No iPhone for business account customers at launch? [more info]

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  • Reply 21 of 40
    louzerlouzer Posts: 1,054member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rot'nApple View Post


    Speaking of Power to the People... and I know this is a bit out of the way of the topic being discussed but I'm curious to know if anyone has an idea on the following...



    I have read articles and other people's posts regarding iPhone images on Apple's website where the iPhone icons are slightly rearranged.



    My question is, and anyone feel free to chime in, will the iPhone have the capability to alter the iPhone's icon hierarchy to suit one's personal needs?

    ,...



    Would be especially useful is third party apps are developed and you have a screen full of app icons. Also, if you have more app icons then screen real estate, then I am assuming one can, with a finger of course, scroll up and down on the iPhone's "Home Page"?



    To answer your first question, I'd have to say no. Or, as Ted Stevens, Senator from the cold state of Alaska would say, "NO!". (He's probably already pissed that all these people with an iphone are going to be dragging these long tubes behind them to communicate over the internet remotely. Its a tripping hazard, I say!).



    They're probably rearranged because Apple keeps moving them around looking for the best fit. Come on, this is Apple, they don't want to give people options. Its the cause of bloatware and apple wants to keep it simple and easy for their users (well, this is the argument I hear defending Safari against the 'it doesn't have enough options' complaints).



    As to its usefullness, that would be useful if, say, you could add more apps. But since you can't, its not much of an issue.
  • Reply 22 of 40
    louzerlouzer Posts: 1,054member
    Aaargh! I double-click to double-post! I'm such a...oh, what's the name for someone who just can't win? Man, I should know the word, and it seems like its on the tip of my tounge, but its just not coming to me!
  • Reply 23 of 40
    bobo28bobo28 Posts: 59member
    Now we start to see why Verizon hasn't been freaking out . Not only is their installed business base , which I believe is the largest, probably not going anywhere, at least immediately. But while Apple/ATT are concentrating on the consumer market, Verizon is going to aggressively lock up the business market for a one or two years . How many businesses are going to say " hey, lets spend at least twice as much per year" . With a Mac Apple always gave identifiable advantages for its premium prices. It's higher cost wasn't that great and clearly paid dividends in its benefits. I don't think the iphone is quite ready . . . Oh wait a minute ! Apple has said all along that it's for the Consumer market . . . never mind !
  • Reply 24 of 40
    kavikkavik Posts: 37member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by waxhawsam View Post


    Thought the prices, $499 and $599 were not subsidized, so just buy the phone at the applestore and put your sim card in....that was my plan all along. Although i normally buy my phones thru the business store, here I don't see a reason too...



    Tony



    From my understanding, Apple and at&t are not even going to let you *touch* an iPhone box before you sign up (in blood) for a *two-year* contract for service on their "iPhone plan" (which I'm sure will end up being a voice/data combo with the voicemail thingy that is more expensive than at&t's current offerings).



    Apple is not only selling you the iPhone at full price, but then will supposedly get a cut of all the at&t contracts...not to mention iTunes proceeds. Now you see why Stevie is so excited???
  • Reply 25 of 40
    kavikkavik Posts: 37member
    Per my post above, this is why you won't be getting an iPhone through a business account or any "discount" anytime soon (and they will still sell every iPhone they produce!)
  • Reply 26 of 40
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Maybe they want to finish up their Exchange support before releasing for their business customers.
  • Reply 27 of 40
    atxz06atxz06 Posts: 11member
    What specifically constitutes a "business acount"? Does it have to be in the name of the business?



    I have a personal account that I receive a discount on because I am a Nationwide employee. Nationwide doesn't own the account or get my rollover minutes. Does this still constitute a business acount? Who would I ask regarding how my account is classified?
  • Reply 28 of 40
    zac4maczac4mac Posts: 37member
    I knew all this talk about the iPhone and AT&Ts rate plan sounded familiar and it's been bugging the hell out of me for months now. Finally realized that all the threads I've read here and other places sound the same - it's like a bunch of pre-pubescents talking about what sex is like(and none have any first hand experience yet..), yet everyone is sure they're right..



    @Louzer - do you really believe that you'll HAVE to pay AT&T anything if you decide to go with another provider(and can figure a way to do it), or just drop phone/data service and use it as an iPod? that's crazy talk man...



    Z
  • Reply 29 of 40
    meelashmeelash Posts: 1,045member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zac4mac View Post


    I knew all this talk about the iPhone and AT&Ts rate plan sounded familiar and it's been bugging the hell out of me for months now. Finally realized that all the threads I've read here and other places sound the same - it's like a bunch of pre-pubescents talking about what sex is like(and none have any first hand experience yet..), yet everyone is sure they're right..



    ooookaaayy....
  • Reply 30 of 40
    19841984 Posts: 955member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jackbauer View Post


    When is Apple going to announce what the pricing plans are?



    I'm guessing 5:59 PM on June 29th.
  • Reply 31 of 40
    louzerlouzer Posts: 1,054member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zac4mac View Post


    I

    @Louzer - do you really believe that you'll HAVE to pay AT&T anything if you decide to go with another provider(and can figure a way to do it), or just drop phone/data service and use it as an iPod? that's crazy talk man...



    Z



    Yes, you would, as you would after you sign up with any provider for a 2 year plan. And I never think so highly of apple that I wouldn't think there's something in this thing that makes sure you're on an AT&T network before they allow it to work.
  • Reply 32 of 40
    dotcomctodotcomcto Posts: 130member
    It's not a business phone. The iPhone only supports push e-mail through Yahoo. The literature says it supports Exchange via IMAP (and POP3), but I presume this is through "pull" not "push"; there's no mention of Exchange Direct Push (Push IMAP). Maybe it will work, but it's unclear at this point.



    There's also no IM. We happen to be a Blackberry shop, and Blackberry IM works from unit-to-unit directly and/or through the corporate IM. This unit-to-unit IM is critical when my team and I need to coordinate a support effort. People can argue that SMS is the functional equivalent, but I would disagree. For one thing, SMS goes through spam filtering (at least it does with Verizon). I know this because we use SMS for our system alerts - and we use custom software on the Blackberry to raise the alerts (e.g., like a pager). We've seen that certain SMS messages don't always make it to their destination (especially alerts with all capital letters and/or exclamation points). Verizon has said that they do this to block SMS spam.



    In addition, for the time being, the development platform is web-based with no SDK. So, until there's a proper set of development tools, there's no ability to have tools such as SSH. There's probably no software that would allow us to create custom alerts based on SMS messages either (see prior paragraph).



    Lastly, the cost is quite high for a business. The Blackberrys we buy are somewhere around $100/unit. Given the iPhone feature set and limitation, I'm not sure I could make a business argument to buy iPhones for a business community. The iPhone is a beautiful consumer device. I want one for myself, but don't want to carry 2 devices.



    In any case, given the target market, why would people expect to get this through their business account any time soon?



    Just my 2 cents.



    --DotComCTO
  • Reply 33 of 40
    meelashmeelash Posts: 1,045member
    Steve stated in the keynote that the iPhone does support "push" IMAP in general. The reason Yahoo was mentioned is because of the deal with Yahoo to give iPhone customers free push IMAP where it would usually cost extra to get the extended account with push IMAP features.
  • Reply 34 of 40
    mullmanmullman Posts: 26member
    Great.



    We have a very small business, 4 phones sharing minutes.

    Two razrs, one blackberry pearl (mine), and one blackjack.



    Does all this mean that I cannot walk in on the 29-30th and personally pay full price for an iPhone and get it turned onto our account. It is not like I am wanting four at a time or even asking for a discount.



    If NO then that would REALLY suck, otherwise happy Cingular customer for several years.
  • Reply 35 of 40
    Well...I just got four iPhones with my wife at the Apple Store Bethesda Row. Great experience, lots of fun in line, however, when I tried to set up the first iPhone via iTunes...no go!



    Ok. It turns out my wireless business account is not suited for iPhone! Solution: according to AT&T gal, switch business account to personal account -- doable -- wait one hour, and then try to activate the iPhone. This is a pain, but I want to use my iPhone!



    Well...40 minutes later on hold with AT&T Business Services...still waiting to switch.



    Will update.



    Eric
  • Reply 36 of 40
    Well,



    Two hours on hold -- with two phone in use! AT&T says call back tomorrow morning to Transfer Services between 9AM-6PM (PST).



    Lots of consumers calling in to complain.



    Alas, I will have to wait another day to use my iPhone.



    Eric
  • Reply 37 of 40
    sport73sport73 Posts: 438member
    I tried to switch my business phone over using iTunes, and it didn't work. I heard from someone else that the following will:



    Enter Phone number and blling zip. Enter last 4 digits of business account ID instead of Social.



    I didn't get to try it as I was too anxious and immediately had my company release my line. Got quick help from AT&T and activated my personal iPhone within 30 minutes - a breeze.
  • Reply 38 of 40
    Well...a full 24 hours + 4 hours more since purchasing the iPhone and iTunes still won't let me activate. Despite lengthy calls with Apple and AT&T.



    Love the purchase experience. Love the look of the iPhone. Hate the activation (oops...no activation).
  • Reply 39 of 40
    I?ve had a terrible experience getting my iPhone activated (coming from a Corporate account). In one hand AT&T states that iPhones can be added to corporate account as an approved device, in the other hand you can?t do it when you try.



    My full iPhone history (3 days of useless paperweight pain) at http://blog.arabx.com.au/?cat=49



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by EricInBethesda View Post


    Well...a full 24 hours + 4 hours more since purchasing the iPhone and iTunes still won't let me activate. Despite lengthy calls with Apple and AT&T.



    Love the purchase experience. Love the look of the iPhone. Hate the activation (oops...no activation).



  • Reply 40 of 40
    meelashmeelash Posts: 1,045member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by arabxptyltd View Post


    I?ve had a terrible experience getting my iPhone activated (coming from a Corporate account). In one hand AT&T states that iPhones can be added to corporate account as an approved device, in the other hand you can?t do it when you try.



    My full iPhone history (3 days of useless paperweight pain) at http://blog.arabx.com.au/?cat=49



    When did AT&T ever state that? I seem to recall an announcement many days before launch in which it was explicitly stated that iPhones could not be used with business accounts.











    (and the phrase is "on the other hand".)
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