The ennui of the iphone

For a long time I really wanted an iphone. It had everything I wanted. It was a cell phone. It was an mp3 player. It was a GPS navigation unit. It was a WiFi web browser. It was a camera. It was all things to all people.

But it was too expensive. I am but a poor man, and buying one would require a 2 year contract with AT&T's expensive data plan.

I had high hopes for Verizon to unveil an iphone killer. They have some tough numbers, but their arsenal comes with a similar pricetag.

My goal had been to get an all in one, price be damned. But price cannot be damned, as I am now pinching pennies with my early retirement.

So now, instead of whining about the phone I can't have, I'll opine on the future of phones. These smartphones will be the death of Microsoft. They were stupid for not jumping into smartphones in a stronger way earlier. Sure, they have Windows Mobile. But no one likes Windows Mobile, and it is losing market share among smartphones. Meanwhile the try to sell the Zune, a product that is stodgy in appearance and does not include a phone or any other selling feature. It is a good ipod killer, but ipods are basically dead anyways.

If someone would sell the iphone with a dataplan that is really cheap, I would buy it. I don't need that much data per month. Much as I opt for the lowest number of minutes in my cell phone plan, I would get a sparse data plan, if such a thing were offered. Until the wireless providers come up with a reasonable plan, I'll have to wait and pine for an all in one. Damn them.