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It amazes how the hardcore apple fanboys cant even admit when Apple is being f-ed up. I bet if Apple started a child prostitution ring, the fanboys would still support them.

I like Apple products as much as the other guy, but Apple is making piss poor excuses.

i dont support this, im pissed though im not naive enough to think apple doesnt have this right...
 
Im getting a bit fed up with AT&T and Apple's ********. I'm literally paying 3x what I'd pay for the same plan at T Mobile, the App Store is rejecting apps for no good reason, they're stifling innovation, and the service is getting lousier and lousier.

Plus the quality of Apple workmanship is sloppy - I'm about to get my THIRD iphone under warranty because this thing is defective. Sure it's "easy" but how about "functional?" instead?

The new Gphone coming out next month is starting to look better and better. Same functionality for 1/3 the price? Sure why not.

If you're so upset about paying so much, why did you sign the contract in the first place? Whiners like you get on my nerves so much. You agreed to pay that amount. No one forced your hand, no one required you to do that. In fact, you can get out if somehow you didn't get what you agreed to.

Oh wait, you did agree to it?

Stop whining then.

jW
 
I hope that Apple gets this straightened out, I just got invited to join Google Voice today. If not, hopefully Google will get a Web App up and running soon. I just want to have it by the time school starts late next month.
 
I wonder if such popular apps like TextFree will be seeing the "duplicate feature" rejections now.

I can see a problem if GV used the data network to carry voice, but I think someone at AT&T just misunderstood the service.
I seriously doubt AT&T said anything about Google Voice on the iPhone since they allow it on their other phones.
This looks like Apple laying the blame on AT&T so they can protect their own offerings.
 
This is the last Iphone I'll ever buy. It was bad enough that in Germany Apple allowed the mafiosi German Telecom to rip people off. Now with the Google voice it's going too far. I like my Iphone but Android will kick Iphone ass. I really hope so.
 
It's time for apple to dump AT&T.

Apple has a big enough customer base in the mobile market to offer their own data plan.

I would be willing to pay $100 a month for unlimited data. With google voice, you wouldn't need extra charges for texting and long distance. There would be no "mobile-to-mobile" bs.

Flat rate plans with no hidden charges. AT&T sucks the life out you. It's shameful and disturbing. AT&T is the epitome of capitalism at its worst.

But if it's only AT&T that's keeping it from getting accepted, why isn't being released in App Stores of the other countries?
 
Android will be on top in a year or so, its inevitable. Consumers will have more options with Android, more carriers and phone makers.

I think so and I hope so. Apple was innovative to come out with a new phone concept but they took advantage of the situation to impose some monopolistic practices that the entire industry was moving away from. Apple really wants customers to sign a 2 year contract for anything they use.

Now Palm and Android are starting to be better. Let's hope they hit the Iphone hard. I will be happy to see Apple concentrate again on computers.
 
AT&T need to crawl in a hole and day... from what it sounds. I don't know I live in New Zealand.

Contracting Needs to die, along with subsidiary. Post-Paid, Pre-Pay and Billing are all thumbs up. I dont know about America but you can get Unlocked phones straight from Apple and use Vodafone, Telecom or 2degrees (When its launched) with just a pop of a sim. $6K over 2 years and only $500 subsidized is not acceptable Vodafone. May as well fronted up with the $1.5k and got a custom plan for internet using Pre-Paid calling and messaging services and save like $4K. (Thats not unlimited BTW, no one here knows what unlimited means)

Oh and whats with Vendor Exclusivity Apple? Australia has Telstra, Optus and Vodafone as official suppliers!!! I believe 3 is supported.
 
I think so and I hope so. Apple was innovative to come out with a new phone concept but they took advantage of the situation to impose some monopolistic practices that the entire industry was moving away from. Apple really wants customers to sign a 2 year contract for anything they use.

Now Palm and Android are starting to be better. Let's hope they hit the Iphone hard. I will be happy to see Apple concentrate again on computers.

In America...

3 Vendors in Australia, Free range in New Zealand.
 
In America...

3 Vendors in Australia, Free range in New Zealand.

It's only available on o2 in the UK. Which is good, because o2 is a network known for their outstanding 3G coverage and superior 3G speeds. /s

Just about every other phone (except the Palm Pre) is available on all networks or if you want, you can buy it sim-free - that's how it should be.
 
It's only available on o2 in the UK. Which is good, because o2 is a network known for their outstanding 3G coverage and superior 3G speeds. /s

Just about every other phone (except the Palm Pre) is available on all networks or if you want, you can buy it sim-free - that's how it should be.

It must suck not being able to get an unsubsidized, unlocked phone. I used to have a little scorn for Apple ignoring New Zealand but this is freaken Awesome. Im gonna save $4k!!!
 
It's only available on o2 in the UK. Which is good, because o2 is a network known for their outstanding 3G coverage and superior 3G speeds. /s

Just about every other phone (except the Palm Pre) is available on all networks or if you want, you can buy it sim-free - that's how it should be.

In Germany O2 doesn't work as well as in the UK. Horrible customer support and modem speeds 70% of the time. Fortunately Apple doesn't sell Iphone through O2 Germany. But Telecom sucks even more. Only prepaid phone companies work as advertised in Germany.

Italy has 3 companies selling Iphone: TIM, Vodafone, and 3 from China. The first two sell unlocked phones but Vodafone network is unreliable.

Apple should just sell their phones in a normal way, without playing big brother. But this time they went too far and many people are opening their eyes.

I am pissed too and canceled my Mac Pro order today. After all I didn't really need it and it's better to keep the money with me than give it out to our our want to be dictator.
 
In Germany O2 doesn't work as well as in the UK. Horrible customer support and modem speeds 70% of the time. Fortunately Apple doesn't sell Iphone through O2 Germany. But Telecom sucks even more. Only prepaid phone companies work as advertised in Germany.

Compared to Tmobile, O2's customer service is godly. I am running a 3Gs on O2 Germany for almost one month now and 90% of the time I have a 3G signal.
 
Compared to Tmobile, O2's customer service is godly. I am running a 3Gs on O2 Germany for almost one month now and 90% of the time I have a 3G signal.

Vodafone are misleading pricks. They advertise for $10 cost, calls and texts will cost the same amount in Australia and New Zealand. Nicked me and my friend out of $10 and roaming charges.

Go 2degrees, rear end the competition!!!
 
Yes, but the iPhone was never considered to be totally open.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a monopoly. The problems start when the monopoly does something that prevents a competitor from entering or competing in the market.

The market isn't OS X, its operating systems. The market isn't iPhone OS X, its smartphones.

They interrupted the law correctly.

Yes you could say there are "sub markets", but you are being to granular. The market would be something like "wireless devices". You could split that into cellphones and smartphones. The smartphone market consists RIM, Nokia, HTC, Apple, etc.

Each manufacturer has a natural monopoly on their own products. Microsoft is the only company who can produce Windows, or Xbox. Sony is the only company who can make Playstation.

This is exactly how the market is supposed to work, vote with your wallet.
See, I don't think I am being too granular, though I understand why it would seem so to most. Microsoft was deemed to hold a monopoly in the Desktop PC market. This was a sub market to the overall computer market. They didn't have a monopoly in the rest of the computer market (servers, graphics workstations at the time, etc).

You are right, that I am being granular in that it is not normal for a brand to be considered a market on its own. But, in the case of Macs and now the iPhone, I think it is clear (to me anyway) that these platforms are distinct and unique enough to classify as markets in and of themselves. You have applications written just for them, you have developers that write just for them, you have vendors producing 3rd party apps and hardware just for them, you have customers who shop just within this market place. They are their own ecosystems and markets. If that much is true, then yes, Apple holds a monopoly within those markets. I am not saying other companies should be able to sell Macintosh or iPhones. Apple owns the platform, just as MS owns Windows. But, just as it was unfair for MS to impose anticompetitive policies on developers writing for Windows, it is unfair for Apple to restrict unfairly what developers can write for the iPhone.

I am a software developer. I have co-workers and friends who have apps on the App Store. I have a couple ideas for a couple apps (but no time with 2 kids under 2 years old at home) that I think would be very successful. But, I'll be damned if I am going to put any time or effort into writing it for the iPhone if I have no way to know if it will be approved and worse, that if it is approved, Apple will arbitrarily decide to remove it later, without a real reason given.

As you say, MS is the only company that that can produce Windows. And Apple is the only company that can produce the iPhone and iPhone OSX. But, even MS does not have the right, now by law, to restrict applications from running on Windows simply to give themselves a competitive advantage.

Even taking monopoly out of the equation, a dominant company that controls the platform, i.e. market, is in the wrong to restrict developers from competing with them for sales within that market.

Edit: besides, again, even taking anticompetitive practices and monopoly position from the discussion, this type of behavior might benefit Apple in the short term but it is unbelievably bad in the long term. There are thousands if not millions of apps written and running for Windows and MacOSX. Independent developers can create their apps, written to these APIs and know that they will run. They know that they will be able to sell them to users of these platforms. Making the sales is up to their skills as developers and marketers. How many, do you think, would develop for these desktop platforms if MS or Apple started imposing an approval process? How many more would drop if said approval process are slow, arbitrary, unbelievably inconsistent, random and closed. And how many more would leave if, beyond these caveats, MS and Apple also started rejecting based on who might be competing with their own offerings within the platform? If developers cannot know if their app will be approved until after they have put in the hundreds or thousands of hours of development, paid third party's for graphics work and third party APIs and perhaps contract development work and finally completed the app, why would they take this risk? This is people's livelihood we are talking about. People are putting in a lot of time creating products and putting their trust in Apple that their hardwork will not be arbitrarily shutout. It would be like you showing up at work everyday for a year, forgoing regular paychecks, with the expectation that you will be paid at the end of the year, only to be told that your company decide they were not going to pay you. Any other platform that allows developers to know their apps, developed according to the rules, will get a fair chance to succeed in the market and not simply be banned from the market.
 
In Germany O2 doesn't work as well as in the UK. Horrible customer support and modem speeds 70% of the time. Fortunately Apple doesn't sell Iphone through O2 Germany. But Telecom sucks even more. Only prepaid phone companies work as advertised in Germany.

You missed the /s for sarcasm.

O2 UK is pretty crap too. Their coverage is the worst among our 5 networks (they're the only network so far to have the regulator threaten to fine them because they aren't meeting the coverage requirements in their 3G licence) and I hear that the speeds you get are pretty average (and very slow in built up areas). Until the iPhone came along they didn't even offer internet access on prepay SIM cards. I get far better speeds (and coverage) on 3 UK, and I pay a fraction of the cost for my data too.

Apple chose the wrong network to put the iPhone on, and I note that O2 now has the exclusivity deal for the Palm Pre. Putting a phone that relies on the internet, on a network that can't really deliver it? Well done Apple/Palm.
 
It must suck not being able to get an unsubsidized, unlocked phone. I used to have a little scorn for Apple ignoring New Zealand but this is freaken Awesome. Im gonna save $4k!!!

Doesn't bother me. I wouldn't buy an iPhone regardless of availability. It's too crippled and restricted for my liking (I'm used to Nokias and the ability to do what I want with my phones, as well as have decent features)
 
Still not on front page?

I really can't believe this still isn't on the front page after all this time. However you feel about this issue: angry, happy, indifferent, etc. this is a huge story. Every technology blog in the country has had this on the front page, let alone Apple-specific blogs.

I'm going to start getting my Apple news elsewhere.
 
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