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What convinced you to buy an iPhone?

I saw the initial keynote introducing the iPhone. My thought was, "I don't use the cellphone I have now, why would I want one of those things?" Well....months passed and then around the time of release -- a day or two before -- I watched the keynote again and this time the penny dropped and I realized just why I WOULD want "one of those things." It would be a computer in my pocket. A music player in my pocket. A phone, too...... Found myself waiting in line on the day of release of that first iPhone. I called a friend on my old cell phone and told her where I was and why -- her succinct response: "you're nuts!" LOL!

Went through the process of buying the thing, was handed a nifty bag (which I still have) that contained my new iPhone in its box, and on the way out I paused at a table to take a brief look at what I'd just bought. Got home with it and went through the process of setting it up with the carrier (at that time, since there wren't many of us doing it then, not a cumbersome process at all). I loved the iPhone immediately and still love it today, even as I'm using the most recent iteration (iPhone 5S).....

Oh, and my friend who pronounced me nuts? Funny thing about how her whole family is now happily using iPhones and iPads...... :D :D
 
Nothing did, and probably noting will convince me to buy any iDevice.

I like being off-line when I leave my desk. I seldom carry a mobile phone of any description. A Mac Mini is where it's at as far as I'm concerned.
 
My first cell phone of any kind was a Samsung flip phone back in 2005. That thing lasted all through high school and the first three semesters of college before it started vibrating continuously until I shut it off. My boyfriend had a Blackberry, and my parents asked him what kind of phone they should get me for Christmas 2010. I tried to hint that they should wait a few months until Verizon got the iPhone 4, but they ended up getting me a BlackBerry Storm2. It had the weird clicky touchscreen to try to appease BB diehards. It was a total POS! The camera died at some point, so MMS and posting to Facebook was impossible for about a year. Support from RIM was also horrible. I think it was running an outdated OS out of the box. It finally died when I tried to download BB News from App World, and it white screened. A battery pull couldn't resurrect it, and it was two years old. I convinced my dad to let me get the iPhone 5 the next day. I chose the iPhone over android because I had a MacBook Pro and an iPod already as well as several hundred dollars in iTunes music. Boyfriend had also traded out his BB Bold for a 4S a few months before :)
 
My uncle has been a huge apple fan for a really long time, and when the first iPhone came out, he ranted on and on about how amazing it was. I was 8 years old and of course the iPhone was like the coolest thing I had ever seen. He showed me that I could play videos on it, and then when the app store came with iOS 2, he showed off that I could put games on it too. Basically, I was put on the iPhone path by him. And of course the rest of my family

I got a 2006 MacBook and iPod touch 2nd generation in 2010, an iPad 2, iPod touch 5th generation, and a MacBook Pro in 2012, an iPad 3 in 2013, and now I am getting the iPhone 6 in the fall. I plan on being nearly in front of the line so I can at least get a 64 GB if not 128 GB space gray or silver 5.5 inch model, and not waste my time getting stuck with a 16 or 32 GB model.
 
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I have been a long time Apple fan and finally decided to upgrade from my flip phone and iPod touch to an iPhone 5S, I tried android (moms old phone) blackberry (dads old phone) I did not like them at all. I since have won over my whole family to iPhone haha.
 
Got a 3GS for free around the time the 4 was released. Now using the wife's old 4 until the 6 comes out.

I also like android but since the family uses ios, it makes sense to stick with it (sharing apps, photostream etc).
 
I used to have a poopy Samsung slide phone then it started acting up and calls wouldn't always work, the battery was weakening, and it would randomly turn off. Went to Verizon and saw the beautiful iPhone display!
 
Originally, in May of 2013 when I got my iPhone, I was going to get a Nexus 4 instead. I went to the London Drugs phone kiosk (they service all carriers) and that's what I asked for. They had no Nexus 4 devices left that were locked to my carrier, so they tried to activate the one left Nexus 4 they had, which was a Rogers Nexus. It was taking a very long time, and they were having trouble trying to activate the Rogers phone for Fido. So, I got impatient and decided on the iPhone 5, which was the best phone left the kiosk had for Fido. It's a good phone and I do like it quite a bit, but as of now, I'd still rather have an Android for the fact that there are significantly more powerful devices than the iPhone out there.

Depending on what the iPhone 6 will be like will dictate whether or not I stay with the iPhone.
 
It was a progression of iPods and a dumb phone until 2011, when my wife, then girlfriend gave me an iPod touch 1st gen that had been left at her work, unclaimed in the lost and found. I was so in love with the form factor of the nano, the 4th gen being the zenith IMHO, that I put it in a drawer because I disdained its bulk. At the same time, I was very aware of how carriers were charging exhorbitant fees for adding data to a plan and knew I wouldn't put a toe in the water with a smart phone until I found a comparable rate to what I was paying then, $40/month. The iPod touch sat there in a drawer, occasionally being toyed with. One day it dawned on me that there might be a construction calculator app that would replace my dedicated construction calculator and a watershed moment occurred. From there I upgraded to iPod touches and a dumb phone until I discovered Page Plus where I now pay $30/month using a 4s. It's truly a remarkable device and I can't wait to see what Apples got for us next. Great thread OP!
 
Back in 2008 I was fully content with my cheap flip phone that I had on Sprint. I was usually the guy who didn't care what kind of phone he had as long as it could make calls and didn't see the point of the PDAs and Blackberry smartphones at the time.

Then shortly after the iPhone 3G launch one of my coworkers came into the office with one. I was absolutely blown away to see him pulling up legitimate full webpages on this large screen beautiful display. Up until that point I was used to seeing smartphones with those unusable "mobile" versions of websites. That's the day I just knew I had to have an iPhone.

A few weeks later I went to AT&T, canceled Sprint, and got my iPhone 3G. Been hooked ever since.
 
It was much better than the Palm and Dell phones/PDA. What was a better alternative at the time? And I have no reason to switch now. None.
 
Jimmy James said:
It was much better than the Palm and Dell phones/PDA. What was a better alternative at the time? And I have no reason to switch now. None.
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It's funny; when I first bought my Tilt and compared it my friend's iPhone, I couldn't believe all the features the iPhone was missing; no third-party apps, no GPS, etc. It wasn't until I started actually using it that I realized how much better the basic experiences were (e.g. web browsing, texting, email, etc.) on the iPhone. That's what convinced me to switch.
 
I was just so glad that someone was putting out a phone that could actually sync with my Mac. All the other phones (Nokia, Blackberry, etc) had some sort of program but they were clunky and didn't work well.

I got a kick out of it when PC users were complaining that it wasn't syncing well with their PC. lol.
 
About a month before the original iPhone was released, I had just purchased a Samsung Blackjack. I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread....the internet almost looked like the internet!!!

My co-worker who is an avid Apple nut picked up an iPhone on release day. I asked him what's so great about it, and he smiled and handed it over. This was right at 11am or so...I headed to the Apple Store at lunch and I've been on iPhones ever since. Wouldn't even consider an alternative at this point.
 
Nermal said:
That was part of it for me. My network didn't get any iPhones until the 4S, but I got a first-gen 32 GB Touch on its launch day so I was familiar with the OS by the time I got my 4S.
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Who were you with? Vodafone got the second gen iPhone on launch day I think.
 
TechGod said:
Who were you with? Vodafone got the second gen iPhone on launch day I think.
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Telecom (no Vodafone coverage here) and I couldn't justify the unsubsidised price (it also didn't help that some features such as tethering were not available on the early iOS). Telecom offered a $400 subsidy on a plan that was only $10/month more than I was paying at the time, so I came out $160 ahead :)
 
in january 2012, my mom used my upgrade to get a 4s. i was 11 at the time and didn't realize what she was doing. i was using an lg env touch at the time as my first phone. (terrible phone!) and a few weeks later when my moms 4s came, on january 3rd 2012, i got my first iPhone. my moms old 16gb black iPhone 4. i loved that phone. i had just gotten an iPod touch 4g for christmas and was really excited to get an iPhone. i used it for about 7 months and still really liked the phone, so i upgraded to the iPhone 5 in september 2012. looking forward to the 6 :D
 
I bought my iPhone 3GS in 2009 because I needed a replacement for my 1st gen iPod touch and a Sony/Ericson w810i. It was a pretty good phone, but I sold it last year for $60.

I replaced that phone with a iPhone 4s in 2011. I probably should have shopped around more because I got tired of it pretty quickly. I contemplated selling it and buying something different throughout most of the two years I owned it. I ended up selling it as soon as my upgrade was available.

I replaced the 4s with an HTC One in 2013. The HTC is currently one of my favorite phones aside from the horrible camera. Unfortunately I dropped it and destroyed the screen about 6 months after buying it.

I bought an iPhone 5s as a replacement because the Nexus 5 wasn't available at the time. I probably should have waited, but the 5s is pretty nice. My next phone will probably be Android though.
 
Nermal said:
Telecom (no Vodafone coverage here) and I couldn't justify the unsubsidised price (it also didn't help that some features such as tethering were not available on the early iOS). Telecom offered a $400 subsidy on a plan that was only $10/month more than I was paying at the time, so I came out $160 ahead :)
Click to expand...

Ouch. Telecom got the iPhone late! I had an iPhone in my hands when it came out on Voda.

Now I use Telecom but for other reasons than phone lineup options.
 
I got fed up with evil Google last September so switched. Initially I was enamoured but now I'm sick of her sht too but there's no where else to run to.
 
The first time I saw an ipod touch in action it was owned by a friend who was, like our family, a VZN subscriber on a contract, and could not move to ATT to get an iphone. He was carrying a VZN phone for calls and an iTouch for everything else. We were near wifi and he showed off what I considered to be a computer in his pocket. After we went home, I could not stop thinking about how I needed this technology too. I had a Palm Pilot that I loved and a phone. Add the ability to surf the net.. that would be amazing! My son had been talking about getting an iphone, but he too was locked into VZN. I went to VZN to check out their options. Narrowed it down to the original Droid (with a keyboard) and the HTC. (Can't recall the model, but it looked more like an iPhone). In the end, opted for the Droid because of keyboard. It was actually a better choice because Android OS on the HTC never upgraded. I was not thrilled with the Droid, but it was better than my flip phone. No one (husband in particular) could ever answer the phone.. it's swipe to answer was awful. But I did like what it could do. As did the rest of the family. My son got the Droid. And my daughter. And my son in law. Then my daugther in law. We were hooked on smartphones, but still wanted an iphone. As soon as it hit VZN, one by one all our Droids were replaced by iPhones.

Next up.. iPads. Daughter got one.. son got one. I got one. Grandkids got iTouches and then iPhones. I loved the integration between my ipad and iPhone. It was my computer that was out of the loop.

One day my son announced he was going to buy an iMac. I have always used PC's but I fell in love with his sleek shiny new iMac. I was in saving mode for my next purchase. We now own two. Daughter followed suit as grandkids were always on MY computer to do school work.

So in the few short years, we became a (95%) Apple family save my son in law who must use a PC for work. I'm working on him, constantly telling him about Parallels and how he too, can have a shiny new iMac!

I think it's interesting how the iphone was our entry point to the Apple ecosystem and I suspect it is by (Apple) design and we are not alone. I know it's cliche, but it does all work together. I am actually looked forward to more integration with new OS for iMac and iPhone.
 
I picked up a 1st gen iPhone the day after they did their initial $200 price cut in July or August of 2007. I had 2 windows phones before it, i think they were AT&T branded phones, a 9525 and a black flip phone that had windows on it. Pretty cool, but not practical for a smartphone. Would have stuck with the iPhone straight through, but we jumped to Sprint and had to compromise with a handful of Androids (Hero, EVO, Nexus S 4g-my favorite), Windows Mobile (HTC Touch Pro), and a Blackberry Pearl. Once they released the 4s on Sprint, I got one the day after launch and have kept with an iPhone since. Looking forward to the 6, but will need to have hands-on before deciding on the 4.7 or 5.5.
 
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