My Exercise In Futility

I am an Apple fan and therefore by default, also a gadget whore. But even I’m going to throw the bullshit flag up in the air on this one. I was really hoping that I was going to be wrong about today’s big announcement from Mr. Jobs. I honestly thought that Apple couldn’t possibly rebrand the iPod yet AGAIN and still cause the commotion we’ve seen today – and all for nothing more than what I see as an oversized iPod.

Don’t believe me? Go to the Apple website and watch the video for yourself. Watch the video and then tell me if you see anything different than what the iPhone already does. Am I supposed to run out and spend $500 just because they are going to build Apps specifically for the iPad? (And isn’t that just rebranding of the slogan, “There’s an App for that!”)

Mind you the $500 is if I want the watered down version of an iPad. However, if I’m willing to spend almost $300 more, I can get an oversized iPhone, err iPad, with the same shitty 3G service AT&T has been overcharging consumers for years now. Ok, ok – so it will now have iBooks with an iLibrary that you can see in color. And the way it handles e-mail – it’s optimized for a device that has a multi-touch display and no physical keyboard. WOW!! REVOLUTIONARY!! See Apple’s video for the iPhone when it was first released, I think they said the same thing back then, too.

Again – I love Apple. I’m sure I will eventually even own an iPad. The thing is – right now I have no living expenses. I’m not paying rent. I’m traveling for work living off the company. Did I mention I’m a single, gay man with no dependents?  Basically, I can afford to be stupid and throw my money at an overpriced, oversized iPod, can you? I hope I can fit the iPad into my backpack with my MacBook Pro, 32GB iPhone, and 120GB iPod.

AT&T considers incentives to curb heavy data usage | Wireless – CNET News.

I love how the article points out the problems in large cities like New York or San Francisco – as if we didn’t already know. Is it just me, or is this article suggesting that we move away from ‘unlimited data plans’ and start metering the usage again. Are they disguising it by calling it a ‘Tiered Pricing Plan?’

The best way to solve this problem – break the exclusivity of the iPhone with AT&T. Share the data consumption with Verizon and T-Mobile. It would be better for AT&T to keep a happy portion of the iPhone customers they have now than to have a large lump of upset iPhone customers who are looking for other options, options like the Motorola Droid.

With network related issues and the difficulties developers are facing in submitting apps to the App Store, it’s only a matter of time before the iPhone loses its luster – for some people, it already has.

Look what just popped into my inbox!

Just tell me already!

I wish they would just put me out of my misery and let me know what the damned sale is! And what’s this about it not being available in all stores! All I have to say is that it BETTER be available in the Naples store!