Those who have ever talked with me know I am not a fan of the iPhone. I have never owned an iPhone, but my family does. I do have the Mac laptops and I have owned the first generation iPad.
When the iPhone first came out, I chose other phones because of the lack of swappable memory, no memory expansion and the lack of customization of the home screen.
Now I choose not to own an iPhone because it is a boring user interface, locked in ecosystem, profit driven company culture.
Apple Inc. lacks open source contributions (ref), gives back almost zero to the developer communities and seems to have isolated themselves to do everything for the sake the of the mighty dollar.
Of course my argument is easier when I hand pick arguments from readers of New York Times who agree with me.
The perception from this reader is that Apple is focused on profit with no low end products for students. Hard to argue given how much cash this company has amassed and storing it all in foreign countries to avoid US taxes.
People who have learned to use the iPhone, bought music from iTunes and paid for apps are not going to leave this eco system. Free I Messages for people on iPhone, no interoperability, lock in. Yay for Apple. Bad for consumers.
iPhone addiction? That voice from their designer, makes you want the phone. Who cares about whether you need it, you want it.
iPhone is a status symbol. The OS and home screen software is bland and boring and has not changed for 10 years.