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iPhone 3.0 to Get MMS, Tethering, and Finally... Copy and Paste?

kdarling said:
Well...

1) They do have a multi-billion dollar infrastructure to build and support, and tens of thousands of employees to pay. It will cost a lot more than normal to deploy 4G, too.

2) Do you accept the premise that Apple needs to charge so much for their devices, MobileMe, and developer royalties? Or is the billions of profit they've made okay?

3) I don't really care. Especially since you can buy unlimited texting :)

The price itself is not the main point of my posts. My point is that you cannot equate the way SMS is charged, with the way data connections are charged. They're totally different technologies, with different advantages, and different purposes.

Regards.
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1) Indeed, but I would argue the pricing plans in place provide the capital means to reinvest, pay employees, and support said infrastructure AND kick back some profit to shareholders. Given how much growth AT&T Mobility has seen since the iPhone was released and given how all other competition to this market is shut out with that 5 year contract with Apple, I should think they'll have squirreled away quite enough to invest in and implement 4G. There is no need to fleece consumers for more than is necessary.

I think the brilliance of AT&T's board has overlooked the possibility that after their 5 years are up, Apple will probably have courted one or more competitors to host plans for the future generations of the iPhone. Who will stand out above the rest when these negotiations begin in earnest and real competition forces their hand? Mr. 20 cents a minute, or Mr. Reasonable & Truly Unlimited Plan? :cool:

2) I think the billions they've made reflect a great credit to their leadership and success with products and services people obviously are willing to buy. This said, no one forces me to buy Apple products. The quality and utility of a product or service are what I determine will make it worth it to purchase. I personally think Apple products are still overpriced, but we are seeing this slowly change as they gain market share. As an example, the cost of configuring a new Mac with additional RAM used to be scandalous. Now it's arguably tolerable. This change didn't happen overnight. Neither will the Cupertino market ideology, but it must as supply and demand warrant. So it follows that eventually, AT&T will change their pricing structure if less people are buying their product or regulators or legislation intervene to protect the consumer from unfair price gouging. True, no one forces me to SMS or buy an SMS package. Still ... I think lines need to be drawn in the sand at some point as technologies advance. It isn't jealousy of AT&T's wealth I decry. I decry the means in which some of this profit is obtained. I am not alone.

3) Well, thanks for playing, but not everyone cares to shell out that extra dough for a service that costs the provider relatively little to nothing to offer.

My point IS the cost, regardless of the technology behind the product. Unless people start questioning things like pricing (package or a la carte), the status quo will never change. I think the cell carriers would be wise to actually compete for and retain my business, not dismiss it as a statistic.

Cheers! :apple:
 
MacViolinist said:
Apple conducts actual market research. The company knows what most people care about. You are not most people. Most people do not care about the things that you apparently die for. Does that make Apple a bad company? Maybe it does. I'm not here to answer that.
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Actually Apple doesn't conduct market research or do surveys or show off their products to a few people and judge their reactions. Steve and Ive have both said this.
 
MacViolinist said:
3. Let's be generous here and assign all the people who are griping about what the iPhone lacks a whopping 1%. You are still a self-selected 1% of all iPhone owners/users/people-who-emo-threaten-to-get-another-phone/cancel your contract -ers.
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Apple themselves said that almost 20% of the original iPhones were unlocked (and that doesn't count just jailbroken, which was more). Those owners wanted something Apple wouldn't give.

The owner surveys for the iPhone have listed "Very Satisfied" at 79% to 85%. That leaves at least 15% who are not, presumably because of something that they wish worked better or something they wish was included.

Judging from the evidence, 1% is way low for the number of owners who would gripe about something.
 
DELLsFan said:
3) Well, thanks for playing, but not everyone cares to shell out that extra dough for a service that costs the provider relatively little to nothing to offer.
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As a contractor to phone companies, who programs some of the backend systems, I have to disagree that it costs relatively little or nothing. If that were so, everyone could do it.

And, seriously, "thanks for playing"? Most people stopped using that back in the mid-80s. (I've been online for three decades.)

My point IS the cost, regardless of the technology behind the product. Unless people start questioning things like pricing (package or a la carte), the status quo will never change. I think the cell carriers would be wise to actually compete for and retain my business, not dismiss it as a statistic.
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I agree. When possible, people should take their business to whatever's best for them.

That goes for the phone makers, as well as the carriers.
 
kdarling said:
Apple themselves said that around 20% of the original iPhones were unlocked (and that doesn't count just jailbroken, which was more). Those owners wanted something Apple wouldn't give.

The owner surveys for the iPhone have listed "Very Satisfied" at 79% to 85%. That leaves at least 15% who are not, presumably because of something that they wish worked better or something they wish was included.

Judging from the evidence, 1% is way low for the number of owners who would gripe about something.
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Point in your favor. And a bow to some research. Just curious, what are the numbers for those who are "only" satisfied?

Also, are those numbers limited to feature satisfaction or are quality of service issues counted?

But that's all aside from the point I was specifically making about the MacRumors gripers.

All of them who bitch and moan about the lack of MMS, C&P, etc. really don't amount to much of anything.

So please don't hassle me out of context.

kthxetcplz.
 
TuffLuffJimmy said:
Actually Apple doesn't conduct market research or do surveys or show off their products to a few people and judge their reactions. Steve and Ive have both said this.
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That's quite a bit of stuff for a company not to do.

To be specific, Apple doesn't do extensive product testing. There is some conjoint and max/dif in select markets. I know for a fact that it does a LOT of market research.
 
MacViolinist said:
That's quite a bit of stuff for a company not to do.

To be specific, Apple doesn't do extensive product testing. There is some conjoint and max/dif in select markets. I know for a fact that it does a LOT of market research.
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Do you have a link to this "fact" that you just made up off the top of your head without any evidence?
 
kdarling said:
... I have to disagree that it costs relatively little or nothing. If that were so, everyone could do it.
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Or since each carrier IS doing it ... maybe all the carriers aGREED their so-called, incredible expenses justified the high package and a la carte pricing? No ... I don't buy it. IMO, it's unmitigated profit. Period.

kdarling said:
... And, seriously, "thanks for playing"? Most people stopped using that back in the mid-80s. (I've been online for three decades.)
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Maybe I liked the 80's? :p While we're being serious, YOU were the one that said you didn't care. I took your word for it. I count myself among others that do. There are some like me that don't need 30 years of wisdom and experience to figure out when they're being had.

SMS pricing borders on the criminal, IMO and I think it's about time the carriers were called to the carpet to justify it. Tethering is another kettle of fish, but I look forward to frying it with the best of them when and if this feature is ever released for the iPhone.

/salute :apple:
 
Wtf?

I've had the "Jesus Phone" since the day it came out and still have never really neeeded copy and paste. Seriously whats the big deal?
 
TuffLuffJimmy said:
You're one person. You probably upgraded from a Razr. And you obviously don't do any work or anything productive with your "Jesus Phone".
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Medical apps don't require copy and paste. Not saying the iPhone shouldn't have it (and can understand the impatience/frustration), but I certainly don't need it to work or be productive in the hospital.

For my part, my "need to have in 3.0" feature is background apps/multitasking. I'd be really disappointed if there wasn't some solution there.
 
I personally think it would be really cool if they added the option to send text messages and emails in landscape. MMS I could live without.
 
Lara F said:
Medical apps don't require copy and paste. Not saying the iPhone shouldn't have it (and can understand the impatience/frustration), but I certainly don't need it to work or be productive in the hospital.
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I use my iPhone in the hospital and copy&paste makes me much more productive. Suppose someone emails or texts me a question about a drug I'm not familiar with: I can copy the name and paste into epocrates and look it up.
The most useful thing is text-paging colleagues via the hospital pager system which uses a web interface. I keep a list of pager numbers in notepad and can copy numbers directly into Safari to send a page. I even copy&paste frequently used messages. Before copy&paste, I'd have to write things down on a piece of paper (or my scrub pants!) and then type them back in manually, at least 3-4 times/day. It saves me a ton of time.
I'm using the Clippy app for jailbroken phones.

tys
 
TuffLuffJimmy said:
How would copy and paste do this? and if you don't want background apps don't let them run in the background. Just kill it when you're done.
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Trouble is, that 99% of people wouldn't know to do this. The other 1% are largely represented here.
 
dwsolberg said:
Trouble is, that 95% of people wouldn't know to do this. The other 5% are largely represented here.
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So how is it your issue if 5% of the iPhone user base don't know how to use their phones? Let Apple worry about that.

EDIT: That was a pretty lame change you made to your post, btw.
 
dwsolberg said:
(re: killing apps) Trouble is, that 99% of people wouldn't know to do this.
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Sure they would, if the UI is done right. Like on the Pre. You can easily see what apps are running, and swipe away (kill) the ones you don't need as much anymore.

An enhancement would be to have some kind of toggled indicator for each app card, as to how much resources that they're using. Getting a slowdown? Just look visually for the culprit. Even my wife, the ultimate non-techie, could figure it out then.
 
tys said:
I use my iPhone in the hospital and copy&paste makes me much more productive. Suppose someone emails or texts me a question about a drug I'm not familiar with: I can copy the name and paste into epocrates and look it up.
The most useful thing is text-paging colleagues via the hospital pager system which uses a web interface. I keep a list of pager numbers in notepad and can copy numbers directly into Safari to send a page. I even copy&paste frequently used messages. Before copy&paste, I'd have to write things down on a piece of paper (or my scrub pants!) and then type them back in manually, at least 3-4 times/day. It saves me a ton of time.
I'm using the Clippy app for jailbroken phones.

tys
Click to expand...

Those are good examples - they just haven't applied to me. I do keep a list of beeper numbers for my fellow residents on my iphone and refer to it all the time (as well as call schedules), but usually page by phone.

That said, contrary to how my prior post was interpreted I do hope copy & paste comes. I might not need it much for work atm but who knows, maybe a month later I'll be wondering how I did without it.
 
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