Well, for now, I am waiting patiently.  I’m still unemployed, so dropping $300 on a gadget weighs a little heavier than it used to.  And I still have a strong feeling that if Verizon launches an iPhone, it will be a 32GB model and AT&T will show their trump card, a 64GB iPhone 4.

Update: I finally got a DPP and I’ve installed the app on my iPhone.  Now to learn some more about developing for the iPhone in Xcode!

Thanks Ron!  You seem to be the angel of reason on my shoulder.

What interests me the most is the enhancements to the Airport Extreme and Time Capsule.  Apple has seperated the 802.11g and 802.11n into seperate channels.  This will allow each device on the network get the optimal speed without slowing up the network (iPhone at 802.11g and Apple TV at 802.11n).  They’ve also added a “guest” network that will provide a password protected, seperate WiFi network that doesn’t see your local network.  Very nice touches. At $499, Im seriously considering the 1TB Time Capsule.

Source: Apple

1. Tasks/ToDo List app for iPhone
   (Have to wait till Feb for 3rd party app I guess)
2. Google “My Location” app for iPhone
3. Voice Recorder for iPhone
   (See #1)
4. iPhone SDK
   (Wasn’t released, but still on track for February)
5. Apple TV Upgrades
   (Holy Cow! This was more than I expected.)
6. NBC/Universal back on iTunes
   (If Universal is doing movie rentals, why not bring back our TV shows?)
7. iTunes Movie Rentals
   (Oh Yeah!)
8. Smaller, less expensive MacBook (I’ll take a 1/2 point here)
   (OMG. Smaller, yes! Less expensive, not so much. But ultra cool!)
9. Microsoft Office 2008 (Corrected)
   (Nobody mentioned it, but I now see that it WAS in the Keynote)
10. iPhone Futures
    (Nothing forward looking, just reviewing the past)

I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll summarize the keynote later today when I get back home and

1. Update my iTunes
2. Update my Apple TV
3. Update my iPhone
4. Spend way too much time geeking out on items 1-3

I was hoping that would be Steve’s “One More Thing”, but that phrase never left his lips (or nobody blogged it).  I’m curious to see if they show up on the sly.

Do you have comments about this?  Feel free to leave them here.

What am I looking forward to seeing announced/released this week? Here’s my list:

1. Tasks/ToDo List app for iPhone
2. Google “My Location” app for iPhone
3. Voice Recorder for iPhone
4. iPhone SDK (are you seeing a pattern here)
5. Apple TV Upgrades (not holding my breath)
6. NBC/Universal back on iTunes (come on guys, we want it)
7. iTunes Movie Rentals (hence the need for Apple TV Upgrades)
8. Smaller, less expensive MacBook (my house could use 2-3 of these)
9. Microsoft Office 2008 (I love iWork, but I still need Office)
10. iPhone Futures (3G, More RAM, etc)

That’s all I can come up with on short notice and most of them have been rumored for some time now. I kept it at 10 to keep score. Let’s see how I do.

“…we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.”

If you were thinking about trying to get a $200 credit from your credit card company, I would do it now before they catch wind of this.

First, I called AT&T customer care and was kindly told that they would only issue credit for purchases between August 23 – September 5.  Unfortunately I purchased my 8GB iPhone on July 5.  Strike 1.

Then I visited the local Apple Store that I purchased it at.  A manager who has obviously had this conversation hundreds of times already told me that he could not do returns or credits outside of Apple’s normal return/price matching policies.  Strike 2.

Then I read this post on Apple’s Discussion Forums:

If you bought your iPhone on an American Express Card call 1-800-297-8019 (this is the return protection program) and they will credit your card with $200 for each phone you purchased. (I bought 2) The lady said it takes about 2 weeks and all of the reps that you talk to know about the price drop and they have set up a special program to return card members their money. I hope this is helpful.

I decided to give it a try and HOME RUN!  Here is a summary of the phone call with my credit card company, American Express:

I called American Express and they transfered me to the Return Protection Program.  The customer service representative said that yes, they are crediting cardholders the $200.00.  According to her, Apple told them to refund the American Express holders $200.00 for each phone.  I was informed that this is not one of the norms, but they credited my account $214.00 which includes local sales tax.

So there is hope.  And if what the customer service rep says is true, than Apple, in a roundabout way, agrees that iPhone early adopters deserve their $200.