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Bye, bye iPhone

I turned back in my company provided Apple iPhone 3G. Yes, I took this sleek, sexy, desirable device and handed it right back to my employer.

Lunacy, you say! Maybe so. Unbeliveable! Perhaps. Downright sacrilegious! I suppose it could be. After all, there is no doubt that the iPhone 3G is a truly groundbreaking, pace-setting device. And Apple just keeps making it better. So, who in their right mind would turn their back on such a totally seductive device? Especially here in San Francisco, the Mecca of cool, sleek and seductive.

Well, me, for one. Nice as it is, the iPhone isn’t the perfect business device. Take, for example, that not-so-user friendly soft keyboard. True, people get used to it and actually become quite productive typing on it. But the soft keyboard is not without flaws. A fact so obvious that the Blackberry folks have taken a not-so-veiled shot at the iPhone in a recent commercial declaring, “And lookie here. It’s typing Reno, Nevada instead of rhino fatatah!”

To be fair, my iPhone never typed rhino anything and it often did well in guessing what I was intending to say. Still, the iPhone’s miniscule keyboard is not much fun to use on a MUNI bus traveling at breakneck speeds over San Francisco’s potholed streets.

I realize that the iPhone works well for lots of folks. Even our good Mayor and gubernatorial hopeful keeps one handy at all times. (Unlike our President, who prefers that “other” mobile device.) So let me quickly add that for very good reason a significant percentage of western civilization has decided that the iPhone is a great Smartphone. And in many ways it is. There is simply no other way to explain why Apple has come from a non-player to a leader in the Smartphone arena in no time at all.

To be candid, the genesis of my decision had more to do with the government than the iPhone itself. It was the result of an archaic IRS regulation around cell phones. You see the IRS considers something that nearly the entire civilized world sees as an essential business tool, as an “employee perk.” In the coldness of their governmental hearts they have decided to tax employees who receive this “benefit.” Thus, instead of carrying around a business productivity device, I am carrying around a taxable item. I simply can’t afford to have any more taxable items. So, bye-bye iPhone.

Government regulations or no, is the iPhone really the device we need and want in the business space? For some  companies it maybe, as the sales of the iPhone to businesses clearly attest, but certainly not for all. All but the most fanatical iPhone worshipper would have to agree that the device is far from perfect—especially when it comes to business use of the iPhone.

Yes, I am aware that the soon to be released iPhone OS 3.0 will address a number of the glaring omissions such as a lack of cut and paste capability. At some point Apple may even do something fix that lame calendar and, oh, please do fix that keyboard. However, that upgrade will arrive this summer—just a little too late for me. My iPhone will have been long gone.

(In the interests of full disclosure, I must reveal that portions of the above article were written on my iPhone 3G just prior to surrendering it back to my employer. Yes, It’s that seductive. What can you do?)

[Thanks: http://www.examiner.com]

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