So I bought an iPhone..

My wife got an iPhone the day it came out. Robert Scoble got there the day before and slept in line at the Palo Alto store. We stopped by the Palo Alto store around 10 p.m. on iDay, waited less than five minutes, and got one of the last 8GB iPhones before they sold out. I decided to hold off on getting one to see how well the iPhone worked for my wife (she’s a Mac person and I’m… not).

Within a few days, I knew I was going to get an iPhone too. I got my iPhone this past Friday and I’ve got a lot to say about it. This post is more of a pre-warning that I’m thinking of doing more gadget/howto/iPhone blogging over the next few days. If you only read my blog to get thoughts on Google or search engine optimization (SEO), read this post from last year about how to subscribe to a feed that is restricted to Google/SEO posts.

Okay, now I feel ready to do some non-SEO posts. πŸ™‚

70 Responses to So I bought an iPhone.. (Leave a comment)

  1. Dave (original)

    Matt, sorry to go off-topic straight off the bat, but can you please do something about igor? Look back through you last few blogs and you will never ending dribble and griping which is totally off-topic. He has even started to post other people email addresses in his post for spam harvesters to grab.

  2. I’d like to get an iPhone, but it’s sort of out of my price range, as well as it’s going to take 6 months to come available here in Australia 😐

  3. Good for you, Matt. Go where the traffic is πŸ™‚ It’s not “SEO” by name, but it’s still SEO !

  4. I like to wait til people like you get one, and that way you are the guinea pig. I like to take the same approach in SEO. Let the other people determine the “bleeding edge”, and find out after a google update or two if their tactic was okay. I was asking about link bid directories a couple threads back. Wondering which side of bleeding edge you think they fall under. πŸ™‚

    Is the part where you can flip the phone horizontally or vertically pretty cool to play with?

  5. It would be welcomed to get more gadget posts – but it would enhance the blog to have guest bloggers who are tech experts to contribute.

    With Engadget and Gizmodo and CrunchGear all in the Technorati Top 100 simultaneously – it would be a challenge for anyone but an expert to contribute something esoteric.

  6. I’m in Canada and must wait for a while yet, just can’t get them here. So I will live IPhone vicariously through your coming posts.

  7. Dave (original)

    This post is more of a pre-warning that I’m thinking of doing more gadget/howto/iPhone blogging over the next few days

    Perhaps you are already thinking ahead about the kiddy spam πŸ™‚

  8. Hmm.. Bill – you’re one of the lucky ones.

    Here “Down-Under” we’re going to have to wait till next year..

    http://www.apcstart.com/4959/australia_wont_see_iphone_til_2008

    Anyone else think that the whole ‘auctioning off monopoly rights to one particular carrier’ idea is a bit on the nose? I can see our local competition regulator (the ACCC) getting a little antsy about the whole idea.

    Telcos here have recently got alot of attention from the comp regulators – the whole telco issue is a huge political one – we’ve got a very dominant (recently ex) government owned telco (telstra) that owns the sheer majority of copper and conduits around the country, and a very dominant rural lobby.

    Obviously with the sheer distances involved here, telstra is fairly reticent to invest in new infrastructure for ‘the bush’ so the government (mostly for political expediency) tends to unleash the hounds whenever Telstra doesn’t tow the line – and keeps a very close eye on any behaviour that might be seen as ‘anti-competitive’.

    I don’t think such an arrangement will float for long over here – that’s prob the reason for the delay (until after the next election).

    M

  9. Dave (original)

    Hey Dave, if the owner of the email address did not have it published as is on his Website how was I able to get his emal address

    No igor, on Kevin’s blog his email is shown as; Email me at: kevin (at) copyrightings.com

    Regardless, IF someone publishes their email on their own site as a mailto: it bad etiquette to take it upon yourself to post the email on other sites or blogs.

    Anyway, that is only part of your bad etiquette.

  10. I saw one of the phones and played with it the day it came out. I immediately knew they had a big hit. One of my buddies (I will leave him nameless) designs icons for cell phone companies.

    He was a bit irritated that now instead of all the other phone programmers working to be on the cutting edge and develop new technologies, they would now all be scrambling to catch up with Apple.

    His only criticism was that Apple did not design the OS so that third party application designers could make add on software. He felt that Apple did this to avoid people using SKYPE on their phones. That would bypass the wireless providers making them not as interested in selling the phones. I thought that made sense to me.

    Going off topic – Thank you for exposing me to the math comment spam protection. That along with Akismet has reduced my blog spam from around 50 a day to 0! I am also experimenting with the setting to allow users who were approved once, to post without moderation.

    On a personal note, one of the reasons I love to read your site is that in a world of many things, you consistently hit things on a high note, with very little criticizing. The fact that you let people post with very little censorship does say a lot about your viewpoint. I for one respect this, and it raises the bar for me when I comment. It is of course your decision as to what should be published and what should not.

  11. By the way, I for one encourage you to post non SEO things. I know the types of people and things you are exposed to, so I look at it as a pre-screening of some potentially very cool things. I am in fact to go create a blog with photos of a recent ladybug invasion. πŸ™‚

  12. ^^ Matt , goodluck.

  13. Matt, I completely understand where you’re coming from! I held out for an entire 2+ days, then I went to breakfast with a certain someone who got an iPhone on iDay. After that I crumbled (he knew I would… how Evil of him). I couldn’t stand it. I got one Monday morning by waiting in line for 2 hours up in SF.

    It is simply amazing. I can’t stop fiddling with it. I believe this is a revolution. Phones will never be the same again. I can also see this being a huge impetus for ubiquitous wifi. Anytime I sit down for more than 5 seconds I find myself digging my iPhone out of my bag to see if there’s a wifi network around.

    I even bought my mom one. It’s a testament to Apple UI design that it took her a few short hours to completely get the hang of it.

  14. Colin Colehour

    I have a few questions for you Matt about your new phone?

    Which model did you end up buying? (4GB or 8GB)
    Did you have to switch providers? or did you have AT&T before?
    If you did switch, did you instantly cancel your old profider?
    What’s your favorite iPhone web app?

  15. Hey Matt,

    I’ll be interested to hear what you think. I got mine at midnight on the first day (right as they were closing, the e-mail receipt actually says 00:04). I was sitting on the fence until I actually played with it for a short while and it was as responsive and neat as it looked in the videos. I had been looking forward to the iPhone since the day they were announced.

    The amazement has mostly worn off, so now I’m just enjoying what I consider to be the best phone ever. Most of my friends think it is one of the coolest devices they have seen.

    Andrew

  16. igor, I talked to my Dad on the phone today, and even he mentioned you. Please give other people a chance to post. I don’t want to delete all your posts, but you need to give other people a chance to comment. Same goes for S.E.W., Keniki, or anyone else that ends up dominating the comments; please leave room for other people to contribute. Thanks!

    How’s that, Dave (original)?

  17. Matt

    Great ide. No more SEO talks for a while. Only Gadgets and Free Hugs. May be a short update on Emmy and Oz too πŸ™‚

  18. Colin:
    – 8GB
    – yes, I was on Verizon before. Letting iTunes handle the activation was remarkably nice.
    – I was cooking burgers on the grill tonight and actually used the timer to remind me after 5 minutes that the burgers were done. The world clock is nice too (you can see the time in Dublin, India, Beijing, etc.). I always get confused about how many time zones ahead things are. But my favorite app has to be Mobile Safari. It’s really sweet.

    Dr. David Klein, I’m really glad if the blog helps with things like comment spam protection. πŸ™‚ I am going to have to remind a few people about my comment policy, or else run a SQL command and delete a few users’ comments. I agree about the 3rd party apps on the iPhone; I ache to install a few things, but can’t yet. I’ve been checking this wiki page like 2-3 times a day:
    http://iphone.fiveforty.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

  19. Dave (original)

    How’s that, Dave (original)?

    Thanks Matt, hope igor and the others take heed. I have my doubts though, but would be glad to be proven wrong.

  20. After taking 5 mins to add up your spam protection question lol I am recieving my iphone here in the UK in around 20mins time from fedex.
    I know it wont work but there is methods and i would like to take a peek at it anyway.
    Im sure ill be one of the first in Belfast UK to have one. So just thought id let you all know

  21. Cool, so you got Jesusphone… Can’t wait for it to arrive here to Europe! Have fun with it πŸ˜‰

  22. I must confess to being stupified by the ‘iFawn circus’. At first, I couldn’t find a consolidated list of its features but I eventually found Apple’s user guide in PDF form on the web.

    I’ve been a Nokia Communicator user since they first came out and I now have a 9500. Screen width 640 pixels, takes any SIM for any network, has an MMC card slot, etc., etc.

    As far as I can see by comparing specifications, the phone functionality is YEARS ahead of the iPhone. I have all messaging functions – SMS, MMS, email, fax (in and out), remote email. There’s a really good calendar/scheduler function and everything syncs superbly with, e.g., Microsoft Exchange. I can load any ringtone I want, not just pick from fifteen supplied. My current ringtone is a recording of a four-engine turnout from a New York firestation. The battery lasts 250 hours plus on standby and I can swap it in thirty seconds. I’ve got the Opera browser under Symbian – handles HTML 4.01, XHTML and CSS2 flawlessly. Not only can I read Word 2003 documents like the iPhone – I can edit them and send them back.

    And if I flatten the batteries in my iPod on the train, I can still make and receive phone calls.

  23. Matt,

    Only thing holding me back now, is the speed of EDGE.

    Thoughts?

  24. From my experience here in Ireland theoretically EDGE is around 240kb/s (O2 network).

  25. Thank you for calling out the comment trolls!

    I wonder what your favorite iPhone GUI feature is?

  26. Seems like every SEO has got an iphone blog or category, I was looking thru the comments from mine and found one that is called “iphone flaws” (how can you have flaws in something yet to exist? ha!). It will be an interesting study of how Matt’s blog competes in ranking for the spammiest trend yet to hit the internet, predictive market spammers.

    I believe that it was your true intentions to do a gadget blog though Matt, then people profiting from gaming the Google algorithms pushed you into a defensive posture. My guess is that you will do a few posts on gadgets then get pulled back to the spam/defensive/reputation management thing once again.

    A little truth with your coffee.

  27. EVDO is about 500+ down.

  28. My wife and I got one too (8 gig) and didn’t have to wait in line at all…International Mall in Tampa had a bunch of them…anyway, I wish Verizon was carrying them becuase I have had better luck with Verizon but oh well.

    I did have a problem with the phone where it said there was no SIM card…this was two days after I was already using it…If anyone else has that problem, simply reboot the phone (turn it completly off by holding the button on the top of the phone till the red slide shows up and asks you if you are sure) and then restart it. That worked for me.

  29. I have an iphone, and EDGE isn’t that bad. Of course, using the wifi on it is a LOT faster, but the EDGE works pretty good.

    The problem I had is that EDGE doesn’t come in everywhere that the ATT service does. I was using it up north this weekend and EDGE didn’t work down at the beach – which was a shame because I couldn’t go anywhere without local teenagers running up to me and asking to play with my phone.

    I really wanted to show off the browser, but it wasn’t possible.

    The internet is the best part. Since I got the iPhone I’ve been using things like twitter and flickr much more. I love being able to take a good photo and have it on flicker in about a minute with 4 or 5 finger taps.

    I also think that the iPhone browser will change the web design industry. It’s the “killer app” that will make developers start paying attention to mobile devices and designing their sites as such. Heck, one of the first things I did was make a noslang.mobi version so that my site was useable on a smaller scale.

    I also made a rpsgame.mobi version of the classic roshambo…. now if only somebody would make a nice iphone fitting version of tetris that I can control by tapping and dragging.

  30. Matt… I would love to see better support for Google Apps with the iPhone. We use it for our corporate email. The Gmail support is great – but it will only let you enter a username with @gmail.com.

  31. I do not see Matt deleting any posts by this igor fellah, I do notice that if one changes their URI their comment is held in moderation, correct?

    Could it be the finger in the light socket thing that got your hair all in a tizzy there, igor?

    πŸ™‚

  32. ha ha… I indulged in my own little iPhone review too on my blog… I know it’s silly and will never get high enough on Google for anyone to read it, but I just had to get it out of my system…

    I could put the iPhone to good use right off the bat on the first weekend after I got it at the SOHO Apple store around 10PM on Friday 29 (after a 35 second wait at the cashier ;). And the $600 gift certificate I had definitely helped πŸ™‚

    Not a big fan of AT&T though… but they haven’t messed anything up too bad so far…

  33. igor, it’s not because of political pressure from Google; what do they care who comments on my blog? It’s because my Dad recognizes your name as someone who is diluting the quality of comments. I deleted your last comment because you dropped a signature. Please try to refrain from commenting for a few days at least.

  34. Barry, remember that you can set it up to piggyback on WiFi whenever WiFi exists. So if you set it up to know about your home + work Wifi, the only time you’re on the EDGE is when you’re traveling. When a cat is sleeping on me and I can’t get up, the iPhone makes a nice little web browser that’s fast because it’s on my WiFi.

    And as a Mac person, I think you’d get even more use out of it.

  35. Matt

    Wouldn’t you consider a post “5 things you don’t know about Matt” as a Gadget post. At least its a subject whic is neither related to SEO nor to Google πŸ™‚

  36. Ugh, I am going back and forth on the iPhone. On the one hand, I’m reasonably happy with my Verizon service (plus I have four other people on my ‘family’ plan that I have to take care of somehow) and I really don’t like not being able to replace the battery. Plus I’m always wary of buying the very first model of something.

    On the other hand, I’m a total iPod addict (I have four) and the iPhone just looks *so* cool, and I’ve spent the past two days without any internet service at home at all, and Comcast says they won’t come for another three days and the county hasn’t finished wiring for free wireless yet and all my neighbors are too far away for me to latch on to their networks even with a repeater. I had to wait to come in to work today to even read my email, and I’m jonesing severely.

  37. The best thing by far has to be the desktop-like web browser and the google maps πŸ™‚

    Also, I after about 2 days I can type almost as fast as I can talk, I don’t think I’ll ever want another phone with real buttons again.

  38. A battery life post would be wonderful. I had the Motorola Q for awhile and I was lucky if I a made it to lunch on only moderate usage. If I barely used the device I could make it one whole day.

  39. Right Matt… The Wifi…

    But, there are times I am in places with no wifi. I love how I can plug my Treo into my Apple MacBook Pro and get some decent connectivity at 500+ down.

    Loosing that scares me.

  40. The google map feature is key on the iPhone. We had to find a friend’s house with no directions and the iPhone saved us while we were in the car. Have fun with your iPhone, I have to wait until Tmobile gets a suitable substitute.

  41. Battery-life is so-so. It really depends on your usage. For example, I listen to music and can easily drain the battery in 3:30 hours. I really want to see them push the battery limits in the next generation models.

  42. But is it a game changer for the cell phone/hand held computer market. I have a Palm Treo 700P and it treats me like a computer still running windows 95. Not quite ready for prime time I think would be the phrase for it. Verizon has replaced it 3 times now.

  43. Dave (original)

    igor, it’s not because of political pressure from Google; what do they care who comments on my blog? It’s because my Dad recognizes your name as someone who is diluting the quality of comments. I deleted your last comment because you dropped a signature. Please try to refrain from commenting for a few days at least.

    Perhaps you missed this from Matt?

  44. I am really bumbed about the lack of 3g. I like how it works and how it feels, but it is so slow on the network. Hopefully a 3g version will be out soon.

  45. I know it’s expensive, I know it’s not as powerful as some phone already out there and I know my 60GB iPod has more capacity but I can’t wait to get one of these when they’re released in the UK!! Whenever that is…

  46. Only 5 comments from Igor? He typically makes up 30% to 40% of the total comments. It is unbearable.

    I heard the iphone does not work as well as the crackberry for emails. Anyone heard differently? A few people in my company want to switch to the iphone but we need good email retrieval.

    Just out of curiousity Netmeg. Why do you have 4 ipods? Don’t they hold thousands of songs?

  47. Just out of curiousity Netmeg. Why do you have 4 ipods? Don’t they hold thousands of songs?

    Well I have tens of thousands of songs. I have over 4500 LPs and 1500 45s, from back in the day of vinyl. I don’t even know how many CDs.

    I didn’t set out to have four iPods; I’ve actually acquired six over time, but given two away. I bought one of the first iPod Shuffles to take with me while walking my dog, Worf. I bought a Nano intending to give it to someone as a gift, but that whole thing didn’t work out, so I kept it (I take that one to the football games) My main iPod is the 80gb; that one’s almost full and it’s what I listen to in the car. Then my mom got me one of the new little clipon Shuffles for my birthday.

    What can I say, they add up.

  48. Dave (original)

    WOW! That’s a lot of songs! I have a 30 GB ipod that rarely leaves my side.

    I always laugh at how things have changed. In my early twenties if you didn’t have HUGE boom box (the bigger the better) you weren’t cool, now if your music library occupies more space than a single CD you aren’t cool.

  49. Glad to hear you like the device. I have been reading a lot on iphone, its a pity that they won’t (yet ?!) open it up for general programming. Its a pretty cool machine though overly priced (the two year contract especially hurts for a mild air minutes user like me. Do you read mattcutts.com comments, Steve?).

    Besides, I always think, that waiting out for version 3 or 4 might be a good idea. It will, I hope, come with GPS, a cooler camera (photos tagged with location), more battery life and memory space, maturer apps and free of monopoly Telecom-Service-Provider chains! Besides it should be at least 150 bucks cheaper.

  50. Yea well, I’m older than dirt, so I have large quantities of vinyl, cassettes, CDs and even a couple hundred eight track tapes (who knew you could even GET punk rock on eight track – I had to special order every one) It really got to be a pain lugging all that stuff around every time I moved – the iPods are *so* much easier. Not to mention not having to leave a bunch of tapes or CDs to melt in the car.

  51. Richard Hearne

    Hey Matt

    It will be fascinating to hear how a power user (such as yourself) finds using a mobile device. I’m pretty sure that mobile will take off (the hot money is certainly flowing into mobile), but it will be interesting to see which behaviours finds themselves best suited to the small screen factor and lack of keyboard?

    Of course the operators (and now the manufacturers) are trying very hard to raise their walls (VOIP anyone?) – the harder they push the worse the pain will be when the dam bursts.

    And what of Google? When will Google plunge headfirst into the mobile fray?

    Personally I have have a sneaky suspicion that the operators and SEs may well end up competitors rather than bedfellows. Only time will tell.

    A few posts on mobile web will be very welcome πŸ™‚

  52. I heard yesterday that a new iPhone will be on the shelves very soon.I wonder if they will fix with the battery issue with that one. Matt any idea if you can trade your iPhone for the new one. I look forward reading your posts about the battery issues!

  53. hi matt

    I have read your blog for a couple of years now and have always loved your seo and gadget posts.

    I also was lucky enough to get an iphone the first night and absolutely love it. The interface is unbelieveable and the browser is awesome.

    One thing I have noticed is that google calendar automatically defaults to the mobile site instead of the full version on my iPhone. My wife and I use it to organize our lives as well as my business schedule and it is a fantastic service, but I would really love to see it full screen on my iPhone.

    Any thoughts or help you can offer would be great.

    Keep up the great work.

  54. hi again

    I spoke to soon (or maybe to late).

    I just checked my calendar again and it now working with the full version.

    Google comes through again. Thanks so much for Google’s dedication to excellance in its products.

  55. Apple did a real number on making iPhone pull down data super fast over Edge. The speed is approaching EVDO and 3G. It’s probably is because of Safari, an fast processor and radio. Its also nice to know that WiFi is there when you need it.

    Enjoy the latest head turning gadget!

  56. What is all the hype over the iphone anyway…isn’t it just a phone with a screen? πŸ˜€

    /ducks

  57. They seem like quite a machine, but the price is quite high. Take a look at Apples stock. I bet within the next year, Apples stock will increase an overall avg of 10-20%.

  58. The iPhone is taking hold quickly, there is no doubt it will have an impact on the net community. Almost every high end online marketer I am aware of has an iPhone and is already releasing iPhone ready content.

  59. Hi

    I am going to pakistan in august of 2008, and I want to know if there will be iphones there, and if there are then will they work if i bring it back to Canada?
    PLease reply i need to know so i dont waste my money. thank you

  60. I just checked my calendar again and it now working with the full version.

  61. I just purchased an iPhone and unlocked it to work with my current network since I’m locked in it for a while. Everyone that has looked at the phone is really impressed and usually end up purchasing one from themselves. Now that the unlock is incredibly easy, the masses are jailbreaking their phones to put third party applications on them.

  62. why did your wife get an ipod before you did?

  63. Congrats Matt,

    Now that you got an iphone… feel the mac world coming into you :p

    macbookair anyone?

  64. Hi,
    Just curious; are may Googlers allowed to work with Mac as main computers?
    Cheers,

  65. Matt Would/could/should you ask Sergey Brin What he would do re bread prices and ethanol % increase re what could/should or maybe should not be used re powering vehicles please?

    I ask as surely a more joe public available version of the Tesla Rodstar has to be better than bio fuels and fossils fuels dos it not?

  66. Oh and The iPhone I will write a review of one day on apple-orange.o.uk

  67. Recently my iPhone often froze, and have to wait for a min to restart, anyone knows why?

  68. Hey Matt,

    I had read this post of yours all those months back and recalled it today when my husband got one of the first iPhone’s in Mumbai India exactly at the stroke of midnight. I have a photo of him as well receiving it here http://mistnee.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!9B0A888F6B850E29!346.entry and do think it is a beautiful piece!

    Arupa.

  69. I was just doing some research on phones since Google Glasses aren’t available to less cool people than the beta group…sigh. Found this post and laughed a little because we all know what phones the world will be buying once Google launches.

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