Saturday, January 13, 2007

Ask the MACist -- Macworld Edition -- Final Thoughts


Welcome to the latest installment of Ask the MACist and my special Macworld Expo 2007 coverage. After many hours in the car last night and a long stop at the grapevine because of an accident, I made it back to LA around 2AM this morning. It's good to be home. San Francisco is a nice place to visit but LA is my home. Although, as a Mac fan, it would be cool to live near Cupertino and Apple HQ so I could visit frequently but I guess that would be one of the few reasons for me to live up there.

Anyway, this isn't an "LA vs. SF" post so I should get back to what I know more about -- tech, Apple and Macs, Macs, Macs. Now that Macworld Expo is basically over I thought I would share some of my observations about the "big announcement" from Apple and the show in general. Let's start with the fun part first: the announcement of the iPhone.

The iPhone is Apple's answer to what it thinks is the need for a device that does, as Steve Jobs put it in the keynote, three important things: a phone, music and internet device all in one. On the surface, that all sounds great and in person, the iPhone is an impressive piece of technology. And, of course, as a certified tech junkie, I want one really bad. That said, some thing about the iPhone are somewhat troubling to me after further examination.

First is Apple's deal with Cingular. The iPhone will only be available from Cingular and as of now, only with a new two-year contract. If you are a T-Mobile customer or with Sprint or Verizon, you're out of luck. Plus, according to reports, there will not even be an unlocked GSM version of the phone so those of us on other GSM networks like T-Mobile can buy one and use it. Plus, there are certain features of the iPhone, the most notable being the new random access voicemail that will only be available if you use the phone with Cingular's network.

more info:

No comments:

NYC Traffic Cam