I don't know... I think their banking on pandemonium. A cross between the great riots that broke out when the iPod Nano and Moto RAZR were first released. Get the boiling oil ready boys!!!!

I'll stick to buying an iPod or some other mp3 player rather than shelling out that kind of money for a phone. You can buy an mp3 player with a lot more memory for that price.

Indeed... Then again there are some nice phones w/ MP3 support built in for $100... I dunno' I'm happier playing around w/ my iPod Nano than anything else.

So true! Rofl! The guys that go with Cingy go cause they are cheaper and give phones for free. So now they see a cool phone which isnt even 3g and whats the price? $499 + with a 2 yr. contract! talk about pissed off!

Cingular and Verizon's prices are exactly the same, with the exception of Cingular including Rollover. As far as phones go, they're both pretty similar. I think you're point was defeated. 😕

*your

The success of the iPod has more to do with people being mindless zombies than the actual quality of the equipment. Just look at the popularity of the Razr and you'll see the same thing.

The iPod is actually really good. Nobody else has the scroll wheel interface, and in a few months the iPod will have the iPhone's multi-touch interface. Game over for the Zune and everything else, pretty much. 😳

Don't kid yourself, Apple makes a great product. Yeah, the marketing helped, but you can't hit it out of the park the way Apple has on marketing alone. You can only fool some of the people some of the time.

I think you can fool most of the people most of the time. You give consumers too much credit. 😉

Hee hee, maybe. But, show me something better than the iPod. The Zune? Just no. Creative? More features (that you probably won't use), but worse interface/ease-of-use and design. Everyone else, pretty much the same boat.

Everyone has taken their shot at the iPod (Sony, Samsung, Microsoft, Creative, SanDisk) and everyone has failed against it... the market has spoken. Honestly, dancing silhouette people won't get you 80 percent marketshare by themselves. 😎

It's all subjective, anyway. In your opinion none of those other players are better. I know others will disagree with you. Again, people respond to what the TV will sell them.

Guess we're gonna have to agree to disagree, then. All I know is, 4 out of 5 folks agree with me, judging from sales. If you want to believe its due to Apple ads emitting powerful mind-control radiation, so be it. 😁 But the company has a history of making good, and sometimes market-changing, products.

Which is why VZW should team up with them when they get the opportunity, and not pass on 'em a second time. ☹️

VZW doesnt have to listen to the agressive Steve Jobs which has absurd terms (if the story is true) cause just like apple knows they are the most inovative and they have the best reputation and fans on products, so is VZW in the network area VZW has the best network and doesnt have to compromise anything in order to sell the iphone. Cingy has an inferior network and is losing customers and consumers dont like them so its only for their fortune to get the iphone and agree to whatever Steve Jobs wants.

It boils down to integration. Not only design wise but all around the iPod is a solution. A total solution. A free d/l'able media player that is superior to Windows MP, a store w/ a sh**-load of music integrated w/ the media player, on and on... It's pretty neat, I'm sold...

I disagree with you. This iphone is blown out of proportion big time. This is how I look at it. Yes the future ipods will be the exact same iphone without the phone feature a widescreen video ipod which is excellent. But as an iphone it lacks what other up to date phones and/or smartphones have and its way harder to use as a phone and/or pocket pc, its more like a video ipod and a tablet pc when apps become available those are the markets i see it feasible for. As a phone i thnk from the current specs its a total failure and people will only buy it because its apple or for ipod as long as the new ipods are not out and maybe for a tablet when/if apps become available. Steve Jobs is excellent in exaggerating products, this iphone is blown out ...
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What you're ignoring is that Apple will bring out more models of the iPhone goin' forward. For example, don't like EDGE? There'll be a 3G iPhone before long.

I think you're really underestimating what an iconic product can do for a company's marketing and image. Cing (sorry, AT&T) is going to shove this thing in everyone's faces like you've never seen for the next two years, and its hard to imagine it not helping them some, unless they totally blow the ad campaign.

Hey, its easier/faster than making their network as good as VZW's, or fixin' their customer service, right? 😳

Exactly! that's the reason Cingy took it! they need it in order for them to keep growing, VZW doesnt need it that bad cause they have customer loyalty because of their network just like apple has customer loyalty because of their brand. Its a win/win situation for Cingy. If apple wouldnd have such absurd terms and would go with VZW i think VZW would be the largest Wireless Provider in terms of customers and best in service and Apple would win even more by selling the most iphones then they will now with any other carrier and that is part due to the high class customers VZW has that are willing to spend extra $ on better products just like Apple customers are. I think VZW/Apple have the same type of customers and they are inline with ceartain...
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tri-mode-only said:
Exactly! that's the reason Cingy took it! they need it in order for them to keep growing, VZW doesnt need it that bad cause they have customer loyalty because of their network just like apple has customer loyalty because of their brand. Its a win/win situation for Cingy. If apple wouldnd have such absurd terms and would go with VZW i think VZW would be the largest Wireless Provider in terms of customers and best in service and Apple would win even more by selling the most iphones then they will now with any other carrier and that is part due to the high class customers VZW has that are willing to spend extra $ on better products just like Apple customers are. I think VZW/Apple have the same type of cus

...
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You get an Ipod, then start using Itunes. Later, you want to get another device because your Ipod is wearing out.

All of your music is Itunes, it won't play on anydevice other than the Ipod. So you can either not have your music, or get an Ipod again...

I think it started with a lot of buzz, people wanted the hot new item, and once they got one, they were stuck with it.

There's ways around anything... make a CD from your iTunes songs, then rip 'em back to mp3. You'll be able to play them anywhere and on any device that supports mp3.

I myself wouldn't want to do that, since its a hassle and you would lose a bit of quality, but the option is there if you want to play your iTunes music on something other than an iPod.
😎

The general Ipod user isn't going to want to do that either, either because they don't know how, or as you stated, don't want to waste CD's transfering all their music over to clean MP3's...

Instead, they are going to return the player that they got from aunt mildred for christmas and get that new Ipod...

droneboy said:
The general Ipod user isn't going to want to do that either, either because they don't know how, or as you stated, don't want to waste CD's transfering all their music over to clean MP3's...

Instead, they are going to return the player that they got from aunt mildred for christmas and get that new Ipod...

Yep, though chances are the player they got from aunt mildred for Xmas WAS an iPod.

If not, and they return it for an iPod, well, picture Steve Jobs shrugging and going, "So what's the problem?". 😉

Seriously though, I dunno what you think is gonna happen here... Apple sure isn't going to drop the DRM on their iTunes dloads anymore than its competitors are. At least there's a...
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RUFF1415 said:
A lot has changed and I think Apple knows it made the best choice for itself by choosing Cingular. I can't even imagine how much differently the final product would have turned out if Verizon had its fair share of input. It would be horrendous.

You got a point here... Verizon's aggressiveness/arrogance likely would've precluded them from implementing the iPhone 'mostly Apple's way', as Cingular is doing. The plus side is, once Cing starts clubbing VZW about the head and shoulders with the thing for a couple of years, VZW will be much more amenable to cutting a deal with Apple that both sides can live with.

Cingular's image isn't that great?

It really ain't. That...
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SystemShock said:

Check some brand recognition polls and see where it's been. You'd be surprised. It recently received a 90% preference over the AT&T name and has been referred to as the most "youthful and hip" brand name in wireless across the board among market analysts. Also, it's a general consensus that of the 160 million cell phone users in the US, more people recognize the Cingular name.

LOL. Cingular more recognized than AT&T? I think you should ask for your money back from whoever did that poll. 😁

In any case, its a moot point. You're now AT&T, so learn to luv it.

I never said Cingular was more recognized than AT&T...that would be absurd. However as far as wireless ...
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Even if that were true, RUFF, and I doubt it is, its moot. Cingular is going bye-bye. 👀

What day do you guys officially become AT&T anyway? And is it going to be AT&T or AT&T Wireless?

There is no official date. Ed Whitacre said that nothing is going to be set in stone without feedback from the marketplace and consumer reaction to transitional/co-branded advertising. Whenever the information indicates that consumers are ready for (and fully understand) the change, they'll migrate to solely the AT&T brand.

As far as the image goes, they'll be keeping the orange accent color for the mobile branch as opposed to only using the more dominant trademark blue. The "Raising the Bar" slogan will be used throughout the transitional campaign and it is likely some form of that slogan will be incorporated into the final marketing strategy.

As far as the actual name goes, it's slated to be simply AT&T. No identifier included. I per...
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'AT&T Mobility', huh? Has a ring to it, if y'all will pardon the pun.

Still, I'd somehow expect the marketing boys to get their hands on it... turn it into something like 'AT&T Freedom'. You know how it is. 😁

I agree verizon knows what the hell they're doing, they're are NUMBER 1 in the wireless business because of the smart moves they make!

There is nothing appealing about the iphone in my opinion its going to be a wreck especially being on that crappy inferior cingular network!

New_2_T-Mobile said:
I agree verizon knows what the hell they're doing, they're are NUMBER 1 in the wireless business because of the smart moves they make!

There is nothing appealing about the iphone in my opinion its going to be a wreck especially being on that crappy inferior cingular network!

😁