a steady stream of iPhone improvements. I also suspect Apple's lack of developer support also is a result of the iPhone not yet being where it wants it to be. Once it is more entrenched in the market, and Apple has updated it a bit, Apple will have more time to think about developer support. I doubt Apple would completely ignore that outlet when users want it. On the other hand, part of the iPods charm is there isn't a lot of third party applications making it crash all the time.

As far as the USB cable goes. I do not know what the reason is for the weird cable, but there might very well be a legitimate reason. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. More times then not, I am correct in doing so.

the problem with the usb cable is really annoying...i have a USB extension cable but because of the "s,all v" its not possible to use with the extender and my keyboard "drawer" on my desk is too far away from my imac so that i have to take up space on my desk top in order to ahve a place for my keyboard. wtf

About the USB extension cable issue...

From what I understand, USB extension cables are not allowed by the official USB specification. By modifying the connector so that only an Apple keyboard can use the extension, Apple can offer it's customers the cable (allowing a short or long length between the keyboard and computer without a huge mess of extra length), while not strictly breaking the USB specification.

Other companies offer "standard" USB extensions, but are not conforming to the official spec.

At least that's what I've heard. Look up USB on Wikipedia, there's bound to be more.