I want to launch into a rant here.  It'd go something like this: I've
always used Apple products, have never bought a non-Apple computer, and
have followed them with both personal and professional interest since
first laid eyes on an Apple IIe back in elementary school, but I'm this
close to calling it a day and moving on to the world of PCs.  Apple's
grown too fast for their own good, and quality control is suffering in
a big way as a result.

But I'll spare you the rant (wait ... did I
just rant?) and leave it at this:  On a personal note, my MacBook broke
4 times in a year.  Apple finally replaced it.  Now the replacement has
gone and broke and the genii at the local Genius Bar said they couldn't
get to fixing my machine until after the iPhone 3G launch.  "We'll call
you!" they promised.  Never heard a word from 'em until I went back to
the store to ask.  Apparently the part for my machine has been sitting
in the back for a good three weeks now and I can bring my laptop in
anytime for a fix. 

Thanks.  In the meantime I built a
whitebox machine that runs twice as fast as an iMac for about 1/3 the
cost.  Only issue is I've wasted way too much time trying to get OS X
running on it instead of just diving into Windows.  Maybe I should just
install XP (Vista?) on the thing, sell my MacBook, and pick up a Lenovo
IdeaPad for the road.  I'd probably wind up with a few hundred bucks to
spare, actually.  But I digress ... back to phones ...

On a
professional note?  Apple has fessed up to the total epic fail of
MobileMe by extending their free 30-day trial of the service to a
whopping 90 days.  A 200% bonus for suffering through some hiccups
would normally be a good thing, except that nobody I've talked to has
had a pleasant experience with Apple's self-hyped, "Exchange for the
rest of us." 

I thought MobileMe looked pretty cool when it was
announced, but I was quickly schooled by a few friends in the
unreliable ways of the .Mac service it was replacing.  Michael
Arrington has a worthy spearing of the whole debacle
over on TechCrunch that's worth a read if you're interested in such
things (or just annoyed that your iPhone 3G drops calls, browses at
EDGE-like speeds, and has developed a crack in its shiny plastic
backside).

If you're not up for reading Arrington's entire
article, TechCrunch commenter Righteous Marketing sums it up (or sums
my personal feelings up, anyway) pretty well: 

"The point here is that Mac used to be known for rock-solid reliability
and that is what kept their loyal users happy when Apple almost went
under. Now, with Macs showing up everywhere, Apple is starting to show
the problems that inevitably come with a large scale operation (just
like Microsoft.)"