Who wants an Apple iPhone minus the phone?

“The iPhone is everything I have been waiting for in a portable device (email, chat, internet, photos, music, camera); however, the thing I am least excited about is the cell phone feature,” Adam blogs via .Mac.

Adam writes, “Here is what troubles me. I find myself using a traditional phone less and less. All I really need is an internet connection, and I can communicate just fine with the entire world. I basically use Skype for calls, iChat for IMs, email for everything else. Who really needs a separate ‘phone line’ any more…just get me on the internet.”

“I would be happy having an iPhone without any cellular service. I do not want to pay $100/month (who knows how much it will really cost) to use this great new device,” Adam writes.

Full article here.
Okay, who else wants an “iPhone sans phone” and doesn’t want to wait until fall or whenever Apple decides to release it as the new iPod?

82 Comments

  1. “Yes but iChat will arrive for it, maybe even on launch and Skype is a matter of Apple enabling it.”

    And we’ve been waiting how long for a spreadsheet in iWork?

    I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for software from Apple.

  2. Clearwire will not take over because they don’t want you using Internet communications (other than thiers I guess) on your Internet connection. Clearwire “manages” their network and specifically blocks ports needed to iniate AV chats with iChat. I had to threaten cancellation before they finally decide to allow acces to those ports on my connection. They said they block 5060 and 5061, and apprently call them the “VoIP” ports. So, my iChat AV did not work out-of-the-box, becasue of Clearwire.

  3. Keep the phone. Cingular’s reception isn’t any more reliable than Verizon’s, which sucks.

    What I really want is the ability to use the iPhone as a cellular modem anywhere there’s a signal. When the iPhone can do that, I’ll take one.

  4. The cell phone could remain as an option, but I think we’re all pretty much hip, by now, to the fact that the real functionality of the iPhone in now way emphasizes the phone part – its just kind of there. But hey, some people need a cell phone too, so leave it in there, just don’t make me have to get into this cell phone war, and mostly because I only have one choice whether I like it or not, and its not Cingular/ATT.

    Personally I don’t give two monkey tits about the phone – leave it in there and if I can ever use it great, but I don’t want to have to get new cell service at this point (even if I did have a choice) just to get the iPhone. A much better name for the iPhone would have been, of all the ironic things, iLife. Oh well, leave it to cellular service providers to screw up a good thing.

  5. I seldom answer calls when listening to my iPod, anyway. But, hey, I’ll take an iPhone without the cell phone feature but with multi-protocol wireless access instead, so I can also stream Internet radio on the go. For calls, I’d just use SkypeIn/SkypeOut as needed.

    Who needs Cingular?

  6. dogfriend: I used to work for AT&T (later Lucifer, er Lucent technologies)

    What a sucky company all around. The management was completely redneck, white trash. It sounded so prestigious when I told people I worked for AT&T. But, everyone was miserable and at least mildly retarded. I must have been too, because I stayed there way too long before I said, “screw this!”

    I, too, don’t want to pay for cellular service when I can use Skype on my computer. I hope there’s a phoneless option. It would suck to have to pay monthly to have the newest iPod/mobile Mac. BTW, I say it’s a mobile Mac because it is the future of computing, along with laptops and/or tablets.

    I want it for email, surfing, watching videos, playing music, viewing pictures, iCal, and hopefully for IM, but not for making calls.

  7. While I eagerly await both the iPhone and a new iPod with these features, one might as well get a phone tossed in the deal, as some kind of wireless connection service is going to be needed to provide internet access when one is out of range of 802.11x services.

    I have long wanted a convergence device of this type, but I will probably wait for a second generation product with better performance/capacity before jumping on board. I am much more likely to buy the iPod version first.

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