This is an interesting conversation.
I own an diamond. The only reason I have data is that Sprint got me hooked on SERO, which is $30 a month ... less than I was paying per month with my prior carrier for a plan without data.
If I did not have SERO, I would very much desire a phone with the ability to turn off the over the air connection to ensure that I did NOT use data (and get a surprise bill), or I would want to turn data off on my account.
So, how would I use my smartphone? The same way that I did with my prior carrier.
- Syncronize calendar events via USB
- Synchronize contacts via USB
- Pull all of my RSS feeds over to the phone via USB
- Pull over the weather report for the day to my phone via USB
I would have no need for a data plan. None ... and my smartphone would serve me very, very well as a personal information manager as well as a phone.
I use data today because it is convenient and included in SERO @ $30. The day that I have to go over the $30 month price-point just to have a smartphone available to me, I'll most certainly go back to a "dumb-phone" at a much lower price point than $30 per month.
Now, the reason that the data is required by the cell company is that it is a mechanism to build in a certain amount of revenue with a presumably higher profit margin ... which is necessary to offset the up-front subsidy included upon signup or contract renewal, when the TP2 is purchased.
Again, great conversation, but it's all about perspective and perception. Keep sharing and maybe (if you're not too stubborn) you can manage to understand where the other person is coming from. i.e. if you are a twitter and facebook follower, not having real-time over the air updates seems silly as that is what those communications mediums are moving people towards.
Best regards,
-boggsie