I'm Leaving Apple (and AT&T)

Come April, when my two-year contract is up with AT&T, I'm splittin' town. My iPhone will remain in service as an iPod Touch, but my cell phone loyalties will be shifting to a competitor.
I can only stomach so much arrogance and buffoonery before I throw up.

When Apple announced the iPhone in January of 2007, it was hailed as the beginning of the smartphone era (even though less-polished phones like the Treo had been around since 2002). And with the easy-to-use iPhone OS, the closed application system, and the novel nature of having the (easily accessible) internet in your pants at all times, the iPhone truly did kick the smartphone era of ubiquitous internet into high gear. There's no denying that.

AT&T (then Cingular) was picked as the sole U.S. carrier. Some regarded the decision with wary glances, but mostly we were too enamored with the sleek-looking internet bar to care. As millions bought the EDGE Network(a network that's a step up from a standard GSM cell network)-enabled devices, AT&T quickly discovered that the data-intensive iPhone sucked up bandwidth like a thirsty runner. They promised to improve their network several times, even holding back a key featured, tethering, from U.S. iPhone users. They said they were surprised by the huge amount of data iPhone users used on a daily basis. Consumer Reports said iPhone users "consumed" around 273MB per month, up from the 54MB that Blackberry users down- and upload.

And yet, here we are, two or three years later, and the network has yet to be improved. Geek areas like San Francisco and New York have notoriously horrible iPhone/AT&T coverage, and tethering is still being dangled by AT&T. They remain perpetually on the defensive, saying that they are still surprised at the amount of data iPhone users use. Three years later. Hmm. Even Steve Jobs has reportedly thought about ditching AT&T multiple times. (They've even rolled out a new tiered plan to try to manage the huge amount of data.)

So there's why I'm leaving AT&T. They obviously are either lying or just inept at developing their network to handle the most popular smartphone.

Why I'm leaving Apple is a more complicated reason. Well, I guess I could put it simply: There is no other company today that is as arrogant as Apple.
This is a definition of Apple as a company: 1. They are always late to the game (an mp3 player two or so years after they became available, a smartphone five years after they became available, a tablet almost a decade after Intel and Microsoft released the first one), 2. they always come up with a glossy, sleek, and easy-to-use interface (granted, Apple's OS did start the "glossy OS" trend that Vista and Windows 7 have tried to replicate), 3. and they always claim that their product will "revolutionize the industry."
As proof, here is a paragraph from Jobs' keynote speech introducing the iPhone in 2007.

"This is a day I've been looking forward to for two and a half years." "Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. One is very fortunate if you get to work on just one of these in your career. Apple has been very fortunate that it's been able to introduce a few of these into the world. In 1984 we introduced the Macintosh. It didn't just change Apple, it changed the whole industry. In 2001 we introduced the first iPod, and it didn't just change the way we all listened to music, it changed the entire music industry."

Yikes. I'm surprised the Engadget bloggers who typed that were able to do so while in the same room as Steve Jobs' turtlenecked ego.
I know that I'm going to get a lot of flak for harping on Apple. I personally don't have anything against their actual hardware and software (refer here), but their continuous arrogance and general standoffish attitude towards those who aren't their fanboys has really gotten to me. And Steve seems to be the representation, if not the source, of the arrogance.
When the iPhone 4 was released with a huge antenna problem, one guy emailed Jobs personally complaining about the lack of testing. Jobs replied with a one line email, telling him to "calm down." Jobs also blamed the antenna problems on bad coverage, telling him "It is just a phone. Not worth it." Once the exchange was posted online, Apple denied it was Jobs. Once screenshots of the sjobs@apple.com email address were posted, Apple was silent.
I understand that you make slick products, Apple. I have an old 30GB iPod, and I'll keep my iPhone to play games and serve as a tiny WiFi device. But your actions as a company are now bordering on the megalomanical. You are not the only player in this game anymore. With strong Android smartphones rising up on every network, the iPhone's days as the sole player in the game are numbered, but Apple continues to talk like it is the sole provider of mobility.
Sorry Apple/AT&T. Come April, my wife and I will most likely be moving to Sprint (Verizon's been kinda junky lately, too). Maybe when Android phones outsell iPhones you'll finally get the picture.