The only reason I can think that Apple has stuck with ATT through all of this is money. In most other countries the iPhone is available on multiple carriers and can be bought unlocked or unlocked by Apple in those countries. I don't get the At&t/Apple relationship.
Seriously. You'd think they'd want some non exclusivity in their line up, wouldn't you ? At the very least, in the larger US markets, T Mobile might make a viable alternative. I'm not sure of what the other 3g service providers are, but if Apple would allow the use of any 3G SIM card in their products, all they'd have to do is authorize it via some online initiation process, and that would give the US some great options.
Man.. here in small ol' Hungary, 3g service via Vodafone is simply great. Puts ATT to shame in a big way. It's pretty much like that everywhere in EU as far as I've seen, having travelled around a bit now. The sad thing is, it's not just the US mobile market which takes a back seat to the kind of service one would come to expect with the amount of taxes we pay and the huge budgets companies like ATT have...
IMO, it boils down to misappropriated funds. A great example ? Look at NYC's transit authority. Authority indeed... They STINK ON ICE ! worst bunch of lazy @ss employees whom get paid way too much for doing way too little, or next to nothing. NYr's keep paying more local taxes, and nothing changes, well, except for the worse. They keep hiking up fare prices, and still.. nothing changes for the better. I know.. because I've been riding the system for over 20 years.
So now I can compare a huge city with enormous financial resources, to a tiny place like Budapest, whose primary source of allocated funding for any project relies solely on taxes. And you know what ? It's embarrassing ! The transit system here is AMAZING ! Granted, the people here are a lot different. They actually respect the space which they occupy, which is something I can not say for a typical New Yorker. The entire city of Budapest is so clean, right down to the metro. You can eat off its floors. The busses, trams and underground metro run on a very tidy schedule, and they're never late. You can set your watch to them.
Sadly, American businesses seem to get away with far too much nonsense. And much like I blamed Apple for this debacle, I also blame American citizens for not taking up such issues with their local congressmen and such. I guess we're just so smitten with the mental chains we've been locked with, that it's ok to put up with all the garbage. Anyway, this is turning into a rant which goes far deeper than what this thread is about. So: [/rant]
Doug
