bulletproof: i bet the service is pretty good right here.
the iphone is clearly pretty good. according to some analysts, something like 21 million other people agree with me on that score. just like he did with the ipod and itunes, steve jobs created a market-leading product with an almost cult-like following whose believers have once again carried apple’s stock price to near record levels. all may not be perfect, however, in the land of apple pie. apparently the one thing that the iphone doesn’t do as well as it should is…make phone calls.
i’m sure there were lots of reasons “the jobster” licked his chops at the thought of an exclusive agreement with at&t, but that deal may in fact be the iphone’s achilles’ heel. since i’m not getting paid a commission for any of the units my friends bought after hearing the “ode to the iphone” speech, add my name to the long list of people who are seriously questioning the aforementioned faustian bargain, mostly as a result of very sketchy service. in fact, i may owe those who bought an iphone on my recommendation an apology. service never was too bad in dallas, and for a long time it seemed like it was pretty good wherever i went. now it seems positively t-mobile-ish, it’s so bad. unfortunately, after a few months in denver, and now here in rural indiana, i’m actually starting to think that the stupid maps in the verizon commercials might not be that…stupid.
but here’s the rub; apparently the iphone is just too good. according to people who know about such things, iphone users are eating up at&t’s infrastructure bandwidth faster than you can say “dropped call.” that has to be costing steve jobs at least a few customers, especially as other service providers are offering their own i-wannabe-phones and waving new bells and whistles in front of potential consumers.
i don’t know about all that for sure, but one thing is clear: when “mobile phone” meant beating feet down to the little red phone booth people didn’t have these kinds of problems. sometimes technology is your best friend, and sometimes it’s your worst enemy. it’s also certain that jobs is no dummy. in fact, i wonder… when steve jobs and at&t set down at the bargaining table, exactly who was faust, and who was the devil?
by will
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