The dark future of Telecom

I was in LA over the weekend when I got the fateful message from Etisalat at 2 AM in the morning. "Dear Valued Customer..." it began, only to further inform me that it didn't really "value" me at all, or care for my rights as a "customer"- Blackberry services would be suspended as of October 11th. After sending out some half-asleep messages on Twitter and Facebook, I went to sleep only to wake up next morning and let the reality of the entire situation dawn on my fully- NO MORE BLACKBERRY. You cannot possibly be in the UAE and not heard about this, and my guess is, if you're in ANY part of the world and have either watched the news or are interested in gadgets even remotely, this news will not really be "news" to you. There are tons of articles already online that try to figure out the "why" of the situation. Some blame RIM, claiming they didn't want to "play nice" with the UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, and some blame the UAE for being absurd in not wanting to allow free speech. One site even claimed that the government didn't want the free mingling of people of the opposite (or same, if that floats their boat) sex as it allowed for unwanted.. well.. mingling. In reality, I really don't care about the "how" or the "why"... I just know this much- a lot of people, including me, are going to be a lot of pissed off. I rely on my blackberry to communicate with people. I use Blackberry to stay in touch with friends, when I want to save time (and money) by sending quick messages over BB Messenger. I email myself and my secretary quick notes when I don't trust my memory, or my "to do list" to get a job done. I rely on it to get me my emails and let me browse online when I'm traveling without having to pay for absurd data roaming rates or expensive WiFi connections at hotels- this being the most important reason I carry a Blackberry (my main phone being my iPhone) in the first place- to allow me to stay in touch.
Now a lot of iPhone users and lovers are rejoicing- Yaye! More iPhones will get sold. Here is the other hitch in that plan though- THE iPHONE JUST AINT GOOD ENOUGH! Yes, it's a gorgeous device. Yes, I use it as my main phone. Yes, it packs in all the neat little tricks that any other smartphone maker out there instantly strives to emulate. But the fact of the matter is, the thought of me having to rely on it without my trusted Blackberry at hand makes me break out in a cold sweat. If you've been reading my blog, you'll know that I camped outside an Aramex office on a weekend to get the first iPhone in Dubai. I even gave it rave reviews! A few days after getting frustrated with not being able to go through a single phone call without having issues with the proximity sensor, I decided to take it back to the Apple store in the UK and figure out whether I had a faulty device, or whether I had to wait for a software update. When I reached London, I did precisely that and as I posted on here, received a new replacement device, no questions asked. Again, I raved about great service! On coming to New York, I found out that Steve Jobs had decided to speak out on the problems with the iPhone 4- Great, I thought... all my problems will be fixed, if they aren't already! I had no clue about how my newest phone was working because as soon as I leave Dubai, for all the reasons I mentioned above, not to mention HOARDES of annoying promotional texts and calls I receive on my regular number, I stop using my iPhone and rely on my Blackberry. Over the past few days however, I've been receiving many emails from readers on my blog, as well as viewers of my FaceTime demo on YouTube, asking me exactly HOW I got my FaceTime up and running. To be able to give them step-by-step directions, I decided to connect to WiFi and set mine up on my new iPhone device. Guess what? It doesn't work. I'm trying to figure out how I had mine up and running in less than a minute the first time around, and am asking other people whom I know got it working successfully around the same time as me. As of right now, I'm frustrated. I called the Apple care helpline, and they're usual troubleshooting expertise was replaced with a, "please ask the network operator in your country." You know what Apple? As of this weekend, I'm sort of not liking them and don't particularly want to speak to them either!! While I'm trying to find a workaround to this FaceTime situation, I'm fed up of my iPhone 4 just being one of those devices that zips and flies at doing everything else that 3rd party software developers throw at it, but is yet unable to perform basic tasks as advertised by it's maker, Apple.
As of now, I have so many hopes pinned on the new Windows Phone 7 (pictured below), and already I know it won't be able to live up to all the dreams and expectations I have of it. Right now, I just see a dim, dark future for my mobile gadgets with no light ahead. And if you've ever met me, or even read anything I've written, you know that like never, ever happens.

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