Parity Violation

It seems like there are plenty of web sites that let you send SMS messages for free, specifically I’m thinking of Callwave which has a Dashboard widget for messaging and has a web interface as well. Obviously, not as good as the iChat-looking integrated SMS on the iPhone but it’s something to work around the 200 message default allocation of SMS messages.

The lack of inclusion of iChat itself, or an AIM compatible chat program must be because AT&T wants to sell you more SMS messages. I still haven’t heard if meebo works in the iPhone’s Safari web browser. A thread on the Apple discussions list has someone unable to hit enter and thus send an IM, and the comments on the meebo blog indicate a problem double clicking. It sounds like the meebo people want to make it work though.

I wonder how long until Apple releases iPhone OS X 1.1…

A lot of strange posts about how at $60/month for 2 years the iPhone’s service costs, oh a lot of money. Are these people familiar with the concept of cell phones having monthly fees? Comparing the iPhone to zero is absurd; why not compare it to other cell phone plans that include data which is what engadget did, at least other AT&T plans. The iPhone’s plans are right in line with what they offer otherwise. So yes, the iPhone costs $500-$600, which is definitely steep, but the service plans are totally mainstream when it comes to pricing.

So, the rate plans are out for the iPhone. Apple even has a video on activation and syncing. 200 SMS text messages are included with the iPhone plans and getting more means another $10 or $20. My guess is AT&T put the kybosh on iChat so heavy texters have to pony up for more text messages. Quite a racket.

The strangest thing about the video is during the part on syncing. The iPhone clearly has an 80 gigagbyte capacity. What sort of iPhone is this? It seems like that’s an obvious goof up by whoever edited this thing, and is going to create a frenzy of speculation about higher-capacity iPhones. But… no way you can get 80 GB with flash memory for any sort of reasonable price, right? Is there some HDD based iPhone out there? All very odd…

Apparently if you put too much stuff on your iPhone – it magically gains capacity!

One final iPhone note – about the “hype.” As MacJournal notes there have been like 6 Apple press releases (maybe 8 now), but the AP has put out 17 stories. The press keeps writing about the iPhone and then somehow blames Apple for this. Earth to media – no one has put a gun to your head to write all these stories.

Update Ok, I think it’s pretty likely that they just edited together this video and somewhere in there used an 80 GB iPod instead of an iPhone for some shots. No 80GB iPhone is likely in existence….

I don’t need one. I can’t afford one. I won’t buy one in the next 12 months. But yes, dammit, I want one. Watch the guided tour and tell me you’re not at least partially tempted.

I was thinking that as cool as the iPhone is, it really can’t replace either of my iPods. My iPod Nano has the cool Nike Plus device that tracks my runs (which some of you can see in the left sidebar.) My 30 gig iPod holds much more content than even the 8GB iPhone would. So, while it might make me use the 30 gig iPod less, it’s not like I would just put the old iPod(s) up on eBay.

Anyway, this brings me to the things written about the iPhone that are starting to bug me. The backlash, if you will.

• The AT&T exclusivity. Because of this one USA Today story with no attribution people are writing that the agreement with AT&T is for five years. Five! And, well, we just don’t know. Apple and AT&T have only said “multiyear.” My guess is two. Five years is total speculation, but people act as if its gospel. I’d be shocked if it’s that long. Apple undoubtedly has plans for the iPhone 2, the iPhone Nano, and lord knows what else – I highly doubt they’re staying married to AT&T for five years. I look at the first few years with AT&T as like when the iPod only worked on Macs. It’s just the beginning.

• The Keyboard It’s become fashionable to act as if the virtual keyboard is like trying to type wearing a pair of mittens. Except for a few people who have played with an iPhone for a few minutes, no one has any idea what typing on the keyboard is like. It could suck. It could be great. Apple says it’ll take you a week to get used to it so… why don’t we ask people on July 6 if the typing works well or doesn’t.

• Every other weird speculation People quote people who have no idea what the phone is like about things like battery life, network speed, etc. No one knows. The phone comes out in a week. The worst example of this is this mess of a post here who makes all kinds of conclusions based on nothing at all.

Anyway, the iPhone may be awesome, it may be just quasi-awesome, it may not be for you, it may suck. But, I wouldn’t mind having one, and I also think that people on both sides should just calm down a bit until someone somewhere has actually used one for say, a week or so.

So, some say that corporate types shouldn’t avoid the iPhone because corporate IT types won’t support. Over at Daring Fireball John Gruber makes the case that corporate IT needs to escape from their marriage to Microsoft Exchange and embrace open standards like IMAP, which the iPhone supports – not for Apple to buy into the Microsoft Exchange hegemony. I’m with Gruber on this one.

iPhone success no sure thing, says IDC.

The incredible analysis in this piece?

the ‘08 goal [of 10 million sold]… that will depend on the iPhone experience.

Really? The iPhone experience will determine its success!? Who knew!

Salon has a piece on the best and worst airports in the world. (Since I never fly internationally I’d be more interested in a purely domestic list, but it’s still interesting.) Houston Intercontinental’s Terminal B gets a nod as one of the worst (on page 2), and it is quite lame. At least you can escape it. Frankly I think SFO’s Terminal… whatever terminal I was in last time … was worse. Meager food selections and you can’t get out to another terminal without having to go through security again. Quite lame.

Oh, and DFW is on there as well. It is quite lame.

Ok, count me as one of those people who think is is a non-story. Apple has always put your AppleID and name in music bought on iTunes – and it continues to do so in the new “iTunes Plus” songs that don’t contain DRM.

Frankly, getting a DRM free song doesn’t mean you have the right to put it on the internet or give it away to anyone you want – it just means you don’t have to deal with backwards technological restrictions.

The only people who have to fear this are people who want to … I don’t know what. But, it’s not like it’s your credit card number in there.

And the “oh what if my iPod is stolen” – yeah if someone steals your iPod or your laptop you have a lot more to worry about that people getting your name and AppleID. Like, how about the fact they have all your contacts. Besides, your name and AppleID are in all your DRM’ed music too.

Macintouch readers are the voice of reason here – realizing this is a complete non-story and that iTunes songs have always had your name and AppleID in them and why should DRM free files be any different.