Do I still :-) my iPhone?

Some more thoughts on what constitutes “User Experience”.
Since I last posted about my love for my iPhone I have read several opinions on why the iPhone has been such a success. Computer idee writes that the iPhone has become nr 1 on Flickr (with a measly 2mb pixel camera  and after existing only one year!) because it makes it so easy to upload photos.
The EETimes covered the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with an article called “ Users’ love affair with iPhone stumps Mobile World panel”. To which Computerworld’s Seth Weintraub replied with

“ The obvious answer that no one wants to articulate but statistically is being shoved in everyone’s face is: customers want less carrier intervention, fewer “services” from carriers and easier access to Internet content”.

The writer testifies that the number one reason for him to leave the Vodafone Nokia N95 was all of the “services” that Vodafone stuck on: Vodafone Radio, TV, “enhanced” webpages, etc. He found none of them at all useful, while they cost money and were impossible to remove.
The comments that follow the article constitute a lively discussion on what exactly Apple is doing right, started off by James Katt (Apple got it right!) in which he sums up the reasons why he thinks the User Experience on the iPhone is so much higher than on other cell phones. Some important ones include;
• The activation process – from Apple using iTunes
• Synchronizing one’s photos, music, and other information using iTunes.
• Real internet browsing experience with mobile Safari.
• Full screen multi touch interface.
• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts – it is in how those parts work together
And he adds; “once you purchase an iPhone it is like a living and growing organism – getting better as it ages – rather than falling behind the times as new features are added”. (You wish!)

Indeed, my own user experience has suffered greatly due to the lacking of above-mentioned. Remember, I live in Holland.
• The activation process is crummy to say the least. Not being able to use iTunes or AT&T for activation (the phone is hacked) I haven’t had service now for 14 days because I’m still waiting for my old carrier (Orange) to transfer my phone number to my new carrier (Ben) which was supposedly going to take up to 24 hours.
• Synchronizing my photos, music, and other information using iTunes is a pain in the ass (because my computer, which is not that old btw, has a USB slot which is too slow. Only solution; buy a new computer).
Admittedly the whole is more than the sum of it’s parts when its working but my IPhone has regressed to being an iPod, which sucks because I have tasted of the fruits that were iPhone. And it’s probably all my own fault for coveting an iPhone before Apple deemed us Dutch ready for them.

But it sure does kick the @$& out of my User Experience.