No surprises here. Apple comes out with another innovative product (the iPhone), but once again the item is faulty.
Take a look at the iPod. Not the first portable mp3 device on the market, but certainly a sleak-looking device. The first buyers of the iPod soon discovered the faulty battery, and it took a class-action lawsuit for Apple to finally provide replacement batteries. Plus, the iPod was overpriced, easily allowing for other products to enter the market and come out with better AND cheaper mp3 players (see SanDisk).
The iPod isn't the only example, but let's move on to the iPhone. For those of you unfamiliar, it's a combination phone/PDA/music/video player. Most stores selling the iPhone sold out of it within a few short hours. This weekend many buyers soon discovered the problems with iPhone, such as delays in phone activation, difficulty using iTunes and other issues. Then of course, Apple made some bad decisions: going exclusively with AT&T for five years, touch-by-skin screen only (it won't read a stylus), using EDGE network (slower) instead of 3G (faster), having just 4 or 8 GB of memory without the chance of adding more (the former costs a whopping $499, the latter $599) and not allowing third-party software makers to help.
Other problems include: No copying and pasting; no recognition on car adapters; the impracticality of continuing to re-join WiFi network after WiFi network instead of a dedicated connection (i.e. like Blackberry); no removable battery; no video recorder. For people in Wisconsin, only the Milwaukee and Madison areas will be served by AT&T, which hasn't announced a timeline yet for the rest of the state.
Of course, like Apple always does, its second generation iPhone will probably address most of these issues (let's not get started on Apple picking AT&T of all companies). But that's the M.O. of Apple: sell a shitty product, fix it, rob consumers.
And if you own one, your iPhone is a major target for theft.
Here's a funny iPhone video:
The IPhone
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