Why I've yet to succumb to the Apple iPhone 3g

I had multiple sightings of the iPhone 3g in the wild while I was out and about in New York City during my last visit. In fact more than once, I felt like I was in an iPhone 3g commercial. As an early adopter, I began to wonder why I have yet to surrender to the iPhone.

The iPhone 3g is certainly a beautiful device and I am very pro Macintosh. However, I do have my own reasons why I have yet to succumb to purchasing an iPhone 3g:

1. My disdain for AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular) knows no bounds. I bailed on being a Cingular customer right when AT&T swooped in to take over because of billing issues and poor cell site coverage in and around my house. In fact, I began to think that AT&T was decommissioning Cingular towers to cut corners.  Cingular customer service was top notch and I was willing to wait to speak to a knowledgeable technical support rep who was a native English speaker during business hours when I had a problem with my Treo the night before.
2. My fingers are too big for a touch screen keyboard. I learned this when I used to have a Treo 650. I need the tactile sensation and control of keyboard buttons.
3. The amateur-like launch of MobileMe was very discouraging to me as a long time Macintosh user meaning that the service is far from a selling point for me to add an iPhone 3g to my technology mix. In fact, as a .Mac user who was migrated to MobileMe, I have zero reasons to continue using the service once my current subscription cycle is complete.
4. My BlackBerry 8820 serves my push email, chat, and light Web surfing duties well to my satisfaction. Blackberry email is true push email versus MobileMe's take on push email.
5. T-Mobile's pricing for BlackBerry services can't be beat and when I call tech support or customer service, I reach a native English speaker and spared the stress and extra time of having to bridge a language gap.
6. Google's BlackBerry mobile software offerings like Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Reader are very usable and serve my mobile needs quite handily.

Would I reconsider the iPhone 3g if AT&T Mobility was not the only carrier? The answer is Yes. In the mean time, I am following the device quite closely as it grows and matures.

Comments

[justelise]

I can't believe that you failed to mention the fact that the iPhone is on its 2nd revision and you still can't cut and paste.

Every carrier has customer service issues right now. I had T-Mobile before, and I couldn't get more than one bar of coverage in a major city so I dropped them. I am an AT&T Business customer and I've never had a problem, because I don't have to speak to the lower echelon of Customer Care when I do have problems. Apple really did a crappy job on the iPhone 3G launch, and they should be held accountable, but AT&T's wireless offerings aren't half as bad as most people make them out to be.