Avoid penalty for switching cellphone carriers

I want an iPhone, but I have Sprint as my cellular provider.  I'm happy with my service and all of my kids have Sprint phones.  But still it would be nice to be able to use the new Apple phone that will be out in June.  One problem with switching is that I'd have to pay a cancellation penalty if I switched to Cingular. 

But, then again, I might not.  Mike Arrington, a clever lawyer who runs the TechCrunch blog, alerted me to a new service called CellSwapper that solves the problem of paying penalties when switching cellphone carriers.  TechCrunch is an amazing blog for news about tech developments, and I highly recommend it.  Mike also addresses the question of whether the iPhone can be considered a serious business device.  He says that it will be for Mac users because of the tight synchronization with Apple applications.  What about for PC users?  His answer simple and makes perfect sense to me:

"My recommendation is to simply throw out the PC and switch to Mac. You’ll do it eventually anyway. Might as well do it now."

Obviously, not everyone is going to switch.  My friend Dennis Kennedy won't switch and he's unimpressed by the iPhone.  He told me in an email that he hates cellphones, and like Philip Greenspun, says "What I want is a phone that won’t make calls from inside my pocket." 

Me, I have slightly higher standards. [Big grin]