I read an article yesterday that said I was on crack for saying the iPhone is cheap for what you get, because other smartphones have been doing these things for years… yeah, they have – but they sucked at it.

I’m not sure where Michael’s coming from when he says that all other smartphones sucked at bringing the iPhone’s core functionality to their respective users. In fact, I don’t recall nearly as many complaints about mobile e-mail from the Blackberry and Sidekick crowd as I did from early iPhone adopters. As I said before, Apple’s polish is what makes the iPhone stand out, but for a $600 gadget, half that cost is for the polish alone. I maintain that this relegates the iPhone to expensive status.

I get that some people will prefer those other handhelds. That’s fine. I’m glad you like your phone…but you’re in a minority.

I would hardly consider the adoption of the Sidekick a minority phenomenon. Before the iPhone, the Sidekick III’s release was probably the highest-in-demand “smartphone” roll-out, with every celebrity-wannabe toting one around. The Sidekick III, I would argue, is every bit as easy to use as the iPhone. In fact, since Paris Hilton uses one, it’s already passed the retard-test, which is way more impressive than the YouTube videos floating around of infants navigating the iPhone’s UI.

[Regarding]MMS messages…to me, I keep thinking….why don’t you just send an email?

Maybe because the current standard for sending media is via MMS, and not e-mail. Maybe because sending isn’t the issue, but rather receiving MMS from the 99% of people who don’t have e-mail on their phones. Maybe both.

As a long-time Apple fan, it’s painful to see the iPhone cause the same level of zealotry that turned many would-be Apple adopters away from early versions of OS X. Being a fan of a product or company, should not translate into blindly following them. However one cuts it, the iPhone is an awesome product that remains overpriced, especially given the lack of price break given the accompanying two-year, carrier-locked contract.

A little bit of Michael’s credibility is ruined given his reaction to my dismissal that his new toy is cheap. No hard feelings for Michael – it’s not personal. I’m still reading his “30 days of iPhone” column, after all. I understand that his stance is in great part a result of the fact that the iPhone is his first phone that handles e-mail and the web, which caused him great joy upon realizing that these things were possible and convenient. It seems a little odd for him to diss the iPhone’s predecessors/competition given this lack of experience with mobile data, though.