Why I'm not getting an iPhone

They've been impossible to ignore lately with the launch of the new version, ads everywhere, and the tech press talking about them nonstop. They're even taking up a larger share of the market as people decide for whatever reason that they need one too. But I'm not getting one.

Why not? Mostly it comes down to carrier exclusivity. Since you can only get it on AT&T that really limits a lot of peoples' options. I'm technically out of contract with T-Mobile so that's not really the issue, but I've had them for almost 8 years with very few problems. Any small issue gets resolved quickly by their excellent customer service. T-Mobile doesn't get its reputation as the low-cost carrier by accident either. I'd be paying about $20 more per month for comparable amounts of voice, text, and data with AT&T and an iPhone.

Why not just get an iPhone and haxx0r it to work on T-Mobile then? While I'm sure I could manage this, it cripples the device in two big ways. There's always the chance that you could brick your shiny new toy by doing something wrong, and the 3G spectrums aren't compatible between the two carriers. So even if I got a 3G iPhone, it wouldn't be 3G on T-Mobile.

I don't know if you've noticed, but Apple makes some great music players. One of the motivations for an iPhone would be to consolidate my 60GB iPod with my phone. Now that they have a 32GB model that's solid state, that's awfully tempting. But I have about 38GB of music alone. I'd have to pick what gets on there and what doesn't. And still worry about leaving room for all the crazy apps that people seem to love. That just sounds like a nightmare where my OCD could flare up often.

If this reads like a list of rationalizations, that's because it is. These things are beautiful, and I've always had a certain respect for the great design that Apple manages to put into both its hardware and software. In fact this all came up again after my wife made the switch this week with a new MacBook Pro.

But no, I'm gonna do the sensible thing and stick with what I've got. But ask me again in a few years when the AT&T exclusive thing is up and maybe I'll have a different answer. :)