The iPhone activation problems, issues with the network or whatever the reasons might be, many folks are offering tips about how to use iPhone as a six generation WiFi enabled iPod. A very expensive one, but nevertheless, an iPod.
If you pop in an inactive SIM, you can still use the WiFi for email and web, and according to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, it syncs with iTunes without much problems. Johnny Appleseed, leaves a comment in one of our posts, and guides us through the process of activating and canceling the service. Alex King seems to have done this.
The interesting question is: if more and more people start doing this, what does it say about the AT&T Wireless network. And will it trigger some re-thinking at Ma Bell. Something to ponder about!
2 trackbacks so far
6:08 AM PT
[...] Joel Johnson @ Dethroner. I wonder if Lindsey Lohan is thinking the same thing. Meanwhile, GigaOm talks about using the iPhone as a WiFi-enabled music player. *We are all Daft Punk Now: The Carleton Singing [...]
11:49 PM PT
[...] his talk at the Blogference event, earlier this week in Israel, uber-blogger Om Malik used the phrase ‘immediate media’ to describe what’s currently happening in the [...]
10 comments so far
2:55 AM PT
Doesn’t it also undermine the widely held belief that Apple has redefined carrier/vendor relationship in the mobile handset market.
6:02 AM PT
The only thing Apple has “redefined” in their carrier choice is to find out which one was willing to pay the most money to have an exclusive deal on the iPhone.
6:26 AM PT
Selling the iPhone with the AT&T service and thinking that is the only way it is going to be used — is like selling a PC with MSN or AOL and thinking — that is the only way it will be used. It’s represents a clear misunderstanding of how people use technology. It’s a tool. Even though the hammer was designed to hit nails, it WILL be used for other things. It should be no surprise that consumers will find creative ways to use programmable tools …
6:49 AM PT
While there are plenty of geeks that will find various ways to do all sorts of bizarre things to the iPhone (some of which are truly frightening), the fact remains that MOST users will be fine with the AT&T network (in actuality, the average consumer, even an Apple consumer, has no idea what “3G” is).
AT&T was brilliant by default — they have the only large GSM network in the US (T-Mobile is way too small) and Apple never had any intention of releasing the iPhone on a CDMA network first (contrary to Verizon “passing” on the phone 1st. AT&T had this locked up way before those talks). Keeping wi-fi on the device was something only Apple could have pulled off and it’s an amazing feature that hopefully carriers will see the benefit of and start allowing other manufacturers wi-fi phones to hit the market.
6:52 AM PT
What about using the iPhones to make VoIP calls?
8:05 AM PT
They should have really launched with a 3G enabled phone. Using EDGE for a device that is clearly designed for faster apps was a mistake. But maybe this was part of their master plan - and a 3G version come out for xmas…
1:05 PM PT
3G is fine so long as you want a phone twice the size with half the battery life that’s only of use to people in 5 to 10% of the US instead of mostly of use on a national basis.
The one thing that’s really missing is a lack of bundled WiFi roaming. AT&T sells their DSL customers a WiFi roaming plan for either $9.99 or $19.99 a month more. How come they don’t offer the same thing with their iPhone plans (or, better yet, bundle it in!).
Am I going to have to keep my T-Mobile account just to have my $19.99/month WiFi?
My only other major pet peeve is that I can’t use the iPhone as a wireless modem for my laptop. Which is, of course, 70% of the reason that I pay T-Mobile for WiFi roaming…
reinharden
5:07 PM PT
Once apple opens up the iPhone for 3rd party apps, all we need is a mobile voip client and a service which offers voicemail access via POP/IMAP. That will make the experience complete without paying a dime to ma bell. And the iPhone will be worth its price tag for a 6G ipod + internet device + wifi phone.
11:18 PM PT
Hi Om,
Its about to be a week since Apple has launced the i=phone but no news of it in India. Please do convey me if there is any such news of it coming to India and by when. Please drop me a 1 line email if possible: ashutoshpradhan82@gmail.com
Thanks and Regards,
Ashutosh
8:41 PM PT
Hi Om & Gigaom readers
Came across this intersting piece of news from slashdot just now.
Although iphone saturated the media coverage, i think this is pretty cool too
{[
tregetour writes with a link to a New York Times article penned by David Pogue about a quiet announcement last week by T-Mobile. It has nothing to do with the iPhone, but it could still be a welcome revolution for users plagued by high cellphone bills. "Here's the basic idea. If you're willing to pay $10 a month on top of a regular T-Mobile voice plan, you get a special cellphone. When you're out and about, it works like any other phone; calls eat up your monthly minutes as usual. But when it's in a Wi-Fi wireless Internet hot spot, this phone offers a huge bargain: all your calls are free. You use it and dial it the same as always — you still get call hold, caller ID, three-way calling and all the other features — but now your voice is carried by the Internet rather than the cellular airwaves." He goes on to explain further benefits of the system, and describes the wireless routers that the company will be pushing with the service. The only thing missing: an estimate of when it will hit stores.
}]
The /. post [http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/07/07/05/1815218.shtml]is a link to this NY times article
(link)
Nice read…& do read the insightful comments on the /. page
cheers
ashish
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