Inspired by LeBron James, my buddy Peter agreed to interview me about the question everyone in America has been waiting for. Will Bill choose the iPhone 4 and AT&T or make the jump to Verizon and get the HTC Incredible? Here is a transcript of the interview.

Peter: Bill, this has been a long process for you. What was it like?
Bill: Well Peter, I won’t lie to you; its been arduous. My family, the media, camera crews day and night – its been a nightmare.

Peter: What is motivating you to look at different options after two solid years with iPhone and AT&T? Is it a question of loyalty?
Bill: In part, yes. AT&T has continually refused to take sufficient responsibility for the number of dropped calls I have to deal with and as a paying customer, it seems like if you are in a contract with them, you give up all your rights.

Peter: That said, why is there even a decision to be made? Why not just take your talents elsewhere?
Bill: The phone is the thing. iPhone is the best device from syncing, to apps to functionality. I really don’t believe there is a better smartphone on the market.

Peter: What was the determining factor in making the decision?
Bill: Ultimately, it came down to rollover minutes.

Peter: Well, before I ask you the big question, I have one more; who butchered your hair?
Bill: I cannot say, as it is a legal matter. Suffice as to say that I won’t be going back. Unless I have a coupon.

Peter: OK, I’ve stalled long enough. What is your decision? What phone are you going to choose for the next two years?
Bill: I’m going to keep giving my money to Apple and AT&T.

Peter: There you have it America. We have a winner. Even though AT&T continues to give its users the shaft, they’ll stay in business because Apple refuses to give up their exclusivity contract.

Based on this NY Times article, there have been over 600,000 orders for the new iPhone on the first day it was offered.
Go read that again.
That is a lot of phones. They have pushed back the delivery date into mid-July instead of June 24 as previously planned. Apple always claims that whatever they put out will “change everything.” In this case, I think they are sort of right. If you haven’t yet watched the video for the new phone, here it is:
iPhone 4

For me, the new OS upgrades including multitasking, single email inbox and organization of apps are what sell it. Also, the hope that the apps I use for work will run a bit better and faster. From a geek perspective, the face time feature looks incredible. I wish it ran over mobile broadband and that there was an application that would allow you to connect with users other than iPhone users on a WiFi hotspot.

Either way, while I am still mulling over my choices, the new phone may just keep me with AT&T – two year commitment and all.

I save all my appointment data in my calendar. It seems to work the best for me. I can update what I just did after each appointment and at the end of the week, pull up my calendar and send invoices based on the appointments. Lately, however, after the switch to Apple, I have had to do a bit of double entry as my invoicing is now on a separate system from my calendar.

The Answer? Google Calendar. That way, all my appointment info is on a web-based calendar which can be accessed from anywhere. I bought a $6 app for my iPhone that holds cached copies of the calendar and syncs it all day long. Now I can look at my calendar on my phone, my laptop and any internet connected desktop. I have also linked my calendar to my website. Google gives you the code to embed the calendar. Now, my clients can see when I am busy and schedule accordingly.

I have been using this system for a couple of weeks and it is working fine. Go take a look at my calendar before scheduling your next appointment.

So for the last couple of days, my phone has been acting up. This has happened once before. Basically, the phone part of the phone stops functioning. I can’t receive or make calls, voice mail is screwed up and I don’t get texts.
Today, performed a restore of the phone and it didn’t do a darn thing.
SO . . . . I made an appointment at the Apple Store Genius Bar. I took the phone in, told them what I had tried and they did some diagnostics. The diagnostics turned up bubkus. They replace the phone anyway.
Thank goodness for Apple Care.
Now, my phone is happy again and so am I. It really affects my bottom line as a business owner when the cel phone quits working.

Has anyone else needed to get a replacement iPhone?

Over at the iPhone page on Apple’s website you can view all the new specs on the new Apple iPhone 3G S. I don’t know what the S stands for, but maybe “supercool” works as well as anything. Autofocus camera, video recording and editing, cut, copy, paste, this phone is now loaded for bear. They boast that it is twice as fast as the current 3G and has a longer battery life. The phone will be available June 19.

For the current iPhone users, the new update for OS3 will arrive via iTunes on June 17.

So far, the coolest part of all of this is that the iPhone 3G will be starting at $99. That’s $100 less than the current price.
Here is a comparison of the two phones.