Hi everyone,
I'm doing an article on the iPhone craze and I need your input by answering the questions below. If you own the phone and don't mind answering some questions about it then please respond.
First, not sure I'd call it a craze... it's a new product, the
craze only seems to occur somewhere between the journalist and his keyboard. Other than a fun time being cheered into the Apple store on the 29th, which I'd catagorize as a grin more than a craze, I don't see any crazy iPhone owners goofing off.
1- What were your expectations of the iPhone and did the phone live up to your expectations?
With 40 hours of video on the features and use, and several keynote presentations, I can't say there were any expectations other than what it was presented as. It does what they spent 6 months saying it would do. The only way it couldn't meet your expectations is if your expectations were made up out of whole cloth instead of the available facts.
2- What feature(s) do u enjoy most on the phone?
E-mail, web browser. I have a Palm T|X that can do both over wi-fi, and have used the Palm for that less in 2 years than I have the iPhone in 1 month. Having EDGE, even slow, is the key... EDGE is everywhere, unlike faster G3 data tech. And since I travel from the city to the country daily, I am very happy Apple went with a base data tech that is widely available, rather than a better tech that wouldn't give me any data connections in many places.
3- Have u encountered any problems with the phone? If so, what types of problems?
Sure. Browser and to a lesser extent, maps crashes.
4- Do u consider the phone to be a "fad" or a new useful form of technology that will be around for a while?
It's what you make of it. If you have no use for the technology, and yet you have one, then it's a "fad" for you. If the technology provides a useful service for you, then it's not a "fad". I'm sure there are some owners who don't have much use for it, but it has many different features, and at least the phone should be useful to most owners. And it introduces owners to other possibilities. Finding you get value you didn't realize you needed is wonderful. My mother didn't need a microwave, she was actually angry when we got her first one. Now she can't imagine not having one (as most of us can't). Hopefully, the features of the iPhone will be the same... you'll come to a realization that the features are actually useful, even though you didn't expect them to be.
5- Did u rush to purchase the phone within the 1st week that it was relased or did you purchase it some time after?
I needed a new phone for the last 8 months. My contract was up. I had followed the iPhone and knew it's features were useful to me. I happened to be commuting past the Apple store at 6pm, and was meeting family at the mall it's in, so I went in to see what they felt like, then figured I might as well get one rather than coming back later that weekend.
No rushing, but I got one in the first hour because I was there anyway.
6- Were u aware of any waiting list 4 the phone and were u on any of them?
There were no official waiting lists. I didn't, and wouldn't have bothered. I know Apple delivers product to meet demand, give or take. I wasn't concerned about not being able to get one.
7- How much did you purchase the phone for?
I bought retail, so the same price as everyone who didn't pay a premium to get one second hand.
8- Did u consider the phone to be a "must have"? If so, what attracted u 2 the phone 2 make u feel that way?
I consider
a cell phone a must have (I travel a lot, I don't have a landline).
Other than that, there are features I look for when making a decision. I prefer a "professional" quality phone. That means function over looks. I don't need it to be pretty, I don't need colored lights, cameras, etc. Ease of use as a phone, then features that are useful to my needs are the priorities.
For me, that's a phone, and email is a secondary need for businesss (I get my work email on the phone) and personal use (my family communicates via email often). The camera is a convenience for communicating I hadn't expected... sometimes a picture is faster than explaining something over the phone. Web access is nice, I am able to get news when I have free time in places that time was otherwise wasted before.
It also slots perfectly into a replacement for existing devices (cell phone, 4GB nano and a Palm T|X for calendar needs) so it nicely replaces in one device 3 devices I was using anyway.
So the quality and ease of the interface, it's ability to replace and/or improve on several devices I already use, and the fact that it delivered some additional needs and/or improved on them attracted me to the phone. Having the promise of Apple delivering improvements, rather than the few and far between bug fixes (or in Verizon's case, disabling features over the life of the phone) from any other previous phone supplier is just a huge added bonus.
