
I’m furious with Apple and AT&T right now, with regard to the iPhone - blasdel
http://stevenf.tumblr.com/post/152606616/im-furious-with-apple-and-at-t-right-now-with
======
jonursenbach
I upgraded from a 2G to 3G this past weekend before all this nonsense started.
Never owned the 2G, was property of my current job that I'm leaving tomorrow,
so I _had_ to get a new phone ASAP.

I've been looking forward to the official Google Voice app since they release
the Android/Blackberry so imagine my surprise and anger that less than 2 days
after I sign my 2 year contract, GV apps gets completely banned.

[Yes I looked into switching to T-Mobile yesterday to get a G1 and not have to
deal with this bullshit. It would be cheaper in the long run to make the
switch (avg. savings of $20/month), but I don't have the money to buy another
new phone right now. Shucks.]

I've grown more and more angry with the App Store since more and more horror
stories have leaked out about the blackboxed approval process, so I jailbroke
my 3G this morning and immediately installed GV Mobile on it and gave the
largest middle finger ever to Apple and AT&T.

Fuck that noise.

~~~
jrockway
When I signed up with AT&T a few years ago, they would refund everything
within 30 days. Make sure you say, "I don't get service at home" rather than
"I hate you guys", though.

~~~
jonursenbach
Yeah I have 30 days to refund everything without having to pay any fees, less
the iPhone restocking fee, but as much I would love to, I still don't have
enough money overall after that to afford to switch carriers.

~~~
jrockway
Googling around suggests that the restocking fee is $20. Considering the
myTouch 3G is cheaper than the iPhone, and the service will also be less
expensive, I am confused as to how cost could be an issue.

~~~
jonursenbach
I'm on one of their family plans with my girlfriend, so us switching to
T-Mobile would require me to purchase two phones.

------
jwhitlark
There are severe (potential) problems with living on a platform that you don't
control. People tend to focus on whether they are being mistreated today, not
whether they can be mistreated at all.

~~~
greendestiny
Isn't it the desire to control the platform that leads Apple to behave this
way in the first place? We need more of those things that enable good
civilization: openness, justice, fairness, discourse.

------
mkfort
Vote with your dollars. I've put off buying a fancy phone, but seeing the way
that apple has treated it's developers and customers I will definitely not be
getting an iphone. These days I've been liking more and more the OLD apple.
Before ipods and iphones and OSX and brushed aluminum. But I digress. I
eagerly await a capable android phone on verizon. Hope they don't screw that
one up.

~~~
tjogin
Unfortunately, that won't work as well in this particular case. See, the
regular consumer _loves_ the iPhone and has absolutely no idea about the
difficulties facing third party developers (it's questionable if they'd care
even if they knew). Regardless of what we do, the iPhone will continue to sell
like hotcakes.

What we need to do is to fire up a shit storm, and I believe we're seeing the
start of that. Keeping my fingers crossed that Apple upper management will: 1)
notice it, and 2) take it to heart.

~~~
Zak
The regular consumer _will_ notice that friends using Pre/Android/something
else have cool apps like Google Voice that aren't available on the iPhone, and
might buy a different phone come upgrade time.

Of course, there has to be a different phone that's desirable enough, and from
what I've heard, that isn't the case yet.

------
ZeroGravitas
_"I am voluntarily going to make my own life a bit worse because I believe in
certain principles"_

Strangely, if people say things like this _before_ they are, and I quote,
_"getting fucked"_ then they get called names like "zealot" and are looked
down on for not being rational or _"pragmatic"_.

------
Pahalial
I pretty much agree fully with this article. I briefly considered putting
myself to work on a few iphone app ideas, and each time was put off by the
terrible things I heard about the entire process.

Well, as the owner of a 3G, I was planning on upgrading to the 3GS and selling
the 3G to a friend to offset the cost of an out-of-cycle upgrade. As things
stand now, I have put that on hold and will be waiting for both the next
generation of Android phones and my own "hardware upgrade eligibility."

So, thank you Rogers' stores, for failing to call me back when you did get 3GS
stock in. Without this failing I would have given you and Apple preposterous
amounts of money just a short time before this debacle broke the camel's back.

As to other comments, that nerdrage is just that and that Apple can afford to
ignore it because so many non-nerds are buying their phone: I disagree. You
can only shun developers for so long, and the amount of irate posts by iphone
devs all over the place would seem to indicate that these devs have begun to
reach their limit.

------
huhtenberg
Perhaps it's an offtopic, but still ..

> _Historically, Apple has made bad decisions, but they’ve generally corrected
> them. The $100 refunds for original launch-day iPhone purchasers after the
> price dropped come to mind._

That was a store credit, not a refund. And it was a calculated marketing move
that was planned long before the drop was announced.

------
jrockway
Too bad that the US carriers are dragging their feet on releasing readily-
available Android phones. They could really capitalize on all the iPhone and
AT&T hate; but not with the G1.

(The G2 is supposed to be released in a few days, but nobody knows when the
HTC Hero is going to be here. Too bad, as that one is the real iPhone
competitor.)

~~~
zach
Nerdfury, as awesome as it is to behold, does not necessarily indicate there
is all that much hate out there. It just seems that way because it's so
intense.

~~~
jrockway
Do smartphones with $40/month data plans appeal to anyone but nerds?

~~~
zach
Touché.

~~~
netsp
No it isn't. Who do you think all these people buying Iphones are.

Stand your ground.

~~~
zach
It's a fair point that those who would even consider switching in the first
place would be the nerds.

And I thought a bit about the Daring Fireball article -- holding on to your
enthusiasts is important.

Yes, I know reconsidering an opinion you express online is heresy, but it's
not as irrelevant as I made it seem.

------
ars
Someone has to find an apple app store employee and interview them anonymously
about their decision process in approving or rejecting an app.

~~~
tyrcikytgv
It involves senior apple management sitting around reading entrails. Why do
you think Job's needed a liver transplant? They needed to check the old one
for the reasons they signed with AT+T

------
quizbiz
Q1: Does _anyone_ here at HN have connections to 1 Infinite Loop?

I am more than curios because all this talk these fast few days is doing
damage to the brand and there has to be at least an unofficial statement, off
the record talk... I suppose that I am looking for light at the end of the
tunnel.

Q2: How can we go about convincing Google to put their app on Cydia?

~~~
jrockway
_Q2: How can we go about convincing Google to put their app on Cydia?_

I doubt they care this much. Jailbreaking your iPhone is questionably legal,
and it's not worth the risk to Google just to let their competitor use their
free service. Want Google stuff on your phone? Get a Google phone.

~~~
quizbiz
Oh, I think they care for better and for worse.

Google has already proved it is very interested in controlling (or to put more
politely, to be a part of) as much of our life's data as possible. When we are
not at our computers and we want to connect to the world around us, we use our
phones. Their mission statement is to organize the world's information. Google
Voice bridges the gap between voice and text, search, sort, etc.

I'm not sure how much legal trouble will come from leaking the app (to the
open source community[?]).

------
akmiller
What we need to do is encourage Google to open source their Google Voice
iPhone application so that we can compile and install it on our own. Granted,
you have to have the tools and your $100.00 developer certificate but it would
be nice.

~~~
gcheong
Or put out an open call to developers asking them to create ad-hoc
distributions for anyone who requests it.

------
garply
I was in the market for a new phone recently and was considering the new
iPhone. Pieces like this were a big factor in my decision to give my money to
Motorola instead (I got a shiny new Ming and absolutely love it).

------
sneakums
Life is hard.

~~~
jodrellblank
That's a bug.

First opened a long time ago, first successful workaround proposed by Buddha
around 2,000 years ago but it's a lot of non-effort and can be quite difficult
to grasp. First dreams of a real solution beginning in the past 1-300 years.
Progress towards a real solution is ongoing and at an increasing clip. Check
back in 15-50 years.

------
axod
Do we really need the constant Apple/iPhone/app store whining on here? It's
really overwhelming. And in the end, who cares?

