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Apple iPhone #1 Amongst U.S. Consumers in Q3 2008

BRLawyer said:
Actually I am one of them, bought in 2006...for a basic phone, it does what it does and it's thin...I don't care about extra features as I am not a smartphone user anyway...it's just for calling and SMSing.
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In general OUR (US) cell phones SUCK hard compared to anything else out there. We are the dumping ground for 2 year old technology cell phone wise. Think it has a lot to do with the carriers but even in Europe cellular service is far superior to our coverage as are the cell phone available to them that function on they're bandwidths. Japan is the true mecca/pinnacle of cellular technology. Anything they have and use even the phones they get free from the providers there are vastly superior to anything we use.

search Japanese cell phones on youtube or google...you will be amazed
 
Small White Car said:
All I know is, the iPhone is the first cell phone that I actually LIKE.

And I'm not just talking about phones I've owned. I include every one I've borrowed, touched, or played with over the years.

I always thought a cell phone was something to tolerate. The fact that you could actually enjoy using a cell phone was a revelation to me when the iPhone came out. That was something I'd never experienced before.

So I don't know exactly what Nokia or SE had out there in 2006, but I'm sure they didn't impress me either, whatever they were.
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+1

This is exactly how I used to feel about mobile phones. Before the iPhone I never owned, used, or touched a phone I actually cared about. I disliked every phone I owned. When buying a new phone I always selected my phone based on a hope that it would get its job down without agitating me. Features like text messaging, camera and web browsing were ignored because they were so clumsy it was just painful. My favorite manufacturer was Samsung because most of their phones was sorta usable and somehow managed to survive when I dropped them.

I absolutely love my iPhone for more reasons than I could hope to list in twenty minutes of sitting here. This is the first time I've actually been happy to have a cell phone. I think it is something people just don't get when they compare bullet points on a list.
 
gkarris said:
Funny, I got to ours early before opening yesterday and was watching videos on mine... wierd...
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Haha, the last time I was at one for a pee test for my job I was watching YouTube videos on mine to pass the time...

It really is the best way to pass time at an urgent care clinic. :) And don't get me started on how my 5 year old passes the time on it for long drives. Can't imagine another phone my son can "play" with.

Anyway, congrats on getting to #1!!!
 
You know, there's a segment of any market that cannot be made happy. Their glass is always half-empty.

My satisfaction with Apple for service and support is higher than I expect to have with most any manufacturer so I come away with a good feeling and that's likely with most normal people.

It takes the right attitude on both sides of an exchange to have a satisfied customer, so if you're usually disappointed, take a look in the mirror.
 
SandynJosh said:
You know, there's a segment of any market that cannot be made happy. Their glass is always half-empty.

My satisfaction with Apple for service and support is higher than I expect to have with most any manufacturer so I come away with a good feeling and that's likely with most normal people.

It takes the right attitude on both sides of an exchange to have a satisfied customer, so if you're usually disappointed, take a look in the mirror.
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Hmmm you could use that both ways though..invalid argument. Like saying be content with what you have or else your the problem. Just saying that doesn't really hold water so to speak.Not for or against iPhone..If it works for you it works for you.
 
Wow they still sell RAZRs? That is old as hell and hasnt been updated since it came out, why are people still getting them? I dont see them advertised anymore, all the carriers are moving to the slide phones now.

I almost never see RAZRs anymore, I see a lot of slide phones and blackberrys though. That being said Ive only seen 2 or 3 iphones and all of them were the first gen. The iphone must be mega popular in coastal big cities because nobody here has been buying them.
 
Mal said:
I have a RAZR now (can't afford an iPhone, especially the extra $70 in monthly charges over what I'm paying now for my wife and I, even if she didn't get an iPhone), and it's got the best features of any phone I've owned previously and works acceptably well. I'm not surprised it sold so well for so long. However, when you compare the usability to an iPhone, it looks like a preschool toy. The iPhone has really earned that top spot in the market.

jW
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Exactly the same here, and my initials are JW too :D

My Razr is doing very well thank you. The battery is charged quickly and lasts a while (to say it's about 2 years old), it's a great size and very tough. The loudspeaker volume is good and the sound quality is high. It does everything I need a phone to do, it's just that the iPhone does that and what I don't need necessarily need it to do. heh.
 
NeoMayhem said:
Actually, you can copy and paste text messages and a few other things on the RAZR.
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If it's a "few other things" that's not 'copy and paste.' That's just a couple of "send-to" functions. The iPhone has some of those built in too, like how I can send a bookmark to an e-mail message.

But "Copy and Paste" means that you can copy any text and paste it anywhere.

stainlessliquid said:
The iphone must be mega popular in coastal big cities because nobody here has been buying them.
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Counting myself, I personally know 10 iPhone owners in DC, 1 in Los Angeles, and 1 in Columbus Ohio.

Of those 12, two are first-gen and the rest are 3G.
 
It was also pointed out that the vast majority of iPhone buyers have been adults (for obvious reasons); indicating that many of the people that have switched over to iPhones are business users.
http://www.cnbc.com//id/27646992?__source=yahoo|headline|quote|text|&par=yahoo

"We can talk and talk and talk about how consumers aren't buying gadgets this holiday shopping season. But if they can get six or seven gadgets in one, iPhone could become the single best gadget of choice this year, even in a down economy"
 
kingtj said:
All I know is, I bought my cellphone primarily to function as a telephone. Then, the first "smartphones" came out, and I realized one of them would prevent me from needing to carry a separate "personal organizer" around. Next, I saw the attractiveness of having one serve double-duty as my portable MP3 music player, so I wasn't carrying around a separate iPod or other such player, too. By that time, most phones were offering a promise of being a good email reader, web browser, portable game machine, and camera too.

Most of them were "Jacks of all trades, masters of none" though, in practice. (My Palm Treos crashed constantly, and never could browse a web site worth a darn. And when I went to a Razr, I got a few good games on it but a terrible contact manager - and only minimal usefulness for mail or web related use. It got great phone reception, though, which was a big plus.)

The iPhone? Another "Jack of all trades", but at least it's a "master of SOME". Having iPod brains/guts rolled into it, I think it masters that task. It soundly beats the competition at web browsing too. Ability to access my work's Exchange mail server (without them buying costly "Enterprise connector" software like Blackberry needs) is a big plus too.

Yeah, it doesn't record video or do any "cut and paste".... but I'm left thinking "So what?!" to all of that. Those are all things they COULD add with another firmware update, for starters. But even if Apple never does, they've put together a phone that beats anything I carried in my pocket before - and for that, I'm a happy customer. I think many others share my opinion.
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I'm right there with you. Previously, I carried a RAZR (bah!), my iPod, and a small notebook/calendar, but now I just carry my iPhone. In some instances, it's even replaced my laptop, especially with email and light browsing.

And while people talk about the lack of Copy-Paste and MMS, they ignore the incredible advantages that the iPhone offers because of the Apps store. Over the last few weeks, I've downloaded Urbanspoon to search for restaurants, Fieldrunners (an excellent iPhone version of Desktop Tower Defense), and during the presidential election I listened to NPR through the AOL application and looked up polling data on www.fivethirtyeight.com. Try to do that on a RAZR!

The iPhone's hardware is excellent and a joy to use, but the software is where the real game is at. And, there's where Motorola and a host of other companies just cannot compete.
RIM seems to be the only company that understands this.
 
I'm glad to see these numbers. My wife and I both have Iphones and we are still both enjoying them. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months with the new products that other manufacturers are putting on the market

Eric
 
That is truly amazing considering it's only available under one carrier. AT&T must be very happy.
 
howie78 said:
In general OUR (US) cell phones SUCK hard compared to anything else out there. We are the dumping ground for 2 year old technology cell phone wise. Think it has a lot to do with the carriers but even in Europe cellular service is far superior to our coverage as are the cell phone available to them that function on they're bandwidths. Japan is the true mecca/pinnacle of cellular technology. Anything they have and use even the phones they get free from the providers there are vastly superior to anything we use.

search Japanese cell phones on youtube or google...you will be amazed
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I know...even in Switzerland offers tend to be very avant-garde, with excellent coverage and 3G/GSM service everywhere.

In fact, the US has been the backyard of the mobile phone business for a loooooong time already, not to mention the fact that you STILL pay for receiving calls, which is something reckoned as absolutely insane and unjustifiable in any civilized country...so yep, you are behind Asia, behind Europe and behind most emerging markets in the world.

But fear not, at least you elected Obama as your new President...this is gonna help matters a lot in the coming years.
 
BRLawyer said:
not to mention the fact that you STILL pay for receiving calls, which is something reckoned as absolutely insane and unjustifiable in any civilized country.
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Yeah, but I have 900 minutes now. What if AT&T decides to stop charging me for incoming calls tomorrow?

I'll tell you what happens...my plan suddenly has 450 minutes for the same price!

So really, why should I care? It'll all come out the same in the end.
 
Xian Zhu Xuande said:
Before the iPhone I never owned, used, or touched a phone I actually cared about. I disliked every phone I owned.
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Same here. I had a Tracfone, as did my wife and kids. For most of its life, it slept in my car's glove compartment, turned off. The Tracfone suited my needs; I couldn't justify paying $40 or $50 a month for a phone I rarely bothered to use.

But now I'm paying AT&T's exorbitant rates, and I'm actually okay about that. Sure I'd like it to be cheaper. But the iPhone is so much more than a cell phone and has changed the way my family now communicates. I actually use the phone! Imagine that! And my wife never used to bother with her e-mail before. Now she actually looks forward to checking it every day -- with her iPhone.

Sure the device has a few quirks and lacks features some people want. But the beauty of the iPhone is that it can continually adapt through free software updates. Hopefully it will continue to get better with age.
 
i can't believe this
the contract with at&t is so hideously overpriced...
it's the only reason i haven't bought an iPhone
i hate being tied to a contract
especially for 2 years
i'll stick to my razr with metro pcs :)
 
Rybold said:
It was also pointed out that the vast majority of iPhone buyers have been adults (for obvious reasons); indicating that many of the people that have switched over to iPhones are business users.
http://www.cnbc.com//id/27646992?__source=yahoo|headline|quote|text|&par=yahoo

"We can talk and talk and talk about how consumers aren't buying gadgets this holiday shopping season. But if they can get six or seven gadgets in one, iPhone could become the single best gadget of choice this year, even in a down economy"
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yeah but you have to buy the gadget and pay for 2 yrs contract!
i wouldn't want that in a down economy!
 
Apple has ONE phone in their line up. How many other manufacturers have this? Not to decry Apple's success but take it with a pinch of salt when every other phone manufacturer spreads their sales over 20 or so handsets, not to mention this is about domestic (not overall) sales and is I guess referring to the U.S. market, rather than the ROTW, lowly as we are.
 
PDXoPDX said:
I'm just saying that being #1 has had the unfortunate consequence of allowing Apple to make your exact argument. There was a time when Apple stood for fairness, quality, and being beyond reproach in the service area. This is part of the reason for their success.

What I got was a straight quote from Apple's warranty policy and basically a note saying, "don't have to, not gonna! Pony up and buy more of our stuff." It wasn't always this way and it saddens me to see Apple go the way of any other company that has hit it big. I guess I'm just another sucker that believed in a dream.
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Survey after survey authoritatively proves you are wrong. Your personal experience is not typical. I have a liquid cooled G5 that was a full year out of Applecare warranty when it sprung a leak. Apple repaired it at no charge. Not exactly a "don't have to, not gonna" response wouldn't you agree.
 
Small White Car said:
If it's a "few other things" that's not 'copy and paste.' That's just a couple of "send-to" functions. The iPhone has some of those built in too, like how I can send a bookmark to an e-mail message.

But "Copy and Paste" means that you can copy any text and paste it anywhere.
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You could not 'select' text on my RAZR, but you could copy a phone number from the address book and paste it in a text message, or copy a whole text message and paste it into a new one. Not great, but it was nice in some situations, and a lot better then what the iphone has now.
 
Four of the five best-selling handsets in the third quarter were optimized for messaging and other advanced Internet features.
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So that'll be things like MMS and tethering then? Oh, wait... :rolleyes:

In all seriousness I love my iPhone muchly, and can live without the above lacking features (although lack of tethering is pretty damn annoying).

And I wouldn't even p1ss on a piece of Motorola cack if it was on fire.
 
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