Apple can remotely remove and disable apps from the Iphone.. Also, when Apple took down the original Siri servers, and only allowed the 4s to connect, not everyone else who had the App working on previous Idevices, they suddenly had a non working app. Which is the same as removing it. And Apple did this to force upgrades...

Shady dealers such as those little kiosks in malls, Walmarts, Radio Shacks, and Best Buys, all sell Iphones. I spend most of my day calming down customers whose accounts were screwed up because of all of those places. Also to the OP, Walmart, Best Buy, all offer deep discounts on the Iphone. They were selling the 5s for 125 over the holidays...

As someone who works for the company you mentioned. Our unlimited data plans for Smart Phones were originally $20 dollars before the Iphone. Apple pushed us to raise the price of unlimited data so it could be a premium service for a premium product. And I imagine that extra 10 dollars went to Apple for some years.

You are wrong. I work for AT&T(have since 2002) and there are areas we are in where consumers have the choice between Uverse, Comcast, or Timewarner. In my home town I can get Century Link or Cox. There are plenty of areas across the US that have multiple providers in the same market.

Untrue. You can get a Galaxy S4, and HTC One for .99c for free, or a Nokia 920 compared to the the 5s that runs between $125 and $199. You can get an S3 free whereas the the 5c runs between $25 and & $99. /i work for a major Telecom and I have to keep track of pricing of who is selling what, for how much, and where.

Not really. Let me clue you on two major Telecoms who have done the exact opposite. Tmobile you have have to now pay full price for the phones, they just spread it over two years by dividing the full retail price of the phone by 24 months and then adding that number to your monthly statement until the phone is paid off. So no subsidy. AT&T copied that model with the NEXT program. Both companies only allow this if you credit qualify for the programs. Otherwise with T-Mobile you have to at least pay 30-40% of the phone retail cost upfront and then still pay a monthly note. AT&T if you do not qualify for it you do get the regular subsidy route but the upfront costs are higher. Both companies offer cheaper monthly rates if you bring your own equipment.

Apparently the googles does not work in Vancouver. Here is from HPs own support page on how to do it. The LaserJet 1015 x64 printer driver that ships with Windows 7 works just fine with the 1012. Install it explicity with "Add A Printer", it won't be detected by plugging in the printer.

Sorry, but Blackberry is from Canada.

I work for ATT and you either got an iphone made by the hand of god himself, or you are lying. Or you make 2 1 minute calls a day. One of our biggest complaints when I get customers escalated to me is that the phone is only a year old and the batter does not keep a charge. I seriously doubt a six year old iphone is that marvelous. Of course a six year old iphone did not have all the newer technology that sucks battery, so you might have a shred of truth, but Apple is the king of planned obsolescence. So either you are rocking a regular 2g or a 3g. As for the other poster he is correct. I get a call escalated today. Iphone 5 user has a broken power button. Customer goes to Apple and they tell her it is $135 us to replace it, and they cannot guarantee it will work, that it could also be the screen that is effected, that she is better off getting a new phone. She calls one of our reps furious. I found a local repair shop for her via the internet, and they fixed it for 20 bucks, with a 3 month warranty. If you have a broken screen, you can get it repaired at Radio Shack for 70 bucks. They build in obsolescence and then instruct their geniuses to overcharge for repairs so they can make the case to just buy a new phone.

My Defy has gone down 20 feet with no problem.

Really? Apples IAD network is driven by data culled from users of Itunes, Iradio etc. Iad is sold as "targeted by exclusive consumption data exclusive to Apple." Buy you joining their network, you are buying this data, ergo Apple is selling it. You might want to read up on it. http://advertising.apple.com/ Microsoft also has their own ad network, where the data they sell is gleaned from their own sources. http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/sign-up?mkt=en-us

The Motoroal Defy is a military spec waterproof, shockproof, and heatproof phone. It is built so you do not need a case, his point was that if you are an environment that warrants a tough phone they are available. Samsung also makes one called the Rugby.

Highly underrated phone even at 3 years old. I have six sister in laws in Colombia, and since I work for a telco I tend to give them phones every xmas, and six months later most are broken(I am looking at you iphones) and so I bought six Defys on ebay, put ICS on them, and I have heard nary a peep from them, the girls love them and they have been dropped in rivers, streets, babies have thrown them against the wall, and they keep on trucking.

They seized El Exito the biggest grocery store chain in the country, they also seized telcoms via Chavez back in the day, which all add up to more than five shops. You have never been there have you.

And they also robbed Exito, the Colombian grocery store chain, and 65 percent of the food imported comes from Colombia. Thank god I do not live there.