Open letter to Apple

Dear Apple People,

I like you. A lot. I like you so much that I even advocate for your really great products and the computers in our house are an iMac desktop and laptop computer. I listen to my favorite tunes on my iPod shuffle. And until today, I used my iPhone as my cell phone.

But my iPhone won't ring anymore. And that's because my patience with the only carrier with which you contract has run out. I took the last phone call where nobody could hear me because I was in one of the 99% dead zones of my town. Sienna sensed my frustration and she drove straight to the nearest Verizon store. I couldn't convince her that I should cancel my plan with AT&T before visiting the store, but she wouldn't listen. Probably because she knew that I had canceled my contract with AT&T once before more than 2 years ago, and AT&T didn't even blink or try to convince me to stay on as their loyal customer because they knew that the nearest tower they had was way too far from where I lived to serve my needs.

So I didn't get the Droid, as you might think. You know about the Droid, right? It does what i doesn't. But you know what? I really, really like my iPhone and I just didn't want to give up all the cool Apps and all the other things that make it as cool as it is, so I just got a very basic phone from Verizon. You know, so I can make and receive phone calls that wouldn't likely get dropped not only from 99% of the town, but from my very own home.

So my iPhone is now more or less my iPod Touch. And maybe, just maybe, all those rumors I'm hearing about Apple giving consumers the option to choose their own carrier will become reality. Remember that rumor? There was one going around that it was going to actually happen next month. I held out hope. I even went and upgraded my original iPhone to the 3G because I was told the coverage would be much better, especially in all those areas where I constantly had trouble.

But as you and I know, if there isn't a tower, the coverage will still be poor, if not extinct. And the rumor, it's still floating around, only now there is talk about Apple giving its consumers their choice next summer. Next summer. As in, over a half-year away.

Surely, you understand my predicament and I waited and waited and waited. But I couldn't wait anymore. So now I have to carry two devices around with me to be able to access emails and enjoy all my Apps on one and make and receive phone calls on the other.

But you know what really makes me mad? I got over the waiting part. It is what it is, and I figured eventually, I'd probably get tired of carrying two devices around and would bite the bullet, upgrade to a better phone, and pass the iPhone onto my kids to enjoy the games. What frustrates me more than all the dropped calls I dealt with over the last two years is the fact that AT&T is fighting me about breaking my contract with them and will likely penalize me with their "you broke your contract with us" fee. Even though, you know, their nearest tower to my house is over 3 miles away, and they waived the fee when I left them the first time. And I have to say that if they do not sympathize with my very clearly logical decision that forced me to leave them, I will quickly adapt to the Droid. And I'll learn to love it as much as I love your iPhone, which I still love, but just not as much anymore. Because, really: having a great device that I can't even enjoy as what it's called - iPHONE - amounts to nothing but failure.