Founder & Editor-in-Chief - Christian Computing Magazine

computing, and the phone feature is by far the least important thing it does.
The Down Side of Apps and iPhones
Yes, it is true that the iPhone is my first Apple product. I expected to be shown the secret handshake when I
purchased my iPhones, but was told that is reserved for those that actually purchased an Apple computer. However,
I was impressed walking into the Apple store.
So far, my experience has been good and bad. As I mentioned earlier, I purchased two iPhones, one for me,
and one for my wife. We immediately went to the online App store icon and started to download applications.
On our second day after I downloaded another 3 or 4 new applications, I discovered that they wouldn’t run. They
would start, hang for about 5 seconds, and then I would find myself looking at my home page. So, back to the
Apple store I went, to talk to an Apple Genius. They informed me that since I was downloading apps through the
phone instead of over the web, one of the applications might have lost connection on download and that caused
those that followed to also have a problem. Their simple solution was to go back to my house and hit the “restore”
button to clear everything and start over. This wasn’t too painful since iTunes handled my backup and made it
easy to restore my apps and settings. And, good news, the problem was fixed. The next day, downloading apps
through iTunes and my computer, instead of directly from my iPhone, I encountered the same problem. I had my
wife download these same apps, and they worked fine on her iPhone. Back to the Apple Genius. It seemed clear
that there was something different about my iPhone than my wife’s since we both downloaded the same apps
the same way and they worked on her iPhone but would not on mine. The Apple Genius’ response? They are not
responsible for third party apps and were not willing to admit that my iPhone might be having some problems. So
far, I have restored my iPhone 3 times and have held up on downloading apps until I can get a genius to agree that
maybe I need a new iPhone.
So, kudos to Apple for the iPhone I purchased for my wife. And, I LOVE mine as well, except for the frustration
of having to do restore’s and dealing with Apple geniuses.
Conclusion
I think personal mobile computing devices (PMcDs as my wife refers to them) will prove to be an important
part of all computer applications and implementations. We know that the sales of smart phones are rising at a dramatic
rate, even in a time when there are great economic concerns. And, since there are many wireless providers,
and even more that produce wireless devices, it is going to be hard to establish standards. When cell phones were
first released and features were initially added, one could only send a text message or photo to someone that was
either on the same wireless service, or in some cases, the same phone. Many of those barriers have been removed.
Hopefully, as this area of technology continues to grow, so will the ability to share applications.
Christian Computing® Magazine August 200817