Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"One of the reasons to get the new iPad is to take full advantage of the 4G LTE wireless connectivity options offered by cell carriers. But what if you already have an iPad, and already have a data plan for that iPad?"

A simple walk through of the process, for both AT&T and Verizon data plans, and it's surprisingly easy.

"'Online reseller Gazelle is offering up to $430 for used iPhone 4s,' Steve Kovach reports for The Business Insider. 'For AT&T customers considering making the switch to the Verizon iPhone, this should help put a dent in the $325 early termination fee,' Kovach reports."

For me, it certainly would as they would pay me $345.00 USD for my iPhone 4. If you want to see what your iPhone 4 will bring you, head on over to Gazelle and they can give you the lowdown.

"As we count down to Apple possibly announcing Verizon as a U.S. iPhone carrier and debate what such a move might mean to the current exclusive iPhone carrier AT&T, the head of that carrier weighed in on why a Verizon iPhone deal isn't keeping him awake at night."

The reason AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega isn't worried, as he tells analysts at a JP Morgan tech conference, is that it is too difficult to switch carriers so people won't be jumping ship to Verizon. What? I have switched carriers numerous times, and since they let you keep your same phone number so I don't have to notify everyone that mine was about to change, I don't find it that difficult. At least that has been my experience. The only worry I would have switching to Verizon would be the lack of simultaneous voice and data transmissions that I currently utilize on my iPhone with AT&T, but that could be a moot point if this story from Boy Genius is true. What are your thoughts? If you prefer Verizon, is there anything that is going to keep you from switching carriers if Verizon does get the iPhone?

It was a quiet morning at the office, so I was able to call Apple at 9:00 am. I spoke with a very nice and sympathetic CSR. After listening to my tale of woe, he immediately escalated my case to a Product Specialist, Jeff. I repeated the story, which annoyed me a bit, since I was on hold for about 10 minutes while Steve was supposedly telling this guy everything that I told him. In retrospect, I think he wanted to make sure I was not elaborating on the details, since the easiest way to catch someone in a lie is to make them repeat a story. Read more...

This is part two of a three-part series. Part one can be found here.

Firstly, I always stress that Apple isn't perfect - even today, Apple has some productions problems. But it's how Apple deals with those problems that differentiates it from the commodity manufacturers, such as Dell, Acer and Lenovo. I've also been lucky - in 22 years of Mac ownership, I've had only a handful of problems, and nothing even close to catastrophic, until I purchased a refurbished 17" MacBook Pro last June. Read more...

When Windows users tell me that they are looking at buying a new computer, I invariably ask them if they've considered buying a Macintosh. Sometimes I get a verbal punch in the face (which happens less and less these days), sometimes I am asked why I would want to spend three times as much for a computer that can do only half as much as a Windows PC, and sometimes I am asked what makes a Mac so much better than a Windows PC. Read more...