Hey, Apple fanboys! Yeah, you, the ones who stood on line foaming at the mouth so you could be the first to buy those precious little pocket diamonds that didn’t sell out. Your limited one-year warranty expires tomorrow, so break your phone while you can. As for the rest of us, let’s look back at a year of the iPhone and remember the perils of being an early adopter…
iPhones were a rotten deal for early adopters.
Not only did they needlessly wait in line, but they had to compete with the mayors of Washington and Philadelphia.
Early adopters were Apple’s guinea pigs, discovering all sorts of annoying bugs, like hundred-page bills that chronicled every single photo viewed. Those who went abroad learned that international data roaming charges are really expensive.
How did Apple reward this zealous passion? By slashing the iPhone’s price by $200 less than three months after the phone’s release. Several angry early adopters didn’t appreciate the dunce early-adopter tax, and sued for price discrimination.
And now, a year later, their warranties are set to expire, which will lead to the inevitable first-generation kaboom of doom. For those who haven’t already, now is the time to extend your warranty by spending another $69 for AppleCare.
But really, who are we kidding? These are the same folks planning to line up for the newer, more expensive iPhone 3G. You kill us, early adopters!
Original iPhone warranties about to expire [The Unofficial Apple Weblog]
(Photo: numberstumper)
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Wow, I’m used to people being made fun of in the comments, but in the article?
Interesting how the concern trolls are coming out on this one. You have to admit that iPhone owners got the shaft when Apple dropped the price. Weather or not you enjoyed it is up to you.
@Televiper:
Yes, whether or not you are needlessly an asshole is up to you.
@Televiper: I bought the iPhone in December. I didn’t wait in line, and I didn’t pay the original price. I still think this is article stupid and insulting.
@Manator Will Show You the Promised Land!: Actually Starbucks recently dropped T-Mobile as their wifi source, and went with At&t. At&t was supposedly going to have cheaper rates for wifi usage (hourly rates, and 2 hours free if you have a Starbucks card), but who knows.
[www.att.com]
[wifinetnews.com]
It’s funny, none of the early adopters seem to have any regrets. Also, I have yet to see a comment where an actual iPhone owner complains about their iPhone. Other people have all kinds of trash to talk to the “Apple fanboys,” but iPhone owners (myself included) seem quite content with the product.
I don’t own any other Apple products, and probably never will, but I have no regrets about buying my iPhone two months ago, even with the 3G coming out. I won’t be upgrading it for a few years, and unless some other phone manufacturer makes huge strides in design, I will just replace it with another iPhone.
/Even my friends who talk trash about my iPhone lust after it.
@MonkeySeeMonkeyDo: A little sensitive aren’t we?
@BlazerUnit: I’m not sure if my iPhone makes calls either. It’s mostly an internet browser, email reader, MP3 player, scientific calculator, map, calendar, and recently a VOIP phone. And I already have a money clip.
@Televiper: Not really. Seems like you are a bit thick, though. Thanks for your interest!
@Televiper: A person decides on the worth of a product when it is released. It doesn’t matter if the price drops a little, or if technology is upgraded, you got exactly what you wanted when you purchased the product. I got a $600 iPhone when it came out and I never once regretted it. When Apple dropped the price later I wasn’t concerned — not only had my iPhone already paid for the price difference on its own, I wasn’t so petty or jealous so as to feel I had been cheated. I made a buying decision which I decided upon carefully when it first came out and I wound up with one of the finest consumer electronics I have ever owned.
Also, we’re talking about $100 here. That’s nothing by way of comparison. When you buy a new computer and find out that it is totally ‘obsolete’ three months later the financial disparity is considerable, but you don’t hear people whining much about that. It has a bit to do with understanding of the market and, well, maturity. Oh, let’s not forget responsibility.
I’m wasting my time responding to you, though.
@XianZhuXuande: As I said. It’s your decision to feel that way. I think you would also feel justified to feel otherwise. I’m not suggesting that people should be outraged, start a riot, or civil suit. More of an “oh no you didn’t” kind of shafted.
Your comparison to PCs is really corny. My PC is almost 3 years old, was never top of the line, and does 99% of what PCs can possibly do.
The iPhone is the first mainstream phone that doesn’t have an OS that feels like it’s a prototype an engineering mocked up overnight.
How’s that cut and paste functionality coming along?
My 1-year-old Sprint Mogul (HTC Titan) recently got a firmware update that added full GPS, 2 Mbps speeds, and support for 32 GB SDHC cards. And with the new CorePlayer I can hit basically every video site on the web. I’m looking forward to booting up Android on it Real Soon Now.
@Televiper: As I said. It’s your decision to feel that way. I think you would also feel justified to feel otherwise.
Wait, you’re making the “your feelings suck, mine are better and you should adopt them” argument? Your feelings may make sense to you and that’s great. But they just wouldn’t work in my brain.
Clearly you’re not the type that waits in line for an iPhone and can never understand people who do. You have a computer that was never top of the line; I have one that was.
Do you want to fight about it?
@Michael Belisle: Wait, you’re making the “your feelings suck, mine are better and you should adopt them” argument? Your feelings may make sense to you and that’s great. But they just wouldn’t work in my brain.
No, I’m making the “It’s not stupid feel a way you happen to not feel, or is it for someone to feel different” argument. Seems kind of ironic now.
Doh! To clarify “It’s not stupid to feel a way you happen to not feel, nor is it for someone to feel different”
Where exactly is the a-fore-mentioned rotten deal? I’ve had my iPhone for nearly a year and have no complaints. Seems like a case of unwarranted brand hatred…just for the sake of hating. Is that what this site is all about?
First of all, paying 69$ for another few years of warranty on a phone that is outdated as of next month and whose new version sells for 200$ doesn’t make sense whatsoever.
Second, even though the iPhone was extremely expensive (I was one of the ones that got screwed with the early purchase) it does things that no other phone do: Full web (except for flash) without any adaptation. My workplace uses a crappy webmail system, and I haven’t seen the phone that can handle that except for the iPhone. Being able ot have full internet rather than “mobile sites’ rocks.
Third, kudos to apple for replacing my phone and the headset right away (admittedly, with a refurb) when I finally came to the store a few days ago with a few problems on my phone.
If it wasn’t for early adopters, we wouldn’t be getting the cheaper iPhones later. (Isn’t this part of consumerism 101?)
Consumerist seems to be falling into the camp that the bigger or more popular a company becomes, the more evil is is.
Perhaps a bit off topic but talking about 3G the areas are quite limited, from what I have seen on ATT’s map, to major population areas with many left out currently.
Has ATT thought to give a schedule on when other areas will be coming online with 3G. Since this is suppose to be a major feature of the new phones it will be of no use until ATT gets areas updated for most users.
If you compare ATT 3G to Verizon High Speed you will see how ATT is way behind.
I believe i was one of the first out of warranty failed iphones at my apple store.
I died literally on the last day of the warranty (it had been a replacement phone, not the original).
Luckily they were nice enough to still replace it. However if it happens again after 90 days.. . i am SOL. (and this was my 4th replacement)
Whyphone
I’d give a eye for that phone.