Dear Apple,
Just over a year ago I stood in line outside Vodafone to be one of the first people in the world to own an iPhone 3G.
A year later I have to say that I'm very pleased with my purchase. It's a device which has actually changed the way that I live in numerous small ways which I now take utterly for granted.
As with any product it is not perfect, the below are my thoughts, small and large, about things which could bring it closer to that impossible goal of perfection.
The most frustrating thing about having an iPhone is that the place where it's most useful is when you are travelling to places you don't know. Especially in big cities it's an absolute godsend when it comes to finding entertainment, shopping or food. Unfortunately as soon as you leave your mobile providers service area ... the data rates become exorbitant. In the States this isn't so much of an issue, but in little old New Zealand most of the business trips I take are to different countries.
Apple, you did an impossible deal with the record labels and now we all have DRM free digital music. Could you please repeat this magic and bring us sensible world wide roaming plans for mobile data?
A small thing, but having to find a paper clip to swap SIM cards (see 1.) when you land in a new country is ridiculously uncool. I now keep one in my wallet but every time a non-iPhone friend sees me do this they point and snicker. The first time it happened I feverishly searched my hotel room for a pokey thing and was eventually reduced to prying a staple off my hotel stationary.
Apple, I rely on you making me look cool. Instead you made me the guy other nerds point and laugh at.
Even in the States, data is ridiculously expensive on prepay plans (see 1.). I can live with this except that it's impossible to completely turn off data, and something keeps using data. My first extended trip to the States I burned through more money in mysterious "You've used $0.47" messages from AT&T then I did in phone calls.
Apple, I don't want to jail break my phone, but you made me install BossPrefs to disable data.
There are an astounding amount of apps in the App Store. This is great until you are looking for something specific and discover that there are 15 different applications that cost between $1.99 and $19.99. Selecting which app to purchase based off the authors description and screen shots hasn't proved to be a reliable indicator of quality software. Purchasing them all isn't the option favoured by my pocketbook.
Apple, you have the FairPlay infrastructure from your DRM music days, please allow me to download demo versions of commercial apps to decide which app is the best for my needs. I promise I'll actually buy more applications if I was allowed to test drive applications before handing over the cash.
Here is a simple dream, when I'm at work and within range of the wifi network, imagine if my iPhone rang when somebody called my desk phone. Now imagine that when I'm at home, and with in range of my wifi, when somebody calls my home phone my iPhone also rings. This has been possible for years with other high end phones but so far there is no way to do this on the iPhone. Sure there are apps which support flavours of VOIP, but my dream requires an incoming call to wake up the phone so it can start ringing. So far Apple, only you have this power.
Apple you paved the way to us all having wireless networks at home and laptops to use them with. We are forever grateful, is it too much to ask to extend this ease of use to phones?
I have two Airport Expresses and use them every day to play music in my apartment. I've bought one for my parents, given one to my sister and loaned mine to many friends so they could see the simple joy of it for themselves. Sometimes I'd like to be able to play music directly from my iPhone to my Airport and currently there is no AirTunes for the iPhone.
Apple, I sold my CD player in good faith, and placed my musical health in your tender hands. On the evenings I choose to leave my laptop at work, please don't make me resort to crude cables to get the sweet sweet music I crave.
We're now into the little issues but if you'll indulge me I'll be done soon.
Could you please allow me to organise which screens, and what order, my apps are installed on my phone in iTunes? Organising a large number of apps on the iPhone is one of the less fun ways I've spent an afternoon. When that work was undone because I had to perform a reset, even my dog didn't love me for a couple of days.Even better would be build in an application like Stacks or Categories which are wonderful on jail broken phones. Thanks Apple!When browsing the App Store I sometimes find an app which looks really interesting but I currently have no need for. It'd be great if there was some way to mark interesting apps for future reference. Can now do this with music and movies but not with apps. Stink!
I listen to podcasts all the time, but there's no way to read long titles.
I'm having increasing problems with my phone recognising that international (+64 27 ...) and local (027 ...) numbers are one and the same. It's probably Vodafone but I thought I'd mention it anyway because it's pretty frustrating having to double enter some phone numbers.
Thanks Apple, I appreciate your time and dedication to making a great product.
Cheers,
Adam.
PS. What's with iPhones not being a mass storage devices like iPods have always been?