All of this iPhone SDK rage (and before that, the AT&T, EDGE, IM, and MMS rage) doesn’t really affect Apple at all. People are still happily buying and using iPhones, even the ones loudly proclaiming their rage against Apple.

What are you going to do? Go use some awful Windows Mobile device? Choose from Verizon’s awful phone lineup? Pay out the ass for everyone else’s data plans? Of course not. You’ve decided that the iPhone is better than everything else out there despite its shortcomings, so you’re still using it.

If you weren’t still using the iPhone, you wouldn’t be bitching in a million angry blog and forum posts. You’d just do what normal people do when they’re unhappy with a purchase: return it if you can, sell it if you can’t, and get a different one.

But you’re not.

And neither are over a million other people. (I got mine at the end of September, so I can personally guarantee that at least 1,000,001 have sold.)

I decided that the iPhone was worth buying despite my own initial criticisms. I’d love for it to be on Verizon with EVDO laptop tethering, but I’d rather spend $60 per month for a dedicated “unlimited” Verizon EVDO modem and have an iPhone than continue to use crappy, buggy Verizon phones.

Note: So far, I’m doing absolutely fine without EVDO tethering, and I don’t think I really “need” it anymore. Try going without things you think you need once in a while.

I want a Mac Pro, but I don’t want to pay $3000+ for a well-equipped one. I’d like to be able to build my own system from Newegg parts for $1000 and install OS X on it in a legal and supported way, but Apple has chosen not to offer that for plenty of good reasons. I have two options: buy a Mac Pro for $3000, or don’t buy a fast and expandable Mac desktop. I’m not angry at Apple for not catering directly to my needs. That’s just their product lineup, and if I don’t like it, I’m perfectly welcome to go without it. But I choose not to. I’m going to give Apple $3000 because despite the high price and other limitations, it’s still far better for me than using Windows or desktop Linux.

You have a choice: buy the iPhone with everything that goes along with it, including its limitations, or go without it.

Apple isn’t screwing you, you can’t sue them, and a handful of angry nerds aren’t going to make them change their plans and compromise their platform.