Tag Archives: Apple

[Editorial] Apple’s VP of Marketing is in a Spatial Field Barrier… Ugh…

So on reading through blogs and on [H]ardOCP I saw an article linked about Apple’s VP of Marketing is seeing Windows 7 as a chance to herd up frustrated Windows users (link here). The guy is pining for frustrated Windows users to just decided to hop on over to their grassy knolls to the cult of Mac rather than just buy a $100 copy of Windows 7. I would like quote the CNet News article:

“We think a lot of folks will look at that as the straw that broke the camels back,” Croll said. “People are tired of the headaches with Windows and this is another great excuse for people to check out the Mac.”

From “Apple sees Windows 7 as an Opportunity to Sell Macs” on CNet News by Jim Dalrymple

This logic is a bit flawed in my mind from an economic standpoint in my mind, because of the fact that Brian Croll assumes every computer owner that is frustrated with the notion of upgrading to Windows 7 will have to do MAJOR upgrades to use it. On top of that he keeps mentioning the idea of users frustrated with the Windows experience and hope they will consider the Mac experience.

Disclaimer: Before I go on, I will make the disclaimer that I hate all operating systems equally as much as I love their foibles. I do own a Linux laptop, a G4 Mac Mini, and Windows 7 Release Candidate desktop machine before anyone wants to make accusations of favoritism.

Point #1: Money is hard to find – A home upgrade is easier than buying a new Mac.
His point that people will get aggravated with the process of upgrading the OS. I do agree, the agony of Windows XP users migrating to Windows 7 will be one that will be a bit vexing, because it does require a full wipe. That can be seen in this chart posted by Walt Mossberg on his blog here. But at the same right the Apple guide just mentions in migrating from Windows to Mac mentions migrating files, not complete system settings… In layman’s terms: It’s like the aftermath of a FULL WIPE! Most folks have a means to archive of files like DVD burners, external hard drives, or (now) network storage devices… so this puts Mac migration right in the same ground of a Windows user doing a full wipe. That’s frustrating no matter how you see it. Most home users considering the Mac migration will probably be eyeing either a MacBook, MacBook Pro, or an iMac. That’s a starting price range of $1,000 – $1,300 before applicable taxes. On the Windows side of things MOST old 32-bit technologies are still supported in Windows 7. This sadly was not the same for G4 Mac users when Snow Leopard came out, so the high and mighty “Windows users will have to make major upgrades to get Windows 7” argument is not quite valid. The basic message that G4 users got was “Want the new OS update? BUY A NEW SYSTEM!” so that argument is back in fair game. The entry price for a Windows 7 32-bit Home upgrade is $100 and various online communities have reported the “Use the upgrade disc for a full install” trick still works. So in hard economic times, $100 and maybe using/borrowing an external hard drive versus shelling $1,000+ and still using/borrowing an external hard drive… I think being economical takes precedance to a foolish impulsive need of some ridiculous need to escape a “user experience“.

Point #2: Users tend to use what they use at work
This is a point that the Linux folks mention a lot of. This is also their rallying cry to push for Linux use in the home: get more Linux machines in the workplace then you will have more people considering it for home use. Apply this concept to Windows in the workplace or academic field… Lots of campuses get better volume discounts on Windows machine versus the Mac discounts. The proof of that is seen in the price of several Dell workstation versus an iMac suite. Also the myth of “Apple machines are just better at any art related tasks” is essentially null and moot because the software exists in the realms of both Windows and OS X versions. Then you also have fields where you don’t have Apple OS X equivalents. If the market share were a little more in favor of Apple, I could see the desire of a change of environment with an equally balanced ecosystem of software for both Windows and Mac. However when you have market research showing that close to 85% of people who own Macs also own Windows PC’s (as seen in this PC World article), the grip of Windows isn’t letting up. The rationale that people at home use what they use at work also is to the respect of compatibility. It’s always a pain to the typical end user to try to force compatibility but also it is much easier not to fight against what the work place endorses. Sure there are also things like Citrix or Virtual PC clients, but usually those require that the IT dept of a corporation to get linked up.

In the end, Windows 7 will still be hot. Those who are willing to upgrade will. I think the correct market Brian Croll is targeting are those who have $1,000 to blow on a PC and want something new and shiny. The logic of the Windows XP users being targeted is fair, but he seems to have disregarded one important fact: the size of their wallets.

One Month with The Killer Phone – iPhone 3GS review

Last week, I was one of the lucky individuals who got their iPhone 3GS at launch day. My initial plan was to get the 16GB but I opted for the 32GB. I for one am glad I made the better choice… For the most part, I had slight difficulty with AT&T slightly messing up my activation. That is mostly AT&T’s issue… So no fault on Apple’s part on that.

I will say that 1 week with the iPhone has been a unique experience… I know for the last 2 years, I was one of those on the harsh camp of iPhone “haters” because Apple didn’t quite fix security issues that most smart phones had resolved. At the time of the iPhone’s inception, it was a mediocre phone, a widescreen iPod, and small duty internet tablet. However… When you have problems with things like SSL encryption, Safari being crippled… It makes for a very unsafe smartphone from being an effective Fort Knox of information.

Then there was the iPhone 3G that came out last year… It was mainly a few fun toys like actually bolting a GPS chipset into the phone and some bigger storage options. The bigger issue was that the iPhone’s pricing was significantly reduced… Mainly because AT&T and Apple forged an alliance for reduced prices: The 8GB model of the iPhone 3G was to be priced at $199.99 and the 16GB $299.99. Of course, this would cause an influx of users to jumping to AT&T. Of course, with more users means more in the pool to experience problems… And boy did they problems hit hard…

When it rains… boy does it pour… Users started venting frustration… especially one odd group that Apple had been gunning to sway over: business enterprise users. If there was one thing they couldn’t live with out…. it was Microsoft Exchange server connectivity. Slowly Apple began to add supports for various online mail servers like G-Mail, Yahoo!, Hotmail, Exchange… Calendar support expanded to support CalDAV. Eventually things that your “common place” users wanted finally saw support with the iPhone… Yet security issues still remained.

I will say that I was still enough to sway me against the 3G… Even more so when things like the A2DP/AVRCP bluetooth profile, Nike+iPod compatibility, lack of encrypted SSL e-mail transactions, and a few other things just didn’t seem like a huge overall big deal… I could see how it was a big deal for first generation iPhone users.

Even still, I decided to wait…. Even on the envy of friends of getting brand new iPhones for Christmas… My gut feeling said Apple had a trick ace up their sleeve. A few blogs speculated that Apple was coming out with a brand new model iPhone… Some said it was a “nano” version to make it cheaper for the masses. That was all floating in the blogosphere until late May… Apple broke news saying something close to “The 3G will be reduced in price… AT&T is to sell remaining units at promotional pricing!” That was the big cue to look for a new iPhone on the horizon… Soon after Apple made the big press release, the iPhone 3GS was coming. Features being a slightly better battery, a faster processor, more RAM, a warmer toned LED screen, a oil resistant coating on the face of the iPhone, a compass chipset with the GPS, a brand new graphic chipset… To sweeten up the deal, they even decided to add a new 3.0 software update for both the iPhone 3G and GS models. This would be the crux of things as a slew of security issues were fixed and more functionality was added. I had been meaning to convert to AT&T for the sake of school… and this was my cue.

For background purposes… I was the “hardcore” business user. I used many of the “smartphone grade” operating systems: Palm OS Garnet, Symbian UIQ, Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry OS… I understood the high learning curves from these devices, but on getting my iPhone 3GS… I ran into a unique experience…

A bare and minimalistic information pamphlet basically labeling out how to use the gestures and essentially throwing the user into the water. It was something else compared to the 50-60 page manuals I was used to with all the other phones. To be honest, I was skeptical.I had thought to myself… “Can it really be THAT easy?!” I jumped in and got to check it out…

Apple really refined everything… They didn’t use super high end parts or anything wild… I dare say, the pooled a group of users from 18 – 35 and said “What makes you fear a smart phone? What would you, the consumer, want in a fun phone?” The phrase “fire and forget” basically sums up how easy it is to use.

If you need to make a call, tap the “Phone” app icon and you get your standard phone options of the keypad, recent/missed calls, phonebook, favorite contacts, and the visual voicemail. Want to listen to music? Tap the iPod icon and you have categories of music… Want a more visual approach to your music? Turn your phone sideways and you get album covers of your music almost like a remix of an old jukebox. As a friend put it best… “It’s stupidly simple and Apple hit the mark for a mass market.”

The response of the phone with the new hardware is impressive… There’s almost no lag when in side-by-side comparison to an iPhone 3G. As many blogs such as Gizmodo iPhone 3GS review matrix show, the consensus is that the [S] does equate to speed or “snappiness”. I can definitely see how this will affect future games and applications slated to hit the iTunes App Store. So far most games are generally suited for the iPhone 3G and have minimal issues with the faster chips for the 3GS, but give it time and some developers may make games to utilize the faster chips.

As a media player, it works well… I will gripe and say the stock headphones blow. They work ok if there’s a necessity… I will say if you want to go wireless… The Motorola S305’s (MRSP $50) work rather nice example for a Bluetooth stereo option. There’s also the wired options like V-Moda or Shure but be prepared to pay a premium for their options ($80+). I do wish that movies could be displayed via the “Cover Flow” style that the music gets… I think it’d be cool to have that option and have the DVD/Theatrical poster be laid out for you rather than the bland list option. The Bluetooth profiles are still under work and Apple realizes they need to get into the game quickly. The A2DP (Advance Audio Distribution Profile) works alright as far as streaming 2-channel stereo music to Bluetooth headphones or car stereo systems, however the AVRCP (Audio-Video Remote Control Protocol) abilities of play/pause and volume+/- work but not the track skip commands. The rumor is the “hot fix” 3.1 update should resolve this, but I will report when the 3.1 public release comes out.

As a phone… I have come to love the simplicity. Making calls is idiot proof, I have yet to test it with my family borrowing my phone… but if I do, expect an update, as they are as tech fearing as most people are. The Visual Voicemail is absolutely charming as I have always hated voicemail messages where the person is trying to leave a message as quick as possible and I can’t catch the details… With normal voicemail, I’d have to wait for the end and press the replay command to listen again. Now with Visual Voicemail, I can just drag the slider back and catch the part I need with little to any fuss.

Texting and e-mail are much more refined now as landscape keyboards have been added to the 3.0 release. The e-mail encryption issue has been fixed properly and they do support SSL encryption to boot. All in all, I will say that the IM style for the text conversations is nice. Setting up your own e-mail however is a little tricky if you are not using a MobileMe, Microsoft Exchange, G-Mail, Yahoo Mail, or AOL Mail account… I found that out when I was trying to get my mailbox set-up but once I found the tips from the DreamHost Wiki, the rest was easy.

As a mobile internet tablet… I find it to be sufficient at the task. The only thing that Apple needs to get with the times is Flash support, but at this moment… They are basically trying to force content providers to push content to the phone for things like embedded video and a few sites support this. More and more mainstream sites however are relying on Flash to deliver site content and add the fact that the Android platform is pushing Flash when the next and final build of Android is due to be released… Apple will be the ones lagging in this vector. About 2 years ago, they claimed they couldn’t support Adobe’s endeavor because Adobe’s code probed too far into the internals of the iPhone, but that leaves many wondering “How much longer, Apple?” The irony to this is a Google/HTC phone is coming to AT&T around August depending on how AT&T will be tolerant of the Android open principles. I would dare to call that an assault on “home” territory and would hope that this spurs some competition with Apple to cooperate with Adobe.

I will say that the apps really do make the phone plenty useful and fun. Things like WordPress, Pandora, LastFM, Facebook, Amazon, AT&T myWireless, Google Apps are great! I can agree with many of the bloggers out there that the apps really make the iPhone quite a treat. As far as load speed, the new 3GS hardware has barely any latency with application loading which is great as I have “gotten used” to slow loading apps on my previous phones.

I will say probably my big compliment to the iPhone 3GS is it is one phone I have not had to reboot like clockwork. This was a problem on my Windows Mobile phones, Sony Ericsson P990i, Nokia smartphones, and even my Blackberry as the RAM/pagefile just gets blocked up in garbage which lags the phones out to a snails pace. I haven’t turned my phone off since I got it back on June 19th and it runs just as snappy as it was then.

As far as my final consensus goes for the phone… I will highlight the big points to consider before you sign with the Death Star or sign for an early upgrade should you be on the fence with getting an iPhone.

  • Have you been considering an all-in-one solution and have a dying previous generation iPod? – Yes
  • Fan of a minimalistic design? – Yes
  • Are you a contact synergy fanatic that wants rapid access to your phone book but don’t mind some work? – Yes
  • Are you upgrading from an iPhone 2G? – Yes
  • Do you want more software freedom and open source? – No, consider an Android phone like that HTC Lancaster coming soon to AT&T and the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G due August 3rd.
  • Do you want expandable and hot-swappable memory cards? – No, consider other smartphones that give this privilege.
  • Do you want a high end camera on your phone? – No, Consider the Samsung Memoir or Sony Ericcson CS905 or Xperia X1 for 8.1 megapixel camera phones
  • Do you want an easier way to combine all of your contacts from Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc with little to any work? – No, consider a Palm Pre.
  • Does your work require that your phone must play nice on their VPN? – No, go with what is best for your company’s requirements.
  • Are you upgrading early because you bought your iPhone last year or in the last few months? – No, unless you’re foolish enough to pay the ridiculous upgrade $499 (16GB)/$599 (32GB) price.

In closing, the experience for a brand new user is pretty good and probably much easier . A 3G user not due to upgrade would be an idiot just to upgrade for a few perks. For any iPhone fanatic, I would advise sticking to the 2 year revision cycle. By the second year of ownership, the “newer” model will have huge upgrades for you. For a business class user, the iPhone 3GS is tricky and you’d have to check with your IT department if they can provide secure VPN support for you so “caveat emptor” is my warning to you. Overall my opinion is rather good for AT&T’s killer phone, but I will say I await what the Google Android team has to offer when they hit nearly every provider in America with Android phones. My reason is I love seeing competition and I want to see how Apple responds to what will soon be coming to Android.

The Workbench Project: Operation Phoenix Down [iBook G4]

Every now and then at the hallowed office of ZeroXR 13mg, I do salvage projects. These things range from sterilizing computers with computer forensics tool kits to building full scale machines. This round… I wanted to do something charitable for my sister.

Alice has had a trustworthy iBook G4 that she’s had with her from entering college… Well, about a week ago… She’s reported it would get into a phase where the machine would be stuck on a white screen with a gray Apple logo and the spinning icon keeps going… No system boot-up at all. She is going to Florida to attend my cousin’s wedding and well… because she’s got no laptop… she won’t be able to sync and charge her iPod nano.

I felt bad and this evening… I took her iBook to my lab table. I tried resetting the PRAM and NV-RAM, resetting the PMU with no avail. My friend Tyler had suggested trying to boot from Single User Mode and to run the repair command… That worked… but on rebooting… same issue. I tried to reboot to safe mode and that failed. I tried a forced disk boot and the OS X Tiger disc reported the disk was ok… so I am at a loss…

I would hate to think it’s the logic board… but anyone else have possible ideas? Anything would be good… I’d like to help my sister out cause she’s got tons of valuable files on the machine to boot.

Google May Have Android eDrama – Editorial

A few days ago, I stumbled upon [H]ardOCP talking about a “front page” article saying that Google may have inadvertently pushed some Android developers to the iPhone SDK… This is rather an ironic tale of karmic shock as about a year ago, there were some whispers in the grapevine that Google was proposing to OpenMoko prospective programmers with a rather gutsy move to say “Come to our project, cause we are Google after all! We have tons of capital and our project is more financially stable.” So naturally, most programmers do want a buck for their efforts and most basically said “bye” to the OpenMoko Project and hopped on the Google Android bandwagon. In the midst of all the hub-bub of Google vs. OpenMoko, the Apple iPhone crowd was rather disappointed that their shiny $500+ toy had no clean API layer to play with like Windows Mobile or PalmOS. They managed to juryrig their own method of installing applications onto “jailbroken” iPhones by apps like iPwn or WinPwn to free the phone’s certification of applications in a means of giving the device a gray zone to play in. Of course, the problem with that was Apple’s coders releasing new firmware builds for the iPhone would render these “jailbroken” iPhones into paperweights unless the unofficial teams such as the “iPhone Dev Team” found ways to circumvent Apple’s check-sums. That somewhat changed with the iPhone 2.0 software release and the offical push of the iPhone Software Development Kit (or SDK for short).

Let’s delve into the background of the 2 “major” projects…

The Android project (in my observation) almost is a deceptive concept of “open source” as depending on how you rank with Google, you get certain layers of access with Android. What do I mean? Like if you’re an amateur coder who wants to make an application for fun, you would have basic access to the API. Now… let’s say you did something like won the “Google Summer of Code” competition or you are dumping millions of dollars to Google’s Android venture, naturally, you get premium access to the newest SDK builds and even API access to even control device functions. That could get some users who have slaved hours on Google’s Android project pissed! This is really the pressing concern from the article highlighted by AppleInsider, actually. Imagine that you and a few friends of yours make a killer app that just requires you to know the exact pressure sensitivity readings of the touch screen for an Android phone, but the caveat is none of your “staff” are big name commercial people or Summer of Code winners… This could be the one failing crux to your masterpiece to ever find completion. However, someone who won the Summer of Code competition may have an all access pass to all functions of the phone and could create a killer app that could rival yours. End result: Your team loses out on a chance to monetize on your killer app, yet your competitor gets a chance to dominate the market. Could you imagine the frustration to know your competitor’s app would be up for sale in Google’s Android App Shop for $2.99 a download while you’re going “If only Google let us access code on touch screen sensitivity…” with your friends?

Apple’s iPhone SDK is much in the same spirit like Google, an illusion of open source, but I feel they have mitigated drama by allowing all users certain levels of access. There’s the “Free” SDK which is just basic tools to build and test apps for personal use. But to get your name out there… Apple wants you to pony up $99 for a Basic Developer license which gives you the right to distribute your app to other iPhones via WiFi and also sell/give your app away at the iTunes App store. Should you sell your app, you do get 70% of the revenue. Then there’s the “Enterprise” license for $299 which allows you the power to make in-house corporate apps for the iPhone, like a trippy app that monitors and plays with your custom ECU for a tuner shop or other endless things your corporation wants to use the iPhone for. This license in particular is recommended for firms employing 500 people or more.

In my opinion, Apple’s rules are a little more concrete than the undefined access rules that Google has imposed on it’s users… We’ll have to sit and see how things brew down. The fact that Google’s been dawdling with producing a real and hard phone is making their time slip, while Apple and even OpenMoko have live phones to play with! Sure, Google has a deal with HTC to have a phone created as well as make it so that users with HTC phones can do a firmware update to have Android operational on their phones… Add to this that they are trying to fight between T-Mobile USA and Sprint|Nextel as official providers… You have a concept that may simply have trouble breaking the market in a solid fashion. I guess in a sense I am saying… Google better give everyone an “eHug” and get their crap straight or come up with a better strategy quickly unless they want to let Apple take more limelight from them..

The Second Coming of the Jesus Phone – 7/11/2008 – 3G iPhone

With the summer here, all your big and essential technology shows are abound. You have the Computex show out in Taiwan being the big one for computer hardware and E3 for the gaming folks. However, if you’re an Apple fanatic, WWDC is the most noteworthy to you. This year has been no slouch either. If you are a big phone fanatic like yours-truly, then obviously you know that this year’s WWDC has the second revision on Apple’s new “killer handheld”, the 3G iPhone.

iPhone Announcement

For some, this is the boat that a number of frustrated Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Nokia S60 users have been waiting for. The inclusion of 3G cellular baseband chips, A-GPS functionality, and a few more things are just a few of the things that many iPhone naysayers and bashers had picked on the first iteration iPhone. This announcement has not shaken down some of the other competitors just yet, as far as I know. I have not seen any price breaks from manufacturers like HTC et al from the WWDC announcement, but then again, it may not matter to them because they may have a pocket ace up their sleeve thay may not be known to the masses yet. (The Touch Diamond is rather prohibitive at $700+ at the moment, eh? – Zero)

iPhone Profile Shots

Notice this time that there’s a curvature to the back of the iPhone, much like a Palm Treo. The device comes in two colors, black and white. The colors signify the device’s storage capacity: black being an 8GB and white being 16GB. This also signifies a change in how the device is built. The aluminum back of the first iPhone is a thing of the past, the back of the 3G iPhone is plastic. Some fans on the web have speculated the curvature and plastic back are more to accomodate the fun new additions of circuitry inside the phone.

The new iPhone boasts that it will be using the new 2.0 software improving the user experience with features such as a customizable Home Screen, the App Store, a Map App that can use BOTH A-GPS and cell tower and/or wi-fi hotspots to triangulate data. For those enterprising corporate users who are jonesing for a tricked out phone but were sadly disappointed in the lack of support for Microsoft Exchange server for their jobs, the new rendition of the iPhone has added support for syncing up to Microsoft Exchange servers. Early or late first generation iPhone owners can still get in on the some of these features with the new iPhone 2.0 software update, so they are not quite left out in the cold.

If you want to behold more of the features about the iPhone, check out the Official Apple iPhone page (Link)! Need more visual porn? Check out the new iPhone gallery link here.

What about the pricing information? How bad will AT&T rape me for service?” are probably the next questions for curious 3G iPhone buyers seeing to get their hands one one and possibly escape their old provider. Let’s break into the leaked confidential bulletin posted up by Boy Genius Report and find out, shall we?

Before we pick through the plans… Let me make this one point from the confidential bulletin loud and clear for you curious readers: In America, there is no way to buy the 3G iPhone without committing to AT&T and GoPhone customers are not permitted to buy them for GoPhone use either. I repeat, you cannot just buy an iPhone without a plan even in the Apple Stores. In other countries, you may be able to purchase an unlocked iPhone due to anti-competition agreements, but not much information is known on that. The caveat for the American market is that due to this closer partnership between AT&T and Apple is that now AT&T can finally subsidize the iPhone to an entry price of $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB model. A very gutsy move as this puts the iPhone right at the same price points as AT&T’s corporate communicator market. HTC, Pantech, Palm, and RIM Blackberry devices be damned, AT&T basically created an internal smartphone war within their ranks! This has me curious as to how RIM, Palm,and HTC will play their cards in America, but that’s another discussion… 😉 for later this week.

Let’s go over the major points quoted from the Boy Genius Report post:

  • iPhone 3G will be activated at point of sale when the device is purchased in store.
  • Return period has been changed from 14 days to 30 days
  • $199 and $299 pricing is for new activations or qualified upgrades with a 2-year agreement
  • 2G iPhone data rate plans will remain available for 2G device suntil further notice
  • The new iPhone 3G data plan is $30/month and includes unlimited data and visual voicemail
  • There is not a no commitment price. This means you can’t just walk in and bang $500 on your credit card and walk out.
  • If you are an existing iPhone customer in good standing, you will be able to extend your contract for two years when the iPhone 3G launches and get the ill-na-na $199/$299 price point. Doesn’t matter when you bought an iPhone either.
  • AT&T and Apple stores “unbrick” the iPhone 3G at time of purchase, but for some reason if that doesn’t happen, you’ll be required to use iTunes at home.
  • Pre-paid and Pick Your Plan will not be allowed on iPhone 3G
  • Device purchase limit remains at (3) per customer in AT&T stores.
  • Launch day will mirror last year’s launch. This includes extended store hours, crowd controls, etc. Security will be provided to stores requesting armed police or guards.
  • AT&T is working with Apple to roll out GPS-enabled applications.

One of the first things I noticed as a definite step to progress is the in-store activation. I had read a few accounts online about some people having trouble with doing the activation at home due to the servers timing out and having to activate their phones a few days after purchasing an iPhone. This ensures that end users will have a working phone on purchase instead of angry users griping that their new toy is useless until the server can activate their device.

The purchase of an iPhone will require an iPhone data plan. The unlimited personal plan starts at $30 with any qualifying voice plan, however if you need to link with corporate e-mail accounts… you’ll need to front $45 per month for the enterprise data plan. My assumption is that a “qualifying” voice plan is a plan that is priced at least $39.99 and has 600 anytime minutes. As far as the press release from AT&T goes, there’s no mention if the unlimited iPhone data plans will include any text messaging… but that could change come July 11, 2008. As far as AT&T’s texting plans go, that could range from $14.99 – $19.99. So about $30 (estimated) for the lowest qualifying voice plan, $30 for the unlimited personal e-mail, web and visual voicemail package, and then $15 for the texting plan. A rough grand total of $75 before miscellaneous taxes and service charges would be due on the billing date; possibly around $80 – $82 after those charges. That’s decently competitive to an individual corporate user with a smartphone or Blackberry configured in the same manner. This combined with the subsidized price of the iPhone actually gives AT&T some leg room to fight. If they combine texting with different tiering of iPhone data packages, like the unlimited personal data plan being able to also get unlimited texting for a total of $80 before taxes, this may give providers like T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon more incentive to step up to the plate and really be creative.

Tune in tomorrow when I’ll play Devil’s Advocate and spin my thoughts from the anti-iPhone camp from the eyes of the T-Mobile/Sprint/Verizon/HTC/Palm/RIM side of things. This will actually be a 3-part series of things. The floor is now open to any pro-iPhone comments. If you have hate or bones to pick with the iPhone, save your energy for tomorrow.