This is the first blog post I am making from my iPhone. I am dictating into it through the completely free Dragon Dictation app. It's really great to be able to dictate into software, then have the text come out nearly perfect every time. Seriously, right now I'm talking into the device in my hand and text is coming up on the screen. This is really sci-fi cool!
I'm not just talking as an Apple fan boy, but this is a device that really changes the way you do work. Of course, I'm a pretty fast hyper and I can belt out a post pretty quickly. But this really saves some carpal tunnel syndrome. I never really knew how good Dragon dictation software was, and it's been around for years, but now I really know.
And that's just the beginning of what the iPhone makes easy to do. I'm considering podcasting from this little thing. And the ability to check e-mail and all that other stuff really liberates me from sitting in front of my computer. I actually have going out and walking around and doing things for now, and the little tasks, like sending an e-mail or an attachment or something small little thing, now they can be done on the fly and they don't seem to be as annoying. I guess it's because it's not something that's waiting for me to do, all stacked up, when I get home.
As my readers already know, what I don't like is the difficulty in accessing the phone for foreigners. As you know KT is the sole carrier for the iPhone in Korea. Their policies are antiquated and outdated and ancient and any other adjective that will fit here, and the rules have changed even since I registered my iPhone last month. For example on an F4 Visa, now you have to have been in the country for at least two years before registering the iPhone. This is a rule that did not exist four weeks ago. If you are a foreigner not possessing Korean blood, then you simply have to buy the phone upfront. And then there are a lot of annoyances, such as having to use prepaid card service and probably other things are not even aware of. And with the impending announcement of the iSlate, or whatever it will be called in just about four hours, since it will probably be offered with cell phone service of some type, this also poses a problem for foreigners. Who will allow access to 3G networks? Since it will probably be our favorite Korean telecom company, does this mean that foreigners will also be pretty much sh*t out of luck when it comes to the iSlate as well?
In any case, my fire to fight the good fight has been somewhat damped by my success in actually getting an iPhone. And I don't want to give up just because I myself succeeded in getting one. My whole indignation in this issue has never been just about me not getting to have one. But I am a human being, and now that I have one in my hand, literally in my hand, while sitting on the toilet composing this blog post for you, inevitably, it becomes more difficult to maintain the fire in the belly that what happens when one is completely deprived. Now that I have eaten and am completely gorged and torpid from my share of sonic-electronic victuals, I admit that some of the fight has left me.
So, I ask my dear readers for suggestions about anything I can do to further the fight. While helping another friend register an iPhone, one who already has an F4 visa, I came across more difficulties in the process. There are simply new rules. And alas, we sealed. The new rule is that you have to have been in-country for at least two years before qualifying now, even on an F4 visa. This new rule, the employee told me, was issued during the last few days of December, a few days after I bought my phone. So goes the myriad, incomprehensible complexities that defines the way that company does business.
Anyway, I want to help. If that means finding new information and getting to the bottom of whatever new rules there may be, then hopefully that will help. I think my efforts helped at least clarify the process for Korean-Americans living in Korea. And I hope I can provide some assistance to those of you who are not in that category.
I hope you can give me some suggestions in this regard. Please comment about your own experiences, because even acting as a clearinghouse for such stories can help others who have similar difficulties or experiences. And figuring out what the real story is, what the real rules are as they change and evolve, can really help in terms of strategizing as to what to do. And I want to remind you again, dear readers, that although my personal desire to own an iPhone has now been satisfied, my irritation at the bumbling way the iPhone has been administered ro foreign customers in this country remains unchanged and unabated.
I really hope this doesn't become a compounded problem with the iSlate. Well, will see, especially if the idiotic KT continues to be the sole carrier for Apple. Since the 3G option will probably be just that on a theoretical iSlate, it probably won't be such an odious problem since there won't be a complete barrier to purchasing one. But it will still suck if one can purchase an iSlate in Korea, but can't use many of its coolest, Internet-enabled features. Anyway, will see in a few hours. Let's hope that whatever happens, the idiocy of Korean telecom carriers won't continue to prevent us from enjoying more of the fruits of Apple Computer's tree.