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The iPhone Cometh; Haters Swarm

Some are calling it the Jesus phone, but Jason Chen calls it a moral quandry, Gartner Group is <a href=“http://www.techworld.com/mobility/news/index.cfm?newsID=9252&pagtype=samechan" title=;Techworld.com - Gartner warns IT to avoid Apple’s iPhone”>telling IT to avoid it (really, because iTunes is scary to enterprise), Business 2.0’s Joshua Quittner is reminding the peeps it’s just a regular phone, and Wayne Smallman is whining that it doesn’t have a flash or telephoto lens. (Humor alert: one of those is supposed to be funny, and another is supposed to be hilarious.)

Analysts who claim “It doesn’t have any features that would make it successful as a business tool” must surely be on the pay of competing manufacturers or networks. The promise here is that the phone is an incredibly rich and portable network device; businesses that can’t find value in that are probably in decline anyway. Still it is expensive, and it is subject to all the vagaries of cell phone service, and it doesn’t have a laser.

iPhone Service Plans and Coverage?

AT&T’s current (reasonable) voice and smartphone data plans offer 900 minutes for $60 and unlimited data for an additional $20, but previous reports about the iPhone suggested that consumers should expect to pay $60/month for service, so we’re left to wonder what’s up.

Meanwhile, I’ve been asking AT&T users about their signal coverage. I’m on Verizon now and enjoyed pretty solid coverage throughout DC, even underground. Folks on AT&T, however, had spottier coverage, even above ground. And on the train home I found myself next to a passenger trying to conduct business on AT&T, but who was getting disconnected regularly. All the while, my phone showed plenty of signal.

And yet, USA Today says AT&T is “girding” for for launch, including investing in their network, so again we’re left to wonder.

update: the rate plans are out. $60 will get you 450 voice minutes and unlimited data, but all plans are limited to 200 SMS messages. Add $20 to double the talk time, and toss in another $10 for 2000 text messages or $20 for unlimited.