While some people came away from WWDC feeling like it's Christmas in June, it doesn't look like PC World was among them. But after reading their laundry list of unrequited hopes and dreams for WWDC (WWDC No Shows: 10 Things We Wanted From Apple and Didn't Get), it seems like PC World really doesn't seem to get it.

Let's walk through these points one by one, shall we?

1. The Apple Tablet

We've been hearing rumors about this one since the Newton disappeared. I don't think anyone realistically expected the tablet to come out this year, much less at WWDC. It's getting to the point where every single event has people leaving and saying, "B-b-but where's the tablet?"

Considering that it's turned out to be one of the most successful products in consumer electronics history, the volume of nay-saying on the iPhone has been constant and ongoing -- many dismissed the phone when it came out, when it was announced, and even when it was just a glimmer of a hint of a rumor. Now the New York Times Sunday Magazine (and the accompanying blog The Medium) is featuring Virginia Heffernan's tale of hesitancy, anomie and frustration under the surely-not-meant to-draw-online-traffic headline "I Hate My iPhone." Interestingly, just pages away, the paper profiles several successful iPhone developers in a story about the App Store gold rush.

Heffernan's criticisms of the iPhone swing between the rational (the challenge of adapting to the on-screen keyboard, AT&T's mediocre coverage) and the surreal (dislike of the device's "tarty little face" and how it "kept aloof from the animal warmth of my leather wallet"). In fairness, she does admit that she's not thinking particularly clearly. In the end, she returns to the AT&T store where the sales rep seemed to know that she was a troublesome case, and swapped out her iPhone for a Blackberry.

It may be heretical to admit it here, but it's true: the iPhone is not for everyone... excuse me, they've come to take away my fanboy badge, this will take just a second. There, all done; I'm back.

Yes, if you're looking for a high-speed texting and email platform because you live your life in text messaging, the iPhone's keyboard will frustrate you; if you don't care about the incredible universe of apps, the first-rate media player and the best mobile browser, you'd be better off with a Blackberry and a permanent keyboard.

Yes, the iPhone's phone is probably its weakest offering, and the AT&T network has bigger dead zones than Anthony Michael Hall; if you can't tolerate the intermittent dropped call or fuzzy audio (or my personal top annoyance, the "I'm on 3G and my phone just doesn't ring" issue), and you want to focus on the phone, get a free RAZR or shiny Samsung.

In my personal transition from the Blackberry to the iPhone, I found plenty of gotchas and things that took adjustment (#1 is not being able to keep an IM application running in the background, #2 is having to cycle through the home screen to switch apps, and #3 is not being able to easily copy URLs or phone numbers for use elsewhere), but I'm still finding new and enjoyable things about the iPhone every day; my Blackberry was staid and predictable, a useful tool but not a spark of innovation or a way for me to accomplish things I never could do before.

I know there are thousands of unhappy iPhone users, and thousands more who haven't upgraded to the 2.x firmware, visited the App Store or explored one-tenth of the capabilities of their mobile computing platforms. When I saw a family friend a few weeks ago, a lady of a certain age, she was surprised and puzzled when I asked her where she synced her not-that-new iPhone ("I don't understand. If I want to put music or apps on it, I have to connect it to a computer? I have my grandchildren put photos on the phone for me!"). The iPhone isn't for everyone, and there's no judgement in that; you aren't obligated to love it, want it or find it useful. Forgive us, still, if we think that many of you (NY Times columnists excepted) will love it once you try it.

[Hat tip to Apple 2.0]

Yesterday's Boy Genius Report post citing the top ten deficiencies of the iPhone (no copy & paste, no video recording, and more) has generated more than 100 responses, some suggesting a fix for many failings (jailbreak the phone) and others hopping on the Blackberry or Palm Pre bandwagons in the hope that competition for the iPhone will spur more software innovation from Apple. While the App Store may be the hottest thing since that soldering iron you accidentally left turned on that ignited your Dad's workbench (and that's why you're not allowed in the garage anymore), even the sneakiest third-party developers can't effectively replace what Apple has failed to provide.

Given the sense of pent-up frustration from some (but not all) iPhone 3G owners over a laundry list of things the phone doesn't do, or doesn't do well, here's your chance to cheer or castigate Apple in the hopes of a brighter day to come. Vote in our poll and comment below with your top priorities for improvements -- or, if you're a happy camper, your favorite feature of today's iPhone.



[via Smoking Apples/Twitter]

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens are all well and good for Austrian nannies, but we ill-tempered TUAWians have had our fill of iPhone inconveniences. We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it any more. Here is our abbreviated list of iPhone quirks that tick us off. We know you've got your list too (as do the 300-odd commenters at Engadget) and we encourage you to add your issues in to the comments.

• Why isn't iPhone Safari learning to auto-fill my user names?
• Why can't I start a search in YouTube, pop over to check the weather, come back and find the results of my search? Instead, the search terminates and the search field clears.
• Why isn't there a front-page address book app?
• Why can't I get consistent EDGE reception? I live in a major metropolitan area, damn it.
• Why can't I just get disk access without having to resort to extreme hackery?
• Why can't I SMS more than one person at a time?
• Why can't I receive a call while surfing the web like the Sidekick does?
• Why can't I just edit an outgoing e-mail address without having to go back and type it all in again?
• Why can't I maintain individual calendars instead of having them all lumped together?
• Sure, we can meebo, but why is there no built-in iChat?
• I hate paying thirty bucks a month for a voice plan that I don't use. I wish I could cancel the voice plan and keep the data plan but AT&T says I can't.
• Where's Flash? I want Adobe to fix the OS X Flash plugin, and then I want it on my iPhone. We admit that the existing Flash for OS X, if moved to the iPhone, would be an unmitigated disaster; it would drain your battery in about 3 minutes while causing the iPhone to burn its way through your pocket, melting the ground beneath you and sinking rapidly into Earth's molten core. One Flash video on my MBP causes Safari to spike to 70% CPU and kicks my fans into overdrive... that sort of unoptimized code on a handheld platform is a recipe for pain.
• When my screen gets all smudgy, why can't I just clean it on my shirt? I hate carrying around the iPhone wipie-cloth all the time. (Chartier claims his T-shirt works just fine). Chris U gets the best results from t-shirts made of hemp. You can also use shield lens care cloths from Hilco and other photography-quality lens-cleaning cloths.
• Why does AT&T keep sending me balance updates for my prepaid plan every few minutes, even when I haven't used the phone for anything? When I make a call or text? Fine. Send me an updated balance. But when the iPhone is just sitting there? Puh-lease!
• Why can't I delete the last-taken photo immediately from the camera interface without having to go to the photos section? That snapshot button is so super-sensitive, I keep taking pictures I didn't mean to.
• I hate having to navigate over to settings all the time. Why can't I just access the settings for a program (e.g. e-mail) from inside the program itself like I can with Weather and Stocks?
• The email account UI is positively dreadful. Tap 2/3 times to get into one inbox, then 2/3 times back out, then 2/3 times back into another one is for the birds. I hate the email UI and would love the chance to kick a responsible party in the pants for it.

This is more of a public service announcement and reminder than anything, inspired by TUAW reader Jer's comment on my .Mac syncing UI silliness post. Jer asked whether we were submitting feedback to Apple concerning gripes like the one I blogged, and the answer is 'most definitely yes.' This brief dialog inspired me to take the opportunity to urge all Mac users everywhere to do the same.

If you have a complaint, a feature request, or maybe you just found a bug in Mac OS X, or another piece of Apple's software, apple.com/feedback is a great place to go and tell them about it. Most of Apple's apps are categorized there, and it's a simple process for submitting your comment. While I don't believe it's in their policy to reply to anything submitted there, you can rest assured that it's one of the best places Apple uses to collect the information they use to keep tabs on how we like their software, especially when it comes to creating all those official bug reports you'll find sprinkled throughout their support and knowledgebase articles (besides, who wants to take bets that their engineers have TUAW in their newsreader?).

So remember boys and girls, when it comes to feature requests, UI gripes and bug squashing: ask not what Apple can do for you... but submit some feedback so the world's best operating system can get even better.