There are phones and there are PHONES! :-)
Two tech articles about cell phones on CNET caught my eye tonight. One was an opinion piece about reasons that the Verizon iPhone is not selling as quickly as forecast. (Note added February 25, 2011: Verizon Wireless CEO Daniel S. Mead, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, said that the carrier had sold more iPhone 4s during the launch than any other product so far!) The second refers to a problem that Microsoft is having (imagine THAT! 
) with a Windows Phone 7 software update for its phones entitled, “Ninety percent of Windows Phones updating fine.”
The first article, with concludes that Verizon’s network will experience a gradual ramp-up of bandwidth-sucking iPhone users, instead of getting clobbered all at once, and that a REAL spike in users probably will occur when a truly new Verizon iPhone becomes available, possibly in June, and possibly with 4G (LTE) support. The article discusses possible culprits for the Verizon iPhone not keeping up with the hype, oh, I mean “not meeting expectations for sales,” along with my comments:
- Positive reviews in the Press Although the phone rarely drops calls, there is not much new about it, so wait. OK, that works for me.
- The next iPhone is coming in June. This is MY reason. I have waited for FOUR YEARS, so I can wait for FOUR MONTHS.
- Bad timing with new Android models Maybe.
- 3GS AT&T owners are still under contract “When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.”
- AT&T’s advertising has been effective. Talk and Surf? How often do you do that? Are people really that gullible?
- The iPhone isn’t as hot as it once was. Well, it is still hot enough to be WAY out in front of the nearest competitor with regard to customer satisfaction. That would be reason enough for ME to own one, if I did not also have many more reasons.
As for the second article, apparently Microsoft Phone 7 customers are having a 90% success rate with a recent update. Nine out of 10 ain’t bad?
Let me put it THIS way… if you had a 10-shot revolver, would you play Russian roulette with it? Apologies in advance to our Russian readers…. Since when is a 90% success rate on an update something to “write home about?”
Apparently, the other 10% of Windows Phone 7 updaters encounters issues, especially Internet connectivity issues and issues related to inadequate storage space on the phone or the PC. Microsoft pulled the update for users with Samsung devices, because some updaters were left with a nonfunctioning device after the update hung just past the halfway point.
When this sort of thing happens to a cell phone, the device becomes a “brick.” When it happens to a PC, the device becomes a “boat anchor.” I do not have much use for either.
There are phones, and there are PHONES!
-Bill at
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