On 2009-07-01, Jon Ribbens <jon+usenet@unequivocal.co.uk> wrote:
> On 2009-06-30, Todd Allcock <elecconnec@aNOoSPAMl.com> wrote:
>> The iPhone is a huge success _despite_ its flaws and limitations,
>> not _because_ of them!
>
> I think you have that wrong. Everything about the iPhone is a
> compromise between the competing interests of mobile phone companies,
> media companies, consumers, and Apple itself. I think Apple have done
> a pretty good job of balancing these interests, and this is what has
> lead directly to the iPhone being a success.
>
> For example, the iPhone has the "flaw/limitation" that you can't
> tether it (or, in 3.0, you can but only if the carrier lets you).
> This is obviously done to make the carriers happy, but in return
> it means that iPhone carrier contracts tend to offer genuinely
> unlimited data access (barring roaming). So this "flaw" enables
> a benefit for the consumer (no hidden/unexpected charges).

Benefit compared to what? The $15 dumbphone and $30 smartphone data
plans AT&T had prior to the iPhone, and still have, also offer genuinely
unlimited data access (those terms are identical to the iPhone plan)
but don't prevent you from using a phone capable of tethering (and most
of the phones AT&T sold were capable). The only thing new about
iPhone tethering is that they gave AT&T the ability to turn it off
with an AT&T SIM in the phone, even on iPhones not purchased from
AT&T. While having the firmware enforce what was formerly just a
contractual T&C issue might be a benefit to someone, that someone
is definitely not the person who paid for the phone.

>> Those ARE wiped out with every upgrade!
>
> Ah, OK, I haven't tried jailbreaking my phone. I just haven't heard of
> any complaints from jailbreak users due to Apple going out of their
> way to stop them. At the very least, for example, when updating the
> iPhone OS iTunes could detect the jailbreak and refuse to update
> ("phone in non-standard state, warranty voided, cannot upgrade").
>
> With other phones, unlocking them was always a rather nervous affair
> as there was the possibility of bricking the phone or causing some
> other hard-to-undo problem, but with the iPhone as far as I'm aware it
> doesn't matter what you do, you can always just reset and restore from
> backup. It practically encourages hacking! ;-)

Um, unlocking with every other GSM phone I've purchased from a US
carrier has been a matter of phoning the carrier and asking for
the subsidy password. If that had bricked the phone I would have
taken it back to the carrier and got it fixed or replaced. The
innovation introduced for the iPhone sold by AT&T, at least compared
to the way other phones are sold now, is the inability to get the
carrier to remove the SIM lock at all. Since being able to use
random SIMs in a phone with good band coverage is hugely useful
when you travel it is no wonder this feature encourages hacking.
The beneficiary of this iPhone feature is, again, not the person
who paid for the phone.

More than this, you changed topics between the above two paragraphs.
My wife's iPhone came from Apple with no SIM lock, and hence requires
no unlocking, yet she still can't choose to use applications other
than those blessed by Apple on a device someone paid big bucks for.
As I understand the state of things the need to jailbreak the
phone, no matter where you bought the phone, is a feature which may
be unique to the iPhone, so I'm not exactly clear what you are
comparing the iPhone's ease of jailbreaking to. Not having to
do it at all is much, much easier.

As far as I can see Apple bent over backwards to make the carriers
and itself happy, entirely at the expense of those who pay for
the phones.

Dennis Ferguson