I’d imagine, though, that with 160,000 plus workers, AT&T is bloated just like many government and private companies. It’s always sad to hear when someone / anyone loses their job. It’s especially discouraging when it happens during the Christmas holiday season.

This layoff is particularly interesting because of how it might affect iPhone sales and service. However, it appears that the layoffs are targeted toward employees who are primarily on the voice side of the business. The traditional voice business has been steadily losing customers to wireless / cell phone service for the last several years. AT&T also said that they would be hiring employees on their more profitable cell phone business.

These layoffs AND hiring come on the heels of consumers moving rapidly to adopt cell phones as their primary communication method.

Times are a-changing indeed in this industry. There so many cell phone / pda options for people now that consumers will likely see some real benefits from these slow economic times. For example, one of the latest rumors is that Walmart will start selling a $99 iPhone. The rumor continues that this will be a 4G version which was very popular, especially when the first iPod Touches were released.

Additionally, Google, of course, launched their heralded G1 a couple of months back. Reviews of this device have been lukewarm. But, it does speak to the fact that competition is healthy and will get even more intense as mobile device manufacturers try to knock off the king of the hill – Apple.

However, I don’t see widespread consumer adoption of any one device or operator until one of the big carriers drops their cost / min, cost / text, cost / data plan significantly. All of the operators continue to hold onto what little margins they have by increasing prices in one area or the other.

I know this is true for the iPhone for example. One cannot buy an Apple iPhone without at least buying the $30 data plan. And, a minimum, ya gotta have texting. Kaching … add at least $5 per month for 200 messages. And finally, ya also gotta get a minimum voice plan of $70. That’s a WHOPPING $105 for an individual plan. Talk about sockin’ it to you!

And, what is this nonsense about being charged to pay your bill? How absurd is that? If you decide to use a “live” operator rather than an automated system, you “could” be subject to a fee.

Remember the good old days when you went to fill up your gas tank. The attendant came out washed your windows, checked your oil, and then filled up your tank? Some of them even shook you hand.

No more …

True price reductions will only come from healthy competition, both on the DEVICE side and on the PLAN side. I applaud Google for bring some competition to the device side. But, hey, these devices are pretty much a commodity anyway.

One of the big carriers needs to start pushing the envelope on cellular rate plans. Then, the average consumer can begin to see the real benefits of affordable pricing.

Call your congressman today!

Some people say that variety is the spice of life. This is very true. It is also true for music. In addition, if you have an Apple iPhone, there is no better way to have your music on the go. Think iPod with the ability to make phone calls, text, surf the web, and more. It does not matter where you are heading off to; everyone wants music in there life. Taking it with you is definitely the way to go. Having your music with you is almost a requirement these days. Once upon a time you would need to schlep around a CD player with you. Remember the Sony Walkman? Now, with the iPhone, your music is always close at hand. Today you can have iPhone music on the go.

The portable CD player is now a thing of the past. Digital music is available as MP3′s. These files are easily carried with you be it in a MP3 player or an iPhone. As an Apple iPhone owner, you can bring all of your favorite music with you, and it is right there at your fingertips. Those of you who have the Apple iPhone do not have to fret about having to bring along a separate MP3 player to listen to your music. All of the tunes you love to listen to are right there on their cell phone. The music is available to play whenever and where ever you are ready to listen to it. When it’s time to rock out, you are ready to roll.

The Apple iPhone makes retrieving your favorite tunes a snap. Just a touch of a finger and you can quickly browse through all of your music. You can sort and retrieve it by play lists, albums, artists, or songs. How you organize it is up to you. What if you cannot think of the album name? If you remember what the album looks like you can use program such as Cover Flow to make it easy for you to locate your favorite albums based on the graphics presented on the album cover. It’s more than just music on the go with the Apple iPhone, it’s an entire music library.

Do you like karaoke? If you love to sing a long with your favorite song but the words elude you, no worries, as long as you downloaded the music from iTunes, you can have the words appear right there on the screen. It’s not a phone, it’s a personal karaoke machine, compliments of your iPhone. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

Wait a minute, you don’t have an iPhone? Where can you get one? Go to any AT&T store, they will have them. On the other hand, you can get them online. These phones may be smart, but they are quite expensive. Be sure to check for bargains no matter where you shop. In addition, take the time to get insurance on them. If they break you want AT&T to foot the bill, not you. If you are not an AT&T customer, see if they will give you a good deal on an iPhone if you switch over to their service. The cell phone business is extremely competitive, so be sure to bargain and haggle with them. You will be surprised at what might happen. If you want your music on the go with the Apple iPhone, then you are going to need and iPhone to be on the go with. Buy one, enjoy it and listen to all the music you can possibly fit onto a single phone.

Staying in contact is where the iPhone shines. It makes calling and keeping track of your contact lists a breeze. Applications such as Facebook make it possible to connect with your entire social network with just a few taps of the screen. We communicate faster and more efficiently than ever before and with your iPhone you can connect with just a touch or two of the screen. You can make a call, send pictures and texts to a friend, or perhaps send email or chat via IM. This is how you can stay in touch with your iPhone. Texting is a big part of that communication capability.

The Apple iPhone truly excels when it comes to its texting features. No other phone gives you the ease of use combined with constant connectivity. When texting, your iPhone flags a word that it thinks is misspelled. You can override this error flag by telling your iPhone that this is a new word. To teach this new word to your iPhone, tap the screen three times to cancel the correction and the word will then become a part of your iPhone dictionary! The iPhone seeks out the typos that you make when you are texting someone and it fixes errors for you. This saves you a lot of time, because you don’t have to worry about going back and fixing them yourself.

Here’s a a feature that teenagers will like. The iPhone has the ability to send out a text message to more than one person at once. So when news that the hottest band around will be coming to town soon, your teenager can tell everyone they know about the news with just a few taps of the screen. Write a message, select a list of recipients and send to as many people as you have in your contact list! It is that simple.

Texting and the iPhone is more than just another way for teenagers to stay in contact with one another. You can send texts to let clients know of a change in plans or if you are caught in traffic. Send a quick text to see if your spouse needs you to pickup something on the way home. Text the groomer to let them know you are on your way to pick up Rover. Looking to buy a gift? You can text the person to find out if they have a certain DVD or book. This is how we can all live better using texting and the iPhone.

This little piece of technology combines form, fashion, and productivity into one device. The iPhone has become a status symbol, especially with young adults from their teens to their early thirties. Pretty cool, eh?

Digital photography with your iPhone has never been easier. Instead of using your cell phone to talk, just point and “click.” Actually you tap your finger and instantly you get great high resolution pictures that you can immediately send to everyone on your contact list. If you are even remotely interested in digital photography with your iPhone, you should give it a try to see how easy it really is. I bet that a total beginner can take excellent photographs with the iPhone’s built-in camera.

With your Apple iPhone close at hand — and you will always have it at hand because it’s your cell phone — you never have to worry missing a chance to snap a great photograph. It’s also very easy to store and display all of your special photos. Just a tap of your finger will reveal all of the photos you have saved on your iPhone. In addition, when you take your pictures you have the option of posting them straight into a Mac Photo Gallery. What can you do with these photos? Well, if you see news events or traffic happening, you can snap a photo. Many news stations will pay for photos and short videos taken at a scene, even if you are an amateur. Wouldn’t it be nice to earn a few dollars with your cell phone? Now you can.

The iPhone makes showing off your pictures quick and easy because you can share them almost instantly after taking the pictures. Simply show your iPhone to your friends and have them “flick” the pages to scroll through your photos. You can also easily synchronize your Apple iPhone to your PC or Mac, to further distribute or print your pictures.

The Apple iPhone’s camera is well above the average cell phone standard of 1.5 megapixels. Your iPhone boasts a high resolution, two megapixel camera that is ready to use whenever you want to take a picture. If you are familiar with camera phones, you will find that photography with your iPhone results in picture quality that rivals those from a higher priced digital camera. Even in less than ideal situations such as poor lighting, the iPhone’s camera automatically adjusts to make every photograph you take look fabulous. With the Apple iPhone as your camera you are only limited by creativity and available space on your phone.

Photography with your iPhone is just one of the many capabilities of this cell phone. It really is a feature rich Smartphone that combines a cell phone, a camera, an MP3 player, as well as the ability to search the internet and send texts and emails. You have a device that does it all. The iPhone by Apple is a piece of technology combines form, fashion, and productivity into one device. They have put a lot of functionality into the iPhone and the ability to take and share high quality, digital photographs was not overlooked. This is not surprising, as they have been in the computer and peripheral market for a long time. Cool, eh?

I wonder how Apple could miss out on these important features? Everything is deliberate when it comes to marketing at Apple. I believe Apple is playing the “move up” game and coercing people to upgrade devices every year or two as they build in functionality which should have been built-in from the beginning. That’s exactly what happened with the iPhone 2G upgrade to the iPhone 3G. The 2G model did not incorporate 3G speeds, which is critical to using the Internet, for example.

The first key downside to the iPhone is limited internal memory that you can’t expand. The iPod Touch, which is essentially an iPhone without the phone, can be purchased with 32 gigabytes of memory. But, the iPhone’s maximum memory limit today is only 16 gigabytes. Why would Apple be so stingy on the iPhone memory? One movie alone is probably 200 megabytes or more. This will turn off many people who like to download lots of content.

One thing Apple should have done is allow people to add more memory by using some type of SD card. It could have been small enough so as not to detract from the beauty and elegance of the phone. More memory would also give users the ability to extend the usefulness of the iPhone.

Another downside to the iPhone is battery life. In fact it’s worse than my old Palm Treo 700p. I use my phone a lot. For example, I was out of the office all day one day and used my iPhone within about 4 hours. I was half full on the battery. Compound that issue if you were watching videos or listening to your favorite MP3s. There are battery extenders on the market, which we’ll discuss in more detail in future articles.

The service from AT&T is not bad. In fact, it’s probably better than Sprint in my particular location. The downside is that it’s pricey. The minimum monthly cost that you can expect to spend on the iPhone on AT&T is something like $75 per month. This gets you a a mere 450 voice minutes, unlimited data (which you’re required to buy) and 200 text messages (which is nominal)? Compared to Sprint it’s about 30% more expensive. But, that’s the price you pay for an iPhone 3G, which arguably is the sexiest phone/PDA on the market.

Another issue that Apple did not address is the lack of a copy-and-paste function. Say you are in an application that has a phone number and you want to put it into the dialer, you can’t copy that phone number into the dialer. You’ll have to remember the phone number or write it down. There have been so many times that I needed to copy something from one application to another, but had to resort to writing it down first. This is such a basic feature for any Smartphone.

Don’t get me wrong. The iPhone is still a cool device especially because of its gorgeous 320 x 320 screen. But there are downsides to the iPhone. I just wanted you to be aware of them before you buy.

If you are looking to unlock your iPhone to use it on another network such as T-Mobile then you are breaking the law. It is illegal and in violation of Apple’s agreement with AT&T to use it on another network. Apple receives royalties from AT&T for every iPhone that is connected to their network. Apple loses money on every hacked iPhone. Many feel that it is “okay” to hack the iPhone’s firmware so that it can be used on another network. It is my viewpoint that this ethically wrong. Whether you agree with AT&T and Apple’s agreement or not is up to you. If you do not agree with it then do not use the iPhone as a cell phone. In this case, I do not agree with the hacking of the firmware.

On the other hand if you do not want the high expense of AT&T’s iPhone service and you are looking to use the iPhone for its music and internet capabilities then hacking into the firmware so that you do not have to activate the AT&T cell phone service is OK. You should be able to buy the iPhone and use it for the music, video and internet capabilities without having to connect to AT&T’s cell phone network. You can use places that offer free WiFi to access the internet via your iPhone. The iPod does not give you internet capabilities. Therefore, if you want to have internet, combined with awesome content then you really do need an iPhone and you should not have to purchase expensive cell phone service in order to enjoy the reason most people buy an iPhone in the first place. Unlocking your iPhone, is it a good idea? In this case, the answer is yes.

There is a third reason to hack into the firmware. This is really in a gray area as it uses the full capabilities of the iPhone, including using it as a phone. You can add Skype VOIP service for about $10 a month and then you have a WiFi phone. If you are using the iPhone in this way and do not want to use AT&T’s cell phone service you are still going to have to hack into the firmware so that you do not activate the phone with AT&T. Is this in violation of the AT&T, Apple agreement? No, it is not. That agreement is for AT&T to provide exclusive cell phone service for the iPhone. The VOIP service is not cell phone service. Therefore, if you are not using another cell phone service provider for your iPhone you are not violating any agreement. This is one way to get around the exclusive contract with AT&T and still be able to send and receive calls. The only drawback is that you need to be in an area where you can pickup a WiFi signal in order to use your Skype VOIP service.

Is it a good idea to unlocking your iPhone? It depends on your views and intended use. On one hand there are legal and ethical issues with hacking into the firmware in general. However, your intent on why you are doing this also comes into consideration. Apple and AT&T have an exclusive agreement as far as cell phone service goes. Apple does not recommend the use of any other SIM card than the one that came with your phone, but it does not specifically prohibit it either. If you bought the iPhone to use for content and internet only or even if you plan to use it as an expensive Skype VOIP phone, that is your business and you should be able to do this without signing up for expensive cell phone service you do not need. Unlocking your iPhone, is it a good idea? Perhaps.

In addition to its cell phone capabilities, your iPhone combines the organization of a PDA, the music of an MP3 player, and a camera all rolled up into one device. There are so many applications, features, and ways to customize it that it boggles the mind. With the ability to customize sounds and music, your iPhone and ringtones is one way of making your phone an extension of your personality. Whether you like animals sounds, voices, jazz, rock, synthesizes sounds or something completely different, your iPhone will ring just the way you design it too. This is one of the many features that make the iPhone very popular. This phone really caters to our ego. Some might even call this our alter ego.

Customizing ringtones is something that the iPhone is renowned for. When you customize your ringtone, you know that it is special and that you can immediately pick it out from all the other ringtones in the surrounding area. Apple has made it easier than ever to find just the right ringtone for your iPhone. When you have a cell phone, one of the features that you want is to be able to personalize your phone by choosing your own ringtone. With some phones, it can be frustrating because you have a limited amount of ringtones to choose from. That is not the case with the Apple iPhone. With the iPhone, you can take any MP3 file and change it into your own personalized ringtone. Play the MP3, change the way it sounds through the playback features and you can save it to use as a ringtone if you desire. This is a great feature and if you have the time to put into it you can customize a ringtone for everyone on your contact list. You will know who is calling without ever looking at your phone. All you have to do is remember who has which ringtone, and you are in business. You are only limited by your imagination and the amount of memory available on your phone.

There is so much that iPhone offers that it is impossible to list everything that it can do in a single article. The iPhone and ringtones are one way that this phone stands out from all of the others. Giving the iPhone the ability to customize ringtones was sheer genius. This is truly a young person’s cell phone. The combination of customizable MP3′s and internet access makes this a fun phone for the young professional on the go. Having you own personalized ringtone can make a statement about who you are. Apple has been making computers and peripheral devices for many years now. It is no wonder that they have made the iPhone so versatile and functional.