Want an iPhone? Be careful what you wish for!

Anyone who flies enough to justify not buying an iPhone based on your reasoning wouldn't be buying an iPhone in the first place. This of course would follow the assumption that the iPhone would include iPod functionality, which when you think about it would be stupid on their part. Why would Apple want to compete against themselves in a market they already dominate? And most people do not share your compulsive need to have the latest version of a given product, therefore it wouldn't be a requirement to buy a new phone if Apple released a revision after a years time. And to top it all off, most reports are saying that the iPhone will come unlocked, meaning you're free to use it with whichever carrier you like.

Apple has always been good about understanding the identity of their products. The iPod is an MP3 player, and the iPhone will be a phone. And I predict it will be a very successful phone too.

Many music phones, including the iTunes phones (ROKR and SLVR) have something called "airplane mode" that turns off all of the nasty features of the phone and turn it strictly into a music playing device.

Also, who are the two biggest carriers in the states? I was pretty sure they were Cingular (GSM) and Verizon (CDMA) and when combined, the GSM networks easily have more users than the CDMA networks.

It's also not impossible to make a CDMA model of a GSM phone. Take a gander at the (horrendous) RAZR. It was originally a GSM phone, but the V3c was made and all of the Verizon fools became happy.

Finally, it is not that hard to unlock phones. You can either wait 90 days and ask Cingular to do it for you, or simply take a look around on the internet and you will quickly find a solution.

I'll respond paragraph by paragraph:

I agree with everything but the last 2 words.

Your first point is a complaint against carriers, not the iPhone. All cell phones have that problem. Rumors are that it will probably be an unlocked GSM phone. That gives you a decent choice. There are also rumors that there will be both GSM and CDMA versions. We can't really argue about this before we know what they are doing.

Yes, I do. When I have an iPhone I will gladly use it to listen to music when flying because it will no doubt have an airplane mode.

Yes, I have noticed. Have you noticed the number of phones every other cell phone company comes out with? Do you currently feel the need to buy a new phone every year? Why would Apple releasing a new phone every year be any different than Motorola releasing a new phone every other week?

You've basically just described an iPhone.

I think you do want an iPhone, you just don't know it. I definitely want an iPhone and assuming it comes out after December 22nd (when my contract expires...pretty convenient) and I have the funds I will be purchasing one the day it comes out.

I am sorry your US cell phone market, coverage and companies suck. The rest of the world however will be happy with whatever Apple can offer in a phone.

If Apple sells this direct and unlocked, GSM &/or CDMA compatible, and the sales approach anything close to the iPod's you'll see a shift by U.S. carriers to the European model of service.

I once had a phone long enough to outlast the contract and went month to month, the carrier couldn't bend over far enough to keep me happy, some of the deals they tossed my way (to get a new phone and commit to 2 years) where better than anything else anybody was offering. It was a real eye opener!

Motorola's new KRZR is the first phone I've seen that actually feels comfortable using as a phone/mp3 player combo. When a call comes in automatically pauses your music and transfers the call to your headset or speakerphone, much like the Bluetooth combo you described above. It also has touch sensitive buttons on the outside so you can navigate through music without opening your phone.

I don't know how anxious Apple is to launch the iPhone after the mini-disaster it had with the ROKR. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

They could just make the phone 3G or 3.5G, works with W-CDMA, TDMA and GSM network, not sure of CDMA.

Mr. Veland hit the nail on the head. Your article blames Apple and the as-yet-unreleased iPhone for the shortcomings of the US mobile phone market and system. It doesn't seem so bad until you leave the country for awhile and live in a place with real mobile systems.

Even Russia has a far superior system to the US. I lived there for a good while in 2005-2006 and found the American system of "subsidies" coupled with heinous contracts to be almost unbearable. The one saving grace for me was that, since I don't use a lot of time each month, my folks told me to join their "share" plan for $10/month. Otherwise I'd be out $100+ for some crappy phone, paying $50/month or more for minutes I don't use.

In Russia, by contrast, I paid full price for the phone but it was unlocked and "activation" was usually 25-50 rubles or between $0.85 - $1.50. Minutes were cheap, and added to the phone with cards containing a pin. When I first arrived in Moscow you could buy cards in $5, $10 and $20 denominations but all the major firms (Beeline, Megafon and MTS) had switched to Ruble denominations by the time I left.

I called the US for 40 minutes from my mobile phone and it cost me R150, or about $7 (and that's because of a weak dollar, not because of expensive service). Calling to friends in Germany was similarly priced. All phones are, of course, GSM.

No contracts, no carrier-locked phones, it was great. When I hit a different country I bought a different SIM from the local provider. Swap SIMs, charge it with minutes, you're good to go. It beats the hell out of roaming, let me tell you, although the average American doesn't care because they don't often leave the country.

So, again, just because the US is in possession of a mobile phone system that is antiquated, slanted in favor of the telcos and allows us to be locked into ridiculous contracts doesn't mean that an iPhone will not be a good phone, what many of us are looking for, and a quality music player. If it's not GSM, however, I'll have absolutely no use for it (it will be eventually, though, for the "sane" mobile markets).

If American carriers finally switch to GSM across the board, offer decent pay-as-you-go instead of this half-assed garbage we have now, and offer more amicable contract terms in exchange for subsidized phones then we might be looking good.

But I want my iPhone and it won't replace my iPod...it will augment it.

One rumor is that there will be two models and another rumor is that the iPhone will be sold unlocked.

In my opinion, though, what Apple does won't matter nearly as much as what the carriers do. Both Verizon and my carrier Sprint have their own music download services and I highly doubt they'd carry an iTunes-enabled phone as that would almost directly compete with their own extortionary download services, and I don't know that Apple would make a phone that would work with a service other than iTunes.

As a music enthusiast, I'd never invest in this either. When it does come out, my guess is that the hard drive will be miniscule (2-4 GB, perhaps? I don't know, if the actual intentions of Apple have been made public then I could be wrong...), and there's no way in hell I'd be willing to pay a heap of moolah for a phone that will only hold an album or two (exaggeration, but whatever...). My 60 GB iPod has been full for months, so a music-phone holds no interest for me until they make them with HUGE hard drives.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'll keep my music and telephone separate, for the sake of my music.

Problem #1 with an iPhone: You're stuck to your network. Sure, GSM is a global standard, but you'll have to figure out how to circumvent the carrier lock that comes enabled on your phone if you want a truly portable device.

No you don't — cellphone unlocking is now legal in the US as well, so they can just sell it unlocked without any problem whatsoever.

The author sounds like someone has never heard of a multiple-band cellphone. There are phones that can travel from country to country without much trouble [the cost for such a service plan is another issue]. Also, I would assume the audio components would still work if there was no network available. Most people do not change their iPod every year - even if Apple does come out with a new one each year. Personally, I change my phone every year and simply pay the extra costs. One could do the same thing if they already are doing so - the cost would be the same [less if you consider the fact that one doesn't have to buy two devices].

Really, I would just like to have a red iPhone that looks stylish [perhaps like a larger nano]. I'd like at least 8 GB of space - and [with immense amounts of luck] an OSX for mobile that could be used to browse websites and the like.

Todag is 2007-01-10, the day after iphone was intruduced. Breathtaking!

My Treo watches movies, plays Madden football and lots of other games, does a database, email, web, plays music, whatever.

I use it all of the time on planes without getting into the "it's a phone" argument. I just shut off the Xmit function and it is just a PDA, not a phone.

Am I missing something in the iPhone? You can't shut off the phone part?

let me start off by mentioning that nowhere in your article did you make any mention of ever trying out an iPhone. It seems to me that most of your argument is based on speculation and some of the information is even false. For example if you had done proper research by going to an apple store and using a working model you would notice that there is a feature called airplane mode which you can activate before getting on a plane so that the iphone stops sending any radio signals and becomes simply an iPod. Surly there are things that even I would love to see change in the iPhone but I would suggest to anyone who's thinking of buying one to not waste your time reading peoples opinions, and go test one out. See if it does what you want.