Even I'm getting sick of all the Apple hubbub that's going around. It's all you hear about every time there's a Keynote. That being said, I love the news, but it again feeds into my fears that Apple is getting a little too big for their britches, and that bad things could come from their growth and mainstream appeal.

Why the iPhone 3G Wasn't The Highlight of the Show (For Me, Anyway)

This is only one of the reasons that I won't be buying a 3G iPhone. I almost feel an obligation to want to buy one, being a self-professed Apple nerd. I feel dirty, guilty, and that I should be punished that I'm not totally pumped to get on the waiting list and camp outside the store. I feel that I should be shoved in the corner, whipped, and forced to listen to .Net programming training videos with my eyes pryed open ala A Clockwork Orange. All right, maybe that's too much punishment, but you get the idea of the kind of guilt I feel.

So why am I not going to buy one? (At least, for right now?)

1. I already have an iPhone. It looks and works a lot like the new one.

2. I don't want to spend another $200. Money's tight these days for everyone.

3. I don't want to up my rate plan. Currently, I spend $80 per month for 450 minutes, 500 N&W, and rollover, plus unlimited iPhone data and 1500 text messages (which is plenty for me.) With the upcoming iPhone 3G, I will pay $90 for the same plan with 1300 fewer text messages. Want to up my texting plan? There's another $20 down the drain. So $30 more per month for almost the same thing. That's $360 more per year...

4. Everyone is going to have one, very, very soon... and it won't be "special" anymore. I've already (subconsciously) began the mental search for the phone that everybody else won't have. No more "dude, is that the iPhone? Can I see?"

So, What AM I Excited About?

I'm excited about what is clearly perceived to be the "lesser" announcement of the conference: MobileMe. I'm not going to "go deep" into the features of MobileMe, but if you didn't already know, it's exactly what Apple says it is: Exchange for "the rest of us."

It will push your contacts, calendar, email, etc. to all of your MobileMe connected devices. It will work with Outlook as well as native Mac apps, so if you are in a hybrid Mac/PC world, you're still in great shape. They top it all off with sweet, slick looking web apps that you can access the data on as well.

Why is this a big deal to me?

Frankly, because I'm obsessive about staying organized. To the point of being freakish. It came from being an Exchange addict in my old corporate life. If I add a new contact, I do my .Mac sync immediately so the change is registered on my laptop, phone, and desktop. Immediately. That kind of stuff. MobileMe will do all of that automatically. Without the need to do any silly syncing operations or docking my iPhone.

In addition, I already paid for .Mac, so I feel like I'm getting something "for free."

One way or another, I really do think that MobileMe is the sleeper hit of the show. It's not overpriced at $100 per year (my web hosting costs about $6.95 per month) and is now as appealing to PC users as to Mac users. I'm really, really excited to give it a spin in July.

My Final Word... Break the "Hippie" Stereotype, Please

But, Apple, please... why the stupid name? MobileMe? Come on! It sounds like an after-school special.

And this "up to the cloud" stuff? (Watch the video.) "Meh shoot your magical mystical data up to the sparkly cloud see fwah" or maybe "The happy stars will collect your data-lets and mysteriously rain them down from the cloud to your Mac or PC." ...Disgusting!

You're perpetuating the image of "hippie Apple fanboy" with stuff like that. You could toughen up just a little, you know. Stop giving the haters more ammunition. And frankly, you're undermining the serious computing that these machines are capable of by making them sound weak.

On top of it all, I'm sick of getting pigeonholed. I eat steak, not granola ;)

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