michael said:
>   there are some browsers on phone that are ugly.
>   However, if you did your homework on them,
>   even five years ago, you could get
>   one that worked pretty much like
>   whatever you had on your other devices.

i "did my homework".  the so-called "web-browser"
on these "smart" phones was a steaming pile of crap.

moreover, the data plans offered were just _traps_
designed to snag you into a _staggering_ phone-bill.

which is why nobody actually _used_ these "browsers",
not for any kind of persistent day-to-day web usage...


>   I did.  And it was a common garden variety model,
>   though admittedly expensive to buy new,
>   so I got a used one, of course.

at a bargain price, i am sure, because the older owner
realized the game that the phone-company was playing,
and decided to opt out of the tar-baby.

and you sidestepped the tar-pit by not using it as a phone,
per se, so you weren't saddled with the monthly cost.  smart.
but definitely not typical.


>   I have yet to see such menus that
>   didn't just point/click just like the others.

i'm not sure what you're saying here.

if you want to see some of the sites i was talking about,
i can dig 'em up for you.  i guarantee they look primitive.
and they had no graphics at all.  not the web we all know.


>   Duh?
>   Because Apple INSISTED you buy into THEIR network. . .!!!

um, that's because none of the other carriers would
let steve put their phone on their networks, probably
because they knew that -- with a real web-browser --
people would use a lot of bandwidth, and they weren't
willing to provide it at the time, especially not at the
flat rate that steve demanded.  of course, in hindsight,
they were stupid, because they could have buried at&t,
but instead they let a 3rd-place contender remain alive.


>   I certainly don't know ALL the functions of my phones,
>   or of the iPhone. . .but as far as surfing the Internet
>   and downloading/reading PG eBooks, it was all just fine,
>   except that .zip worked best for downloading and space.

i'm perfectly willing to believe you're happy with your phone.

i'm perfectly willing to believe most iphone owners are happy
with their phone too, and wouldn't trade it for any other phone.

i'm happy with my iphone, and wouldn't trade it for any other,
but i didn't buy the 3gs when it came out last summer because
i didn't want to re-up for another 2-year contract, because i
was hoping that by this summer at&t would lose exclusivity,
and i want to ditch them.  and it looks like i'm gonna get that.
i'm perfectly willing to stay off the bleeding edge if it cuts me.


>   Not like a million other people didn't buy the same phone!

except that a million people doesn't make a revolution today.

but the 60-80 million iphone/ipodtouch owners certainly do,
as do the 8.75 million people who bought an iphone last quarter.

you can't ignore numbers like that.  none of the big boys are
pooh-poohing the iphone any more.  they're playing catch-up.


>   Actually, Mr. Bird, if you go to Europe, you might be surprised at
>   the phones they have, and the prices, and the price to operate.

i have a very good handle on what's happening around the world.
and the iphone is neither "late", nor "technologically inferior"...
(although the u.s.a. as a whole is dragging its feet quite badly.)

-bowerbird