Apple

“… get out of the AT T contract, unlock the iPhone for any carrier that can support it, and watch the sales go up through the roof!” What great advice. That would of course mean SJ will have to admit that he’s wrong. Not something that happens often at Apple. The deal was great for Apple, great for AT T and lousy for the consumers! Choice of carrier is based (for most of us) on how well a given carrier works in our home area - whether that’s at home or at work or in between.

Apple’s greed made them overlook that important fact. AT T is NOT the best carrier in most areas. In fact they’re not the best carrier in general. Then their customer service is still about as helpful as a recording or a robot might be - and the combo is horrible for most iPHone customers. The Free Market will out, whether it is in Flat Screens, or Cell Phones. Apple had a HIT on their hands and blew it with their decision to milk revenue out of the consumer the carrier on an ongoing basis.

Maybe they should be content to sell 20 million iPhones in a year, and let the carrier and the consumer decide where and how to spend their airtime dollars. It’s hardly news that customers want choices in the cellphone business. Mr. Jobs took those choices away and then played with the unlocked phones to make sure consumers had no choice. Fortunately the hacker community is brighter than his software engineers are.

Bottom Line is that we’re tired of paying a premium fee to AT T just for the dubious privilege of lining Apple’s corporate coffers. I spent enough when bought the damned phone.