Why I’ll never use an iPhone
Ashley and I finally received a photo cd with our wedding photos in the mail, and I thought it would be nice if we could view the photos on our music players. I own a Zen, so all I had to do is drag-and-drop the photos from the cd straight to my player. I plugged in Ashley’s iPod expecting it to work the same way, but there was no directory waiting to take the photos. After fiddling for a while with the device trying to get it to show the photos, using help I picked off of Google, I couldn’t get it to work. As I gave up in frustration, my first thought was, “And you were thinking about using one of Apple’s phones?”
The iPhone has been out a while, and it is a very cool device. I think that the way it seems to wrap up what most people want out of computers and phones into a hand-held device is remarkable. It’s still made by Apple, though. Apple makes quality, thoughtful products that work well, but they all seem to require more “buy-in” than I’m willing to pay. Apple products seem to want me to do things their way instead of being flexible enough for me to do things my way.
The best example of this is the restrictions around the iPod and iTunes. I have a music collection that I highly value, consisting mostly of mp3 files with some wma files. Most of the music is ripped from cds, but some is purchased from eMusic, buymusic.com, the Yahoo music store, and Napster. I have them all stored and backed up, and I want to easily move this music to my music player. With most devices it’s a drag-and-drop process, but with the iPod I would have to convert some of it to Apple’s format. If I buy music from iTunes, that music is stuck in Apple’s format. If I choose to go with the iPod but later decide to go with a different music player later, I have to convert back out of Apple’s format into a more standard format. Maybe I’m being picky, but why should I have to waste my time converting and managing files? It’s 2007, why should I have to read a manual to figure out how to use a silly music player? Why can’t I drag-and-drop with the iPod?
I know that I could drag-and-drop with Apple if I decided to stick with iTunes, Quicktime, Mac computers, iLife, etc., but that’s what I mean about requiring too much “buy-in.” Even if Apple’s products are best today they might not be the best tomorrow, and I don’t want to invest any data into Apple-only formats that make it difficult to switch to someone else. So despite all of the iPhone’s cool features, I won’t touch it until I can use it without committing myself to using Apple’s other products.
I think that one of the best results of the iPhone is something most people aren’t talking about: the competition it will bring to the cell phone market. Companies that create cell phones are going to have to keep up with the iPhone’s features and price, and I think they can do it. In a year or two when I’m ready for a new phone, I bet I’ll be able to pick a phone similar to the iPhone but with a better price and features. Just look at the music player market. Earlier this year I purchased a 30gb Zen for $50 less than the 30gb iPod, and the Zen had a better screen, battery life, and compatibility with more music stores.
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