Today was a happy day for faculty in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). After five days of difficult negotiations, the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculty (APSCUF), our faculty union, has achieved a tentative collective bargaining agreement for the next four years.Our union was ready to call a strike, as our current contract ended June 30. Many were concerned that there wouldn’t be a second summer session this year. But a last-minute request from the state mediator to extend the talks gave the negotiating teams another chance to iron out their differences. I haven’t seen the contract language yet, but the basic terms seem to be fair. Hopefully, the faculty will have regained at least some of the ground lost in the last contract.I anticipate that while some faculty may raise questions about specific issues, the tentative contract will likely be approved, and we can move on to do what we like to do…teach students and pursue our scholarship.
Why I didn’t get an iPhone…yet
I couldn’t stand it any longer. After playing with an iPhone on Saturday at an AT&T store, I decided to go to an Apple store on Sunday to see the iPhone in a more “natural” environment. What a difference! The marketing of the iPhone at the Apple Store was much more polished and appealing than what I saw in the AT&T store. For one thing, you could see the stock on hand, boxes stacked up behind a roped off area of the store. Also, there were plenty of activated iPhones ready to play with and make test calls on. And perhaps most importantly, there were people there who were interested in selling iPhones.
So why didn’t I buy one? I almost did, but a series of events led me to leave the mall without this beautiful gadget. I decided not to satisfy my “technolust” not because of Apple, but because of two other companies who got in the way of an impulse purchase: Juniper Bank and AT&T.
Juniper Bank is the company that offers the Apple “iTunes Rewards” Visa card. Since I’m one who always looks to take advantage of every possible premium, even on hot products like the iPhone, I had intended to apply for this card in the Apple Store and use it to purchase the iPhone. I didn’t think there would be a problem with getting this card, as I have excellent credit, and in fact already have a couple of other credit cards from Juniper Bank. Alas, after I had filled out the application on one of the computers in the store (using private browsing in Safari, of course) I received a message that the bank needed additional information to process my information. I then called the phone number for Juniper Bank on their web site, and after navigating through a number of menus, finally got to speak to a real person. She was not very helpful at all, basically giving me the same response that I got from the web application. Indeed, I think she may have just been reading it off of the same web page I was looking at. So, strike one for getting an iPhone on July 1. But I wasn’t giving up.
I called my wife on one of the demo iPhones in the store to test the sound quality. It was as good, if not better, than the sound quality on the Verizon “Chocolate” phone I currently use. And my ear didn’t accidentally activate the touch screen, as it does on my Chocolate. Yet if I wasn’t going to get my free iTunes from the Visa card, I had to be really impressed with the whole package. Hardware wise, I certainly was very impressed. This was the best cellular phone I had ever used. It may have been the best consumer electronics device I had ever used, and I have used a lot. But then I began studying the AT&T side of the deal.
The service plans from AT&T are reasonable, but I had to check out a few more details. The mall I visited had two AT&T stores, and I visited both to discuss the iPhone service plans. The first place I visited was the AT&T kiosk nearest to the Apple Store. A woman there was discussing the iPhone service options to another interested customer, and gave conflicting information about the “family plan” options. She said that you could have an iPhone on a family plan, but only if it wasn’t the primary phone. In other words, she was saying that if you wanted an iPhone with a family plan, you could only do so if you got a different phone first, then added the iPhone as an additional line. That didn’t make much sense to me, so I asked to look at the brochures she had. When I pointed out to her that the AT&T iPhone service plan brochure does indicate a family plan is available with the iPhone as the primarily line, she seemed confused for a moment. Then she said that maybe you could get the iPhone as the primarily line, but only if all other phones on the family plan were iPhones. When I asked her if I could apply my 15% employee discount that AT&T provides to faculty at my university, at first she said yes, then she said no, then she said she wasn’t sure. It was obvious to me at this point that she really didn’t know enough about the iPhone service plans to give a straight answer. Strike two.
Then I decided to walk to the other end of the mall where there was a “real” AT&T store. I thought that perhaps the folks at the kiosk weren’t trained as well as employees at full-fledged AT&T stores. That hunch was correct; I talked to a woman who seemed to be quite clear about the options for iPhone service. Yes, I could have an iPhone on a family plan. No, it didn’t matter if it was a primary line or not; I could have any combination of iPhones with other phones on a family plan. No, I couldn’t get the employee discount on either the iPhone or the monthly service fees. At that point, she said that wasn’t an AT&T decision, but something that Apple had insisted upon…that Apple had stipulated with AT&T that no service plan discounts could be applied to any account that had an iPhone. I found that rather suspicious, but she said it with such authority that I didn’t question it. But then she asked me a rather unexpected question…
“What is it about the iPhone that appeals to you so much?” the AT&T salesperson asked. I replied that I liked a lot of things about the iPhone, and proceeded to mention many of its features that impressed me. Then she told me that I could get all of those features “and more” with another phone she could sell me. Walking away from the people crowding around the iPhone display, she led me to a much less busy part of the store where they were displaying a number of Windows Mobile Edition “smartphones.” She proudly demonstrated all of the features on one particularly ugly phone that she said was her favorite, and that it “had all of the features of the iPhone” at a much lower price. Plus I could get my employee discount on the service plan. Plus it would work much better with Windows than would the iPhone. Sure, the iPhone will be popular with the “die hard Apple fans,” but once the dust settles, she was confident that I would be much happier with a Windows-based smartphone.
Now I was getting really concerned. Her spiel sounded so well-rehearsed and polished that I couldn’t help but wonder if AT&T may be encouraging employees to play down the iPhone. Maybe it had to do with commissions or something. Maybe it had to do with this particular employee’s obvious preference for Windows. Or maybe there was something even more sinister going on. Could it be that some people at AT&T don’t want the iPhone to succeed? Not the top brass, but maybe middle managers who may feel a bit threatened by the iPhone? If nothing else, it was clear to me that the iPhone marketing approach at the Apple Store was worlds apart from the approach at the AT&T stores I visited.
And that gave me enough uncertainty about my purchase that I decided to wait. Strike three. No iPhone for me today. Until it becomes clearer to me whether AT&T is really on board with Apple on the iPhone, I’m not sure I’m ready to bite. The phone itself is great. But my impression of the company providing the phone service is considerably less than great. It may well be that the only thing standing in the way of the iPhone’s success is AT&T. As a stockholder in both companies, I’d really like them to see the value of working together…not just “at the top” where the deals are made, but “in the trenches” where the sales are made.
At the very least, I’ll wait until I hear what Juniper Bank’s story is. Gotta get those iTunes rewards!
Should I get an iPhone?
It’s the day after the big iPhone launch, and I’m still debating about whether I should get one. I thought that perhaps Apple would sell all of their available units the first night, but according to Apple’s convenient iPhone supply checker, there are still units available at the Apple stores near me.
I’ve been carefully reading all I can about initial impressions of the iPhone, and so far, most of what I’ve read has been very positive. Daring Fireball’s review calls the iPhone “95% amazing and 5% maddening.” Think Secret has two very nice galleries of high resolution photos of the iPhone user interface and a disassembled iPhone. And the experts at ifixit.com have a detailed dissection of the iPhone that provides many interesting details.
So will I buy one? I’m very tempted, but I’m trying to hold off just a bit longer. While I usually am an early adopter of new technology, I would like to avoid paying an early cancellation fee to Verizon for switching to AT&T. My hope is that the next version of the iPhone will be released around the time I reach the end of my current Verizon contract. I just hope I can wait that long!
In the meantime, I can dream of winning an iPhone in Appletell’s contest. Now that’s one way to drive traffic to a blog! If you decide to enter, tell them drthompsen.com sent you. 🙂
Finding the best deals
In an earlier blog entry, I mentioned how I was easily able to find a 1 GB USB flash memory drive for under $20. That was a few months ago, and I’ve seen even better deals lately. Especially when buying technology, it really does pay to shop around, know your options and take advantage of every special offer you can.
Take, for example, the USB flash drive. I buy a lot of these for my colleagues as a convenient way to carry documents to and from school. But I don’t think I’ve every paid full retail price. These things are always on sale, and it only takes a bit of effort to find the best deals.
If you search online at any of the major electronics retailers you can find 2 GB USB flash drives in a wide range of prices. The regular prices of most of these drives are typically $50 to $60, with a few as high as $75. But you can often find them for half the regular price, or even less. This week at Office Depot, for example, the Ativa 2GB USB flash drive is only $19.99. I’ve used this particular model, and I highly recommend it for its design (the cap swivels around so you never lose it). It comes pre-installed with the “U3 Smart” software, which can be useful if you use Windows.
But to really get a great deal, add a coupon to get even more savings. Many of the same retailers will mail you coupons to get an extra 10% off, or a specific amount off of a minimum purchase (like $10 off a purchase of $50). You can also find many coupons and coupon codes online. Just make sure you read the fine print. Some retailers, like Office Depot, don’t typically allow you to use coupons on technology items. But Staples’ coupons usually can be applied to technology, and they have one of the best return policies if you’re unhappy with a purchase.
Perhaps the best part of finding a great deal isn’t the money saved, but the “bragging rights” you earn by hunting down the best bargains. A Vista Premium laptop for under $500? No problem. But try to get a new GPS for less than $140. It can be done! I got mine at Staples. That was easy!
Wazza Wyzo?
Wyzo is the name of a new web browser specifically tailored to online media. It’s currently in “Alpha” testing, but I’ve kicked the tires and have mostly found it ready to roll.
Built around the Firefox core, Wyzo will seem familiar to users of Mozilla products. What makes Wyzo different is the effort to integrate popular media sites, like YouTube and Flickr, along with built-in BitTorrent searching and downloading.
Currently under development is the FireTorrent extension for Wyzo. FireTorrent is a popular plug-in for Firefox for Windows, and may soon be available for the Mac (for both Firefox and Wyzo, although reportedly it will be optimized for Wyzo).
Wyzo is an interesting concept for a web browser. As the web continues to becomes more media-centric, a specialized web browser for media makes sense. Wyzo is worth a try.
Songs of Summer
As promised, in celebration of the first day of summer, today’s “Moldy Oldies” show featured “songs of summer,” with titles and/or subjects related to sunshine, summer fun, or with some connection to this season. In case you missed it, below is a list of the songs I played this afternoon:
- The Who – Summer Time Blues
- Eddy Heywood – Soft Summer Breeze
- Richie Havens – Here Comes The Sun
- Silver Convention – Fly, Robin, Fly
- Nat King Cole – Those Lazy-Hazy Days of Summer
- John Denver – Sunshine On My Shoulder
- Jonathan Edwards – Sunshine
- Corey Hart – Sunglasses At Night
- Bryan Adams – Summer Of ’69
- Chicago – Saturday In The Park
- First Class – Beach Baby
- Zombies – Time Of The Season
- Bobby Hebb – Sunny
- Boz Scaggs – Miss Sun
- Richard Marx – Endless Summer Nights
- Blue Cheer – Summertime Blues
- War – Summer
- Donovan – Sunshine Superman
- Cream – Sunshine Of Your Love
- The Lovin’ Spoonful – Summer In The City
- John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John – Summer Nights
- Mungo Jerry – In The Summertime
- Percy Faith – Theme from A Summer Place
- Terry Jacks – Seasons In The Sun
- Stevie Wonder – You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
- Animals – House Of The Rising Sun
- 5Th Dimension – Aquarius Let The Sunshine In