I'm not sure what all of the hype about the iPhone says about our
society, but I do not think it is good. I mean every news cast had some
story about the iPhone the weeks leading up to it's debut and the people
camping out in line for them. However, unlike the Xboxes and
PlayStations, Apple apparently planned ahead and produced more then
enough to meet demand, so that if you waited a day or two you could
simply walk in and buy one. For me to camp out on a city sidewalk for a
2-5 days, it would have to be for a very good cause. Maybe a cure for
cancer or AID's, world hunger, global warming or world peace, but for a
telephone?! No, I do not think so.
Matter of fact, I'm thinking of switching from AT&T, the sole service provider for the iPhone. I am more intersted in keeeping track of my kids and AT&T does not offer that service, whereas, Verizon and Sprint do. The services are called Chaperone (by Verizon) and Family Locator (by Sprint). They depend upon GPS chips inlcuded in certain phone models that allow a parent to track the whereabouts of their children via a web browser or supported cell phone. The services cost $9.99 a month. Verizon has a additional ChildZone feature that you can add for another $10. It allows you to define a zone around your child in quarter mile increments, such as, the school grounds or mall and if your child goes outside that zone within a given time frame you are alerted.
I am leaning toward Sprint. The Family Talk plans are the same between Sprint, Verizon and AT&T, but Sprint supports more phone models, supports up to 4 phones in the Family Locator service and better explains the features and costs of the service than Verizon does. As for swtching I found some sites that feature better bundles than the phone companies. How they do this I'm not sure, but I imagine they also have deals with the phone hardwrae companies, such as, Motorola. For example, I can switch to Sprint via WireFly and get Motorola Razr V3m cell phones for everyone with a instant $50 rebate for each phone. The phones do much more than I need. I just want something that is durable, get s good reception and is compact. The BlueTooth, 64 MB memory card and 1.3 megapixel camera are nice extras.