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July 07, 2007

I am no longer an iPhone Refusnik...but rather an iPhone Confusnik.

O.K., so I am now the owner of an expensive iPod that has the ability to take pictures that I need to perform a serious hack on if I want it to work inside of Wi-Fi hotspots if I choose NOT to commit myself to AT&T as the default and defacto service provider for my iPhone. Until visiting iPhone Hacks I just assumed that the device would naturally work inside of Wi-Fi hotspots. Silly me.

And while I might seriously consider performing this hack, once it is done, I haven't found a way back to undo the hack if I should for whatever reason decide one day that I wanted to enable this special iPod to be able to also perform like a cell phone and roam onto a GSM network. So maybe AT&T will at the end of the day have suckered yet one more person to be their customer. But I'm not going willingly.

So what happened? What convinced me that I should visit my local Apple store on the way home from work yesterday and purchase an iPhone?

It was something that Dave Winer twittered during one of my iPhone rants yesterday on my Internet TV show that got my attention.

Dave twittered: "Watching Jeff Pulver on blogtv. He should get an iPhone. You should always do what you least want to do as long as it's safe. How you learn."

And Dave was right. And I knew it. And he knew it.

Despite my passion for refusing to purchase an iPhone, it wasn't a dangerous decision to purchase one. Yes it conflicted me, but at least now I am a lot closer to the iPhone and I have an even better appreciation for what I was fighting for to be open and unlocked. And I can only hope that one day there will be an iPhone that is open and unlocked.

So Dave, thanks for opening my mind and helping me to reboot and re-direct my energy. Much appreciated.

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Posted by jeff on July 7, 2007 08:29 AM | Permalink

Additional resources: Internet TV Online Guide @ Network2.tv | Voice on the Net Conference | Video on the Net Conference

Comments

Posted by: zloy at February 2, 2008 02:42 AM

Echoing Geo, I be. I get the Need-it-Want-it-Gotta-Have-it thing (oh yes), and I understand you wanting to take the iPhone out for a test-drive, despite the showstopping problems it presents. So -- yes -- report back in detail, and unless it is so much more than the sum of it's parts, take that sucker back by 20-July!

Posted by: KČ at July 8, 2007 06:38 PM

-Paul Levinson
Amazing how you managed to predict a portable information device in 1979, only a year after Douglas Adams did it in The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Hat's Off.

Posted by: That Guy With The Metal Head at July 7, 2007 08:37 PM

How would AT&T be "suckering" you into anything? Want an iPhone? Get one. Don't want an iPhone? Don't get one. I don't need one, so therefore I did not buy one...

It's pretty simple from where I sit.

Listening to people like you verbally chase your tails is becoming pathetic.

Apple did not hype this product. They introduced it before they did their government filings and then ran some ads later. That's hype?

The media and the people hyped this product. If you want an open and unlocked iPhone, go invent it. Put your ass on the line and stop asking other people to do what you are unwilling to do. There are a lot of ways to make something like an iPhone. We are going to see them in the coming months. Stop crying about Apple not making the product ~you~ wanted. It's thier design, it's their software, it's their investment, not yours...

Posted by: Richard at July 7, 2007 07:26 PM

The iPhone is an important device, it introduces some important new UI concepts. You can activate it on a month to month contract (at only $50 per month if you don't want a lot of minutes) so why not do that.

Then you can wait for the myPhone, described in my satire at: http://ideas.4brad.com/jobs-warns-knockoff-iphone-lacks-many-key-features

Posted by: Brad Templeton at July 7, 2007 06:17 PM

Delighted to see people swayed to use iPhones ... I've been predicting a device like this since 1979 ... http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/06/iphone-arrives.html

Posted by: Paul Levinson at July 7, 2007 04:38 PM

Dave is absolutely correct, and kudos to you Jeff for following that sage advice. I read somewhere on the blogosphere that in order to critique something as being worthless, one really needs to be the biggest user of that thing.

This advice got me participating in myspace and facebook back in early January (I had accounts but refused all friend requests). A colleague of mine said it was like I just discovered the Internet (everyone was getting lots of invites).

Previously, I had been taking the easy route and calling these networks a waste of time (and banning them from my classroom). Now social networks are actually a part of the curricula!

Posted by: Jeff McNeill at July 7, 2007 03:36 PM

You know Jeff, I was anxious due to the arrival of the IPhone to Israel, that is until I started reading your blog... now I need something new to wait for ;)

Posted by: Gilad Zirkel at July 7, 2007 03:06 PM

hmmm - well sometimes you don't have to do everything you want to do - you walk down the street and you see something you would die for you just want - you hunger for you can't live with you - a beautiful person, car, coat, toy and you want it because they made and hyped it so you want it and YOU WANT IT!!! YOU NEED IT!!!and so what... you continue walking on and in that moment you had it (in your imagination at least) and life goes on - we are all little kids in a candy shop and the marketing people know it _ but the question i ask myself in you is why do we want thing - what is it that drives us to buy things we don't need - is it to show off or to belong or not-belong in some cases - food for thought - but in terms of the oy vey i bought an eyephone i think since you couldn't stop thinking of it you might a well jump in a find out why you shouldn't have bought it and how it works and doesn't work for you - by the way i think i heard - but could be wrong that its a five year activation AT&t commitment or ommitment too - also there is mixed opinions on the hacks they seem to by pass the cell phone activation only - you need to activate the cell phone to use the wifi so far but that might have changed - i think its an interesting marketing hype social sculpture - is it the future - well as laurie anderson once said - "what's new has been replaced by what's next" also on the aye aye phone you can't replace the battery - which to me is as you know jeff one of the no no's when buying something - always have an extra battery when you buy anything - anyway you bought it now report on it in detail and you can always return it in 14 days too - geo

Posted by: geo at July 7, 2007 12:25 PM

I think it gives a critic significantly more authority when they have actual first hand experience of what they criticize.

It's not always required or wise, mind you. (We don't need to be junkies or murderers to be critical of those activities!)

And the danger comes with poor execution. Then it can be perceived as hypocritical.

I'm looking forward to hearing your views on this latest tech craze.

Posted by: Chris Cree at July 7, 2007 10:30 AM

Take photos at Live Earth!

Posted by: Dale Cruse at July 7, 2007 09:57 AM

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