There's a big difference between tuning a car and swapping a battery. I'd say a closer analogy would be sending your $100,000 Porsche to the shop for two weeks to change the wiper blades.

My point was that swapping the battery is not something that you should expect to be doing very soon or very regularly. With a car, you take it as a given that you will need to take it into the shop for regular maintenance a few times a year. And that you will replace it after 5-7 years or so.
The lifetime for a phone is much less than a car.

In my experience it has been the battery that limits the lifetime of the phone. And a phone like with the features of the iPhone I would expect to be recharging it pretty frequently. As I understand it batteries have a limited number of charge cycles before they just don't hold a charge any more. Then it's often not worth replacing the battery because you can just about replace the whole phone for the cost of the battery. But when the phone costs $600...

Anyway I'm probably not in their target demographic because I couldn't justify spending that much on a (disposable) phone so maybe I should just stop arguing the point.

But my points were precisely that:

• just because the battery isn't user-replaceable doesn't mean it isn't replaceable
• when a phone costs $600, it isn't too outrageous to have to pay $80 (or whatever) to get someone to replace the battery every year or so.
• all cell phones are "disposable" (after a year or two) from the point of view of people who keep up on the latest and greatest

I wonder if AASPs and other apple certified people can order parts and repair iphones. I have taken phones apart before and fixed things n them, its not that hard.

However, I am worried about the quality of the phone. I only use Nokia phones now because I have had such bad experiences with phones from other companies.

NEW! Apple battery replacement program
 

I think those are good points, Hayne. And I thought your Porsche analogy good fun.

But I also note the objections. And I do notice that one of the biggest downsides for many iPod owners is the big hassle and huge expense of battery replacement.

What would be brilliant is for Apple Stores / Apple dealers to come up with an inexpensive and immediate Battery Replacement Program. I can imagine walking into my Apple store and saying “I think I need new batteries for my iPhone and iPod.”

“No problem. That will be $60 for the phone and $20 for the pod. Come back in 30 minutes and we’ll have ’em ready.”

Artic,

That is why I was pondering if AASPs would have access to such parts for Apple's customers. My guess is no, they will not, but instead Cingular will be responsible for said repair and maintainence. Thus, you may have to ship it out, and they will probably offer you a loaner until yours comes back from repair.

Cell phone companies have gotten a lot more strict over the years because of the highly competitive market.

.
Apple: Implement a good Battery Replacement Program, and make iPod and iPhone screens as close to scratch-proof as possible, and cooperate closely with AASPs...

...and user satisfaction will tangent 100%.

I feel the pain of costly battery replacements...I mean, I'm one of the owners of a 1 GB nano from way back when, and I know it'd hardly be worth it to replace the battery in it.

A little googling shows me that you can find a do-it-yourself battery replacement kit for the 1 GB Nano iPod at $41.
Seems like it might be worth it.

the phone is amazing it really does redifine the phone internet mp3/4 etc but $600 on the downpayment for the 2 year contract thats ridiculous but i'll still get 1

Well, I'm of the "cheap sunglasses" ilk that do not like to carry anything on my person that will cause me to weap if said product is 1) Lost 2) Stolen 3) mugged for 4) broken by sitting on or 5) dropped in water when washing hands.

Case in point, my favorite camera in the 70s-80s was a Pentax K1000.

Cisco's response to the trademark fiasco is very nice...i like

I agree with them, and I think Apple was rude to have placed this name it. Besides, it's a dumb name for this unit. It's not JUST a phone. For pity sake, they could have called it the iTome or TriCord or iPad... ANYTHING. It was almost like an "in your face" move. Call it Moof and get it over with. It's a cow! No it's a dog! Ugh. Bad move Stevo.

Yes, very well, done. But read some of the comments below Cisco's statement, which also score some good points for Apple. e.g.
and . . .

One thing for sure...this is mega blog-fodder.

I think Cisco's request for interoperability was either a genuine stance against the proprietary nature of Apple's products, or a outlandish request they knew Apple would reject (for use as bargaining chip). It's too bad we only see a small portion of what really goes on.

I'd give my teeth to be in the meeting with Chambers and Jobs. Darth Steve trying to choke out John "Char-Char" Chambers with his reality-distortion-field-choke-grip.

Ha! Yes. :)

A couple more: The tone of Chandler's statement does seem a bit sanctimonious.

And, best one of all, imo:

LOL Thanks for the image.

"Oh no, meesa own iPhoney." crack... girgle.

In defense of RealNetworks
 

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Here is an interesting response from a Real fan, who happens to be senior editor off Fortune magazine. I think they’re wrong, but it’s a perspective worth reading.

LG comes out with iPhone Killa
 

Hmm, LG announced their iPhone a month before the iPhone! So if LG's phone is cheaper, Apple may be in trouble.:eek:

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1...ke850wmja8.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/4...e8502wmrz4.jpg

Looks like Apple has some competition!