Scobleizer: Apple has a PR nightmare brewing…
Dave
· 2 years ago
Mine went fine, and I had installer.app installed with about a dozen apps. It just doesnt show the apps anymore which is fine. I can wait for the tappApp update.
Wreck
· 2 years ago
What I don't understand is this... what's wrong with just having a plain-Jane mobile phone? A phone that makes calls. Nothing else. Has anyone done research on something called Occam's Razor before? I understand the concept of geek lust just as well as the next guy, but what I have never gotten is the desire to always have the next thing, the bleeding edge. You always pay more for it. In more ways than one... Scoble, you're a dad twice over. You oldest is not far from college. Rather than having all the nifty gadgets, save for your kids' future. Let the companies send you test devices. You'll be able to keep some of them. As a so-called Internet luminary/blogger/Web *.0 guy, surely you could pull this off.
Remember, kids... wanting is the better part of having.
Patrick Scoble
· 2 years ago
@wreck I agree wanting is the better part of having but...I love my iPhone ;) I didn't even keep my plain-Jane mobile phone charged unfortunatly. Oh yeah and I am a spolied little twat in case anyone felt like they wanted to point that out ;)
Don MacAskill
· 2 years ago
My update went fine. So did everyone else's in the office. *shrug*
Bummer to hear about yours, Patrick. Hope you get your data back. :(
Kevin
· 2 years ago
So far the only problem I've noticed is with reception. On average, I seem to have lost one bar. While previously I always got 5 bars while the phone was docked, I now only get 4. I haven't done any significant call testing yet to see if this really affects quality, but it is kinda annoying not seeing all five bars anymore.
Scott Paley
· 2 years ago
Sigh... I did the upgrade and now I have a warning screen up that won't go away saying "Please Connect to iTunes". I did not hack my phone. It wasn't unlocked. Installer.app was not on it, nor any 3rd party apps.
Needless to say I'm feeling very frustrated. My 15 minute hold time (and counting) with Apple support isn't helping.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Wreck: what's wrong with driving a Model-T Ford? Or still using your Windows 3.11 (or Mac OS7) computer?
Me? I want my son to have access to the Web 24/7. It has totally changed his life to have that access.
And his college is taken care of, no need to worry about that.
Even if it weren't, I've seen people who -- because they had access to the latest tools and ideas -- were able to start businesses that paid for their way through college.
Joe
· 2 years ago
My update went ok, but had issues with iTunes and iPhone syncing after the iPhone did it's reboot. iTunes was open on the iMac, phone rebooted and just sat there. I closed iTunes and the phone said "Activation Required". Started freaking out a little, relaunched iTunes and it finally did it's sync. All data present. Overall, a little disappointed in Steve's QA efforts tonight, especially if legit phones are loosing data. A little clunky for Apple. Patrick, good luck buddy.
francine hardaway
· 2 years ago
they gave me a new iPhone after I had the same problem as Scott Paley. What a pain. But the customer service by justin in Phoenix was stellar!
e. david zotter
· 2 years ago
It sounds to me like people modded their iPhones.... and those mods aren't compatible.
My unmodded iphone update worked like a charm.....quick and effortless.
I've heard all this before when xbox live stopped working and hundreds of bloggers were swearing they didn't have modchips installed! All liars b/c the checksums were incorrect.
Scott Paley
· 2 years ago
OK, I managed to fix it myself. Whew!
Basically all I did was shut everything down (both the Mac and iPhone). I started up the Mac and put the iPhone in the cradle. I got the same stupid message on the phone and iTunes didn't auto-open. So, I manually opened iTunes and miraculously a window popped open letting me know that I needed to restore the phone to the factory settings. Fine! I clicked ok.
After a few minutes, the restore was done. Now it's re-syncing all my data.
On a side note, I finally got through to Apple after about 25 minutes on hold, and the rep told me that they're getting a lot of calls from iPhone users who sync with Windows, but very few iPhone/Mac calls. Assuming that's true, it is interesting.
Anyway, crisis averted without a trip to the Apple store.
And for the record, I did not 'mod' this phone in any way.
Patrick Scoble
· 2 years ago
@e. David Zotter Mine had issues and was not hacked,unlocked, or modded. Glad yours and other people's went well through.
Wreck
· 2 years ago
Scoble,
I'm glad you've thought ahead for your family.
Robert, what concerns me is the constant flow of... white noise, data, white noise. The information super highway has become a fluster cluck.
I'm reading Andrew Keen's Cult of the Amateur. I suggest you take a look at it. Good read. A lot of truth in there. Some stuff I agree with, some I don't.
I, too. want my family to succeed, but they don't need to be connected to the net 24/7. It's good to read a real, tangible book. You know, those things with hard or soft backs with pages filled with words...
Robert, no one advocates the Model T analogy. I advocate using a phone for it's purpose. A phone. People think they need more. They don't. We did just fine in the 50's with 50's tech. Same for the 60's, and so on. Everyone connected all the time to everyone else in some kind of all-knowing mesh / hive mind / communal thing is creepy. Anonmymity and privacy, while two different things, are going to be sorely missed in the coming years.
There may come a time, Robert, when you've given away too much of yourself to the world.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Wreck: you do realize I've debated Andrew Keen on stage at two conferences. His book is a polemic. Not worth reading by smart people in my view. There are so many better ways to spend your time.
I carry two cell phones and use them for different reasons. I am not willing to give them up. A phone that does only phone calls is like a Model T Ford to me.
And, if you don't want noise you should follow my link blog. I look at 883 feeds a night and pick the best stuff. There's a TON of awesome info out there on the Web. If you only see the noise you aren't looking hard enough and/or you need new skills.
37prime
· 2 years ago
It's user error, most likely.
Actually it's because iTunes sever was hammered during the first few hours of the release of iPhone Software 1.1.1.
iTunes stopped responding in the middle of my iPhone updating to 1.1.1, and my failed to reauthenticate. The iPhone was useless for 10 minutes until iTunes Store came back up.
Scoble, please stop making a big deal out of nothing.
brian warren
· 2 years ago
my (modded) iPhone update went flawlessly. That stinks that wasn't the case for some people.
Jeremy Toeman
· 2 years ago
I'm very on-the-fence on this topic...
I see on one side: people who used quasi-legal means to bypass a system they most likely signed an agreement not to do, and are now frustrated because they can't do so.... these people are probably a tiny minority of iPhone users, but they are vocal about it.
And on the other: people who bought a darn phone and want to use it on any network they please, and should probably have such a right.
It isn't quite so clear cut in my eyes....
Wreck
· 2 years ago
Robert,
I've been using the net in one form or another since '87 and I assure you my skills are among the best. I'm just lamenting the fact that the net has become a free for all. I miss computers being a nerd only thing.
My reading Andrew's book in no way diminishes my own intelligence. The man has point to make, many of them valid.
Like you, he's out to be heard. Like you, he has the right. I've read more than enough blogs to know that you yourself are not well liked in some circles, but by reading your blog, I don't become less intelligent. I simply hear yet another nuanced viewpoint that makes you who you are.
Robert, there's a Unix programming tenet that states that programs should do one thing and do them well. I agree.
e. david zotter
· 2 years ago
a few more thought on the overall issue....
This is crazy... Apple is trying to make a viable business here. It is a gen 1 product. There aren't any surprises.. it has been clear from the start that it is a walled garden. Users fooling with the software and are taking a risk that is known upfront.
3rd party apps open up a can of worms in relation to the data plan. A custom app could ping a remote server endlessly for days nonstop...multiply this by a million phones and at&t wouldn't be thrilled. They are trying to make the plan affordable to all.
Not to mention 3rd party apps can be buggy or capacity hogs....and that makes it difficult for Apple to guarantee the ENTIRE user experience. A single app…say a voip or IM client could easily slow done an already limited edge connection, the processor, or usage of memory. You know who would get the support call when the default mail or browser screeched to a halt….Apple would, even if their app isn’t the problem.
Supporting a new product in a new industry isn’t easy….having to support 3rd party screw-ups during a launch just adds another layer of possible failure in an already high risk time period.
By Apple controlling all the variables with at&t, they can take full responsibility for the ENTIRE user experience.
Also, you don't have to use at&t, no one is forcing you to. Go use another phone if you don't like it. Perhaps a Windows based one from t-mobile?
Otherwise, people should keep their pants on and wait for a future version/model that is more open with software and networks…years from now.
….just my humble opinion.
Krgrds, E. David Zotter
Scott Paley
· 2 years ago
I don't really disagree about those who hacked their phones. You do so at your own risk and shouldn't really get very angry at a vendor that keeps saying not to do it or you could get burned. However, in my case, I followed their rules and still had trouble. Luckily, I managed to fix the problem. I do feel badly for anybody else who had issues.
D. Lambert
· 2 years ago
Priceless! It's time for Motorola or Sprint or Verizon to take a swipe at the Mac Guy, don't you think?
Richard Nichols
· 2 years ago
Ok, what I don't understand is Apple could have easily scanned the iPhone and detected the changes. They should have done this and refused to update it!
At worse, they could have refused to update it and blocked the iPhone's access to iTunes!
To me this is a sad message from Apple.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Zotter: I know several of the people who had problems tonight and they did NOT hack or unlock their iPhones.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
37Prime: nice! Blame the users. How lame. I bet if you worked for Steve Jobs you'd get fired instantly if you spouted such bullshit around him.
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
And Jeff Clavier is one of Silicon Valley's top venture capitalists. You gonna tell him it's "user error?" Yeah, right.
david lee king
· 2 years ago
odd - my update went perfectly. Now I just wish I could make the stocks icon disappear!
Luis
· 2 years ago
Started the update and a yellow warning triangle popped up stating that the iphone was not connected (it was). I waited for a long time and nothing happened. I then restarted itunes and a warning window stated that the iphone software had to be reinstalled with the latest version and would wipe out all my data on the phone(I started sweating). After it completed the install another window popped up and stated that it was restoring the data on the iphone that was stored in a backup. Once this was done a new message popped up that stated that the phone was not active and had to connect to itunes to activate. Now I am wet in perspiration, the iphone reboots and voila, ITS ALIVE!!! with all the data restored and 1.1.1 installed. It was not a smooth experience at all.
Sameer
· 2 years ago
I guess I got lucky. The software would download and then say the download was unsuccessful so it could not install. Atleast my phone works and Im grateful for that. I'll just wait a few days thank you. ughh
Jason R
· 2 years ago
I had installed AppTap last week but did a restore a couple of days ago knowing that this update was in the works. I ran my update this evening and with the exception of having to restart the download because it failed my iPhone updated without any problems.
I understand why some of you just want a basic phone. I have carried a mobile phone since 2000 and all I wanted was a basic phone until the iPhone came along. The four primary things I use my iPhone for in the order that is them most is 1.) Mobile Safari, 2.) the iPod functionality and 3.) Email and finally 4.) as my mobile phone. I rarely go over 300 minutes a month of voice usage so I view my phone as a PDA that works like a PDA should and also happens to act as an acceptable phone.
Michael
· 2 years ago
If every time an update caused problems for someone it became a "PR nightmare," Microsoft would be out of business by now. ;)
The good in this is that Apple is very fast on its feet when it can actually test, reproduce and isolate an error its users are getting. So if there's nothing out of the ordinary in the configs of those phones (no hacks, no third-party stuff getting in the way) and there's a problem that can be isolated, Apple may have the fix as quickly as an "A-lister" can wring his hands.
D. Lambert
· 2 years ago
But Apple's supposed to be better than Microsoft. That's their hook.
The damage for Apple is that the customers whose upgrades don't go well -- maybe to the point of having to get help from Apple to fix their phones -- are having a product experience that's no longer head and shoulders above all the other consumer electronics devices out there.
Let's face it - an important part of the Apple mystique is the experience. Stuff just *works* when it's from Apple, right? When people start to question that image, it's a blow to the brand.
Mike Cohen
· 2 years ago
Mine worked fine. I didn't lose any data. I previously had Installer.app and a few third party applications, but I did a restore before upgrading to 1.1.1. The iPhone did show the activation required screen for a few seconds, but it went away.
Levi Figueira
· 2 years ago
Two iPhones here... no problems! :) Although... it still crashes a little too often for my liking! :/ arghh (especially when listening to the iPod and using "Apple's SDK" apps: JiveTalk, Hehlo, etc...)
Tom
· 2 years ago
Update worked great for me. Some very good new features that I'll make use of. I also tried the iTunes WiFi store and bought an album (Iron and Wine's The Shepherd's Dog). Downloaded in 3-4 minutes, synced back to the desktop Mac flawlessly.
Paul
· 2 years ago
Update caused a problem on my iPhone on the first try, and then upon reconnecting, said I need to do a full factory restore. When I did that, it restored with the update, and then the synching of my data (all backed up on my Mac, which should be the case if you synch normally) went fine. BTW, no hacks (yet). I'm waiting to see what Apple delivers over the first few updates before I do any of those. Plus, I'm not really into ring tones, and I think most of the third party aps so far have a way to go (an official SDK would help there). But I am watching the 3rd party hack applications closely, and it's really starting to get interesting.
Jeremy Toeman
· 2 years ago
@34: "better than microsoft"? not really. they are certainly different, but have spent the past few years operating a terrible monopoly with virtually no push-back from consumers or the industry.
and i'm not really on either "side" of ms-apple... although i recently converted from vista to a mac.
anon
· 2 years ago
Please tell me Patrick backed up his MacBook before taking it to the store....
Patrick Scoble
· 2 years ago
@anon I did however I didn't backup the contacts I'm not completely stupid ;) It's just a hassle to find all those contacts.
sarchi
· 2 years ago
ilife 08 upgrade recently broke all my file extensions for iphoto but I found access possible in the flickr app. in facebook we don't have iphone here in the uk unless you ship in http://gigaom.com/2007/09/26/midnight-madness-b...
James
· 2 years ago
Oh yeah and I am a spolied little twat in case anyone felt like they wanted to point that out
Comment by Patrick Scoble — September 27, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
It always amuses me when people swear in British without really knowing what they mean. Don't be a berk.
anon
· 2 years ago
@Patrick: Just checkin' Would have been mighty surprised otherwise ;)
Tim
· 2 years ago
@Wreck:
"Has anyone done research on something called Occam’s Razor before?"
You keep using that term. I don't think it means what you think it means.
Tim
· 2 years ago
Robert,
"And Jeff Clavier is one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalists. You gonna tell him it’s “user error?” Yeah, right."
That would be the 'Appeal to Authority' logical fallacy :-)
(Reminds me of Scott Adams' story about when he went to get his pager fixed, and the guy behind the counter flipped off the battery cover, took out the batteries, put them back in the right way around, replaced the cover and gave the pager back to Scott, all in one practised motion.)
Brian Lewis
· 2 years ago
No problems going from 1.02 to 1.1.1. Did an "update" initially, but then did a "restore" for the fun of it.
Savage44
· 2 years ago
@ Tim, re comment no. 44: Inconceivable!
Back to topic, more or less ... I was considering getting an iPhone, but I think perhaps I won't. It's just magpie behaviour, I don't really need it, it's because it's new and shiny and has bright pretty colours and does lots of stuff .. anyway, as I'd want to keep with my current mobile provider it'd have to be unlocked, and this is not really a good idea. Apple's exclusivity in terms of mobile providers isn't good customer service behaviour, IMHO; I accept that hacking it is prima facie a bad thing, but if Apple doesn't give the customers what they want, there are people out there intelligent enough to get it anyway. Maybe Apple should consider that before taking the heavy-handed approach.
Michael Markman
· 2 years ago
BTW there's an ephemeral silver lining in this for Apple... the storm over the iPhone update is drowning out a significant Microsoft announcement yesterday regarding whole home sharing of HDTV media on multiple TVs, remote access to home media, & a new online media service.
Matt Lee
· 2 years ago
Even if people did unlock their phones, since when is that such a bad thing anyway? The fact is, people should be able to install new software onto their phones, or use it with another network, and Apple shouldn't go out of their way to prevent that.
It's a good reason to never buy Apple again though.
Dev
· 2 years ago
Wreck - there is a Plain Jane phone: the Motorola/Motofone F3. You get phone calls and clunky texts. That's it. Costs next to nothing.
Camera Core
· 2 years ago
So, it's not just the hacked iPhones that are reported to have problems - even supposedly unmodified iPhones are being reported as seeing data loss after this update?
Mark Anderson
· 2 years ago
Interesting. I think this shows the real face of Apple and not the false "Hey, we're one of you guys!" myth that certain fanboys would have us believe.
It's all about the bottom line folks. Apple doesn't care for you any more than any other large multinational does.
Casca
· 2 years ago
Robert,
Wanting your son to have access 24/7 to the web is your excuse for giving him gadgets like the iPhone? LoLs. I'm sure your son is a good kid and you are proud of him. Just know that later on in life, if he isn't as successful as you, he'll always have his hand out and never quite get it out of your pocket.
This is the way things go. How do I know? I was your son once! It took me until I was hmmm... wait! I still don't have my hand out of my parent's pockets and I'm 36!! OMG!! (Sad and true). I'm pretty successful too (just over 6 digits a year) the thing is... my parents are loaded and I just want the stuff I'm used to having... (everything I want).
So anyway here's the thing with that... it keeps me down, it keeps me dependant, and enables me not to strive and achieve the way I would if I didn't have my hands in their pocket. What is worse is, I know this and somehow am locked into it anyway.
If that is what you want for your kids you're as selfish as my parents are. They feel good everything they can do something for me, and disregard the fact that it isn't making me a better man. I actually find that I'm angry with them alot over it and hadn't really realized it until fairly recently.
David Bell
· 2 years ago
@patrick good use of the word twat!
Greg
· 2 years ago
Hmmm...My Windows desktop and Windows Mobile-powered Motorola Q are both humming along nicely. No data loss, no bricking, no nothin'. Maybe it's time for y'all to switch...back.;)
richard collins
· 2 years ago
Over here (Europe) we are used to buying a phone and then choosing an operator. Having a network tied phone would be like stepping back into the dark ages. I applaud everyone who has modded their phone, after all, it is YOURS, not Apples. Hopefully the latest software update will prove just a temporarily glitch and fixes will start arriving soon.
That stinks about your son's iphone, you got a mention in the guardian however, that is pretty cool.
-A
Tucker
· 2 years ago
Occams Razor: __tp://www.math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/occam.html "when you have two competing theories which make exactly the same predictions, the one that is simpler is the better."
Or - and these are all borrowed from the above link:
"If you have two theories which both explain the observed facts then you should use the simplest until more evidence comes along"
"The simplest explanation for some phenomenon is more likely to be accurate than more complicated explanations."
"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
. . .or in the only form that takes its own advice. . . "Keep things simple!"
And the one I think can be applied under @Wrecks presentation:
"If you have two equally likely solutions to a problem, pick the simplest."
mj
· 2 years ago
The efforts I've witnessed of end users to hide the fact they have, in effect and in actuality, blown their warranty due to their own actions just beggar the imagination.
Some people spill milk or juice on their laptops and try to blame the warranty. That's why I have a hard time believing anyone who can be so pro-hack and yet claims not to have done it themselves.
@Greg - you're not seriously boasting about a Windows Mobile based MOT Q?
Greg
· 2 years ago
@mj: no boasting. The Q's a piece of crap. But it's a functioning piece of crap! ;-)
Tim
· 2 years ago
>And the one I think can be applied under @Wrecks presentation:
>“If you have two equally likely solutions to a problem, pick the simplest.”
That's so far from Occam's Razor it's not funny. That's just what some people think Occam's Razor is because they don't know what it actually is. I stand by my comment.
Hey, here's my Occam's Razor:
"The person who talks least is the best."
I can make up lots of 'meanings' for Occam's Razor, but it doesn't make them true. All it really means is, if you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.
Mike Galos
· 2 years ago
Let's imagine this were another company (say, HP who also makes laptops and smartphones). Think Robert's comments would be about the company's PR problems if Patrick's history had been:
Oh, and Patrick’s iPaq lost all of its data. Made worse because his Pavillion had a bunch more problems (this is the second time it’s been in the shop) and so he’s praying now that HP didn’t delete everything off of his hard drive.
I suspect we'd be hearing about how HP had lost their way, how he'd make sure nobody he knew ever bought one of their products until they got their act together and how incompetent their management had become.
It amazes me the slack that people cut Apple that they'd never tolerate from anyone else.
Mike
· 2 years ago
When I was Patrick's age, back in the mid-eighties, my dad would have kicked my ass if I had used the word "twat" on his blog.
Maxwell
· 2 years ago
I wonder how many of these Twitters are from people that don't even have iPhones and just like to bitch about Apple. We have 12 iPhones in the office and not one person had a problem with the update. Also, no one here unlocked their phones. I'm sure there are problems -- new products always have them (especially Apple products!) but this device is truly a joy to use.
Spencer
· 2 years ago
I haven't had any problems with the update. Although, I'm quite disappointed they didn't include a fix to allow users to choose and delete multiple e-mails.
ferpat
· 2 years ago
"I look at 883 feeds a night and pick the best stuff."
No offence intended, but sorry to say, I find that a pretty sad way to spend ones life...
Ryan
· 2 years ago
After I installed the update and the iPhone restarted, I was met with a "Activation Needed - Connect to iTunes" screen. I thus closed (iTunes was already open) and opened iTunes and was met with an iTunes error telling me that it couldn't recognize my iPhone (don't recall exactly what the error stated).
In the end, I closed and opened iTunes several more times and eventually iTunes recognized my iPhone and I regained my peace of mind. BTW, this is on a Windows XP SP2 machine. So, the update was successful, just not as smooth as I would have hoped (and expected) from Apple.
david murbach
· 2 years ago
its not only the iphones but software updates to the ipod music series devices are screwing them up also the new ipod 160 gig classic ipod refuses to take my old music files erases everything wont take my movies is a totally useless piece of junk
stevievep
· 2 years ago
Knowing that the update was looming, I had staved off any temptation to mod the phone. My update went without any hitch and I was excited to show off the new way of spending money on a whim.
Vinod
· 2 years ago
Why PR issue?. I am hearing that majority without the hacks, got their update alright. Btw, it must be real tough for Apple to 'support' all the unlockers/installer out there.;)
Todd Sieling
· 2 years ago
> I advocate using a phone for it’s purpose. A phone. People think they need more. They don’t. We did just fine in the 50’s with 50’s tech. Same for the 60’s, and so on.
But now that it's 2007, everyone should be keeping themselves occupied with what could be done a decade ago. This is just ranting at the present because it doesn't look like the past.
Michael Hyatt
· 2 years ago
Mine went without a hitch!
Custa
· 2 years ago
Maybe you should have got your sponsor to give your son a hard drive and you teach him the importance of backing up important data. :)
theidocles
· 2 years ago
If you want a phone that is unlocked and you can run your choice of apps on, check out OpenMoko and QTopia. You don't have to become a contract-breaker and you don't have to pay extra for your "right" to a choice of (GSM) carrier. They aren't iPhones, but they are smartphones and they are usable (well, the OpenMoko is still in development). And they're less money. See http://wiki.openmoko.org/.
koichan
· 2 years ago
"3rd party apps open up a can of worms in relation to the data plan. A custom app could ping a remote server endlessly for days nonstop…multiply this by a million phones and at&t wouldn’t be thrilled. They are trying to make the plan affordable to all."
This argument always confuses me when i see it.
Windows mobile powered devices have been on the mobile phone networks for the best part of a decade without any problems.
Now Microsoft isn't exactly well known for the highest quality or secure software... Surely if 3rd-party apps on mobile networks was going to be a problem and cause a problem similar to this, it would have happened already.
Interestingly, when MS released their 'smartphone' range, they locked-out 3rd party apps in a similar way to Apple is doing now. Of course it got hacked about and bypassed (also similar to now with the iPhone) and eventually MS relented and removed the app-lockout.
My question is though: Why is Apple repeating the exact same mistake MS made 5 years ago? I thought Apple was supposed to be innovative?
13oots2
· 2 years ago
"I can make up lots of ‘meanings’ for Occam’s Razor, but it doesn’t make them true. All it really means is, if you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras".
I am guessing Tim hasn't been to Africa recently!!
Teresa Valdez Klein
· 2 years ago
Mine went absolutely fine. I got a little queasy when I read this post, though. I can't imagine how I would have felt if the firmware update I rushed home to install after rock climbing last night hadn't worked out so well.
Major yuckiness!
Peter O'Connell
· 2 years ago
I'll tell you what kind of PR problem Apple is looking at...I'm a current AT&T customer whose contract is up and I can go anywhere I want.
I saw Jobs presentation on the i=phone in January (on line) and was waaaay impressed.
Now, its slow connection problems and i-brick moniker leveled by those who are having these upgrade problems has pretty much left the iphone off my new phone list o'choices...lower price or not.
Best always, - Peter
Jonathan Works
· 2 years ago
I had to upgrade to the latest version of itunes to see the update. Update downloaded and installed fine, however when it completed I got the "please connect to itunes" message. itunes told me I needed to reset my phone so I hesitantly clicked ok. Is it time to panic yet?
After reset I was given the option to restore from my last backup. Pheww. After restore from backup I noticed some of my information was gone. I was able to re-synch my audio/video library with no problems. All my email was gone (not huge but meant I had to manually go through and mark each individual one as read). All my camera roll photos were gone - this one sucked. My wifi networks seemed to be lost and even though I re-added and succesfully connected they wouldn't work. I ended up doing the add & forget about 5 times to beat them into submission untill they started working
My thoughts on this update - wifi only itunes is just meh. Where's the zune like ability to wifi share with other iphones? I can now re-order my stocks and weather apps - yippee that was a no brainer. Still no cut & paste. Still no flash support. Still no Exchange direct push support. Overall not as smooth of an update as the last few, definitely not as smooth of an experience that I've had on my other devices. My phone wasn't bricked so that's a plus.
Still loving my iphone and don't mind the bumps in the road as long as Apple keeps making things better for me and not just adding more ways to suck money from my iwallet (itunes wifi store). Still the best portable computer experiences I've had of all the devices I've owned (Second best was the Danger "sidekick" HipTop.).
Dmitri
· 2 years ago
My update went fine - didn't have any problems.
Lazlo
· 2 years ago
My update appeared to go fine... at first. But now whenever I dial a phone number with three 6's in a row some sort of whirling vortex opens in front of me. I'm tempted to go through but I'm wearing $400 shoes and I get a little queasy thinking about what I might step in on the other side.
schmuckamuk
· 2 years ago
my update went fine - no issues
Navin
· 2 years ago
Scoble is misguided. I am very happy with the new firmware. For one thing, it has itunes and I can buy songs till the cows come home. The ease of installation and the use are equally fantastic, it synced perfectly.
All other features make iphone simply spectacular. If you don't have one, go get one - I don't care how you get it. If you want functionality, it compares to the Airbus 380.
The first song I downloaded wifily last night at 11:30pm (central time-US) is "Islands in the Stream." Then it was "Hotel California."
samov
· 2 years ago
well... Apple was ok when it was small and you had to make a big choice to move to the mac... now the choice has become easier than ever and the problems A LOT more noticeable.
Aruni
· 2 years ago
I guess now I'm glad I didn't get an iPhone...maybe I'm one of those late adopters. A late adopter tech-CEO...hmmm
My husband did recently get the new Mac and I got a free iPod mini. Yay! The new Mac is soooo cool. He replaced the Mac cube we stil had from 2000. He gets so excited about how he can run Windows and Mac OS at the same time, and he constantly shows me how he can flip back and forth and I'm like "ok, yeah, I get it. it's cool"
Alun Thomas
· 2 years ago
This would not be a problem if you guys had a life outside technology - a telephone is a telephone - if you want to minimise what you carry to the point of only carrying 1 device then you are either stuck too far up your own backsides or have noting much else to live for.
Get real - if you have to have the latest technology just to be first then...
Craig
· 2 years ago
Worked perfectly. Nice new features.
Keep the soldering irons out of the back of your iPhones! Once you start hacking, there's no way Apple can promise future compatibility.
Jason B
· 2 years ago
After dropping my Motorola L2 SLVR in the toilet accidentally, I almost bought an iPhone, but I'll wait for 2nd Gen. For now, I was able to put my SIM card into an $18 Wal-Mart Cingular GoPhone and I get to make calls and even send text messages!! woo-hoo!
I'm back to simplicity, baby!
Mike w
· 2 years ago
I have an unhacked iphone and had to do a restore last night because of the firmware upgrade...I didn't lose much, but it was not ideal.
ricky
· 2 years ago
Casca, you are 36-years-old and not only are you still chomping on the tit, but you have the unmitigated balls to accuse them of preventing you from becoming an adult. As you kidding me? 36. I think Mommy and Daddy should have taken you out to the woodshed a long bloody time ago.
Yeah, I am telling friends and family now to stay away from iPhone and instead to go with Nokia's N95.
I also didn't have apps installed and did unlock but still had to restore the software before it would work.
Apple has become so sloppy and I am losing trust real fast.
I already told myself that my next computer is a Lenovo running Ubuntu.
Ann
· 2 years ago
Unmodified iPhone is iBroken after update, factory restore, reset. This is my third phone, on first most of touchscreen never worked, second kept reseting when turned on, both of which were replaced before I could obtain service.
iGiveup
lynn
· 2 years ago
Well tried to update to 1.1.1 First Phone had to be restored. After restoration phone came up on 1.1.1. I lost all my mail and had to add my wifi security again. Now it only synchs contacts and calendar. All my tunes and pod casts and videos are gone. iTunes will not restore via sync anything other than contacts and calendar. Did another restore and same problem. Now on long long LONG hold with apple for technical support. Steve Jobs I thought you did not sell crap?
lynn
· 2 years ago
Update after waiting for 20 minutes got tech support. She had me clear my sync history. Same problem. As soon as I told her the problem was still there I got a busy tone and was disconnected. When I called back, I was told that there were no technicians available and to call back during business hours. . .
Brad
· 2 years ago
Gotta chime in like some other posters - My Q and my Vista are working beautifully...
John Kong
· 2 years ago
Just updated my iPhone and it all looks to have gone well, no issues with data loss and I see the new iTunes app icon. Hope everyone who is having an issue get it all sorted.
Terence D
· 2 years ago
Lost one ( .AIFF homemade ) ringtone made with "makeiPhoneringtone" otherwise it went fine, no problems.
Chris Anderson
· 2 years ago
Some people are having trouble understanding that iPhone is not a phone. It is a computer that happens to make calls and fit in your pocket. Once you understand that, it become very clear why Apple's no-hack policy is deeply disturbing.
John
· 2 years ago
From my point of view Jobs planned, announced in public, and executed computer sabotage - on a massive scale.
Damo
· 2 years ago
Something makes me wonder. If you falk out that much money on a phone, surely its yours and you are entitled to use it as you see fit. I bet you any money that Apple won't get done for marketting breaches and competition breaches just like microsoft did. I know theyre slightly different scenarios here but the principle is the same. My point is, if you pay for it - its yours - apple have no right whatsoever to turn round and dictate who you use it with. If it was in the UK, competition laws etc would be all over it.
David Porch
· 2 years ago
"Has anyone done research on something called Occam’s Razor before?"
Occam's Razor? ROFL Occam and anyone that intones his syllogism suffer from the same failed certitude that the Architect of the Matrix suffered from.
Peter Thompson
· 2 years ago
What is snide and vindictive about Apple's behaviour is not that it is seeking to restrict the iPhone to AT&T's service, rather it does not seem to have provided a means of reverting hacked iPhones. Surely the logical and humane method is to disable hacked iPhones until the AT&T sim is reinserted at which point the phone can be re-initialised/restored.
The fact that unhacked iPhones are falling over shows Apple to be incompetent as well as spiteful. Do you really want to do business with these people?
slavior
· 2 years ago
"My point is, if you pay for it - its yours - apple have no right whatsoever to turn round and dictate who you use it with."
It is yours, you can do some amazing thing with it, especially if you jailbreak it. But if you decide to install Apple's firmware update THAT SPELLS OUT what will happen if you do (i.e. disable jailbreak functionality), isn't that your conscious choice as well?
Jenn
· 2 years ago
"Wreck: you do realize I’ve debated Andrew Keen on stage at two conferences. His book is a polemic. Not worth reading by smart people in my view. There are so many better ways to spend your time."
Yes, of course. Everyone knows "smart" people got to be the way they are by accepting, rather than challenging, the viewpoints of others. Just look at Galileo. Completely by-the-book, that guy.
Between your utter dickishness in this particular comment and seeing how you permit your son's ill manners, I have to say you've dropped a couple notches on the respect-o-meter, whether or not I agree with a lot of your points.
Vlad the Impaler
· 2 years ago
I, too, see a quandry in that when the user purchases the iPhone they are forced into a provider. If the user isn't willing to sign the contract, they may choose, then, not to purchase an iPhone. On the other side, I do not condone Apple's forcing the use of one service on the user. I'm not ready to firmly come down on one side, although in both cases, Apple is at fault for facilitating monopolitic business activity by AT&T.
Was it necessary (or prudent) for Apple to take that activity? Probably not. Owning a minority share in the computing arena, it was not wise, although they have the lion's share of the MP3 player environment above competitors with lower prices and more features (SanDisk, for example)
I do not own an iPhone, so I can, perhaps, comment with some extra objectivity... and I can say with extreme confidence that... I really don't know.
Dave
· 2 years ago
The whole lock-in thing is simply about maximizing income from people who "want shiny new thing (that I probably don't need) now!" - AT&T have to give Apple part of your contract payment.
You'd have a phone contract with AT&T and pay them every month until the end of the contract. OK, so if you go to another mobile provider, you'd be paying them for a contract every month too.
AT&T won't lose out.... unless, they're only going to make money from the data services, the very thing Apple is preventing you from using with other providers.
It seems a bit of a shame that Apple have gone out of their way to physically disable devices, but probably they needed to be aggressive to ensure the cash flow from AT&T.
Like with every corporation, it's all about money. Once you look at this from a purely financial point of view, it all makes perfect sense.
George
· 2 years ago
Lets hope when they launch in Europe the EU do what they did to Microsoft and slam them for anti competitive behaviour. The fines are mounting fast.
This should be a consumer led world.
The mobile market in the UK is competitive because as users we haven't fallen for the hype (remember how much money the providers lost getting the first 3G licences?).
Slam them for a shed load of money...hit them in the pocket and perhaps we'll see Apple change behaviour.
There is no difference between their attitude and that of Microsoft.
Chris
· 2 years ago
Survey: Will you be upgrading your iPhone to 1.1.1?
whole thing went smoothly. MacBook and iPhone fwiw.
fred
· 2 years ago
If Apple purposely engineered their software upgrade to break the hacked phones wouldnt that be malicious damage? I'm sure a laywer would delight in asking what changes were made in the upgrade and why/how it stopped the phones from working.
Adina
· 2 years ago
And now that I can unlock it, Ill buy one
Bbbent
· 2 years ago
My update went fine. For awhile. I did the 1.1.1 update the day after it came out. The only problems I had after that were a few freezes (resolved with a soft reset) and sometimes the party on the other end couldn't hear me talking on a phone call.
The phone is -not- unlocked, and as far as I know not modified. I only had two things that were possibly wierd. One is a single iToner ringtone. The other is Beejive's Jivetalk.
As far as I know from my extensive research, iToner is not a hack in any way. At least not according to everything Ambrosia has written. Being in the 'biz I know how these things go sometimes.
And Jivetalk is a straight AJAX web app.
So all was well. I was enjoying the 1.1.1 'double-click to go to faves' feature. Don't much care about the wifi itunes store access.
About two weeks after the update I started Safari and opened the Beejive Jivetalk URL to IM someone. And at that point the screen froze.
Ick. Soft restore would reboot the phone and it was acting wierd. Would boot to the UI, but sasn't responsive to any touches or the home button. Wouldn't find the network. Sometimes the time would be right, sometimes not. But the key thing here is that it wouldn't respond to any touches. That's not good.
Now, at this point I have to add that there is a tiny, tiny crack in teh lower left glass. If you use your phone as an alarm clock keep it somehere you can't accidentally knock it down while you're sleeping. The crack is in the lower left corner of the glass, about 1/8" in from teh corner, in the part of the glass directly to the left of the home button. In other words, NOT in the area of the touchscreen UI.
So, I get on the phone with support. No dice on doing a restore. All restore attempts (on two machines, one mac, one PC) return 'error 1602'. Get a super-nice higher level support agent on the phone. We do a few more restore attempts. Nada. Finally we set up a a repair.
So I get a free loaner, which is appreciated, and off the phone goes for repair.
Well, back it comes. Unrepaired. Because of the glass crack (see my blog for the letter they sent). OK i understand that the repair center can't touch it. I get that.
The problem is statement number 2 on their letter: "Due to unauthorized modifications... was inoperable". And then they voided my warranty.
And there lies the problem. Since then I have been able to force-restore and reinstall 1.1.1. But nothing I do has been able to restore any touchscreen functionality.
So maybe the digitizer actually -is- broken. But I still think (in my 13 years in software support) that it's a software problem.
So my 1.1.1 experience has been lame. I'll be writing more about it on my blog.
And to counterpoint that, my wife's iPhone (which I updated 2 days after mine) has been flawless so far. So maybe itoner did have something to do with it. I just can't tell. I have an appointment to talk to a genious tomorrow to get the straight scoop. If Apple won't help me (and won't let me buy a $250 repair?) then I'll have no choice but to waste a lot more time and money and fix the glass myself and then turn to the hacking community for a software solution. That's not really what I want to do.. :(
All Comments
Has anyone done research on something called Occam's Razor before?
I understand the concept of geek lust just as well as the next guy, but what I have never gotten is the desire to always have the next thing, the bleeding edge. You always pay more for it. In more ways than one...
Scoble, you're a dad twice over. You oldest is not far from college. Rather than having all the nifty gadgets, save for your kids' future. Let the companies send you test devices. You'll be able to keep some of them. As a so-called Internet luminary/blogger/Web *.0 guy, surely you could pull this off.
Remember, kids... wanting is the better part of having.
Bummer to hear about yours, Patrick. Hope you get your data back. :(
Needless to say I'm feeling very frustrated. My 15 minute hold time (and counting) with Apple support isn't helping.
Me? I want my son to have access to the Web 24/7. It has totally changed his life to have that access.
And his college is taken care of, no need to worry about that.
Even if it weren't, I've seen people who -- because they had access to the latest tools and ideas -- were able to start businesses that paid for their way through college.
My unmodded iphone update worked like a charm.....quick and effortless.
I've heard all this before when xbox live stopped working and hundreds of bloggers were swearing they didn't have modchips installed! All liars b/c the checksums were incorrect.
Basically all I did was shut everything down (both the Mac and iPhone). I started up the Mac and put the iPhone in the cradle. I got the same stupid message on the phone and iTunes didn't auto-open. So, I manually opened iTunes and miraculously a window popped open letting me know that I needed to restore the phone to the factory settings. Fine! I clicked ok.
After a few minutes, the restore was done. Now it's re-syncing all my data.
On a side note, I finally got through to Apple after about 25 minutes on hold, and the rep told me that they're getting a lot of calls from iPhone users who sync with Windows, but very few iPhone/Mac calls. Assuming that's true, it is interesting.
Anyway, crisis averted without a trip to the Apple store.
And for the record, I did not 'mod' this phone in any way.
I'm glad you've thought ahead for your family.
Robert, what concerns me is the constant flow of... white noise, data, white noise. The information super highway has become a fluster cluck.
I'm reading Andrew Keen's Cult of the Amateur. I suggest you take a look at it. Good read. A lot of truth in there. Some stuff I agree with, some I don't.
I, too. want my family to succeed, but they don't need to be connected to the net 24/7. It's good to read a real, tangible book. You know, those things with hard or soft backs with pages filled with words...
Robert, no one advocates the Model T analogy. I advocate using a phone for it's purpose. A phone. People think they need more. They don't. We did just fine in the 50's with 50's tech. Same for the 60's, and so on. Everyone connected all the time to everyone else in some kind of all-knowing mesh / hive mind / communal thing is creepy. Anonmymity and privacy, while two different things, are going to be sorely missed in the coming years.
There may come a time, Robert, when you've given away too much of yourself to the world.
I carry two cell phones and use them for different reasons. I am not willing to give them up. A phone that does only phone calls is like a Model T Ford to me.
And, if you don't want noise you should follow my link blog. I look at 883 feeds a night and pick the best stuff. There's a TON of awesome info out there on the Web. If you only see the noise you aren't looking hard enough and/or you need new skills.
Actually it's because iTunes sever was hammered during the first few hours of the release of iPhone Software 1.1.1.
iTunes stopped responding in the middle of my iPhone updating to 1.1.1, and my failed to reauthenticate. The iPhone was useless for 10 minutes until iTunes Store came back up.
Scoble, please stop making a big deal out of nothing.
I see on one side: people who used quasi-legal means to bypass a system they most likely signed an agreement not to do, and are now frustrated because they can't do so.... these people are probably a tiny minority of iPhone users, but they are vocal about it.
And on the other: people who bought a darn phone and want to use it on any network they please, and should probably have such a right.
It isn't quite so clear cut in my eyes....
I've been using the net in one form or another since '87 and I assure you my skills are among the best. I'm just lamenting the fact that the net has become a free for all. I miss computers being a nerd only thing.
My reading Andrew's book in no way diminishes my own intelligence. The man has point to make, many of them valid.
Like you, he's out to be heard. Like you, he has the right. I've read more than enough blogs to know that you yourself are not well liked in some circles, but by reading your blog, I don't become less intelligent. I simply hear yet another nuanced viewpoint that makes you who you are.
Robert, there's a Unix programming tenet that states that programs should do one thing and do them well. I agree.
This is crazy... Apple is trying to make a viable business here. It is a gen 1 product. There aren't any surprises.. it has been clear from the start that it is a walled garden. Users fooling with the software and are taking a risk that is known upfront.
3rd party apps open up a can of worms in relation to the data plan. A custom app could ping a remote server endlessly for days nonstop...multiply this by a million phones and at&t wouldn't be thrilled. They are trying to make the plan affordable to all.
Not to mention 3rd party apps can be buggy or capacity hogs....and that makes it difficult for Apple to guarantee the ENTIRE user experience. A single app…say a voip or IM client could easily slow done an already limited edge connection, the processor, or usage of memory. You know who would get the support call when the default mail or browser screeched to a halt….Apple would, even if their app isn’t the problem.
Supporting a new product in a new industry isn’t easy….having to support 3rd party screw-ups during a launch just adds another layer of possible failure in an already high risk time period.
By Apple controlling all the variables with at&t, they can take full responsibility for the ENTIRE user experience.
Also, you don't have to use at&t, no one is forcing you to. Go use another phone if you don't like it. Perhaps a Windows based one from t-mobile?
Otherwise, people should keep their pants on and wait for a future version/model that is more open with software and networks…years from now.
….just my humble opinion.
Krgrds,
E. David Zotter
At worse, they could have refused to update it and blocked the iPhone's access to iTunes!
To me this is a sad message from Apple.
Now I am wet in perspiration, the iphone reboots and voila, ITS ALIVE!!! with all the data restored and 1.1.1 installed. It was not a smooth experience at all.
I understand why some of you just want a basic phone. I have carried a mobile phone since 2000 and all I wanted was a basic phone until the iPhone came along. The four primary things I use my iPhone for in the order that is them most is 1.) Mobile Safari, 2.) the iPod functionality and 3.) Email and finally 4.) as my mobile phone. I rarely go over 300 minutes a month of voice usage so I view my phone as a PDA that works like a PDA should and also happens to act as an acceptable phone.
The good in this is that Apple is very fast on its feet when it can actually test, reproduce and isolate an error its users are getting. So if there's nothing out of the ordinary in the configs of those phones (no hacks, no third-party stuff getting in the way) and there's a problem that can be isolated, Apple may have the fix as quickly as an "A-lister" can wring his hands.
The damage for Apple is that the customers whose upgrades don't go well -- maybe to the point of having to get help from Apple to fix their phones -- are having a product experience that's no longer head and shoulders above all the other consumer electronics devices out there.
Let's face it - an important part of the Apple mystique is the experience. Stuff just *works* when it's from Apple, right? When people start to question that image, it's a blow to the brand.
Although... it still crashes a little too often for my liking! :/ arghh (especially when listening to the iPod and using "Apple's SDK" apps: JiveTalk, Hehlo, etc...)
and i'm not really on either "side" of ms-apple... although i recently converted from vista to a mac.
we don't have iphone here in the uk unless you ship in
http://gigaom.com/2007/09/26/midnight-madness-b...
Comment by Patrick Scoble — September 27, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
It always amuses me when people swear in British without really knowing what they mean. Don't be a berk.
"Has anyone done research on something called Occam’s Razor before?"
You keep using that term. I don't think it means what you think it means.
"And Jeff Clavier is one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalists. You gonna tell him it’s “user error?” Yeah, right."
That would be the 'Appeal to Authority' logical fallacy :-)
(Reminds me of Scott Adams' story about when he went to get his pager fixed, and the guy behind the counter flipped off the battery cover, took out the batteries, put them back in the right way around, replaced the cover and gave the pager back to Scott, all in one practised motion.)
Back to topic, more or less ... I was considering getting an iPhone, but I think perhaps I won't. It's just magpie behaviour, I don't really need it, it's because it's new and shiny and has bright pretty colours and does lots of stuff .. anyway, as I'd want to keep with my current mobile provider it'd have to be unlocked, and this is not really a good idea. Apple's exclusivity in terms of mobile providers isn't good customer service behaviour, IMHO; I accept that hacking it is prima facie a bad thing, but if Apple doesn't give the customers what they want, there are people out there intelligent enough to get it anyway. Maybe Apple should consider that before taking the heavy-handed approach.
It's a good reason to never buy Apple again though.
It's all about the bottom line folks. Apple doesn't care for you any more than any other large multinational does.
Wanting your son to have access 24/7 to the web is your excuse for giving him gadgets like the iPhone? LoLs. I'm sure your son is a good kid and you are proud of him. Just know that later on in life, if he isn't as successful as you, he'll always have his hand out and never quite get it out of your pocket.
This is the way things go. How do I know? I was your son once! It took me until I was hmmm... wait! I still don't have my hand out of my parent's pockets and I'm 36!! OMG!! (Sad and true). I'm pretty successful too (just over 6 digits a year) the thing is... my parents are loaded and I just want the stuff I'm used to having... (everything I want).
So anyway here's the thing with that... it keeps me down, it keeps me dependant, and enables me not to strive and achieve the way I would if I didn't have my hands in their pocket. What is worse is, I know this and somehow am locked into it anyway.
If that is what you want for your kids you're as selfish as my parents are. They feel good everything they can do something for me, and disregard the fact that it isn't making me a better man. I actually find that I'm angry with them alot over it and hadn't really realized it until fairly recently.
R.
-A
__tp://www.math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/occam.html
"when you have two competing theories which make exactly the same predictions, the one that is simpler is the better."
Or - and these are all borrowed from the above link:
"If you have two theories which both explain the observed facts then you should use the simplest until more evidence comes along"
"The simplest explanation for some phenomenon is more likely to be accurate than more complicated explanations."
"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
. . .or in the only form that takes its own advice. . .
"Keep things simple!"
And the one I think can be applied under @Wrecks presentation:
"If you have two equally likely solutions to a problem, pick the simplest."
Some people spill milk or juice on their laptops and try to blame the warranty. That's why I have a hard time believing anyone who can be so pro-hack and yet claims not to have done it themselves.
@Greg - you're not seriously boasting about a Windows Mobile based MOT Q?
>“If you have two equally likely solutions to a problem, pick the simplest.”
That's so far from Occam's Razor it's not funny. That's just what some people think Occam's Razor is because they don't know what it actually is. I stand by my comment.
Hey, here's my Occam's Razor:
"The person who talks least is the best."
I can make up lots of 'meanings' for Occam's Razor, but it doesn't make them true. All it really means is, if you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.
Oh, and Patrick’s iPaq lost all of its data. Made worse because his Pavillion had a bunch more problems (this is the second time it’s been in the shop) and so he’s praying now that HP didn’t delete everything off of his hard drive.
I suspect we'd be hearing about how HP had lost their way, how he'd make sure nobody he knew ever bought one of their products until they got their act together and how incompetent their management had become.
It amazes me the slack that people cut Apple that they'd never tolerate from anyone else.
No offence intended, but sorry to say, I find that a pretty sad way to spend ones life...
In the end, I closed and opened iTunes several more times and eventually iTunes recognized my iPhone and I regained my peace of mind. BTW, this is on a Windows XP SP2 machine. So, the update was successful, just not as smooth as I would have hoped (and expected) from Apple.
But now that it's 2007, everyone should be keeping themselves occupied with what could be done a decade ago. This is just ranting at the present because it doesn't look like the past.
This argument always confuses me when i see it.
Windows mobile powered devices have been on the mobile phone networks for the best part of a decade without any problems.
Now Microsoft isn't exactly well known for the highest quality or secure software...
Surely if 3rd-party apps on mobile networks was going to be a problem and cause a problem similar to this, it would have happened already.
Interestingly, when MS released their 'smartphone' range, they locked-out 3rd party apps in a similar way to Apple is doing now. Of course it got hacked about and bypassed (also similar to now with the iPhone) and eventually MS relented and removed the app-lockout.
My question is though: Why is Apple repeating the exact same mistake MS made 5 years ago? I thought Apple was supposed to be innovative?
I am guessing Tim hasn't been to Africa recently!!
Major yuckiness!
I saw Jobs presentation on the i=phone in January (on line) and was waaaay impressed.
Now, its slow connection problems and i-brick moniker leveled by those who are having these upgrade problems has pretty much left the iphone off my new phone list o'choices...lower price or not.
Best always,
- Peter
After reset I was given the option to restore from my last backup. Pheww. After restore from backup I noticed some of my information was gone. I was able to re-synch my audio/video library with no problems. All my email was gone (not huge but meant I had to manually go through and mark each individual one as read). All my camera roll photos were gone - this one sucked. My wifi networks seemed to be lost and even though I re-added and succesfully connected they wouldn't work. I ended up doing the add & forget about 5 times to beat them into submission untill they started working
My thoughts on this update - wifi only itunes is just meh. Where's the zune like ability to wifi share with other iphones? I can now re-order my stocks and weather apps - yippee that was a no brainer. Still no cut & paste. Still no flash support. Still no Exchange direct push support. Overall not as smooth of an update as the last few, definitely not as smooth of an experience that I've had on my other devices. My phone wasn't bricked so that's a plus.
Still loving my iphone and don't mind the bumps in the road as long as Apple keeps making things better for me and not just adding more ways to suck money from my iwallet (itunes wifi store). Still the best portable computer experiences I've had of all the devices I've owned (Second best was the Danger "sidekick" HipTop.).
All other features make iphone simply spectacular. If you don't have one, go get one - I don't care how you get it. If you want functionality, it compares to the Airbus 380.
The first song I downloaded wifily last night at 11:30pm (central time-US) is "Islands in the Stream." Then it was "Hotel California."
My husband did recently get the new Mac and I got a free iPod mini. Yay! The new Mac is soooo cool. He replaced the Mac cube we stil had from 2000. He gets so excited about how he can run Windows and Mac OS at the same time, and he constantly shows me how he can flip back and forth and I'm like "ok, yeah, I get it. it's cool"
Get real - if you have to have the latest technology just to be first then...
Keep the soldering irons out of the back of your iPhones! Once you start hacking, there's no way Apple can promise future compatibility.
I'm back to simplicity, baby!
I also didn't have apps installed and did unlock but still had to restore the software before it would work.
Apple has become so sloppy and I am losing trust real fast.
I already told myself that my next computer is a Lenovo running Ubuntu.
iGiveup
Occam's Razor? ROFL Occam and anyone that intones his syllogism suffer from the same failed certitude that the Architect of the Matrix suffered from.
The fact that unhacked iPhones are falling over shows Apple to be incompetent as well as spiteful. Do you really want to do business with these people?
It is yours, you can do some amazing thing with it, especially if you jailbreak it. But if you decide to install Apple's firmware update THAT SPELLS OUT what will happen if you do (i.e. disable jailbreak functionality), isn't that your conscious choice as well?
Yes, of course. Everyone knows "smart" people got to be the way they are by accepting, rather than challenging, the viewpoints of others. Just look at Galileo. Completely by-the-book, that guy.
Between your utter dickishness in this particular comment and seeing how you permit your son's ill manners, I have to say you've dropped a couple notches on the respect-o-meter, whether or not I agree with a lot of your points.
Was it necessary (or prudent) for Apple to take that activity? Probably not. Owning a minority share in the computing arena, it was not wise, although they have the lion's share of the MP3 player environment above competitors with lower prices and more features (SanDisk, for example)
I do not own an iPhone, so I can, perhaps, comment with some extra objectivity... and I can say with extreme confidence that... I really don't know.
You'd have a phone contract with AT&T and pay them every month until the end of the contract. OK, so if you go to another mobile provider, you'd be paying them for a contract every month too.
AT&T won't lose out.... unless, they're only going to make money from the data services, the very thing Apple is preventing you from using with other providers.
It seems a bit of a shame that Apple have gone out of their way to physically disable devices, but probably they needed to be aggressive to ensure the cash flow from AT&T.
Like with every corporation, it's all about money. Once you look at this from a purely financial point of view, it all makes perfect sense.
This should be a consumer led world.
The mobile market in the UK is competitive because as users we haven't fallen for the hype (remember how much money the providers lost getting the first 3G licences?).
Slam them for a shed load of money...hit them in the pocket and perhaps we'll see Apple change behaviour.
There is no difference between their attitude and that of Microsoft.
http://www.appsafari.com/news/1155/iphone-updat...
The phone is -not- unlocked, and as far as I know not modified. I only had two things that were possibly wierd. One is a single iToner ringtone. The other is Beejive's Jivetalk.
As far as I know from my extensive research, iToner is not a hack in any way. At least not according to everything Ambrosia has written. Being in the 'biz I know how these things go sometimes.
And Jivetalk is a straight AJAX web app.
So all was well. I was enjoying the 1.1.1 'double-click to go to faves' feature. Don't much care about the wifi itunes store access.
About two weeks after the update I started Safari and opened the Beejive Jivetalk URL to IM someone. And at that point the screen froze.
Ick. Soft restore would reboot the phone and it was acting wierd. Would boot to the UI, but sasn't responsive to any touches or the home button. Wouldn't find the network. Sometimes the time would be right, sometimes not. But the key thing here is that it wouldn't respond to any touches. That's not good.
Now, at this point I have to add that there is a tiny, tiny crack in teh lower left glass. If you use your phone as an alarm clock keep it somehere you can't accidentally knock it down while you're sleeping. The crack is in the lower left corner of the glass, about 1/8" in from teh corner, in the part of the glass directly to the left of the home button. In other words, NOT in the area of the touchscreen UI.
So, I get on the phone with support. No dice on doing a restore. All restore attempts (on two machines, one mac, one PC) return 'error 1602'. Get a super-nice higher level support agent on the phone. We do a few more restore attempts. Nada. Finally we set up a a repair.
So I get a free loaner, which is appreciated, and off the phone goes for repair.
Well, back it comes. Unrepaired. Because of the glass crack (see my blog for the letter they sent). OK i understand that the repair center can't touch it. I get that.
The problem is statement number 2 on their letter:
"Due to unauthorized modifications... was inoperable". And then they voided my warranty.
And there lies the problem. Since then I have been able to force-restore and reinstall 1.1.1. But nothing I do has been able to restore any touchscreen functionality.
So maybe the digitizer actually -is- broken. But I still think (in my 13 years in software support) that it's a software problem.
So my 1.1.1 experience has been lame. I'll be writing more about it on my blog.
And to counterpoint that, my wife's iPhone (which I updated 2 days after mine) has been flawless so far. So maybe itoner did have something to do with it. I just can't tell. I have an appointment to talk to a genious tomorrow to get the straight scoop. If Apple won't help me (and won't let me buy a $250 repair?) then I'll have no choice but to waste a lot more time and money and fix the glass myself and then turn to the hacking community for a software solution. That's not really what I want to do.. :(