iPhone & Verizon and PINK & ???

I still don't have an iPhone despite peer pressure to buy regardless whether it meets my needs. In Silicon Valley, where you're surrounded by early adopter geeks, peer pressure takes on a new meaning.

Nearly everyone I know who has one has issues of connectivity and dropped calls, a deal breaker in my world. I want a phone that does what cell phones are primarily designed for - to connect to person A and stay connected. Sure, a contact manager in the background is critical too, but do I really need photos, video, music and everything else under the sun to drain my battery so that when I do need to be on a conference call, I can't?

I've been waiting for Apple to entice me with something other than no choice - AT&T or bust. Writes InfoWeek this week about possible other plans: "Fresh off the talk that Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless and Apple are getting hot and heavy about bringing out a CDMA iPhone, the Wall Street Journal is reporting Big V is talking with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) to create an iPhone rival."

Microsoft's project "Pink" is apparently working on a mobile device that will give Apple a run for its money. He writes and I agree, "the problem I have with any potential deal is that Microsoft's bag is software, not hardware. I know the software giant spent hundreds of billions to acquire the Sidekick-maker Danger last year, but I'm not convinced they have the goods to create an iPhone killer. Additionally, Microsoft's forays into consumer hardware have a checkered past - even the successful X-Box 360 was quite possibly the worst-built mass market piece of consumer electronics in history."

It's unbelieveable that Verizon passed on the original iPhone "because they couldn't put their stamp on the device," and now, they're losing countless customers to AT&T despite the weaker network. In the cumbersome bureaucratic world of cell phones and carriers, we continue to have less choice than many other industries. C'mon, move things forward. Give us choices and stop locking us into a world we're continuously frustrated with.