It has been 18 days since the release of the long hailed, hyped, and over marketed iPhone 3G.  Has it lived up to the hype?

I have heard it said that “if you don’t have a love hate relationship with Apple, then you are just a fanboy.”  This is a very true statement.   I am an apple believer.  I see Steve Jobs as a visionary who, barring health problems, will be pivotal in taking consumer electronics into the future.  However, I also know enough to avoid the fanboy filled lines for newly released apple products.  Why?  Because straight out of the gate, Apple generally FAILS.  They get it right fairly quick after the release, but the initial release is not usually a pleasant experience.

So, was it different for the iPhone?  NO.  We all remember the abysmmal launch that saw outages both in the at&t activation servers, and also the iTunes activation process.  Lines that should have taken an hour took most of the day because the purchase time wasn’t a swift 5 minute process, like the previous iPhone, but an excruciating 30 minutes to an hour.  Even after all that time spent, many were walking out with unactivated iPhones.

After nearly 3 weeks, if you want an iPhone you still get to stand in line.

What about the lucky ones who got their phones and were able to activate them?  A friend of mine is on his fifth iPhone 3G and is convinced that the black iPhones are cursed and has switched to the white iPhone.  I am sure there is no difference, but he has had battery problems, overheating problems, antenna problems, and apparently one of the iPhone’s got ghetto and cut him…

What about the app store?  This, I believe, has been the saving grace for the iPhone.  The app store is awesome.  Providing needed functions and add-ons to a phone that, unfortunately, should have had them in the first place.  Personally, I have downloaded about 30 different apps, and all of them are pretty cool.  Even apps that serve no purpose at all just have a flair of awesome that is hard to escape.  The best example of that is the iPhone saber app. It literally does nothing except show you a light saber and let you swing your phone around to make the light saber cracking noises, and yet it is so much fun.  Another fun time killing app is the iPint.  Using the accleramator on the iPhone you slide a brew down to the waiting hands of your customer avoiding all the obstacles on the bar.  As a reward the phone pours you a pint you can “drink” and it looks pretty realistic.

Other apps do provide much need productivity and functionality to the phone.  For instance, the Wordpress blogging app is a fantastic tool to allow bloggers to report on events, or edit mistakes on the go.  Another great app would be the Speed Dial app.  Yep, I know you have speed dial on your phone already. This app though creates a block of nine square images of your friends that you can touch to dial, it just looks cool, and it is easily my most used app on the phone.

Also heavily used is Pandora.  Pandora is an internet radio application, you create your account and plug in a few of your favorite artists and songs and it creates custom radio stations that you can listen too on the go.  The selections can sometimes be a little out there, for example it paired up Journey on my RUSH station, but overall it makes pretty selections.

Lastly I will talk about the “remote” app.  This one allows you to control your iTunes from anywhere on your network with your iPhone.  While that is a great feature, this app really shines if you are also an Apple TV owner.  I love my Apple TV, but one major issue I have with it is that the remote that comes with SUCKS.

It looks cool, but it can be a pain in the rear to use.  Enter Remote on the iPhone.  Now instead of having to navigate back and forth with the menu button, I can go directly the movie, or song, or picture that I want on the screen.  Plus it drives my wife crazy when she has the small remote and “thinks” she is control of the TV. Muwahahahah . sorry .

As an first gen iPhone user, I am extremely happy with the App Store, and it has satiated my desire for an upgrade for the time being, so while an iPhone 3G is in my future, I am content to avoid the lines and the fully expected initial Apple FAIL for now.

So, in the end, no, the iPhone is not living up to the hype.  It will, in the end, but as with all things Apple there is a painful early adopter process.   In the coming weeks with the release of MagicPad giving us copy/paste ability and continuing upgrade of at&t’s 3G network, the iPhone will be the dominant phone on the market, but if you are currently in a contract with another provider, don’t break it for this phone.

Superman is faster then a speeding bullet, can leap tall buildings in a single bound and is the man of steel, but give him some kryptonite and he gets a little whiny and all the bad guys take over.

Today is the long awaited day that we finally get the iPhone 3G in hand, and currently it has been available for a total of 3 .5 hours on the east coast, and not even an hour on the west coast, and what has at&t done.  They have killed the buzz.  They have handed the iPhone a big block of kryptonite in the form of activation servers that can not handle the load… SHOCKING.

Remember this post [ Buy your iPhone3G online? Apple and at&t say no way! ].  In that post I reminisced back to last year when the at&t activation servers went down, because they couldn’t handle the load.  I don’t want to say I told you so, especially since everyone told you so.  No one should be surprised that at&t is too inept to have learned its lesson last year.  No one should be shocked that iPhone sales will ONCE AGAIN be halted due to a carrier that can’t seem to pull its activation servers out of their corporates asses.

What we should be shocked by is that Steve Jobs allowed this to happen… again.  Do you think that Superman would continue to partner up with Lex Luther after he had given him a big block of kryptonite?  NO!  So, Steve, what the hell are you doing?

You have created a worldwide race of lemmings willing to stand in line for days for a PHONE… that in itself is a masterpiece of marketing.  You have proven that your company is the leader in creating fan boys.  Yet, for some reason (money) you insist on forcing us to use a carrier that is so useless and so inept that it may single-handedly be the death of the iPhone.

The next big dissapointment for the lucky few that did get the 3G iPhone activated, will be the limited and frustratingly bad 3G network that at&t has, that will likely crumble under the weight of the new iPhone users.

If you have ever driven a freeway in California, then you have likely been “driven” to the point of yelling out the window at some random driver who is talking on the phone, eating their breakfast, and reading the morning paper all while attempting to navigate the 405 at the same time.  On July 1st (tomorrow) we can at least count on one of those things actually being illegal.

On July 1st, 2008, the state of California will no longer allow drivers to use cell phones while they are driving unless they are using a hands free device of some sort.  If you get caught violating this law, the base fine for the FIRST offense is $20 and $50 for subsequent convictions. With the addition of penalty assessments, the fines can be more than triple the base fine amount. The violation is a reportable offense, however, DMV will not assign a violation point.  Drivers from outside California, who are driving within the state of California, will be held to this law as well.  Drivers will be allowed to dial, but are strongly urged not to.  Headsets can be used, but BOTH ears can not be covered.

The best part about this law, and when I say best part I mean the funniest, is that text messaging is still allowed.  REALLY?!? I can hold the phone to the side of my head, but I can type messages to my friends while I drive.. OK, well I digress.

So, since a headset will be required as of tomorrow, we will be showcasing some of the best that we here at For the Love of Geeks like.

First on the list is [ Cardo S-2 Bluetooth stereo headset ] is affordable and comfortable.

Pricing in at around 60 bucks, and compatible with any bluetooth phone that supports stereo bluetooth.   The downsides are that in noisy settings it doesn’t perform extremely well, and using these while driving would actually still be a violation of this law, since both ears would be covered.  I personally like these for the office, since I can rock out on my tunes, and use my phone.

Next is the [ Aliph Jawbone 2 ], which is quite possibly the most stylish bluetooth headset out there …

The upside to this, aside from helping you pick up the chicks in the car next to you, is that it has quite a few noise cancellation features, and also does a great job of enhancing the voice quality and I have found that it works well, even when driving in my jeep with the top down.  The downside is mostly just the price.  It is a bit expensive coming in at more then 100 bucks.

Lastly, for the iPhone users out there … sometimes old school is the best school.  I personally LOVE my OG cords that come with the iPhone.  They have the button to answer calls, and have great sound quality and allow full control of starting/stopping the iPod and moving to the next song.  Also, fairly cheap at 30 bucks.

You can pick these up at the [ Apple Store ].

So, all you Californian drivers, put the cell phone down and back slowly away.

If you have a favorite handsfree device for your phone.. let us know in the comments.

With the success of the first generation of the iPhone and the imminent release of the version 2 3G iPhone, other cell phone makers, and providers are scrambling to create the copy that can defeat the original.  Personally, the only one that I think even has a chance is the Instinct from Sprint.

I don’t really think that this phone is any more capable of defeating the original, but I think Sprint is properly motivated to try.  Sprint has been suffering steep losses in the market, and has said that they will be spending 100 million dollars to promote and market this phone.  That is three times the amount spent on any other phone marketing campaign in Sprint history.

Add to that, Sprint will be selling this phone for the low cost of $130, with a two year contract through Sprint.   The $130 dollars includes a $100 rebate from Sprint, so your actual out of pocket expense is $230.

Aside from making this cheaper then the iPhone, Sprint will also be releasing this phone 21 days earlier then the iPhone.  June 20th will mark the day you can get the instinct, whereas the iPhone buyers will have to wait until July 11.

Still, the question remains.  Can the Instinct prove itself as the “iPhone Killer”?  The answer is no, for three simple reasons.

1.  Sprint is the #3 provider in the US, and they are known for having sketchy service in large portions of the US, so regardless of how good your phone is, if you can count on the service, there is no point.  Sprint also has clear problems with their customer service, and in my own experience have seen many people suffer from straight out fraud from Sprint billing department.

2.  Regardless of how much money Sprint spends on advertising this phone, they will not even come close to the marketing thrust, and media coverage, that Apple is getting.

3.  In the end, people want the real thing.  How many different mp3 players came after the iPod that were supposed to be better, cheaper and ultimately kill the iPod ? How many were successful ? None.  The only market this will take from Apple are current Sprint customers who are still under contract, and want an iPhone experience without having to do early termination with Sprint.  Anyone who has the ability to switch to at&t for the iPhone will be doing so.

Will there eventually be an “iPhone Killer”?  Perhaps, and I think the only people that have the capability of killing the iPhone is at&t, since they are in fact the only negative to the iPhone.

In what is most likely an effort to stifle the purchasing and unlocking of iPhones for use on other networks, Apple and at&t have announced that you will not be able to buy your iPhone online, nor will you be able to buy the phone and activate it later.  Purchase and activation will take place at the same time.

While I completely understand at&t’s desire to prevent the iPhone usage on other networks, since I am sure they paid a pretty penny for the exclusivity, I have to imagine that there is a better way to go about this.  Forcing a 10 - 12 minute process onto people in the store is going to make the initial buying day (July 11) a complete mad house.

I remember back to the original launch day, and even though I wasn’t buying one I went with my brother to get his and the store was mad crazy.  In that particular episode, he yelled (yes, yelled) at the guy behind the counter, over the top of all the apple fan boys, that he wanted an iPhone, and then half-handed half threw his credit card to the guy who ran it and came out with the phone and the receipt.  The whole process took maybe 2 minutes, and it was still crazy in that store.

Now, factor in that NO ONE will be able to buy online, and the phone is now priced so that my 14 year-old nephew can afford one, and that the purchase time has gone from 2 minutes to 15- 20 minutes, and that is assuming that at&t’s activation servers don’t take a massive dump (remember the last time … they did. ).

So, how much pandamonium can we expect when the activation server go down, and the people who have been sitting in line for as long a week or so, can’t even buy the phone since at&t can’t activate it..

I will be there just to watch the show.

WOW… what an exciting keynote. There was so much going on, and the demos were amazing.  The big news obviously is the new iPhone release.

First off the Major stuff..

• OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) will be released to developers later today.

• iPhone 2.0 software updates

• MobileME showcased

• iPhone 3G released simultaneously in 70 countries on July 11. ROCK!

A lot of the new apps were demoed at the show, here is a list of them

• Super Monkey Ball - This is a game, apparently very popular on the Playstation platform.  There were several games demoed and they all look REALLY robust.  Seems like the iPhone could easily rival the PSP for gaming.

• eBay App - allows for full eBay integration as a buyer or seller, and unlike most of the other apps demoed is free.  Maybe this will help put some life into the dying online auction site…

• TypePad Blogging tool - This is VERY cool, and seems to have a ton of functionality to it.  Unfortunately I didn’t see any mention of WordPress, but I am sure that will be handled by someone soon. hint hint.

• Loopt - This is a location based social networking tool, and this will definitely reshape the social networking world.  There will likely be some pretty scary hacks to this as well…

• Modality - a very robust medical application that, as Molly Wood put it, “turns you into a brain surgeon”.  Not so much, but I am sure this will be a pretty cool thing to keep handy when you visit the doctor.

• Band - This is an application put together by an independent UK firm, that allows you to make music on the iPhone… awesome.

Games will have a price point of $9.99.

Apple is also providing a push services cloud for all developers to use.  This will enable the use of Exchange ‘esq services, as well as instant always on IM, email, and other web enabled apps.

Support was announced for Powerpoint, BUlk Message deletion, a new scientific calculator, Parental Controls, and multi-language support..

The multi-language support looks pretty amazing, and supports both traditional and simplified chinese, and even has character drawing and recognition.

The 2.0 software will be available early July (before the 11th, I assume) and will be free for the current 2G iPhones , but will cost iPod Touch users $9.99.

The MobileMe app looks extremely well put together as well.. Basically it turns your browser into a functional desktop, and will support mail, iDisk, iCal, Address Book, and a wide range of other macapps.  The service will stay 99$ a year and will be a free automatic upgrade for the current .mac users

Now.. for the important stuff… LOL

The iPhone 3G will be released on July 11, and will cost 199.99 for the 8GB version.. RoCK!

• GPS

• Subsidized cost

• Thinner

• Flush headphone jack

• 3G is faster then Nokia N95 and Blackberry

• Full Exchange support and Secure VPN

• Available in 70 countries

• 300 hours of stand by time - 10 hours talk time - 5 hours 3G usage - 5 or 6 hours of browsing - 7 hours of video, and 24 hours of audio…

It was an exciting few hours, and my head is still spinning.. but July 11th you can find me at the South Coast Plaza iPhone store in Newport Beach California..

w00t!

People are taking pics on their phones, and posting them to social networks like [ plurk ] and [ twitter ]..  As I get them I will update this post.. so keep checking  back ..

Thanks to [ LiveCrunch ] on Plurk for these  :

Lines forming ..

Banner covered, likely until after the keynote … my guess is that it has 3 iPhones (red, white, and black)

Lots of new apps being being demoes….

Great images of them all at [ EnGadget ]

When the initial rumors that 10.6 would be released at the WWDC, which is tomorrow, they came full of speculation that 10.6 would not support the PowerPC chip set.  This made sense since Jobs has been pulling away from that ever since the deal was made with Intel …

Now, though, Gizmodo (and others) are reporting that they have a source, who claimed to get ahold of the 10.6 seed, who indicated that work has been done on PowerPC drivers which indicates to them that support for the architecture is unlikely to be dropped this time around.

While this rumor may inspire a bit of hope to those who have late-model PowerPC Macs, it should be noted that it runs contrary to running consensus that OS 10.6 “Snow Leopard” would only support Intel chips, and the current direction that Apple has been moving for some time.

Apple is expected to introduce 10.6 at WWDC, along with a shiny new red iPhone….

Australian resellers began receiving mysterious packages from Apple on Friday with a warning across the top that breaching the boxes ahead of June 10th would be a violation of their non-disclosure agreements with the company.

June 10th in Australia is actually around the same time of Apple chief executive Steve Jobs’s June 9th WWDC keynote in the US. The boxes likely contain a single demonstration 3G iPhone to be displayed by the resellers immediately following the company’s announcements.

Earlier this year, reports began appearing on Apple rumor sites in Australia that said local resellers had started to receive guidance from the Cupertino-based company regarding a local 3G iPhone launch during the final week of June.

Japan’s fastest growing mobile operator, [ SoftBank Mobile Corp. ],  announced today that it has signed an agreement with Apple to offer the iPhone to its customers later this year.

Given that the carrier operates only 2G and 3G networks, the announcement further supports expectations that Apple is on the verge of introducing the 3G iPhone.

SoftBank Mobile Corp, Japan’s No. 3 wireless operator, recently beat all of its peers in annual net mobile subscriber growth for fiscal 2007, adding 2,676,500 subscribers thanks to its White Plan featuring lower fees.

As of April, SoftBank maintained a combined subscriber base of 18,779,100, which included 14,453,100 customers on its 3G network and 4,326,000 on its 2G network.