@John,

When you say [millions of people] "circumvented Apple's software illegally creating a security hole when they hacked/unlocked their phone ...", I presume you know for a fact that this would be illegal under Dutch law?

Because it sure isn't under U.S. law. In fact, unlocking is explicitly allowed in the DMCA...

References, please.

If you are comparing with their smartphone plans (i.e. BlackBerry, WinMo, E71x/Mako, etc) then yes the iPhone plan costs the same; however the data portion is *mandatory* only on the iPhone.

Compared with "standard" data plans (and feel free to use it with any unlocked phone you buy, e.g. the Nokia N- and E-Series), you are paying $360 more over the two-year contract term for unlimited data.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but AT&T is *definitely* charging more for iPhone plans than for the exact same set of features on "normal" data plans. Specifically, the unlimited data portion is *mandatory* for the iPhone, and is priced at $30/month; I pay $15/month for unlimited data (which I use both with the Sony Ericsson C905a, and a Nokia N97).

The difference is $360 over the two-year iPhone contract term. That's how they are able to provide such a hefty subsidy (around $400) for that thing.

BTW: Yes, I am aware that I am violating the AT&T ToS. However it is only for occasional use (e.g. when travelling), so I don't feel too bad for them...

'Course, I have unlimited tethering for $15/month ("data unlmited") with my "dumbphone" (Sony Ericsson C905a). As I did with my previous phones, Nokia N97/N85/N95, Motorola MING A1200, Motorola KRZR K1, and so on and so forth.

Again, welcome to 2004.

It's basically the same OS and UI (S60v3 FP2) that went on the N85. Generally, the OS and software are stellar - perhaps the most userfriendly non-touch OS. (It did not transition so well into touch screens, i.e. the 5800 and the N97, but that's another story).

The N86 is also, quite possibly, the single most capable phone on the market (perhaps along with the N85 and N97). I'm not talking about the user interface (given that it only has a numeric keypad and a 2.6" OLED screen - though it is gorgeous!) - but about actual capabilities. For instance:
- With the included TV-out cable, a Bluetooth keyboard and a nearby WiFi access point or a cellular data plan, you can use it as a TV set-top-box to do light computing tasks (web browsing, e-mail, office documents, even access remote UNIX hosts via SSH) from your living room.
- Get a device cradle/mount for your car (e.g. from ProClipUSA.com), and use it as your GPS navigation system. Directions can be heard over your car stereo via Bluetooth or a 3.5mm auxillary input. Some advantages over standalone navigation systems are: (a) choose destination from your phone contacts, (b) live traffic updates and map corrections.
- In addition to thousands of Symbian-specific applications, you can also run from an even larger set of general J2ME mobile applications (e.g. the excellent and super-fast Opera Mini web browser, )
- If you have a data plan, connect your laptop via USB or Bluetooth, and access the internet using your cell phone data plan (tethering). It is also possible over WiFi (e.g. with JoikuSpot), but this will use more battery.
- The camera is quite possibly the best that's seen in a mobile phone yet (the rival would be the Nokia N82). And as a first, the LED (normally used as flash) can stay on during video recording for illumination.

While most smartphone data plans cost $30/month on AT&T (including the iPhone plan, which by the way is mandatory, to offset the $400 subsidy that AT&T provide), the data plan for the N86 would be $15 per month (or $10 if you also have unlimited messaging). That's a difference of $360 or $480 over the 2-year contract term for such a smartphone - except that, of course, you don't need to renew a contract with the N86.

As a T-Mobile subscriber, you ARE using a GSM phone.
And sure you can use another one (e.g. an unlocked one) - you just have to pay the full price for it.

The N97 may not give you the best cost/benefit ratio though, seen as it does not support T-Mobile USA's unique 3G frequencies (1700 MHz).

Guys,

Many of the posts here show a lack of understanding as far as the actual issue. This is NOT about big evil monopolist vs. little guy trying to get a foot in the door. This, quite simply, is about dirty vs. clean coding.

What Palm did was to fake identification strings in the Pre, to make it appear to be an Apple iPod. This is not only morally repugnant and unprofessional, it is also a really poor (likely marketing, not engineering driven) decision. What Apple did in response was to fix a bug - or a vulnerability if you will - in iTunes.

What Palm SHOULD have done is precisely what other device manufacturers HAVE done - to release a synchronization tool for the Mac, using published APIs (in the OS, Applications) to do so. A good example of how it SHOULD be done is Nokia Multimedia Transfer.

Full disclosure. I own a Mac, and use one at work as well. They are really nice computers - thanks in part to the open-source Darwin operating system underneath. I would never use an iPhone -- although the UI is nice and it has filled in a lot of glaring gaps as far as functionality goes, it is still much less capable than other devices thanks in part to its closed nature. (Examples: Tethering, Bluetooth stack incl. keyboard, SIM lock, multitasking, and only being able to install applications from the Apple-controlled iTunes store). Jailbreaking, for the same reasons I listed above, is not an acceptable mode of operation or excuse.

Hogwash - Microsoft is even worse in this regard.

What Apple has done here is to fix a bug, where if some device claimed to be an Apple iPod there was no verification of this. That's what Palm did, and quite frankly, it is not good coding OR professional conduct.

Apple DOES publish an API for interacting with iTunes/iPhoto etc - that's what's used by other third party device software (e.g. Nokia Multimedia Transfer).

Microsoft, in contrast, are a lot less open with releasing APIs to interact with their own solutions. For instance, there is no "published" way for third parties to generate office-compatible documents (I'm not talking about .csv, .txt, etc - but about fully featured documents). They have re-invented web standards (e.g. HTML, JavaScript,etc) in order to explicitly break third party tools and software. This is the very practice they were found guilty of in the anti-trust lawsuit earlier this decade.

SoCoolCurt:

It is not the case that other manufacturers "got permission" from Apple to develop their own sync solutions -- rather, they followed published APIs do to so. Nokia Multimedia Transfer, for instance, is a native menu bar applet for Mac OS X that talks to your phone on one end and to iTunes/iPhoto/Safari on the other, using standard Apple events.

What Palm did was to "fake" the device type/identification, to claim to be an 'iPod'. This is not only unprofessional, it *will* break. Also it smacks of a Marketing, rather than Engineering decision.