It turns out the 'phone part' of iphone is important after all!

As we all know by now, unless we're living in a bubble, Verizon has the iphone.  What you might not know is that it sold out all pre-orders in 17 hours!  Verizon Wireless Chief Executive Dan Mead called the volume of customer orders "unprecedented," The Wall Street Journal reports. "In just our first two hours, we had already sold more phones than any first day launch in our history. And, when you consider these initial orders were placed between the hours of 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., it is an incredible success story,"  Here's my twist on this.

   I have an iphone.  An iphone 4 as a matter of fact.  All of the photographs and some of the music on Urban Life was produced using the device.  I bought the first one when they came out for, I hate admit it...700 shekels!  So, I guess you could say, I'm a devotee.  However on that June day in 2007, when I took it out of its shiny box and linked it with itunes, in my apartment, I proudly attempted my first phone call and was summarily greeted with the first of what would be the constantly re-occurring, dreaded, NO SERVICE message.  And that is the conundrum of iphone.  It is a fantastic device tethered to the chains of an evil empire with a diabolical penchant for sadism-AT&T.  Their slogan 'more bars in more places' must be referring to West Hollywood or Uptown Whittier.  It certainly has nothing to do with their phone coverage.  

   Yesterday I had a repairman come over and work on my refrigerator.  He needed to make a call to his shop and there he was standing in my kitchen casually talking on his cell phone.  After he was done, I said 'you have Verizon don't you?"  "Why yes, how did you know?".   I knew.  Because in my apartment, to make that most simple of modern actions, the phone call, requires either a landline, or an act of the Gods bestowing bars in a compassionate act of grace, or the ability of the praying mantis, that is, sitting or standing in some awkward position not moving for the duration of the call.  You must be a yogi to use AT&T in my house.   And though I have done yoga and meditated before I never thought it would come in handy for cell phone use.  

   I live in the second biggest city in the United States.  I call my friend in Brainard Minnesota who uses Verizon and he marvels at the cracked voice, poor reception, dropped calls and other assorted annoyances that bedevil me while I'm talking to him.  You would think I'm holed up inside a bunker somewhere in France circa 1943 instead of driving down the 605 circa 2011.  Interestingly the same problem is a huge problem in San Francisco, ground zero for high tech and a short drive from Cupertino.  That's Apple's headquarters if you must know.  

   So I'm happy that Verizon has acquired the iphone.  Am I switching?  Well.....actually...AT&T sent me an email a couple of days ago, I'm sure in anticipation of this 'huge' event, offering me a 'mini-tower' for free.  Now these things cost $200 and what they do is set up a mini cell tower in your house using your WiFi.  But the catch is that if I accept, I have to re-up for another year.  And I did...  Haven't tried it yet but we'll see and I'll update.  However, I think its pretty sad for the unwashed masses, and not the elites like myself, who actually have to pay AT&T another $200 for something that they should be able to deliver....uhhh, phone service.  Isn't that what AT&T is, a phone company?  Ma Bell?  But if the new mini-tower doesn't work, I can still make great pics with my iphone.  And play some great games!