There is someone I have been faithful to over the years. Someone I love, someone I have always stood by. I was pragmatic, when they did something rash or silly I did not blindly defend them to my friends, I listened open-minded to their opinions on the matter, some times I even agreed, but I understood that what they did for me was in the end rewarding. I stood by then through thick and thin, and today I learned I have been burned by them harshly, and I cannot forgive them.
This person? Apple.
(granted they had some help from AT&T who I have always hated with a passion).
The iPad 3G. It comes with the option of a non-contract data plan with AT&T you can pay by the month. The rate? 29.99 for unlimited dat. (Same as the iPhone). You pay it month to month and can turn it off an on at will, with no contract.
Today it was announced AT&T is moving to a new data tiered method. (gizmodo link) The new method maxes at 2gb of data a month for 25$ and includes tethering. Alternatively you can keep your old data plan and be grandfathered into the old rates. The catch though is that you cannot have tethering. If you ever change your dataplan at all then you get locked into the new rate. Fair enough, ok then.
This also applies to the iPad. Ok again, fair enough. It’s the price you pay for a non-contract data plan. No guarantees.
The catch? It takes effect June 7th. This now makes crystal clear why my iPad 3G order, promised to ship in 7-10 business days, was delayed for 14 days to ship on, surprise, June 7th. If my iPad arrives after the 7th, which it will, then I am not elligible to be grandfathered into the old ipad data rate. I am locked into a max of 2gb of data usage, after which it is 1.25 cents per meg.
Now, I have checked my old iPhone data bills. I have never exceeded 700 megs to 1gb ever, EVER. I am not terribly worried about that, yet. (not to mention I plan to rely HEAVILY on the wi-fi already anyways). What irks me, what is a down right insult and slap to the face, is that Apple OBVISOULY withheld shipments of new iPads at AT&Ts request to prevent as many people as possible from being grandfathered in once this was decided upon. Its clear, and it’s insulting. Let me be clear. I understand the new pricing model, fuck I even support it. Truly. What is so insulting though is the whole “withhold my shipping date a week to make me not eligible for the old plan” by apple. Mark my words, my current iphone 3gs WILL BE MY LAST IPHONE. I dont give a DAMN about this new “4g” phone being announced. Once my contract is up this fall or winter I am moving to an Android phone on Verizon or Sprint. This was just too much. Apple has made it clear they are no longer the counter point agaist AT&T. They are obviously willing to work with them to some degree, and that degree burns.
************UPDATE************
6/2 @ 1:40PM PST:
So i just spent 50 minutes on the phone with apple customer service. Long story short they told me to fuck off. I spoke to a very nice young lady at first who agreed the entire situation was unpleasant, but I was the first caller to bring it up to her so she had to review the internal corporate email about the situation first.
Afterwards I spent about 25 minutes on hold while she tracked down a manager for me to speak with. I was transfered to a gentleman named Tim who was a “management representative” who was extremely professional and courteous, but made it clear there was nothing they could do for me. At the very best they could locate an iPad for me at a local store, have it held, and cancel my order and let me pick that one up. This would be perfect for me, except it was purchased as a gift for me from my father on his credit card and I had no way to pay for it in store at this time.
He kept wanting to shift focus to the fact the change in plan was AT&T’s doing, and not theirs, and that really 2gb was a lot of data. I had to keep shifting focus back to the fact I dont care about the plan itself, but the fact from a consumer point of view it is impossible to treat this as a ‘coincidence’ that sooooo many peoples orders were held till June 7th, and then the announcement comes out today that is when the plans change. He also insisted that he was told this was in no way shape or form the case, and Apple would never do something like this to meet AT&Ts requirements, although I told him that while I believed he THOUGHT he was telling the truth, I cant accept that somewhere high up in Apple this decision wasn’t made with this in mind.
In the end I took down his contact info and politely and respectfully let him know my battle was not over and ended the call. As it stands though I am unsure where to take this from here without making it a legal issue, however I am hesitant to threaten legal action before my order is shipped. At the same time I just want a damn iPad in my hands before June 7th so I can have the peace of mind of unlimited data, perhaps that might make that happen? :\
************UPDATE************
6/8 @ 7:43pm PST
So just a bit of a followup, my iPad ended up shipping a few days early and arrived on the 7th. At the same time AT&T out of the blue decided to honor the unlimited data plan for all unit purchased prior to 12:00am June 7th. (Me thinks apple had a hand in that due to bad publicity). I’m still pretty annoyed at things but now I’m more apt to believe the delays were a hardware shortage and not apples full intention. I LOVE my iPad, and am actually writing this on it on the train home from work 
I do however, still plan to buy an Android phone soon on a non AT&T network. Sorry apple but there is nothing about the iPhone 4 that even comes close to making up for the pain for 2 more years of AT&Ts excuse for “service”.
