OT: IPhone craze

[fiamme red]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070629/apple_iphone_mayor.html?.v=2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Mayor John F. Street abruptly ended his wait in line for an iPhone Friday after a passer-by asked him about the city's murder rate.

Street, who showed up outside an AT&T store at 3:30 a.m., left shortly after a 22-year-old sporting a mohawk asked him, "How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?" The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on its Web site.

Street told the man: "I'm doing my job," the newspaper said.

Street had planned to stay in line for most of the day, waiting for Apple Inc.'s iPhone to go on sale at 6 p.m. When he left at 11:30 a.m., Street said he planned to return to his spot.

The mayor said he wants the new device because he loves trying out the latest technology. Apple's new handheld would allow him to work some of the day outside the office, he said.

"We don't have to be sitting in City Hall to be conducting city business," he said.

Philadelphia recently had its 200th slaying of the year. Its murder rate is up from last year, the deadliest in nearly a decade.

[Bill Bove]

If I have niether an iPod, Blackberry or cell phone,do I really need an iPhone? Naw, I'd rather have a new Campy crank. Chics really dig carbon.

[Ozz]

I saw an add on TV for the iPhone and thought it was perfect for people with very short attention spans....

[Vancouverdave]

Wouldn't it be great if instead of waiting for the latest obsolescent POS, people were sleeping overnight on the sidewalks in front of, say, River City Bicycles or Bike Gallery, to be first in line for a new model Le Mond, Cannondale, Serotta, or Seven? Sorry, been wrenching bikes all day, must have inhaled a little Boeshield.

[Grant McLean]

http://search.ebay.com/iphone_W0QQ_trksidZm37QQfromZR40QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ3QQ sbrsrtZd

People love their phones.

Me, i'm not so hot on the monthly fees.

g

[saab2000]

I want one.

Because my cellular phone is already my only phone, I want a good one. The iPhone will allow me to access weather data while on the road. I will be able to write off the cost of the service because of my job. And frankly, it's not much more (within $10 of my current service) that I can live with it.

I will not be part of the initial wave because I want to be part of a 2nd or 3rd generation iPhone, which will surely come to pass within the next 12 months.

The original iPod is a dinosaur.

[Jeff Weir]

I'm writing this from an iPhone and I gotta say this thing is really sick. Surfing the web is real fast and readable.

if I needed a phone now, this would be on the top of my list.

[paulh]

It may be worth considering, but where I am, the ATT, then Cingular, now ATT again... network reeks. Dropped calls, one bar or less in a steel framed building, 20 miles into the country.... nothing. Only six more months of the contract and I'm switching, so no iphone for me. Coverage maps lie.

[cadence90]

Wouldn't it be great if instead of waiting for the latest obsolescent POS, people were sleeping overnight on the sidewalks in front of, say, River City Bicycles or Bike Gallery, to be first in line for a new model Le Mond, Cannondale, Serotta, or Seven? Sorry, been wrenching bikes all day, must have inhaled a little Boeshield.
Or, wouldn't it be great if instead of people buying $600 phones they were doing something so that other people wouldn't have to sleep on the streets?

[saab2000]

Or, wouldn't it be great if instead of people buying $600 phones they were doing something so that other people wouldn't have to sleep on the streets?

With all respect, poverty and homelessness are far more complex than $600 telephones.

I choose to work my butt off in what used to be a respected career, yet can barely afford housing in the Washington DC area.

Homelessness exists for many reasons and the fact is that, sympathetic as I feel to the men and women in a serious bind, the $600 phone is neither the cause of homeless, nor is the lack of buying one the solution.

Don't even get me started.

Let's stick to the topic at hand.

Or better yet, bikes.

[Jeff Weir]

Or, wouldn't it be great if instead of people buying $600 phones they were doing something so that other people wouldn't have to sleep on the streets?


And exactly how much do the bikes most of own cost these days?

[cadence90]

With all respect, poverty and homelessness are far more complex than $600 telephones.

I choose to work my butt off in what used to be a respected career, yet can barely afford housing in the Washington DC area.

Homelessness exists for many reasons and the fact is that, sympathetic as I feel to the men and women in a serious bind, the $600 phone is neither the cause of homeless, nor is the lack of buying one the solution.

Don't even get me started.

Let's stick to the topic at hand.

Or better yet, bikes.
Really? I mean, seriously. :rolleyes:

My comment was more about the OP (i.e. topic: the quoted text and actions described; personally, I think "sitting in City Hall" would be a great place from which a mayor could conduct city business....) and the ever-increasing markets that drive the desire/"need" for a $600 cellphone ($$$ etc. etc. etc.) and create a "craze" than about identifying any particular consumer product (including bikes, to Jeff Weir as well) as the abhorrent evil which begets homelessness....
Then again, I don't buy the Meivici mantra either, to "stick to bikes".

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . than any other marketing campaign for any other product. Professionals are paid to try and create a need for a product in people's minds. The same is done in every other market--including bikes. I don't understand why anyone is surprised by this. If you want to have a sane life you learn to consider the product for a moment, relate it to your perceived need vs. your REAL need, then move on. At least, that's what I do. I've found there are VERY few things that money can buy that I REALLY need . . .

BBD

[Ray]

If you want to have a sane life you learn to consider the product for a moment, relate it to your perceived need vs. your REAL need, then move on.
+1

I used to say that once someone combined a cell phone, PDA, and mp3 player in one convenient package, I'd be the first in line. But I'm not. My lifestyle and workstyle these days are such that I want to have my cell phone available almost all the time, including when I'm out riding. I don't need a lot of features, but I like small, light, flat, and durable. So far, the Razr meets my needs extraordinarily well. I usually want an mp3 player when I'm traveling, sitting on the beach, taking the train into the city, etc, so I take one with me then, but I wouldn't want to lug it around all the time (even the tiny little player I use most of the time). And I only need the PDA when I'm in my office or at meetings, so that's when I lug IT along. I guess once they get a cell phone, PDA with the capabilities of my Palm, and mp3 player with the capacity of what I'm now using into something as convenient and bulletproof as the razr and don't make the phone any more complicated to use, I may buy one. But they're gonna have to come to me - I'm not gonna buy something just to buy it. I'm guessing we're 3-5 years from when that's going to be both prevelent and inexpensive enough for me to do it.

-Ray

[BoulderGeek]

Reading this thread at night, in my little room at the base of the Massif des Bauges, on a 2001 computer. In the last 24 hours, I've made tapas and crepes for dear friends that I didn't know a month ago. I've consumed bottles of champagne and Bordeaux, had some pain aux chocolats, some grande café crémes, ridden a little, chatted to some French people, enjoyed the sun, and walked thousand year old streets, and been to the train station to bid friends on to new lives.

At home, 5160 miles from here according to my Garmin Forerunner, I have four computers, two cars, big screen LCD HDTV, many DVD players, many bikes, many snowboards, some once-upon-a-time expensive furniture and a nice sport motorcycle.

I couldn't care any less about any of that. I wouldn't mind taking a ride on my Nove if it were here. OK, I'll admit, the moto would be used on these roads, too.

But, in the perspective that I've reawakened to in the last four weeks, though I have owned almost every cool product Apple/NeXT ever made, I now have no such love for technology. Of course, without technology work in the past, I couldn't be a chomeur (unemployed dirtbag) here.

But, I am now going to not buy the latest gadgets, and make certain I use the money that I used to spend for the constant stream of LCD monitors, new CPUs, upgraded networking, etc to expand my knowledge of the world, rather that isolate myself from it further. Well, that's this week's story, anyway. We'll see how that holds when the savings account is emptied.

But, I'll still have my Nove, and that is always a fine start. Pas de téléphone portable pour moi.

I've found there are VERY few things that money can buy that I REALLY need . . . +20

[Ahneida Ride]

Now people can phone and surf the net while driving !!!!

[BumbleBeeDave]

Now people can phone and surf the net while driving !!!!

. . . eating a donut and drinking a large latte. :eek:

BBD

[link]

It's an interesting discussion on many levels.

I can't help but relate the instand gratification of "being there" ...where ever "there" is, and obesity in kids.

Okay, it's a stretch. But if the iPhone represents the drive for instant whatever, then I really believe that there is a salient coorelation to that drive and obesity in kids ...not to mention adults. But let's just think about the kids.

I have a friend who has managed to convince me that one of the many reasons that kids are FAT is because adults don't "have the time" to wait for them to play. Kids don't walk anywhere, anymore (a sweeping generalization.) They're constantly being carted around in cars or dumped in front of video games. I have an 11mos. old. So I'm not too, too sure. But I'm buying the theory anyway because I remember when I was a kid some 40 years ago.

In the area where I live I am always observing that the lower income hispanic kids are always outside playing. In the upper class neighborhood the kids are nowhere to be seen ...because they're inside playing video games.

iPhone = fAtkids

Otherwise, the iPhone is pretty cool.

[RIHans]

I'm writing this from an iPhone and I gotta say this thing is really sick. Surfing the web is real fast and readable.

if I needed a phone now, this would be on the top of my list.


Color Me Green

[dave thompson]

Color me old-fashioned. What I want/need in a cell phone is that it goes 'ring' and I say "Hello". End of story.

[3chordwonder]

I'm with Dave. I already have a big screen websurfing thing called a computer, and I don't want my phone to give me a tiny ersatz surfing tool when I'm out, presumably interacting with people who value my paying attention to what they're saying instead of ignoring them over my little net terminal.

[DukeHorn]

After having taught in college the last few years, I would have to say the iPhone is not a good thing. Just another item for kids to use to avoid taking notes or a smaller implement for them to surf the web. Nothing like having some supposedly bright kid at a UC institution e-mail you with "can u plz regrade my paper" Guess I've turned into my parents, I'm part of the grammar police.

I won't even go in the etiquette of having cell phones ringing in class. Anyway, that's over, I'm going back to private practice.

I like my outdoor "gadgets"

95 Merlin road
99 Rocky Mountain Element TO
my Dagger Showdown
my Current Designs kevlar sea kayak

Guess that's where I like to spend my disposable income and waste my free time as opposed to surfing the internet from a handheld device. I guess I'll be less cynical if it was business folks purchasing the iPhone and transitioning from a Blackberry, but that's not the target demographic.

Hey I saw a girl surfing her iPhone at the gym tonight, maybe it'll help folks exercise.....

[whitecda]

.

[saab2000]

The most useful tool to me would be the ability for me to check satellite based weather imagry. And the composite doppler radar images.

No joke. That would be useful in my job to be able to check that thing 5 minutes before departure.

Oh, and the built-in iPod. And video. And everything else.

But I don't have one yet.

The negative would be that I would not feel comfortable bringing such an expensive phone on a bike ride.

At a time when I would like to cut costs and simplify my life, the iPhone does neither. As much as I would like one, I am not sure when I will cross that bridge.

[itsflantastic]

Amen to cutting costs and simplifying life.

I no longer own a car, commute to work and grocery shop (etc.) by bicycle, and it feels great.

I'm thinking about getting rid of my cellphone all together and going back to a land line/old school answering machine. Wanna talk to me? Leave a message at the




BEEP :)

[m_moses]

Interesting comments . . . but I want one. The monthly plans w/unlimited data seem reasonable compared to what I pay now.

However, I'm still hung up on the $600 price tag.

[saab2000]

Interesting comments . . . but I want one. The monthly plans w/unlimited data seem reasonable compared to what I pay now.

However, I'm still hung up on the $600 price tag.

I agree that the price for the unlimited data is pretty intriguing. I currently pay about $82/month for 900 minutes and nights and weekends starting at 7 PM.

But there is a big part of me that wishes I could get rid of the cell phone altogether, as stated by Itsflantistic. But in my business it is hard to be totally out of touch. I need to call the company pretty often and also while on the road it is tough to be unreachable and out of touch with family and friends for 4 days at a time.

But I am thinking of Alltel. They have a couple plans which might save me a few bucks per month and allow me some simplification. You can have up to 10 numbers with unlimited calling. I have about 5 or so I call with great regularity. If I could have those 10 numbers I wouldn't need to worry about having 900 minutes per month. I could get by with far fewer since 95% of my calls and minutes go to about 5 or 6 numbers.

[rwsaunders]

Call for Dave T......
http://65.186.65.233/sounds/televis/stooges/hello_hello.mp3

[dave thompson]

Call for Dave T......
http://65.186.65.233/sounds/televis/stooges/hello_hello.mp3
Thanks Bob, but I'm just one stooge out here in the vast wasteland that thinks that technology for the sake of technology is being crammed down our throats and is slowly turning us into virtual automatons with short leashes to our electronic masters. The latest and best..for what? To what end? So we can work more and play less? To enable us to be connected, via electrons but not personally? To be able to bring our work environments to our retreats? Bah, humbug!

[fiamme red]

Thanks Bob, but I'm just one stooge out here in the vast wasteland that thinks that technology for the sake of technology is being crammed down our throats and is slowly turning us into virtual automatons with short leashes to our electronic masters. The latest and best..for what? To what end? So we can work more and play less? To enable us to be connected, via electrons but not personally? To be able to bring our work environments to our retreats? Bah, humbug!The Six Stages of E-Mail (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/opinion/01ephron.html?em&ex=1183521600&en=39d51fa9189eb061&ei=5087%0A)

[Ray]

I agree that the price for the unlimited data is pretty intriguing. I currently pay about $82/month for 900 minutes and nights and weekends starting at 7 PM.
I don't wanna be an advertisement, but I've got T-Mobile at 1000 minutes plus nights and weekends (have to wait until 9 for nights though) for $40 a month. I had 1500 minutes for $60 but only went over 1000 peak once in a couple of years so figured it would be cheaper to drop down and pay the occasional overage. That's without any of the bells or whistles, but is a good basic service.

T-Mobile's coverage isn't as good as some of the others in rural parts of the country, but is really good in almost every urban/suburban area I've been in and has clearer sound quality than any of the others I checked out.

FWIW.

-Ray

[davep]

Thanks Bob, but I'm just one stooge out here in the vast wasteland that thinks that technology for the sake of technology is being crammed down our throats and is slowly turning us into virtual automatons with short leashes to our electronic masters. The latest and best..for what? To what end? So we can work more and play less? To enable us to be connected, via electrons but not personally? To be able to bring our work environments to our retreats? Bah, humbug!

With all respect, Dave, I don't get it. You are sitting at a computer, throwing electrons around like mad, communicating with like minded people around the world, while bashing the technology that makes this communication possible. Cell phones, computers, etc are tools and we can use them as we wish. I don't think they are being crammed down our throats, or that they are electronic leashes. I think of them as extenders, not leashes. I would have a much harder time getting out of the office without a cell phone, but with one I can pretty much run my business from anywhere. I'd rather bring my work to a retreat (withinh reason, of course), than not be able to go the retreat at all. Cheers.

[DukeHorn]

Totally disagree. Being a lawyer before the days of cellphone was a lot more enjoyable than being a lawyer now. With cellphones, clients expect instant access after hours and on vacation. With Blackberries, its even worse, they expect e-mail responses asap. When there's a big emergency, they won't go to the associate that you've designated, they'll expect you to handle it.

If the cell phone is merely an extension rather than a leash, why can't people seem to shed them on airplanes, in the movie theater, during lectures, in a restaurant, at the museum, etc. I guess you can call them weak-willed/impolite, but if so, there are lots of them out there.

[davep]

Totally disagree. Being a lawyer before the days of cellphone was a lot more enjoyable than being a lawyer now. With cellphones, clients expect instant access after hours and on vacation. With Blackberries, its even worse, they expect e-mail responses asap. When there's a big emergency, they won't go to the associate that you've designated, they'll expect you to handle it.
I don't have those issues, so for me it is more beneficial that not. I don't have a Blackberry, but a quick email response may mean a sale, so I have considered it. I choose to not be that connected, and accept that I may loose some sales. But that is my choice.

[paulh]

... to whom I am speaking?

[Grant McLean]

I was having an interesting conversation (in person!) with a bigwig guy from
Polar heart montiors on friday. We were talking about too many features (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creeping_featurism) getting in
the way of the function of their products.

The cool thing about apple products, I feel, is how well they are designed.
So many consumer gadgets are hard to use because they try to do too many
things, and end up doing them all badly.

I'm somewhat known as 'the apple guy' in my office, and people are always
bringing me their iPods, asking how to do certain things. So it seems to me
that even Apple products, let alone virtually every other device on the market
from tv remotes to toasters are too complicated for the average user to
figure out completely, or at the very least, get the most out of.

I hope bicycles stay simple!

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

g

[Ray]

Totally disagree. Being a lawyer before the days of cellphone was a lot more enjoyable than being a lawyer now. With cellphones, clients expect instant access after hours and on vacation. With Blackberries, its even worse, they expect e-mail responses asap. When there's a big emergency, they won't go to the associate that you've designated, they'll expect you to handle it.
Is that because your firm requires you to keep the phone/blackberry ON all the time or do you just choose to? I have my own consulting business and my business phone is a cell phone. When I'm not in the middle of a crunch on a project, I can generally work around a 2-3 hour ride (or other type of break) quite easily on most days. If I want to take a ride but there are one or two important calls that might come in, I give those clients a special ring tone and go for the ride. If they call, I stop and talk to them - better to be interrupted on a ride than not be able to ride at all. If anyone else calls, I let them leave a message and get back to them later. To me, this is ALL to the good - but I control the technology, not the other way around. If I don't want to be bothered, I just turn the phone off altogether.

If people aren't able to turn their devices off during down time or designated "no call" times in order to get more work done, I feel bad for them. If its their own choice, they're either idiots or they've decided they're OK with the trade offs that entail. If their job mandates it, they have to think about whether its worth having a job where they have to be on-call 24/7. Are the competitive pressures intense enough in law that turning off your electronics during down time would cause you to lose enough clients to matter? If so, I feel for you. If not, turn 'em off.

-Ray

[Bradford]

Is that because your firm requires you to keep the phone/blackberry ON all the time or do you just choose to?
For me, yes, it is required. Night time, early morning, weekends, vacation...it doesn't matter.

[dave thompson]

Is that because your firm requires you to keep the phone/blackberry ON all the time or do you just choose to? I have my own consulting business and my business phone is a cell phone. When I'm not in the middle of a crunch on a project, I can generally work around a 2-3 hour ride (or other type of break) quite easily on most days. If I want to take a ride but there are one or two important calls that might come in, I give those clients a special ring tone and go for the ride. If they call, I stop and talk to them - better to be interrupted on a ride than not be able to ride at all. If anyone else calls, I let them leave a message and get back to them later. To me, this is ALL to the good - but I control the technology, not the other way around. If I don't want to be bothered, I just turn the phone off altogether.

If people aren't able to turn their devices off during down time or designated "no call" times in order to get more work done, I feel bad for them. If its their own choice, they're either idiots or they've decided they're OK with the trade offs that entail. If their job mandates it, they have to think about whether its worth having a job where they have to be on-call 24/7. Are the competitive pressures intense enough in law that turning off your electronics during down time would cause you to lose enough clients to matter? If so, I feel for you. If not, turn 'em off.

-Ray
Ray, good post. And more the technology is pushed on us, many become slaves to it where it controls them, they don't contol it. They don't know how to turn it off.

[JohnS]

For me, yes, it is required. Night time, early morning, weekends, vacation...it doesn't matter.That's not a job, that's involuntary servitude...

[ti_boi]

So for all of the bells and whistles the new iPhone has....it will not do picture messaging? That seems like a major 'hole' in this Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread Technology.

[saab2000]

It has a few holes and that would be one of them. I would expect the Gen II version (whenever that comes out) to address this issue and a few others.

FWIW, I am not sorry I waited. I switched to another carrier and now get unlimited calling for all intents and purposes for $9 less per month than I was paying before.

That said, I still think the iPhone is really cool and I would love to have one. But they need to make it more accessible than just AT&T. The exclusive AT&T deal was a mistake for Apple IMHO.

[avalonracing]

So for all of the bells and whistles the new iPhone has....it will not do picture messaging? That seems like a major 'hole' in this Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread Technology.

My iPhone sends photos more easily than any other phone I have had... and better photos too. (BTW- I was a pro photographer for 15 years)

[stevep]

I hope bicycles stay simple!


grant, i got yr deposit toward the first I-Shift bike.
look for it pretty soon...
electric from shimano...will reduce the onerous task of shifting a bike to a simple touch.

beautiful.

[Grant McLean]

grant, i got yr deposit toward the first I-Shift bike.
look for it pretty soon...
electric from shimano...will reduce the onerous task of shifting a bike to a simple touch.

beautiful.

I got one of those 'autoshift' bikes under the tree...
so i'm all set.

Although it appears that in Florida, you only need 1 gear,
unless you live near an overpass?!?

-g

[WadePatton]

I don't need more time on the web.

I buy used computers. This one is an "off lease" special. Baddest little laptop I ever had--for less than that phone y'all are talking about.

I'll run XPpro until the third or fourth iteration of Vista comes out. Or even the next platform.

I like mechanical stuff. Windup/auto watches, clocks, spring-loaded scales (or balance), hand-operated coffee grinders, frames that hold printed photos...I have some gizmos, but I'm trying to minimize.

Kids these days--how many waking minutes per day is the average 12 year old spending without an LCD/CRT screen in front of his/her face?

[stevep]

I got one of those 'autoshift' bikes under the tree...
so i'm all set.

Although it appears that in Florida, you only need 1 gear,
unless you live near an overpass?!?

-g

you mean..." a giant climb"
quote bill bove