June 26th, 2007
Why I Didn’t Buy An iPhone: The Network
I just bought a Blackberry 8830 from Verizon, forgoing the opportunity to be among the first iPhone owners. This decision surprised me because I had been eagerly looking forward to the iPhone after praising it as a truly innovative product, despite much tech geek snarking. And now that the mainstream tech pundocracy has weighted in, it appears that the iPhone does indeed live up to expectations — mostly.
Two minor issues that contributed to my decision were the lack of a mechanical keyboard and the lack of push email. But I could have gotten over these. For me, the big deal killer was the network, i.e. the iPhone is only available on AT&T/Cingular.
As Walt Mossberg and Katherine Boehret put it:
But the iPhone has a major drawback: the cellphone network it uses. It only works with AT&T (formerly Cingular), won’t come in models that use Verizon or Sprint and can’t use the digital cards (called SIM cards) that would allow it to run on T-Mobile’s network. So, the phone can be a poor choice unless you are in areas where AT&T’s coverage is good. It does work overseas, but only via an AT&T roaming plan.
In addition, even when you have great AT&T coverage, the iPhone can’t run on AT&T’s fastest cellular data network. Instead, it uses a pokey network called EDGE, which is far slower than the fastest networks from Verizon or Sprint that power many other smart phones. And the initial iPhone model cannot be upgraded to use the faster networks.
I have used Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Cingular/AT&T in the Washington, DC metro area and in many other cities — Verizon kills the competition. That’s why they can afford not to get taken to the cleaners by mobile device manufacturers offering hot new phones. The reduction in dropped calls and dead zones with Verizon is simply astonishing — it’s as close as a mobile network comes to actually working. And I need my mobile device to function as PHONE as much an Internet device.
Bottom line is: The network MATTERS — a lot. It matters for voice and it matters for the ultra-hyped mobile web. Verizon’s high speed network IS faster — it’s not full broadband speed, of course, but it blows away the slower networks I’ve used, i.e. the kind of slower network the iPhone has with AT&T.
So much of the Web’s promise went unfulfilled in Web 1.0 because the network simply wasn’t ready. Buying an iPhone with AT&T would be like buying a laptop that only supports dial-up.
I still believe the iPhone is a revolutionary product. The Blackberry is a highly functional business device, which is no small accomplishment, but the 8830 doesn’t fundamentally change the way I work compared to the older, more primitive Blackberry I had been using.
The iPhone will revolutionize the mobile web use, including mobile video — but without a network to support it, the revolution is not happening just yet.
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Steve Jobs isn’t stupid. He knows that AT&T Wireless sucks. So why lock the revolutionary iPhone into a crappy network? Because Jobs knows that everyone will buy an iPhone anyway, even if they hate the network. And that, as Umair points out, shifts all the power to Apple - Read On. Posted in iPhone | No Comments »
weekend we drove from our home in Leesburg, VA to visit my wife’s family in Staten Island, NY. Along the way, we passed through rural areas of Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. I had my laptop with me, which we used while we were driving. I used my Blackberry 8830 as a tethered modem, and we enjoyed UNINTERRUPTED high speed internet access.
[IMG] The network is a pretty big deal in deciding whether to buy a cell phone—but just how big may depend on how you plan to use the device and the prevalence of WiFi where you live. The only real streaming that the iPhone seems to be capable of
The network is a pretty big deal in deciding whether to buy a cell phone—but just how big may depend on how you plan to use the device and the prevalence of WiFi where you live. The only real streaming that the iPhone seems to be capable of
weekend we drove from our home in Leesburg, VA to visit my wife’s family in Staten Island, NY. Along the way, we passed through rural areas of Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. I had my laptop with me, which we used while we were driving. I used my Blackberry 8830 as a tethered modem, and we enjoyed UNINTERRUPTED high speed internet access. [IMG leesburg-to-staten-isalnd.jpg] Ubiquitous high speed access is a new experience for me. I’ve done this drive before with AT
that the iPhone’s ability to connect to Wi-Fi networks will be its saving grace. Expect an increase in subscriptions to services like T-Mobile HotSpots and Boingo as data-desperate iPhone users seek bandwidth water in the EDGE desert. For some, EDGE may be a deal-killer. When my Samsung BlackJack can’t access AT&T’s faster 3G network, it switches over to EDGE, and I dread seeing that little “E” at the top of the screen. iPhone users will have to live with the E all the time
that the iPhone’s ability to connect to Wi-Fi networks will be its saving grace. Expect an increase in subscriptions to services like T-Mobile HotSpots and Boingo as data-desperate iPhone users seek bandwidth water in the EDGE desert. For some, EDGE may be a deal-killer. When my Samsung BlackJack can’t access AT&T’s faster 3G network, it switches over to EDGE, and I dread seeing that little “E” at the top of the screen. iPhone users will have to live with the E all the time
Why do you think Apple would have built iPhone like that? They surely must have known what the competition was able to offer.
Now you can even use your face to win an iPhone! nice contest… check it out
http://www.useyourface.com
Hi Scott.
Iphone might revolutionise how people consume mobile video but it certainly won’t impact how people create it. I’m reliably informed there’s no video camera.
It’s a real weakness in understanding the role of the mobile in creating content at the point of inspiration.
[...] Publishing 2.0: Why I Didn’t Buy An iPhone: The Network “The network MATTERS — a lot. It matters for voice and it matters for the ultra-hyped mobile web. Verizon’s high speed network IS faster — it’s not full broadband speed, of course, but it blows away the slower networks I’ve used.” (tags: iphone) [...]
[...] Why I Didn’t Buy An iPhone: The Network [Publishing 2.0] tr { border: 0px } td { cellborder: 10px} table { border: 1px solid black } [...]
Finally Confirmed: What the iPhone Doesn’t Have
• Songs as Ringtones
• Games
• Any flash support
• Instant Messaging
• Picture messages (MMS)
• Video recording
• Voice recognition or voice dialing
• Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Streaming (A2DP)
• One-size-fits-all headset jack (May have to buy an adapter for certain headphones)
I agree, that’s the thing that made me cringe way back when he announced the thing in January. AT&T by far has the worst network of any wireless provider, for voice and for data.
And then one has to wonder - his solution for third party apps is essentially “web 2.0″, yet they don’t even support 3G…
The only thing I’ll say in fairness though, Verizon is merely the best out of a pretty pathetic bunch. The mobile web will be a revolution… when it happens. It’s not a device that’ll cause the revolution though - it’ll happen when the first mobile carrier gets their head out of their butt and offers true unlimited data plans, at true broadband speeds, for a reasonable price (competitive with wired broadband). As it stands now we’re in the stone age.
Scott - I had the same reasoning as you - that because of a slow network, I wouldn’t use all the features I was so excited about. Also, I do love my blackberry!
How funny is it that the iPhone is so well regarded, that people actually have to make excuses for why they aren’t buying one!
Tomorrow should be fun either way.
Thanks.
[...] network is a pretty big deal in deciding whether to buy a cell phone—but just how big may depend on how you plan to use [...]
[...] is a follow-up to my post on why I didn’t buy an iPhone, i.e. because the AT&T network sucks. I’ve been amazed at how the iPhone has caused so [...]
[...] Delaware, and New Jersey. I had my laptop with me, which we used while we were driving. I used my Blackberry 8830 as a tethered modem, and we enjoyed UNINTERRUPTED high speed internet [...]
[...] Apple launched the iPhone exclusively on AT&T’s crumby edge network — and I refused to buy one for that reason — I predicted that Apple’s real endgame was to break the wireless [...]
I know I’m a bit late, but the BlackBerry does suck. I could go on and on listing the deficiencies, but let’s get to the point - Blackberry rested to long, secure that it would remain the #1 device. Using a BB is like going back in time to 1995, when emails were plain text and web sites were static.
When asking about the useless BB web browser, I’m often told that BB is an EMAIL device, and that I should appreciate how good it is. I can tell you that it is not good - all very basic, and many messages can’t be read at all. Why hasn’t BB kept up?
Leaving browsing and email aside, the other apps are seriously lacking. Once again, everything looks like it was written in 1995 - really basic. The calendar is almost unusable, I could probably write the task app myself and let’s not even talk about the rest.
I can sum up by saying that a BlackBerry will not surprise you with what it does well (nothing), and will certainly surprise you with how basic and almost useless it is.
Even if they get better in the future, WHY buy from a company that only improves when they are finally faced with competition. I regret having to use this ugly, useless brick every day because of my Verizon contract. Just 1 1/2 years to go and I’ll be free!